The Red Moon: Moon Rising (15 page)

 

same thing I did last night. I pictured that I was holding fire in my

 

hands, and as I concentrated I could feel the weight of the fire in
my palms again. When I opened my eyes I had a small flame

 

growing within the palms of my hands.

 

I bent down and reached out, I put my hands on the wood that

 

sat together in a pile, and the wood began to burn. I could feel the

 

fire growing and burning hotter and hotter, soon the fire was

 

burning bright and hot. I closed my eyes again and felt the fire

 

getting smaller as I stood back up. When I opened my eyes again

 

the flames in my hands sizzled out. "Wow, that was awesome."

 

Tucker said, with his wide eyes trained on my hands.

 

"Does it hurt?" He asked very intrigued. "No actually it

 

doesn't; it just gets heavy, that's all." I replied, with a smile.
The

 

air around the camp grew warm again as the sun of the day began

 

to rise. "Hey where is everyone?" I asked, finally taking notice that

 

no one else was around. "Uncle Tom came earlier and took

 

everyone to the field. But I had to stay here; I don't know why, but

 

he said I had to." He said as he walked over to the tent, and

 

disappeared inside.

 

"Grandpa, where's grandma?" I asked, remembering that she

 

wasn't in the tent when I came out. "Um I don't know, I think she

 

might have gone for a walk in the forest again; you know her,

 

she's probably looking for herbs or something." He laughed.
"You
know which way she went?" I asked looking around. "Um, I think

 

she went that way." He said, pointing toward a very small path that

 

sat between a bunch of overgrown shrubs and small trees, that

 

surrounded the camp. I hurried off to find my grandmother.

 

"Grandma." I called out, as I walked down the narrow path. I

 

touched every single shrub that grew close to the path, every tree

 

that I passed I touched; I remembered as a kid my grandmother

 

said that by touching the plants around you; you are absorbing

 

their energy as they absorb yours. For a minute there I forgot what

 

it felt like to walk through the forest and really appreciate every bit

 

of nature that surrounded me. The feeling of freedom to lose

 

yourself in this vast forest was tempting. With every tree that I

 

touched I could sense it's age and its memory that flowed through

 

it, right down to the aged roots that dug deep into the damp

 

ground.

 

Soon I reached a clearing that opened up right before a small

 

drop off, that spilled over to the lake which sat at the bottom of the

 

Weeping mountains. I looked over and noticed a small waterfall

 

that flowed into the lake. Through the light mist of water that

 

floated upward because of the wind; I could see a small bird

 

fluttering around in the mist, wetting it's small wings. The bird
began to fly toward me slowly, flying against the wind.
"Mia." I

 

heard a small voice say. Wait; what. I thought to myself, as I

 

squinted my eyes, looking at this small bird as it perched itself on

 

a little branch just above me.

 

"Mia." I heard again. "Are you talking to me?" I asked,

 

surprised at the thought, that a bird could really be talking to me.

 

"Mia; yes I'm talking to you." The small bird said, this time I was

 

sure that it was talking to me. I fell back a little totally surprised,

 

that it was really a bird that was talking to me.

 

"Hi Mia." The bird said. "I'm Wing, and I've been sent by the

 

gods to help you." It said, looking at me like a bird would; twisting

 

and turning it's head back and forth. "Hi Wing. I'm sorry but this is

 

weird; I can't believe that I'm talking to a little bird." I said, with a

 

smile looking at this little bird stretching its wings to dry.

 

"I'm hear to help you." Wing said followed by soft chirps. "How

 

will you help me." I asked, still bewildered by the fact that I was

 

talking to this little bird. "I can see farther than any of you can." It

 

said, as it fluttered its wings.
“Besides, we'll rely upon each other

 

a lot in the future.
But, it's ok if you don't believe, because you will

 

believe soon.”
I said stretching it's wings before it fluttered it's

 

wings.
"Mia, who are you talking to?" I heard a voice say from behind

 

me. "Jon." I said, stumbling at the sound of a voice. "Sorry, I didn't

 

mean to scare you." He said, catching me from falling. "You

 

startled me, that's all." I said with a smile. "Did you see that bird?"

 

I asked, looking around for Wing. "No, I didn't see a bird but I did

 

hear you talking to someone." He said, looking around at our

 

surroundings.

 

"I guess I was just talking to myself for a few minutes there." I

 

laughed. "Um, your grandmother and Uncle Tom is looking for

 

you.
But I am glad, that I finally have you away from everyone

 

else." He smiled. "Huh, so am I." I said, stepping closer to Jon,

 

slowly running my hands under his baggy shirt and around his

 

waist, pulling his warm defined body closer to me; as my fingers

 

softly touched his bare back. He stepped even closer, with every

 

touch. "So I guess we get a few minutes alone huh." He smiled,

 

looking deep into my eyes.

 

"Yeah; I guess we do." I said, leaning in to kiss him; he kissed

 

me back. We stayed there locked in a passionate kiss, leaning our

 

bodies closer together. Running our hands over each other,

 

touching every definition that our fingers could find.
"Hey; grandpa said to go find you, and I guess I found you

 

both." Tucker said loudly, trying his best to scare us, as he

 

stepped into the clearing. Jon and I jumped a little at the sudden

 

interruption.
"Wow, this is a nice view." He said looking over the

 

drop off, then at the waterfall that flowed over the cliff just a few

 

yards away.

 

"The wind here is nice." He continued. Jon and I just stood

 

there enjoying the feeling of having the both of our arms around

 

each other. "Come on lets get back, before they send someone

 

else to find us." Jon said with a smile. "Yeah; your right." I agreed.

 

"Come on Tuck, lets go." I said, turning with Jon to follow the long

 

path back to camp. As we walked slowly down the path, Tucker

 

hurried pass us. "You guys are slow." He said, as he brushed up

 

against me hurrying along.

