Revamped!
[HAPPY ONE-YEAR ANNIVERSARY TO THIS STORY!
This is the chapter I wanted to publish for today.]
Burned to Cinder: Part Eight
Back at home, Levana approaches her ringing cell phone. She puts down her wine glass and exchanges it for her phone to answer the call. Her phone has been ringing non-stop so Levana takes the hint that it's an emergency.
"Hello?" Levana says.
Rikan: Ms. Blackburn? It's Mayor Rikan of Commonwealth. One of my associates gave me your number after corresponding with you.
Levana straightens a little despite her being alone at the moment. She leans against the wall to keep balance since she wasn't expecting a call from him. She's never met the man, only heard of him. He was basically the man in charge of The Earthen Union under its president since Commonwealth was the biggest and most influential area. Spades, some people assume him to be the President of The Earthen Union since he's been in office for longer than his son has been alive.
"Hello, Mayor Rikan," Levana replies a little stunned. "I'm surprised to be speaking with you."
Rikan: I'm making a risky move here since I know you live far and have two girls in your care, and not to mention the strained relationship between our countries, but I'm offering you a job as one of my advisors since Commonwealth and Artemisia are key economic points of our respective countries, and you already have the experience from your time as a senior advisor to your late sister and a background in economics.
Almost immediately, Levana is inclined to say yes, but she thinks about what Mayor Rikan said about her having two girls here. As much as Levana wants the job, she can't just pull Cinder and Winter out of Luna and make them immigrate to The Earthen Union. They have lives here she wouldn't want them to despise her more than they already do.
Levana opens her mouth to respond but stops herself when she feels her phone vibrating again. She looks at the screen and sees a flurry of missed calls from so many parents of Cinder and Winter's classmates and friends, and a citywide emergency alert of how Orion Beach is on fire. The place where her girls are is on fire. Levana takes her phone as she quickly puts on the first pair of heels she finds and starts running out the door.
"Mayor Rikan," Levana tells him, "I'll have to call you back. Family emergency."
-o-
The sky is so bright and blinding in the intense darkness of the eclipse, being brought in the light once again by the fire that seeks to reach all the way up there. Fireworks explode in every direction within the fires in an array of sparks and colours, scaring everyone as they try to make their way off the beach. It's as if there's a ball of fire rolling up the beach, shooting off sparks - only the fireworks are noise; they yell, laugh, shriek, and curse; its sparks are the booming voices. Everyone who once felt so bold and brilliant now feels small and afraid of their possible impending death on Orion's Beach.
Winter is frozen for a moment. She's lost and confused, suddenly not knowing anyone around her since their faces just blur into a running mess within the blazing flames. She doesn't know what to do or where to go, so she ran. She runs as fast as she could so that she could quench the urge to scream.
Suddenly, she's falling.
Winter chokes on her breath as her chest hits the sand and people run over her. Her lungs burn, the world spins, and something sharp scratches her face sharply against something unknown. She can't move and everything hurts. Her face feels like it's torn apart and burning. With a mouthful of sand, Winter screams dryly, squinting her eyes shut as they start filling with her blood.
She knows nobody could hear her. She could barely hear herself.
-o-
Cinder pinches her shirts and fans it back and forth, letting cool air in since she suddenly feels overheated. Her hands touch her face and it's sweating. She's experienced Asian Flush before but never like this. Strange, she finds it to be since the cool ocean breeze is no longer there. Her lungs overflow with burning smoke fumes which is off to her. Then, she hears approaching sirens, not the mermaids but the emergency services.
That sound snaps Cinder back into reality.
Cinder turns around and her eyes open wide at the sight before her. The entire pier that she's currently standing on is flaming and despite the alcohol hazing her mind, she's still very aware. She could even say she sobered up since her body wants to stay alive. She's trapped and the only way out was to run through the fire and risk getting burned alive, but her legs are too stiff in fear to move.
Cinder finally hears the bystanders screaming havoc which was the normal reaction to a situation like this. And all Cinder could think is that she has no escape from the pier. She doesn't have time to move, she only has time to think: "If this life ends, it's been good because this is how and when I go to the stars."
