The Legend of the Firewalker (15 page)

The woman stopped in front of Jonas and Leah. N
athan’s eyes were fixed intently on Leah’s face. To his surprise, Leah still seemed calm. He didn’t see an ounce of fear. The woman knelt down, her long, curly blond hair falling in front of her, making it impossible for him to see her face. She was very close to Leah now, and her hair seemed to caress Leah’s face.

Nathan shifted his shoulders. His hands still trembled and they were very warm. “What is she doing?” he said in a fru
strated whisper. 

Suddenly, the woman grabbed Leah’s arm and Jonas’s hand fell to the ground. Leah didn’t flinch, but Nathan saw the fear swell in her eyes. A black-hooded figure emerged from the shadows of the nearest archway and stood beside the woman holding Leah’s arm. Desperately, Nathan strained to see his face, but couldn’t. He looked around the plaza to the faces of the other hooded figures, but couldn’t see them either. The woman casually stretched out her hand, and the black-hooded figure gave her a small silver dagger. Quickly, she plunged the tip of the blade into Leah’s arm, violently piercing her flesh. Leah screamed as her attacker slowly proceeded to press the blade downward.

Nathan stood up and, without hesitation, darted up the remaining stone steps. His heart pounded against his chest, and his hands pulsated rapidly, as if they were about to burst into flames. “No!” he yelled.

He ran as fast as he could, but everything around him seemed to be in slow motion. He felt the ground give way as the old, weathered steps crumbled beneath him. He fell to the ground, but not before catching a glimpse of the faceless red-hooded figures that were now upon him.

Nathan lay motionless on the ground of the second level. Through the cloud of dust that now filled the air from the crumbling stairs, he could see that one of the red-hooded figures was getting closer to him.

Slowly, he attempted to get up, as whispers and hissing sounds trickled down from the top level. Red- and black-hooded figures were now looking down at him. “What the heck is all that hissing noise?” he mumbled. “Are th
ese guys snakes now?”

“Ah, my head!” he moaned, before immediately falling back down.

The red-hooded figure was closer now, and Nathan could see the gold-and-silver crescent-shaped medallion around his neck.

Nathan placed his hand on his head and moaned. His hands burned a bright red, but felt cool to the touch. “I have to get up,” he cried. “I have to save Leah!”

Nathan tried to get up again, but this time fell to his knees. He looked towards the crumbling staircase and saw that the red-hooded figure was almost upon him. The figure stretched his palms out towards Nathan, and the gold-and-silver medallion around his neck radiated a bluish hue. 

Nathan’s eyes grew wide in astonishment. “Um, this doesn’t look good.” he stuttered.

Finally, he managed to stumble to his feet, but a blue ball of light was headed straight towards him. He dove out of the way, missing it by inches. The ball of blue light hit one of the mausoleum walls behind him, pulverizing it. He ducked as pieces of the wall went flying everywhere.

Nathan lay on the ground again, and his head throbbed with pain. He took a look at the wall and su
rveyed the pieces of it that now lay all around him. “Yup,” he uttered. “Like I said, not good at all.” He thought about getting up, but his head continued to throb. Another ball of light was hurling towards him, but he couldn’t move. He closed his eyes and expected the worst.

There was a brief moment of silence followed by a soft thud. Slowly, he opened his eyes, and in front of him was a pair of pink and gray sneakers. “Lafonda?” he said, co
nfused. “W-what are you doing here?”

“Saving your ass, of course,” she responded, helping him to his feet. 

Nathan smiled. He looked over her shoulder, where the red-hooded guy with the gold-and-silver medallion around his neck now lay slumped over a pile of rubble from the staircase.

“B-but how?” Nathan stuttered.

Lafonda’s smile quickly faded. “I —”

A black-hooded figure suddenly appeared behind her. She gasped, and her brown eyes grew wide. Nathan watched helplessly as a small trickle of blood fell from her mouth. The faceless hooded figure withdrew his double-edged sword from her back, and Lafonda’s legs gave way unde
rneath her.

