Afire Love

Chapter 12

When I opened my eyes, a dragon was landing on the ground right in front of me. I took an instinctive step back and felt Charlie's hands on my shoulders. I had barely noticed them; I was so amazed by what was happening. The grey and red dragon folded up its wings, and looked around, smelling the air. He probably smelled us and instantly fired in our direction. A gasp escaped my mouth while the flames rushed towards us, and Charlie pressed my shoulders harder, as to assure it was fine. He was right of course, all I just felt was a hot wind on my face. I could not say anything, not even blink. I was paralysed by the scene. The more I stared at it, the clearer I could see the details of his scales, and their colours. I took a step forward, stopped by Charlie's hands on my shoulders. I did not really mind and folded my eyes to see the dragon more clearly. Eventually, the dragon took off. I could not take my eyes off of it. Even when it was gone, I stared at the sky like was expecting it to come back. I emptied my lungs for the first time in five minutes and turned around to face Charlie.

"So, how was it?" He asked.

No words could come to me, I stood there, staring at him with wide opened eyes. When I recovered, I had a nervous laugh and jumped to Charlie's neck. I hugged him really hard. He was not expecting that, but he hugged me back.

"Charlie, that, was amazing," I finally said. "Thank you. So much!"

"I'm glad you liked it."

"I didn't just like it, it was crazy, outstandingly crazy!"

We stayed in the forest for a moment, and wandered around a little. We saw a nest with two eggs in it. I wanted to have a closer look, but Charlie said we better not. After walking for a while, we reached the arch, and I realised we were leaving.

"We are going already?" I asked, disappointed.

"Nora, don't be impatient. There still are many days for us to come back, and we'll get to see other dragons, I assure you. The dragons aren't going anywhere. Besides, the night is coming, I'm not sure you want to be on a broom at night."

We took off and flew side by side for a moment. I was so amazed by what I just saw, and I could not stop smiling, which apparently made Charlie smile. He eventually flew ahead, leaving the both of us with our own thoughts. The heights and the air blowing on my face made me feel so good. I took this alone time to think about how I felt towards Charlie. I still liked him. It had almost stopped these past months, but now, I was sure the feelings were just asleep. I could not tell if he liked me. He probably did a little bit around Christmas, but things had surely changed. However, even this thought did not manage to make me sad, and I came home happier than ever.

We arrived while the night was falling over the hills, and I heavily sat on the couch, soon imitated by Charlie. We did not talk for a moment and lied there for a while.

"I'd love to lie on the grass right now, but yours is awfully burned," I said, disappointed.

"This is called summer."

"Is it?" I answered with the same ironic tone.

We stayed there for a while, we talked, joked, and laughed so much. Just like we used to. I had missed this. He told me more about his work and said I could come with him the day after. He warned me, saying it was very dangerous, and that I should do everything he would say, even if I did not like it. I naturally agreed, he was the professional, after all. Charlie told me we should be at the reserve by 6am the next day. He offered to wake me up, and suggested going to bed early.