Wind Warrior (14 page)

White Halls was hardly big enough to
necessitate a long drive. He could have just as easily walked the
mile and a half to Xander’s house but it wasn’t Sean’s style to
walk when there was a perfectly capable car handy.

As he turned onto Xander’s street, his
vision filled with the twirling lights from atop a sea of police
cars and fire trucks. Firemen in gasmasks dragged hoses across the
narrow street and sprayed pressurized jets of water into smoldering
trees and bushes.

The once vibrant green grass of the park was
scorched and charred, leaving the ruined ground exposed beneath.
Rivers of water rushed down either side of the street and poured
like an angry waterfall into the narrow metal drains. The ground
was muddy and large pools of water still soaked the grassy
field.

“
What did you get into,
Xander?” Sean muttered.

With a renewed sense of urgency, Sean tried
driving down the street. As he approached, a police officer stepped
in front of his car and shined a flashlight through the windshield.
Sean squinted and raised a hand to block the light. As soon as he
had come to a complete stop, the officer approached his open
window.

“
Did you see all the
emergency vehicles?” the officer asked, gesturing to the
haphazardly parked cars. “You can’t drive through here.”

Sean looked past the officer. He could
practically see Xander’s house from where he was stopped. “I just
need to get to my friend’s house. It’s right down the street.”

The officer shook his head. “You can’t drive
over these hoses. You can park back here and walk down there, if
you need to. Just stay away from the firefighters while they’re
working.”

Sean begrudgingly parked his car against the
curb. The scene was controlled chaos as he skirted across the far
side of the road. He did his best to avoid the thick hoses attached
to the fire hydrants he passed but generally kept his head down as
he passed the scene, as though the police would be able to tell
just by looking at him that he had a relationship to one of the men
involved in the fire.

Xander’s car was parked in the driveway as
Sean approached but the house itself was dark. No light bled
through from the kitchen or dining room. There wasn’t even the
typical flickering glow from the television, which Xander’s
grandfather watched fairly religiously.

As he climbed the steps, he sidestepped
piles of dirt and soot that coated both the edges of the stairs and
the porch landing in front of the door. The scene only reignited
Sean’s concern for his best friend. Reaching out cautiously, he
knocked on the door.

For a long minute, he stood on the porch
waiting for someone to come answer. When he didn’t hear any
movement inside, he rang the doorbell as well.

Sean turned his back to the front of the
house while he waited and looked out over the street. The other
houses in the neighborhood were equally quiet, though he could see
lights glowing through a few of the windows.

Sighing—his fears not abated, as he would
have hoped—Sean started to walk back down the stairs before he
heard the door handle behind him turn. He quickly turned back
toward Xander’s house as the door opened a crack. Despite the gloom
within the house, he could see Xander’s father staring out at
him.

“
Mr. Sirocco?” Sean said.
The man looked horribly aged. His eyes looked sunken and his skin
had an oily texture that looked like he was unwashed.

“
Sean,” Xander’s father
said. His voice was slightly hoarse as though thick with emotion.
“Xander’s not here.”

Sean felt taken aback by his bluntness. “Do
you know where he is? I’ve been trying to call him but he’s not
answering. He left some stuff at my place.”

“
He went out of town with
his grandfather for a while,” Mr. Sirocco replied quickly. “I’ll
have him give you a call when he gets back in town.”

Xander’s father tried to hastily close the
door behind him but Sean stuck out his foot and blocked it from
closing completely. He grimaced as the door slammed against his
foot. Looking exasperated, Xander’s father opened the door a little
wider again.

“
Sean…”

“
Can you at least tell me
where he went? Something strange is going on.”

The elder man’s expression softened as he
looked at Xander’s longtime friend. “Sean, the best thing you can
do is leave it all alone for a while. I know you’re worried but
there’s nothing you can do for Xander right now. Go home. Go back
to school. Go on with your life and I promise that if Xander comes
back, I’ll make sure he calls you.”

“
If?” Sean said suddenly.
“If he comes back?”

“
Go home, Sean,” Xander’s
father repeated more sternly.

Crestfallen, Sean turned away from the door
and took a few hitched paces down the steep steps. He expected to
hear the door slam behind him but instead he heard a telltale creak
as it opened slightly wider.

“
Sean.”

He turned and saw Mr. Sirocco standing half
out of the door. The older man looked around nervously before his
attention fell back to Sean.

“
Sir?”

“
I know you don’t know
what’s going on right now. And I’m really glad that Xander has such
a good friend as you. Just… just be careful out there right now. I
know this sounds like elementary school advice but don’t talk to
strangers. There are some dangerous people in town right
now.”

-“Do they have to do with Xander? Are they
why he had to leave?”

“
Goodbye, Sean.”

The door shut solidly behind Xander’s father
as the man disappeared back into the enveloping darkness of the
interior. Sean shook his head and turned back toward his car. This
trip was supposed to put his mind at ease. If anything, he was even
more nervous now than he had been when he thought Xander had just
slept over at Sammy’s house.

The fires in the park seemed mostly under
control by the time Sean reached the sidewalk in front of the
house. Firefighters were busy rolling up hoses and a number of the
vehicles had already pulled away. Their absence gave Sean the
chills. He hadn’t realized how much the police at the end of the
street had set his mind at ease, especially with Xander’s father’s
cryptic warning about dangerous strangers in White Halls. As the
last of the trucks were getting ready to depart, the street
suddenly seemed eerily quiet, as though all the other residents on
the street had closed proverbial shutters and pulled their curtains
just a little tighter against the windows.