Nathan reached out to grab her, and they both slumped to the ground.

Other black-hooded figures appeared, their silver swords clutched upright against their chests. Nathan held tight to Lafonda’s lifeless body while trying to fight back the tears that swelled in his eyes. “No,” he cried. “No!”

Suddenly, something began to burn deep within his sto
mach. It wasn’t anger that churned inside of him; this was peaceful. His hands stopped trembling and burning, but his entire body felt like it radiated energy. 

More black-hooded figures appeared, and Nathan’s heart pounded relentlessly against his chest. He could see his r
eflection in the blades of their swords as they prepared to strike and the fiery bright blue flame in the palm of his hand.

10

BLUE FLAME

Nathan let out a huge gasp, instantly sitting up in bed. His breathing was labored, and he was covered in sweat. “How did I get back here?” he wondered, frantically.

Slowly, he looked around the room, but his heart continued to beat hard against his chest.
I must’ve fallen asleep after the bonfire last night,
he thought, while staring at the clock in his room.

He recalled walking back to Lawrence Hall with Lafonda and the rest of the campers, but everything else was a blur after he got back to his dorm room. 

Nathan wiped the sweat from his brow. It was almost 7:00 in the morning.
I must’ve been so tired that I crashed once I hit the bed.
But if that was a dream—it felt so real.

His thoughts were racing as he tried to recall every d
etail about the dream. “Wait — what’s that?” he murmured. “What’s that blue light?”

He squinted as his eyes continued to adjust to the dark room. Nathan inched forward to investigate, and without warning he thought he saw a blue spark fly from his hand.

“Aaah!” he yelled, springing out of bed.

Nathan examined his hand hysterically, but piercing through the darkness was a flickering blue light burning at the foot of his bed.

“Fire!” he yelled.

Desperately
, Nathan looked around the room for something to use to put out the fire. He grabbed a towel that was hanging on the door knob to the closet and repeatedly beat the towel against the bed until the last flame had been extinguished.

Nathan sat on top of the desk in his room and laughed. “I don’t know why I didn’t just throw the towel on top of the flames,” he chuckled. “I guess I wanted to beat the flames to death.”

He looked down at the scorched bed sheets, and his face went blank. “Those flames were blue,” he uttered. Nathan looked down at his hands. “In my dream a blue flame came out of my hand. B-but this can’t be real.”

He continued to examine his hands. “But if it was just a dream, where did the fire come from? And the spark?”

Quickly, he jumped off the desk and searched around the room for any source that could have caused the fire. He examined his hands again. “If I caused this fire,” he muttered, “then, what other parts of the dream are real too?”

Images of the dream flooded his mind, and his stomach tightened. First, he recalled running through Grimm Cem
etery. Next, he remembered seeing the mysterious red- and black-hooded figures and the strange woman dressed in white. “Jonas and Leah!” he cried. “And Lafonda!”

He sank down on the edge of his bed. Images of Leah b
eing stabbed in her arm by the lady in white tormented him. He remembered her screams, and his stomach continued to tighten. The faceless black-hooded figure came to life again, as did the silver sword that the villain plunged into Lafonda’s back. A feeling of dread came over Nathan, and he felt like he was holding her again. He trembled as he remembered her lifeless body.

Nathan’s thoughts were suddenly interrupted by the sound of an approaching bouncing ball, followed by a quick knock
at his dorm room door. He took a deep breath and sighed with relief. Quickly, he tossed the towel over the scorch marks and opened the door. “Jonas!” he smiled. 

Jonas’s shaggy, curly black hair looked wet, and the T-shirt he was wearing looked damp.

Nathan shook his head and laughed. “Jonas, did you just get out of the shower?” he asked.

Jonas’
s eyebrows frowned slightly beneath his wet curls. “Um, not just,” he said.

Nathan smiled and playfully took the basketball from him. “You know, they do have a thing called bath to
wels,” he said. “You know, to dry off with?”

Jonas frowned again, appearing slightly confused.

Nathan grinned and pointed to the water dripping from Jonas’ hair down on to his shoulders.