 

As his shoulder brushed up against my arm; I began to feel

 

funny; I looked at him as he hurried on down the path.
He

 

eventually disappeared beyond the part of the path that we could

 

see. I felt very weird; my head felt lighter and I began to get dizzy.

 

I started to see pictures flashing like blurred photo's in my mind. I

 

stopped walking; grabbing on to Jon's arm to stop myself from

 

falling.
"Are you ok." He said, grabbing a hold of me. "I don't know." I

 

said looking at him; but I continued seeing these blurry pictures

 

flashing in my head. "What's wrong?" He said, looking at me.
As

 

my legs began to fell weak, I slowly fell to my knees.
“Mia.”
Jon

 

said trying his best to hold me, as I slid out of his grip.

 

The pictures became more fluent and I could see the pictures

 

more clearly. I could see James, my mothers new husband. Why

 

was I seeing James. Why could I see him clearly. "Mia." I could

 

hear him saying. Then I got a glimpse of my mother walking

 

through the forest, touching the trees and shrubs as she walked

 

through; and as she touched them they would die, turning black

 

and withering away into ashes. I couldn't understand why I was

 

seeing this.

 

"Mia." I heard James voice again, this time it was much more

 

closer, like he was standing right next to me. "Mia, I'm coming for

 

you." He said, and now it sounded like it was right in my ear, as I

 

began to feel his presence next to me. "Aah." I screamed out.

 

"Mia, Mia." Jon said shaking me.

 

I quickly snapped out of it, no longer seeing the pictures that I

 

saw. I stood up freaked out; and shaking, I felt beyond scared and

 

held Jon's hands tightly. "Jon, I think something bad is gonna
happen; I think I had a vision. I saw my mother and James." I said,

 

with a quivering voice.

 

"Come on we gotta get you to your grandmother." Jon said,

 

helping me up as we hurried back to camp. "What else did you

 

see?"
Jon asked, as he guided me along the path. "I could see

 

my mom, and she was walking through the forest touching things

 

and when she touched them, they would die and turn to ashes." I

 

said, quivering at the thought of what I saw. "Mia, what if they're

 

the one's that we would have to fight. What are we gonna do?" He

 

asked, as we got closer to the camp. "I don't know." I replied.

 

The light of the day dimmed, as we got closer to the camp; we

 

could smell the smoke of the fire burning and we could hear

 

people talking. This time it was more than just those that was

 

already at the camp. "Who is that?" I asked, looking over at Jon as

 

I slowed his steps. The air around the camp seemed different, it

 

seemed so heavy, like a thick fog was approaching, it grew a little

 

colder with every step that we took as we got closer to the camp.

 

We stopped to see if we could get a glimpse of who was now

 

there.

 

"Mia, I know that you're there." I heard a man say. Jon and I

 

stepped out of the tree line that crowed over the small path. "So I
see you've met wing." Elder Wolf said, turning toward me with a

 

little bird sitting on his finger. It was the very bird that spoke to me

 

earlier.
"That's the bird that I was talking about." I told Jon,

 

stepping closer to the group of people that gathered around the

 

fire. I looked around and noticed that Tucker wasn't there.

 

"Did you see Tucker?" I asked, looking over at grandma. "No;

 

he went to look for you." She said, suddenly looking rather

 

worried.
She walked over to grandpa and whispered something to

 

him.
He disappeared slowly, onto the path that Jon and I just

 

came out from. I looked around at everyone who was now quite

 

and staring at me. "What?" I said, annoyed with everyone's

 

questionable glare.

 

"Mia, we are here before the third day because we needed to

 

warn you; the darkness that once invaded these lands is back."

 

Elder Wing said, as the little bird flew over to his shoulder.
The

 

bird seemed to be whispering something in his ear, but all we

 

could hear, were little chirps. "So Wing tells me that you can hear

 

him." Elder Wing said, staring at me with a smile.

 

"So; Lana I see she's starting to understand what she will

 

need to do." He said looking over at grandma. "Yes Elder, I spoke

 

with her and she knows, who she is but I'm not sure if she totally
understands it.
However, whether or not she understands won't

 

matter soon." Grandma said, with a sad look on her face, as she

 

looked over at me.

 

Suddenly we were all shocked to hear a loud screaming from

 

the forest. Grandma ran off into the direction of the screaming, as

 

did uncle Tom and Elder Wolf. My dad was walking toward the

 

crowd from the entrance of the camp as everyone ran off, and he

 

followed. "Boy's I think you should follow too." Elder Wing said,

 

nodding toward Steve and Jim who was sitting around the fire.

 

"You too." He said, now looking over at Jon.

 

Everyone left the camp leaving me and Elder Wing standing

 

there quietly. "I'll go and check on things. Hi Mia." The little bird

 

said, as he flew off into the forest. I quickly looked at Elder Wing

 

with a bewildered look on my face. "Ha, ha, ha; you heard that

 

huh?" Elder Wing laughed. "Um; yeah I did. So, he talks to you

 

too." I said, sitting down on the edge of a log. "Yup, it's been that

 

way for years." He smiled sitting across of me.

 

"So, my little friend said that he watched you collapse as you

 

and your boyfriend were walking back to the camp. Are you

 

alright?"
He asked, staring at me. At first; I felt very reluctant to

 

tell him what I really saw.
On the other hand I was afraid to lye to
him; It felt like if I lied he would know. So I told him the truth. "Yes,

 

I did collapse but I'm feeling better though." I said breaking my

 

gaze from his eyes. "Do you mind sharing what happened?" He

 

said starting to move closer to me.

 

"Um; I don't really understand what happened. But I did see

 

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