Sean pulled his jacket tight around his
body, trying to ward off a chill that was coming from within. He
lowered his head and hurried toward his car, hoping to reach it
before the last fire trucks left. To his dismay, the firefighters
loaded their hoses and climbed into the cabs while he was still
about a block away. They pulled away hurriedly, leaving him in the
disturbing night’s gloom.

“
Excuse me,” a voice said
softly behind him.

Sean clutched his chest and turned, holding
his other hand up defensively in front of his face. A man seemed to
materialize behind him as he emerged from the deep shadows. The
stranger’s blonde hair glistened in the faint moonlight but the
rest of his body was swaddled in dark clothes that looked almost
like leather. The man held his arms behind his back and smiled—but
he looked like a stereotypical vampire, eagerly awaiting his next
meal.

“
It’s awfully late to be
walking the streets,” the man said.

Sean couldn’t place the odd accent but it
clearly sounded like English was the man’s second language.

“
I could say the same thing
to you,” Sean replied.

The man chuckled to himself before looking
over his shoulder, toward Xander’s house. “I noticed you just came
from the Sirocco residence. What did you talk about?”

“
Listen buddy. I don’t know
you and we’re not having this conversation.” Sean hoped his false
bravado was good enough to fool the stranger.

The man’s smile vanished from his face.
“Tell me where I can find Xander Sirocco.”

“
Never heard of him,” Sean
replied, swallowing hard.

The man clucked his tongue disapprovingly.
“I can make this difficult for you, if that’s what you want. Either
way, you’re going to tell me what I want to know.”

Sean glanced around nervously, hoping some
concerned citizen would suddenly appear and rescue him. The houses
around him remained dark, though, and no one seemed likely to save
him.

The man withdrew a hand from behind his
back. His palm seemed to glow with an inner light. It radiated heat
and the smell of sulfur washed over Sean.

“
This is your last chance
before we make this harder than it needs to be. Tell me what you
talked about! Tell me where I can find the Wind
Warrior!”

Sean glanced suddenly over the stranger’s
shoulder and his eyes widened in surprise. The Fire Warrior
followed Sean’s gaze and he turned to look at what approached from
behind him. The area was completely empty, though. As the Fire
Warrior turned back angrily toward Sean—upset at the obvious
ruse—Sean’s punch caught him across the jaw.

The Fire Warrior staggered before dropping
painfully onto his back. Sean immediately clenched his hand and
shook it.

“
Ow!” he yelled into the
night air. “Man, that hurts. Who knew doing that hurt so
bad?”

The Fire Warrior shook his head and blinked
heavily as he cleared his vision. Seeing the man recovering, Sean
turned and ran toward his car. He huffed as he hurried across the
street and was soon reminded of the myriad of reasons he hated
running. He realized, however, that he always said the only way
he’d be caught dead running was if someone was chasing him.

He reached the far sidewalk and turned
toward his car when a ball of flame went flying by his head,
missing him by inches. He felt his hairs curl from the heat,
withdrawing from the scorching fireball. The flame struck his
windshield and exploded in a shower of sparks. The fire quickly
caught on his hood and on his worn fabric interior. Within moments,
the car was consumed in flames.

Sean turned nervously toward the stranger.
Another ball of flames started growing between the hands of the
advancing man. The previous smile on the Fire Warrior’s face had
become a snarl of rage.

Turning again, Sean ran into the yard next
to him, dodging between the young trees that dotted the landscape.
White Halls’ main crossroad ran parallel to Xander’s road, which
meant that if he made it through just a couple of interconnected
yards, he would reach the main road and, hopefully, flag down a
passing car.

The yard he ran through wasn’t fenced and
bled seamlessly into the rear of the next yard. Despite the strain
in his chest from his heavy breathing, Sean picked up his knees and
pushed himself forward.

The world behind him lit up as a ball of
flames struck the muddy ground. He could feel the intense waves of
heat and saw the sparks settle on the grass around him but he
didn’t dare slow or even look behind him.

Sean ran past the next house but frowned as
he approached the road. The house had a tall, privacy hedgerow
separating it from the road. He couldn’t see the cars passing, nor
could they see him. More importantly, he would have to push through
the hedge before he could get to the relative safety of the
road.

Lowering his head, Sean slammed into the
hedge. His weight drove the branches aside. They scratched at his
skin and pulled on his clothing as he pushed forward. Despite the
burning in his legs, his biggest fear was stopping halfway through
the hedge and being exposed to the maniac chasing him.

To his relief, the hedge finally gave way
and he saw the cool night’s sky over the street beyond. As he took
a step out of the hedge, his foot caught on the smashed branches.
His shoe came cleanly off his foot and he staggered out and into
the street.

Sean looked up as headlights fell over him.
He could hear the screeching of tires as he threw his hands up in
front of his face and closed his eyes. For a long moment, he waited
for the inevitable impact. Slowly, as he realized he hadn’t been
hit, he stole a glance through a narrowly opened eyelid.

The car had stopped just a few inches away
from him.

With a sigh of relief, Sean hobbled around
to the passenger’s side of the car. He threw open the door and slid
inside without caring who was behind the wheel or where they were
going.

“
Thank you, thank you,” he
gushed. “You really saved my…”