“Oh, that,” he said, his face lighting up. “I didn’t want to be late for breakfast.”

Nathan gave Jonas a doubtful but playful look. “Jonas, you’re never late for breakfast,” he said.

“Oh, okay,” Jonas said, reaching for his basketball. “But it’s almost 7:30.”

Nathan held back the basketball, and Jonas frowned. “Not quite,” said Nathan, glancing at the clock in his room.

The elevator bell rang, and they both spun around to watch the doors open.

He handed the basketball back to Jonas and quickly headed over to the elevator. It was barely 7:00, but he had a good guess who it could be. Lafonda stepped out of the elevator, and Nathan quickly hugged her.

“Whoa! Okay,” she said. “Good morning to you, too!”

“You are all right!” he shouted, while holding her in his arms. 

Lafonda l
ooked confused. “Of course I am,” she smiled, weakly. “Why wouldn’t I be?”

Nathan quickly released her from his arms. He was a li
ttle embarrassed. “Um, yeah,” he said. “Sorry about that.” 

She tossed back her long black hair over her shoulders and attempted to fix her orange leadership shirt. “What was that all about?” she asked.

He headed back to his room, and Lafonda followed behind him. Jonas was sitting on Nathan’s bed. Nathan shook his head at Jonas and grinned. Lafonda raised her eyebrows and stared at Nathan.

He smiled sheepishly back at her. “It was nothing,” he said. “I was just surprised to see you.”

She looked confused again. “I told you last night that I would give you the yearbook in the morning,” she said. “Did you forget?”

He quickly looked to see if the towel was still covering the burn marks on his bed. He then turned to address Lafo
nda. “N-no,” he stuttered. “Of course not. I didn’t forget.”

She looked skeptically at him, through squinted eyes, and then walked past him into the room. She stopped at the foot of his bed. “Hi, Jonas,” she said. “Nice to see that somebody has a shirt on.”

Nathan looked down at his bare chest and then quickly put on his IUCF shirt. “Oh,” he uttered.

Lafonda smiled sarcastically. “You know,” she said. “I really hope you wash that shirt, based on how often you wear it.”

He frowned. “Of course I do,” he spouted. “And I do have more than one of these shirts, you know.”

She glanced at his bed and then stared at the towel that was covering the burned sheets. “Do you smell that?” she asked.

Nathan followed her gaze and then quickly shrugged his shoulders. “Um — smell what?” he asked.

“I don’t smell anything,” added Jonas. He had a blank look on his face.   

Lafonda raised her eyebrows at him. She then began looking around the room. “It smells like — like something is burning,” she said.

Nathan motioned for Jonas to get off his bed.

Lafonda walked over to Nathan’s desk and sniffed the air. “I swear something is burning,” she said.

Quickly, while she was inspecting his desk, Nathan grabbed the bed sheets and comforter that lay on the floor and made up his bed.

“Nathan,” she said, turning around. “You do realize you just made up your bed with that towel still on it, right?”

“Oh,” he said. He fluffed his pillows and laid them at the head of the bed. “It’ll be fine.” He took her by the arm and pulled out the chair from underneath his desk. “Have a seat,” he said, with a forced smile. “And let’s have a look at that yearbook.”

She glared at him and then reluctantly sat down. She placed the IUCF yearbook on the desk and turned around to look at him. “Whatever,” she said. “For your sake, I hope that towel isn’t wet.”

“It’s fine,” he said, while flipping through the yearbook. “What page is it on?”

She smirked and then slid the yearbook in front of her. “I think the freshman year photos start somewhere near the front of the book,” she said.

Jonas dribbled his basketball, and they both turned around to gawk at him.

“Um, Jonas,” said Nathan, while scratching his head, “do you mind taking that out into the hallway?

Jonas stopped and looked up at Nathan with a surprised look on his face. “But you said not to bounce the ball in the hallway,” he said. 

Nathan paused to look at the clock. “Everyone should be up getting ready for breakfast by now,” he said. “Go for it. Have at it.”

