Burned

Chapter 4

After that little scene, it was just quiet. Isaac didn't speak and Xander only let out soft breaths as he slept. It would be peaceful had Xander's face from 20 minutes prior not been replaying in Isaac's head. He just looked so scared at a simple raised voice. What had happened to that kid, anyway? He seemed almost too eager to leave his village as soon as the opportunity presented itself...

The silence was killing him and Isaac needed to preoccupy himself. So, he read one of the books. It was interesting, sure, but it wasn't enough to keep him wanting more. Still, he kept at it. What if he really was able to do magic? It would be a long shot, but maybe it would be worth it.

An hour of trying, however, proved fruitless. And at this point, Isaac was getting frustrated with the damn book. He thought of throwing it, but what would that do? Nothing.

So he kept reading. Reading on incantations, basic spells, even how to make your own personal spell. He'd even tried to do a few himself. Nothing worked. With a groan he set down the book next to Xander's bag and sighed. It was going to get late soon, and they hadn't gotten anything to eat for dinner since they left Mason's.

Isaac stood up, then looked around the other side at Xander.

'Still sleeping away, I see,' He thought. 'I guess it would be fine if I left him here for a little bit while I went to get dinner since he's asleep.' And so Isaac left to go fishing again.

He had only been gone for about 15 minutes before he heard a high-pitched shriek.

"Are you serious." He muttered to himself as he made his way back. "I didn't even get to a river and you already got yourself in trouble..." Apparently he couldn't leave the boy alone for even 15 minutes...

Upon arrival to where he had followed the sound of Xander, he'd burst into laughter.

"Stop laughing and help me!" Xander shouted from where he was in a tree. He was currently being kept up there by a few wolves.

"Xander. I wasn't even gone long, how did you manage this?" Isaac asked from where he was. "Wait, tell me after you're down. I don't want to shout up to a tree to talk to you." And so with Xander quiet, he fended off the wolves himself. Making loud noises, throwing rocks and sticks at them, and eventually they left. Xander made his way down the tree, and when Isaac held out his hands to help him, Xander simply switched to the other side of the tree, mumbling something about not wanting to be touched. Isaac raised an eyebrow, then shrugged.

"So how did you manage this again?" Isaac asked, walking again to look for dinner.

"I woke up and I saw that you weren't there..." Xander said, looking at the ground. "So I went to look for you, but those wolves found me first, I guess."

"I only went to look for dinner, you couldn't just sit there and wait?" Isaac asked, looking over his shoulder at him. "Look, next time I go somewhere without you don't just go off on your own to look for me, yeah? It would make it a lot harder to find you."

Xander was silent for a moment, then nodded. "Alright. But what if you're dead? Then what'll I do?"

"Then don't look for me. What are you gonna do with a dead body, anyway?"

"I guess you're right..." Xander kept quiet again until they came upon a river with fish.

"I hope you know you're catching your own dinner tonight." Isaac said, moving farther from Xander to catch his own fish. "I can't constantly baby you."

"I can do it myself." Xander said, frowning.

"That's the point." Isaac went quiet after that. In about 20 minutes, the two each had their own fish. It was a fairly silent dinner, Xander started the fire, while Isaac prepared and cooked the fish. As he ate, Xander continued to read the book on magic. While it didn't do anything for Isaac, it absolutely fascinated Xander. All the information on spells, potions, and incantations were amazing. He knew he couldn't do magic. There was nothing about him that really said 'witch'. It was just something to keep him entertained.

"Hey, Isaac?" He asked, turning to him.

"What."

"Have you read this page on pyromancy?"

"No, Xander. I haven't read any of it." He was lying, of course. He did try, just not while Xander was looking.

"But you should it's-"

"If you tell me how interesting it is, I will take it upon myself to throw that damned book in the fire. Take that for your pyromancy."

"I'm just saying... There's this one section on... pyremancy. It's like... Making fire with your body?" Xander flipped through, reading as he spoke.

"Oh yeah?" Isaac had pretty much tuned out by this point. He was just responding so Xander wouldn't get upset.

"Yeah!" Xander stopped on a page. "It shows you how to do it and everything. Like the proper way to channel your energy and also the proper way to stand and where to hold your hands and even for if you're a higher power witch then you can even set your entire body on fire and-"

"Xander. This is interesting and all, but you're pretty much a babbling brook right now." Isaac said, stretching. "And to be completely honest, I'm tired as hell. Can we drop this for now?"

"Um... Okay then. I guess we can talk about it in the morning then?"

"Yeah, sure, whatever. Good night, Xander."

"Uh, good night Isaac." It was still a little early for sleep, and the sun hadn't completely gone down, so Xander decided to stay up for a little while longer. He wanted to be able to give Isaac a brief summary in the morning and maybe even help him understand how it all works. Maybe once he saw how it could happen and if it was easy enough, they could figure out if he was a witch once and for all. Maybe it would be simpler than either of them thought. The book did seem like it was over-complicating things a little bit... Maybe if he tried it for himself, then he would be able to teach it to Isaac easier.

And... No luck. There was no type of anything that he felt inside of himself when he tried to make something appear from his fingertips. With a sigh, Xander closed the book and set it next to Isaac. With that, he decided to sleep for the night.