Kissing Danger ✔️

THIRTY THREE

Word Count: 1724

~Aven

It's dark when our feet touch the ground again.

The icy burn of the winter wind vanishes, replaced with a different kind of chill. The air is so fresh my head spins for a moment, scented with fresh pine. We are in a forest. It's dark, and not just because it's night time. Silky rays of pale moonlight struggle through the canopy, the few that get through casting dappled light across the forest floor.

This must be Territory Four.

"I don't want to talk about it," I exclaim, pushing away from Stace immediately. Even if we have managed to escape, the hollow feeling in my stomach has chased me all the way here. I could have killed those people. It would have been my fault...

"No one was injured, Aven," Stace assures me, the deep blue shadows caressing the contours of his face. "I nullified your powers immediately."

So it wasn't me who put a stop to it. It felt like it was, but maybe Stace is so good at controlling his powers that I didn't even notice...How could I ever reach a state similar to him? He's endlessly powerful.

"So I can catch people on fire...Lovely," I throw my hands up, defeated.

Eryk is watching me with those cool, dark eyes. Quietly he sheds his winter jacket, draping it over a branch next to him, before sauntering off through the trees. Stace motions for me to follow him, so I do, trying to keep a few strides in front of him.

"You had no control, it's not your fault," Stace assures me, a franticness seeping into his tone. It's calmed only by the eerie sounds of the forest we pass through. "Most with powers go to school for years to learn how to control it."

I don't even glance over my shoulder. "Did you?"

"I was trained by my father," he mumbles in response. His family is a subject that has yet to come up between us. Being that he is a couple decades older than me, his family has likely long passed, including his father, who on his deathbed, assigned Stace with the task to take care of me.

"I'm never using my powers again." I mean it too.

Stace catches up, walking in step with me. "What if I could help you learn to control them?"

I turn to look at him. Does he really not see anything wrong with what he is saying? If people spend years going through training, then there is no way I'm going to be able to catch in time. At least not before my temper rises and I accidently catch myself or others on fire, and have no way of knowing how to put it out. And then there's the issue of...Well, Stace teaching me.

"That would be a bad idea..." I note, drawing my eyes in front of me, to where Eryk is walking ahead, batting fresh growth out of the way. He seems to know where he is going, which means Stace brought us here for an intended reason.

"Why?"

"Being in your proximity is distracting enough. Nothing would be accomplished," I mutter, feeling my cheeks flush, making me grateful for the dim lighting.

Even through all my panic, I've still had space in my mind for that night, on the train. I'm not sure what came over myself. I allowed myself to get whisked away by him, and yet I can't bring myself to regret it. In fact, the thought of feeling all of that again...It's a delightful, and yet mortifying thought.

Stace looks over at me, clearly not having any thoughts of regret either. "If you want to talk about that-"

"No," I snap quickly. That will only make it worse, and the thought of him recounting it makes me want to be ill. "But if you can find someone who can help me control my powers so that never happens again, I'll work with them."