-o-
Lying in the sand, Winter can't see anything but blood. It's everywhere - on her body, her face, the sand, the sky, the fire - everywhere. When Winter cries and screams, she even tastes it in her mouth mixed with smoke and the drinks she had earlier. Her face feels like it's burning with a sharp stabbing sensation.
Winter forces herself to try and get back up. As she pushes herself up with her arms, she ends up falling back in the bloody sand. Her tears sting her face and she shuts her eyes tightly, making fists to try and resist the pain.
"Winter!" She hears someone call. "Winter, help me!"
Through the flames, Winter sees someone also on the ground, reaching out for help. She wants to help and get them both out alive, but she can't move. Winter's mouth is so dry that she can't even muster a response. Her head spins a little as she blacks out.
-o-
Approaching the asphalt of the road bordering the beach, Iko, Kinney, and Jacin make it out. They pant heavily, finally being exposed to fresher air rather than pure smoke. Crowds of their classmates and friends make it out as well, rushing to their cars or to the aid of the oncoming emergency services and they all look terrible. Nobody no longer resembles the people they were in the endless stream of selfies.
They chaotically search the faces, finding Cinder and Winter, even asking around comes up with no results. This means one thing and they know it: they're still in there. Iko and Kinney try their cell phones but nobody is picking up. Jacin takes a deep breath before taking off his tank top to use as a breathing filter and running back into the fiery beach.
"Winter!" Jacin calls. "Cinder!"
Iko and Kinney glance at one another before running back in as well. Kinney rips off his top as well and Iko tears the bottom half of her skirt to do the same thing that Jacin did with his tank top. They search the sand, covering their mouths and noses to protect themselves from the flames as they continuously call the Blackburns. Kinney turns his head and sees a body in the sand. He runs over and turns it over, seeing an unconscious Winter covered in her blood and clotted sand, especially right under one of her eyes.
"Spades, no, no, no…" Kinney mutters, shaking his head. "Jacin! Iko! I found Winter!"
Kinney quickly checks for breathing and a pulse. His hands are shaking as tears start forming in his eyes. It's too loud for him to hear any life vitals. Kinney thinks to start CPR but he isn't sure if it's safe to do that when he isn't even inhaling clean air.
Iko staggers as she approaches them at the sight of Winter. She can't help herself but throw the torn part of her skirt at Kinney while she vomits to the side. Kinney uses the fabric to try and dab away at the blood on Winter's face.
"Jacin!" Iko calls once she's done puking.
She kneels on the other side of Winter and shakes as checks for vitals, unable to get results. Jacin bursts out from the flames which scares them a little. He sees Winter and the air is punched out of his lungs. His Winter, his Trouble, his now-girlfriend is covered in her blood and blacked out.
"Cinder's on the pier," Jacin tells Iko and Kinney. "Get to her, I'll take care of Winter."
Iko and Kinney nod as they run off.
Jacin kneels in the sand beside Winter. He checks for vitals as well, gaining nothing. Jacin wipes at the blood on her face, putting the piece of fabric from Iko's skirt on there like gauze to the best of his ability. He picks Winter up bridal style. He forces his arms to stiffen because if they shake, he will drop Winter. As Jacin runs through the flames to get help for her, tears form in his eyes as his heart rate accelerates exponentially. He mutters some form of prayer up to whoever in the stars is listening, hoping that they will hear and answer.
"You're okay, Winter…" He mutters hopefully. "You're okay…"
-o-
Cinder doesn't remember the last time she was frightened but now she's scared to the stars as the flames grow closer to her. They mimic hands as they pounce on her, wanting to grab and burn her. She tries to back up more but is already against the pier's fence. Her elbow accidentally hits her empty drink and she watches it fall five stories into the cascading ocean below. Cinder swallows whatever fear was in her throat before feeling the need to barf it all out again.
"Selene!"
Cinder whips her head around at the sound of her birth name. Confusion swamps her. She couldn't breathe past the ball of fear and disorientation choking her. For some odd reason, she was expecting to see her mother within the smoke and beyond the ocean, hypnotizing her to jump in like a siren. She squints her eyes and looks closer, realizing that she was hallucinating due to all the smoke inhalation and fear.
"Cinder!" Iko screams, waving her arms.