“Oh, okay,” Jonas said with a grin. He happily left the room, and Nathan walked over to close the door behind him.

Nathan took a quick breath and then walked back over to Lafonda. “Okay,” he said. “Let’s make this quick. I don’t want to give the guys the wrong impression. You know, that it’s okay to have women on the floor.”

Lafonda shook her head and slightly chuckled.  

“What?” he asked, with a frown. “You know women aren’t allowed on the men’s floor.”

She laughed. “Nothing, Nathan,” she said.

“Um, Lafonda,” he protested, while staring blankly at her. “What is it?”

Lafonda laughed heartily. “It’s really nothing, Nathan,” she said. “It’s just that
… I can’t imagine that anyone would think there would be anything going on between us.”

He shrugged and then slowly nodded in agreement. “I guess you have a point,” he uttered.

She grinned and then continued looking through the yearbook.

“But wait
— hold on!” blurted Nathan in protest. “Why not?”

Lafonda rolled her eyes and then handed the open yea
rbook to him. “Okay, can I get you to focus?” she said. “There she is, at the bottom of the page.”

Nathan took the yearbook in his hands and instantly his stomach twisted in knots. “Okay, here goes,” he mumbled, “I am either crazy or not crazy.”

“What?” Lafonda muttered, appearing slightly confused. 

He quickly scanned the bottom row of yearbook pi
ctures. “Um, nothing.”

Nathan was deep
in thought. After all this time, he was nervous about seeing Leah’s picture in something tangible, something that he knew for sure was real.
What if it isn’t her?
he thought to himself.
What if the person I’ve been dreaming about isn’t real?

Nathan finished looking at each picture in the bottom row and the
row above it, but he didn’t see her. He looked again, carefully pausing to look at each picture.
But she has to be real,
because the blue flame was real and I know that somehow I caused that fire in my room,
he thought.

Then suddenly, there she was. He almost didn’t reco
gnize her. She had a smile across her face as if she had been photographed mid-laugh. Her mousy-brown hair was carefully done, and her rosy cheeks were flushed with life. She looked happy. It was as if he was looking at a different person, but it was Leah. It was definitely her.

Lafonda leaned back in the chair and ran her hand through her hair before gently clearing her throat. “So, did you know her?” she asked.

Nathan didn’t move. He realized Lafonda had said something but his mind was racing again. “She’s real,” he repeated to himself. “Leah’s a real person.”

Nathan closed the yearbook and placed it softly on his desk. Slowly, he walked over to the foot of his bed. Wit
hout thinking about it, he plopped down, almost exposing the scorched bed sheets.

Quietly, he stared at the white brick walls to his dorm room.
Does this mean I’m like a psychic, or something?
he thought. He then examined the palms of his hands.
And if I’m not psychic,
then I guess it’s a safe bet that I have some type of power.

He had a solemn look on his face.
This is great! I was just dying for a way to be even more different. Yippee! I am so excited to add more weirdness points to my outcast factor.

Lafonda sat up in her chair and then crossed her arms. “Um, Nathan,” she said, “Earth to Nathan.”

“What?” he uttered, while blinking his eyes.

“Are your hands bothering you again, or something?”

“No,” he said. He turned around to look at her. “My hands are fine.”

“Well, you sure are acting weird,” she said, relaxing back into her chair.

Nathan let out a slight chuckle.
Weird, huh?
he thought.
You don’t even know the half of it.

He clasped his hands together and then placed them against his mouth. Powers or no powers, the one thing he knew for certain was that Leah was real, and so was the blue flame that had scorched his bed. So that meant the red-hooded
Twilight: New Moon
wannabes were real too, and so were their black-hooded doppelgangers.

With his hands still clasped together against his mouth, Nathan took a deep breath and shook his head. He didn’t even want to begin to think about the strange lady dressed in white, let alone her shiny silver dagger. He shook his head again.
Yup, we are definitely in danger,
he thought.
We all are.

Lafonda sat up on her chair again, this time clapping her hands together before placing them in her lap. “Okay,” she said. “So are you going to tell me if you knew Leah or not?”