Playing With Fire

Chapter 19: A Lion, a Tiger, and a Bear

I stumbled down the hallway as Miranda shoved me forward. We passed other jail cells, and strangely, they weren't empty. They were all grown men and women, so that was better than children, but something told me they shouldn't be locked up.

Miranda shoved my head forward. "Look forward and stay silent!" she barked.

"Do we know those people?" I asked, and in return I got kicked in the back of my knee, causing me to fall to the ground. Now I can add scraped knees to my list of injuries.

"I told you, no talking!" she dragged me up from the ground again and continued to shove me along.

I waited another five minutes before asking another question. "Where are Pax and Trixie?"

I was expecting another kick to the knees, so I was prepared for that, but she shoved me into the wall instead. My head was knocked into the wall, hard. I was surprised it didn't crack open like an egg. I swayed and landed on my butt, too dizzy to bother getting up.

"Get up!" Miranda kicked me in the side of my rib cage. I got up and continued to stumble along, but I really shouldn't have been standing. We kept walking and got out of the prison hallway into a huge chamber room, where I still had no energy. If I am going to fight back, I'm going to need tun more strength than I have right now. And then it came to me. Pax's house!

Remember when I was upset and kicked that bathtub and then I burst into flames? Yeah, well afterward, I felt like I had gotten all my energy back, and I smelled good (trust me, you do not want to be standing next to me right now).

Okay Bri, lavender, lavender, lavender, and I burst into flames.

It only lasted five seconds, but man, did it feel good. I felt all my muscles relax and my legs regain their strength. I watched the scratches on my body mend partially, only to the point where they didn't look like they need immediate attention. The dizziness in my head had reduced to a painful throbbing, but I could work with that.

"Let's go!" I said to myself as I cracked my neck.

Miranda, who had jumped backward in surprise and now didn't have eyebrows, wore an expression of rage.

"You're not supposed to do that!" she screamed and tried to throw a punch at my face, but I caught her hand. Whoa, I can do that?

"Oh, honey, you never said I couldn't."

She screamed in frustration and tried to punch me with her other hand, but I also caught that one. Maybe I do have secret ninja skills.

She growled, and we went into a ninja fight. Miranda did a roundhouse kick to my head, but I ducked and punched her in the stomach. She did a spin turn, so I missed and stumbled forward a bit. Miranda took this advantage and went to punch my face again, but I rolled and grabbed her arm. I tried to judo flip her, but she landed and pulled my arm forward, making me stumble again. She went for a side punch at my ribs, but I tucked and rolled, causing her to punch the wall.

"OW!" she howled in pain, cradling her hand. I took her pain as a distraction and did a jump back kick to her stomach, throwing her into one of the walls of the prison. Unfortunately, it didn't faze her and she growled at me.

"I can see that I am no match for you as a person," and she started changing again, starting with her face and ending with her legs, until she had turned into a tiger. "But nothing is stopping me from killing you as a tiger." She growled and lunged at me. I was expecting it, so as she was about to hit me, I did a back-walkover (seriously, where are these moves coming from?) so she sailed right over me. When my legs came back around, I kicked her in the butt, sending her spinning in the air. I was hilarious to watch.