Chapter 19
Evie woke up in the morning, her neck slightly sore. “This hurts,” she complained aloud to herself as she climbed out of bed. Her hand rubbed against the back. Pulling her hand back, she noticed it too seemed slightly different. Maybe she burned herself cooking last night. She couldn't remember what happened.
Looking over at the clock and noticing the time, she groaned to herself. She was supposed to meet with her study group in an hour. It was going to be another boring Saturday. She shook her head. It was time to face the day once again.
After she changed and fixed her hair into a ponytail, she walked into the kitchen and saw Kitty sitting at the table. Her head was being supported by her arms, her face sunken forward. “What's wrong?” She walked past her and grabbed a glass of juice. She had a feeling it was the same thing she was experiencing.
Kitty leaned back and groaned. Her hair fell across her face before being pushed back. “Nothing much. I think I drank so much last night I blacked out. I can't remember what happened.”
Evie shrugged. “I think we both did. That was ridiculous.” She couldn't remember going out to drink last night. She must have really hit the bottle hard if her memory was that fuzzy.
“Tell me about it,” Kitty said standing up and fixing herself another glass of orange juice. She downed it before heading back into her room.
At least she didn't slam the door. Evie wasn't sure her head could take it. She didn't feel too drunk though. Maybe she slept off most of it.
Grabbing her backpack, Evie headed out the door with a slight frown on her face. The sooner she got through with the study group, the more time she would have to come back and do nothing. She wanted something more. There had to be something else she could instead of the same thing once again. Her life was never interesting.
As she headed outside, Uriz walked up to her. He smiled first, catching her attention. He seemed like a nice guy. She didn't know why but he looked a little familiar. “Excuse me, do you know how to get to the student union from here? I seem to be rather lost.”
She couldn't place him. He might be from one of the classes she had last semester. It was hard remembering everyone. “I was kind of headed towards the library.” The union was on the other side of campus. If she took him there, she would be late meeting with the others. They were all counting on her for notes.
“I see. Well I was new and just wondering if you could help me,” he stated, starting to move away from her disappointed.
She sighed. She remembered how hard it was when she first started. She didn't have a clue where everything was. A few minutes of her time could be spared. “Alright,” she said. It wouldn't be the worst thing in the world to be late for her study group.
He turned around, slightly stunned. “What?”
“Come on. I'll show you where it is.” It could be worse. He could have asked rudely. At least he asked nicely. Niceness deserved to be paid off.
He moved closer towards her, viewing her intently. “Are you sure? You said you needed to head towards the library.” He wanted to make sure he heard her right. She needed to know everything had a cost associated with it.
She shrugged. “I can be a little late. Besides, you look like you need my help.” She smiled. He seemed amazed someone wanted to help him.
“I think I do.”
They started heading off towards the student union, Evie explaining a few other things about the campus he might want to know about. They were all pointers she wished she heard when she started. After staying here for four years, she knew a lot of things he might have missed out on.
When they reached the front of the union, she turned to him and said, “This is it. If you have any problems, just let me know. I'm around campus all the time.”
He laughed. He made the right choice in coming back. “No you're not.” He thrust out his hands and placed one on either side of her head before she could object.
All of the images from last night came streaming back into her mind. It was as though she was viewing a slide show – one made from dark underground caverns, fish creatures, and a flame entrenched altar. She opened her mouth to say something but found everything going blank. When things finally settled down in there, she looked at him and asked, “Uriz?” She blinked hard, making sure she saw the right person in front of her.
“Absolutely.”
“Why did you want to come to the union?” She couldn't understand why he chose to remain around here. She would have gotten out of here before any more creatures showed up. Already she worried a few might be watching them at this very moment.
He shrugged, grinning slightly. “I thought about it last night, after I took everything away from you. You're a very complicated person. More complicated than most people I've come across.”
“And you're excellent at giving compliments.”
“See – that. No one else talks to me like that. They run away, they curse me out, but you – you aren't scared. That's something new.”
She laughed. “Do you want me to start cursing you out?”
“No, please. You'd probably think of creative ways to do it and actually make me cry. Imagine – a fire elemental crying. I'm sure that would be great for my image.”
“Anyway,” she said, drawing them back on subject, “You were saying?”
“Right, getting back to it. You did save me. I probably could have eventually saved myself but, in all fairness, that's rare. And by rare I mean it never happened before. It also carries a lot of problems for you.”
“Oh really? Like hanging around with you for all eternity?” She missed him in the short while he was gone. He felt like an old friend by now.
“Other fiends are going to come after you and I really don't want to have to keep coming back here. I mean, well, this might be stretching it, but once you see other places you're going to want to leave here forever too.” He scanned the surrounding areas. The few trees nearby looked weathered and beaten from years of abuse, cars polluted the air, and no one seemed to smile when they walked. He saw worse but there were many greater places to be.
“Are you asking me to come with you?” She hoped he was. She didn't want to stay here anymore. She wanted some adventure. He was the one to give it to her.
He nodded. “I guess I am. So the only question is whether or not you want to. I mean, if you have some kind of prior engagements you can stay here and I'll just pop in once in a while to check on you but otherwise...” He waited patiently to hear her response.
She smiled. This was great. “Where are we going first?”
“That's the beauty of it.” He reached over and touched a small device seemingly melded into his skin. A bright light started glowing from it, seeming to stretch out towards them.
“What's that?” Her eyes remained focused on the soft glow. She didn't know if it was something she should be scared about or enthralled with.
“Our next destination.”
“Which is?”
He leaned his head closer to her ear and whispered, “That's the fun part. I don't know. They just send me places.” He raised his eyebrows in anticipation.
Her eyes remained fixated on the glowing light as it descended upon them. Tilting her head slightly towards him, she asked, “Evil creatures?”
He nodded. “Probably.”
“Adventure?” She hoped so.
“Definitely.”
A smile crossed both of their faces. She grabbed his hand firmly. “Let's go.” The light cascaded around them, whisking them away. Evie never felt freer.
About the Author:
Danielle Kazemi is an author from southern Louisiana, living within walking distance of a bayou with alligators. She spends most of her free time either coming up with new story ideas or goofing off online. You can find her on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/DaniWrites or connect on Twitter with @DaniKazemi
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