Fire Summoner

Chapter Eleven: Farewells and Familiar Faces

"Wait, what do you mean 'take me home'?" Alice protested. She couldn't just leave! "My home is here, with my parents! Besides, Nick and I have that environmental research trip planned with Dr. Hanisan, and I'm not about to miss an opportunity like that!" she huffed, plopping her rucksack down by the front steps. Alice still didn't know what had possessed her to pack it in the first place, let alone how quickly she managed to do it despite not knowing where she was headed.

Missy came slinking out of the house, her massive paws making surprisingly light thuds against the floorboards. She bumped her shoulder against Alice's ribs before she headed down the stairs to lay in the sunny front drive.

Emily fixed Alice with a look. "You really think we haven't already planned all that out? Connor and I have been busy over the last seventy-two hours. Hanisan will understand your guys' absence." She threw over her shoulder as she followed Missy down to the front yard.

Connor had two duffel bags slung across his shoulders, one for him and Emily, Alice guessed. "Connor, what does she mean?" Alice pinned him with an accusing look. "Neither of you have told me where you were the past few days, y'know, when you said you'd be in Connecticut. What happened to that, huh?"

Connor looked down at the chipping paint of the porch steps sheepishly. His dark brown hair curled over his ears slightly, but this didn't stop Alice from seeing the blush creep from his ears and down his neck, which always showed up when he was confronted about something. Contrary to his somewhat frightening and hulking appearance suggested, Connor hated confrontation. He looked like he could single-handedly break up a bar fight, as he stood at six-foot-two and had a well defined physique, but he would rather eat his own hand than get involved in a physical or verbal altercation.

"Alice!" Emily snapped, "Don't go after Connor if you've got a problem with me. You know how he is with confrontation. If you give me a little more time, I promise to explain why we lied."

It was Alice's turn to flush red. She felt her cheeks heat up, her darker, olive skin tone would be able to hide the sheepishness better than Connor's pale skin could. Alice knew then that she was in the wrong for lashing out at Connor like that. "I'm sorry," she apologized, turning to face him so he could see the sincerness she hoped was showing in her eyes. "It wasn't fair of me to do that to you. I am still upset that the two of you lied and kept all of this from me, but I'm willing to listen to what you guys have to say."

"That's better." Emily remarked before starting down the yard again with Missy on her heels. Connor nodded while swallowing heavily. "I know this is all a lot, I probably would have reacted the same way you are now if I were in your shoes." He let out a short laugh, his light brown eyes lighting up slightly, "You're actually taking all of this waayy better than we could have expected."

"Our girl is made of tough stuff." Harold stated proudly from behind Alice. He and Charlotte joined the small party out on the front porch. His arm was around Charlotte's shoulders, and they both had tears in their eyes.

"Mom, Dad, I think I need to leave." Alice said, her throat tightening slightly. "You both got too close to danger earlier. I don't know what I'd do if I put you guys in harm's way like that again."

"I won't hear any of that," Charlotte interrupted her daughter's train of thought. "It's our job to protect you, not the other way around. Unfortunately, what happened this morning, with those strange wolf-rooster creatures and that giant bird, we figure that the safest place for you isn't here, but with wherever those two are." she said, jutting her chin at Connor and Emily.

There came the sound of crunching gravel as Nick made his way back up the driveway, running awkwardly with a quiver of arrows slung haphazardly over one shoulder and two duffle bags slung over the other. He fumbled with his bow in hand as he tried to yank his truck keys out of his pocket.