"Over here!" Kinney exclaims, doing the same.
Cinder exhales as she stares at Iko and Kinney on a jet ski in the middle of the ocean. She waves both of her arms back at them to let them know that she sees them.
"Jump, Cinder, jump!" Kinney screams. "You have no other option!"
Cinder's heart stops again. She can't jump because she can't swim and they know that. She glances back at the fire that was a foot away from her fingertips and she looks ahead at the ocean where her friends are. Cinder realizes that based on where she is, she has two options: die or dive.
She chooses to dive and hopes she doesn't die while doing so.
Cinder climbs on the pier and jumps. Mid-air, Cinder thinks that she made the right choice. But when she hits the water and starts to sink because she freezes and her limbs don't know how to move in water, she thinks that she was better off on the flaming pier. Cinder tried to swim up to the surface and tread water, but her body just keeps on going downwards. She eventually pushes herself up to the surface and manages to take a quick breath before sinking back in.
"Kinney will save you!"
"What?!"
Suddenly, something falls in the water nearby Cinder. It sounded like an explosion, pushing Cinder back and causing her to scream underwater as water rapidly hits her face and enters her nose. Something finally grabs her and takes her up to the surface. That's when Cinder sees that Kinney is holding her up, keeping them both afloat.
"How were you sinking?!" Kinney asks as Iko pulls the jet ski up closer to them. "Are you some kind of robot?!"
Cinder scowls at him as he pushes her up on the jet ski. Iko pulls her in and does the same for Kinney. She starts driving again at top speed along the coastline, finding a place where they could run off without catching on fire.
"Are you okay?" Iko asks her.
Cinder has trouble breathing as she lies there with a hand on her chest.
"Kinney, breathe air into Cinder's lungs," Iko yells him.
Kinney and Cinder both yell in disgust, making Iko laugh a little.
"Where's Winter?" Cinder asks. "And Jacin?"
"With each other," Iko replies, "don't worry."
"Are they okay?"
Iko takes a breath. "Winter was passed out in the sand when we found her but she's now safe, Cinder, just like you - minus all the blood on her. Don't worry, we saved you."
Cinder mockingly rolls her eyes. "I'm not some princess, Iko. I didn't need saving. I'm a spading queen and I could've handled that."
Iko rolls her eyes in the same way. "If the beach wasn't burning, I would have Kinney push you back in the ocean."
"I'd appreciate it. I need a cooling off from the freaking fire!"
Kinney pushes Cinder back in. Cinder screams when she almost falls in but Kinney has been holding her arm the whole time, preventing her from splashing in. Cinder slaps Kinney and the three of them laugh.
-o-
From the smell of smoke, their nostrils now get used to the smell of hospital antiseptic. Everyone went straight from the beach to the nearest emergency room and it was in chaos. Doctors and nurses were running all over the place, screaming orders and codes while checking up on whoever came in from the beach. To the side, Cinder, Iko, and Jacin all sit, wrapped in shock blankets to dry off after having been given fresh oxygen through an inhaler. They thought they were fine until they felt as if the fresh air added another's decade to their lives. Kinney went to get them some refreshments. Now, they just wait for Winter who was still being checked.
Jacin and Winter arrived at the hospital before the others. Luckily, when they arrived, the doctors took her in immediately and she had a pulse which made Jacin feel lighter. However, they had to check her face since that's where the bleeding came from and that's all Jacin knows since they didn't let him in to see it all. Then, he got examined by some nurses.
"Some of those burns look so bad…" Cinder says, shaking her head as they look at the other party goers. "I don't think aloe vera would help."
"Maybe a fire extinguisher would…" Iko mutters. Cinder smirks and Jacin doesn't react.
"We should've never been at that party," Jacin says as he paces back and forth in front of Iko and Cinder, "we should've never had drinks -"
Cinder raises her head from resting it on Iko's shoulder. "Relax, Jacin, what's done is done. We can't go back and regret things."
"How the stars are you so fine when you almost got burned alive and drowned?!" Jacin yells at her. "You can't always be fine. Nobody is always fine!"
"Hey! Stop screaming at me!"
"I won't stop until that fire is in my soul!" Jacin quivers a bit. "I thought Winter was dead, okay?! I thought that I lost her when I just got her!"
