Where Fires Dare to Burn

Chapter 07 - Booksmart or Heartsmart?

Luke checked his phone again.

She was late.

Get a grip. He stuffed the phone back into his pocket and sighed. It was two minutes past eight. She was a grand total of one-hundred-and-twenty seconds behind schedule.

The sun edged close to the horizon, throwing a lurid twilight over the bulk of the college library that loomed behind him. He loitered awkwardly on the steps, pacing back and forth, trying not to look too shifty to the steady straggle of students who flowed in and out of the glass-sheathed foyer. They were supposed to be meeting to work on their assignment for tomorrow's seminar with Doctor Maresfield – a study session that had been come a regular feature over the past few weeks.

She hadn't been late before. He pulled his phone out again. Two more minutes had elapsed. Luke pursed his lips in annoyance. He didn't have her phone number. She'd never offered it and he'd felt a little invasive asking, given how she still seemed to want to keep everyone and everything at arm's length.

So far he hadn't figured out a way to broach the subject of what he'd seen last week at he archery range. Truth be told, he still wasn't entirely convinced that what he and Gabi had come across was even real. He'd spoken to her several times, verifying that they'd both seen the same thing, but it still nagged at the back of his mind. The weird glow; the footprints and the same ethereal shimmer coiling around Oaklynn's feet guilty as blood.

But guilty of what, exactly? For all he know she'd walked through another patch of glowing fauna. The woods that encroached on the campus from the east were thick, and formed a broad, sweeping arc around the town's southern edges. Who knew how many secrets they might hold?

In the end, unable to figure with a way to bring it up, he ended up saying nothing at all.

Which left him here, loitering outside the library, wondering where she was and what to do. He jammed the phone back into his pocket again and sighed, leaning against the handrail that bisected the steps.

Just when he was beginning to feel a sense of genuine worry, Oaklynn finally materialised out of the descending twilight. He jerked upright, glancing at the phone that had been in and out of his hand constantly. She was nearly half an hour later than normal.

"Hey," Luke said. "What kind of time do you call this?" He tried to keep his tone light; no sense making a scene out of this. For all he knew she'd fallen asleep in her dorm or something.

"Sorry, sorry," she replied, stomping to a halt in front of him. Her cheeks were flushed and she huffed, blowing a strand of hair off her nose and adjusting her skewed beanie with one hand. "Had a bit of a long day as it is."

"You alright?" He glanced around then tested out a smile. "Usually I'm the one getting scraped over the coals for running late."

"Yeah, I'm good. Just had to deal with something."

"Something involving those three goons from the other night?"

She frowned. "Maybe."

"Oaklynn, if that creep is still following you around you just should call campus security and get his ass hauled out of here."

"No, no, no." The words leapt from her mouth so sharply that she seemed to surprise herself. She sucked a breath through her teeth. "Look, I know how it can seem, but Kasper's not dangerous. He's not going to hurt me."

Luke snorted. "He sure gives a good impression."

"It's just his way. But he's not even the problem, really."

"Then who is?"

"The rest of his family." Oaklynn explained reluctantly. "That's why I'm late. I went to their stupid meeting. That was what the note Kasper gave was about. They just wanted to meet with me."