The Sword of Fire-Trials Of Fate--Book I

CHAPTER 11: SOME "ALONE" TIME

Mac sat beside me as I watched Natalia turn a piece of roast eagle over the fire(Long story short, Mac said he was hungry, saw an eagle, and threw a stone at it). My stomach growled, and he laughed, "You must be as hungry as I am, aren't you?"

"Dude," I turned to him, "We jumped off an airplane and fell from the sky. Then we fought a demon and fell off a waterfall. Who wouldn't be hungry?"

"Most of humanity," he answered, "They'd be dead."

"Fair point, "I muttered.

Hannah walked over to the fire, sniffed the eagle, and told Natalia, "It should be done in five minutes. Call me when it's ready."

Natalia nodded. She looked so tired she wasn't even swearing anymore.

Hannah walked away, and I observed, "She looks cuter with her hair loose."

Mac shrugged, "For you, maybe."

Hannah walked over to the bank of the river, where she sat, lost in thought. With the breeze tossing her hair, she really did look cute. I wondered why I hadn't noticed it before; she was beautiful. I'd always seen her as some kind of ugly snob and a nerd, never paying attention to who she really was. Even now we were barely friends, but sitting there, she looked so innocent,so...normal. I wondered what she was thinking about. She probably just wanted some fresh air or something. Or maybe-

"Hey, Romeo, "Mac brought me back to my senses, "You've been staring your eyes out for about a minute now, and I'm personally getting worried. You don't usually stare at a girl for that long...Unless," he smirked, turned to her, then to me, "Someone's in love..."

I felt my ears heat up. "What? No!" I smiled awkwardly, "I mean, I was just... thinking about," I blushed, "Never mind."

"Oh-ho-ho...," he nudged me, "Well, what do we have here? Jones is falling in love."

"Of course I'm not," I put on a serious face, "I was just thinking about something, that's all..."

"Thinking about sparking off a conversation with her?" he grinned, "Then think no further, my man. Go for her; she looks lonely."

I laughed, then shook my head, "Nah, I'm okay-"

"Nonsense, my friend," he placed his hand on my shoulder, "Don't be shy; go for her. After all, lots of relationships have started out with awkward conversations. Come on," he pushed me, "Go for her."

"No way, man," I laughed, "I don't wanna leave you here; you'll die of boredom."

He turned to Natalia, who was concentrating on the eagle, and a mischievous smirk appeared on his face, "No I won't."

I sighed and got up, "Fine," I turned to him, "But only because she's lonely."

Mac smirked and gave me two thumbs-up, "Go get her, fire."

I was pretty sure it was supposed to be "tiger," instead of "fire," but correcting Mac is like teaching a rock how to solve algebra.

I walked over to Hannah and sat down beside her. "Hey," I smiled.

"Hey," she muttered, not even looking at me.

Well, that's a great start.

"So..." I looked up at the almost-full moon, "What're you thinking about?"

"Tomorrow," she answered.

"Why?"

"Because reasons," she said in a tone that did not want any more questions.

I nodded, and stared into space with her. 

Tomorrow. Tomorrow would be the day, wouldn't it? The day I'd either save this world or doom it. It was all so real, and so scary, too. I mean, I was gonna fight some serpent clone of chaos, and the dude had killed my Dad. I wasn't sure if a bunch of young teenagers(Oh, wait. Natalia's twelve) could finish him off. All of a sudden, I felt like we weren't enough. Like I wasn't enough. Maybe if we'd stopped on the way to buy a couple of rocket-launchers on the way, I wouldn't feel this bad. The thought of that made me smile.