Cinder is silenced as Kinney comes back with fresh water bottles and cups of ice chips. He distributes them before taking a seat beside Cinder and notices the tension between Cinder and Jacin.
"How are you all feeling?" Kinney asks.
"It all hurts but I'm alive so I can't complain," Cinder replies
Jacin rolls his eyes at her. Cinder glares at him as she whips an ice chip at him. Jacin bats it away and Iko has to stop them. Cinder glares at Jacin and she knows that she should be thanking him for getting Winter here instead of bickering with him, but by Jacin's face softening once Cinder's eyes drop, that indicates that he knows she's thanking him. That's how their relationship works: they hate each other, but they don't. They get off on bantering and making fun of each other, they always have, except now.
Cinder gnaws on an ice chip, feeling shaken and exhausted now that the adrenaline was leaving her body, but she's relieved. Winter's alive. Jacin's alive. Iko's alive. Kinney's alive. She's alive.
"Ma'am, you're not allowed in there!"
"Don't tell me what to do or you'll end up on a stretcher!"
And to the sound of clicking heels at top speed enters Levana being chased down by a nurse. She almost runs up to them, looking distraught as she immediately checks Cinder by touching and rotating her face uncontrollably, not caring if Cinder was hurt there or not (thankfully, she wasn't). Cinder's face distorts, not used to this weird and unnatural maternal aspect of Levana.
"You smell like a bar, salt water, smoke, and drugs," Levana says as she stands up straight again. "What the stars happened and where is Winter?!"
"The Lunar Eclipse came, it was dark, we were all drunk - and the beach was in flames," Cinder replies vaguely yet in full detail. "As for Winter…"
Cinder was hoping that someone else would pick up from where she trailed off but nobody else does. Cinder looks past Levana and stands up when she sees a doctor holding Winter's arm. Levana turns around and tenses at the sight of Winter's clothes stained in her blood, hair a mess, and her face bandaged. Her eyes never leave Winter and her fingers delicately trace Winter's face as the doctor explains that Winter was lucky her eye wasn't affected. She only has three deep cuts underneath her eye resembling icicles that will leave scars. Levana nods as the doctor excuses himself and hands Levana some creams and antibiotics for her.
Jacin touches Winter softly as he makes her sit next to Cinder and drink his water. Winter doesn't move and although she's conscious, she acts as if she wasn't. Levana blinks and looks away, unable to look at Winter like that. It almost feels as if she has been stabbed, seeing Evret's daughter like this.
"I should've never left your side to talk to some guys," Jacin apologizes to her, taking her hand in his. "I'm sorry for not getting you sooner."
Winter waves it off as she holds the bandages over her face. Jacin silences himself as he puts his hands in his pockets. Cinder shakes a little as she walks off to the side and Iko watches her go, sighing.
All their eyes look up to a television in the corner of the emergency room. It shows aerial footage from Orion's Beach as its flames stay relentless. Fire crews work as hard as they can to put it out. People were still leaving the beach and entering the emergency room.
Reporter: Incoming reports from Orion's Beach so far have declared that there are countless injured, hospitalized, and one casualty. We'll bring you updates as we learn more.
"I can demand for some cosmetic surgery," Levana tells Winter. "It will lessen the scars and make them look like they were never there."
"Leave them as a remembrance," Winter replies softly. "Someone was calling me to save them and I couldn't. I don't know who it was and now they're dead because of me."
"There was nothing you could've done," Levana responds. "Look at you, Winter."
"I could've stayed home but you made me go to this party."
Levana's eyes narrow at Winter. "Are you blaming me for all this? If you stayed home, this still would've happened and you would've blamed yourself for not going and stopping something way out of your control. Don't you dare blame me or yourself, Winter, don't you dare. Be grateful you're not the dead one."
Winter isn't sure how to respond to that and neither do the others. As wicked as it seems, Levana did have a point. They all drank and played with fire - things they weren't supposed to do and now one of them paid the ultimate price for it.
[And this was my best attempt to tie in Selene's nursery fire and Winter's scars like the books. At least for the scars, Levana is still responsible in Winter's eyes (no pun intended).]