The War of Phoenix, Angel92296 [if you give a mouse a cookie read aloud .TXT] 📗

stalker?!’
“Grace is going to be happy to see you. Here, you can give it to her,” she said handing the picture to me. I held it gently in my hand. It was impressive. Grace was like the little sister I always wanted. She looked up to me and that was something I never had being an only child and all.
“Alec!! Alec!!!” her little voice said. She was running toward me and I opened my free hand out for her.
“Hey Gracey,” I said when she was in my arm.
“Where were you Alec? I haven’t seen you in three days,” she said.
“I know. I’m sorry; I was just kind of busy lately. I have something for you though,” I said putting the picture in front of her. She smiled at it and then frowned.
“Who is it?” she asked.
“That’s you silly,” I said chuckling.
“Really?” she asked. I nodded and handed it to her. She held and hugged it. “Thank you Alec.”
“No problem. Go inside and show your mom,” I told her. She waved at me and ran inside.
“I should probably go. My work here is done,” Lena said walking toward the house. I grabbed her wrist and pulled her into a tight hug.
“Thank you for finding me today. I wouldn’t have known fast enough if you didn’t,” I said letting her go.
“Your welcome. Get some sleep. You’re starting to look old,” she said smiling. I didn’t leave until she was safely in her house. I walked home and thought about what was yet to come. I still didn’t know what exactly that was.

Chapter Two

Mom was waiting for me when I got back. Her eyes were filled with tears and I panicked just like I did when they told me my dad had died, when she completely broke down. I stood, unmoving and not breathing. She wiped at her tears while I just stood there.
“How long do you think it will be?” she asked me. I shook my head lightly. She nodded and stood from the chair. I have noticed lately that mom had started to get thin but I didn’t say anything to her about it. She would say that I am worrying too much about her. But is it wrong to worry about my mother? She thinks it is. I guess she feels that if I worry about anything else I might lose focus on staying alive but the only lives that matter to me is hers and Lena’s family. They’re the only family I have and I would die for them at any cost. “How’s Vergos?”
“He’s getting better in his training,” I answered finally letting out the breath I was holding in all this time.
“And you. What has his training given you?” she asked me. She was referring to the powers that I received being Vergas’s Summoner.
“Fire doesn’t burn me. At all,” I answered.
“Anything else?” she asked.
“I can Shadow Wing now,” I said looking at her closely. She looked like she might fall over. “Mom, are you alright?”

“I’m fine Alec. Don’t worry about me,” she said giving me a weak smile. I tried to smile back but when she started tumbling to the ground I dove to catch her before she fell. I caught her before she hit the ground. She was breathing fine but she wouldn’t open her eyes.
“Mom!! Mom!! Wake up mom!!” I said shaking her gently. She couldn’t hear me. I picked her up and with her in my arms I ran. I ran to Lena’s house first. Her mother was a nurse for people in the War of Phoenix and the people of Vestara. Lena’s mom opened the door immediately and let me in. She ordered me to put mom on the couch and I did what I was told.
“What’s wrong with her?” I asked hearing the emptiness in my voice.
“Your mother is sick Alec. She didn’t want you to know even though I begged her to tell you,” Lena’s mother told me.
“Sick how?” I asked.
“She’s dying Alec,” she answered in a whisper. I could feel my body as it went complete cold. I couldn’t move. Couldn’t breathe. Couldn’t think.
“No,” I whispered.
“Alec?” she asked.
“No!!!!” I screamed. My body was shaking and it wouldn’t stop.
“Alec?” Lena asked coming in the room. She glanced once at my mother and gasped. She shook her head once and reached for me. I pulled away and felt my body temperature heat up until I was cover in flame.
“Don’t touch me!!” I yelled. She jumped back in surprise and hurt.
“Alec, this isn’t how your mother wants to see you when she wakes up,” Lena’s mom said.
“Will she wake up?!” I yelled the question.
“I don’t know,” she answered putting her head down in defeat.
“What did I do wrong?! I took care of her!! I made sure that I did!! Was it not enough?!” I screamed. My phoenix burn was tingling but the flames that covered me made it hard to notice.
“You were the perfect son. She wouldn’t like to see you this way,” Lena said.
“I had to something wrong. I did something wrong…”I whispered. The flames faded and I fell to my knees. I guess the flames were the only thing holding me up. Lena’s hands wrapped around my shoulder and her head rested on mine.
“You didn’t do anything wrong,” she cried. I held on to her arms and bowed my head. I don’t know how to cry. It’s something I never did as a child. It was something that I could never do, no matter how bad things get, tears never came. For this once I have a problem with not being able to cry. My mother deserves my tears.
Lena and her mother left me alone with mom for a few minutes. I sat and waited for mom to wake up. I closed my eyes and held my head in my hands. A few minutes later, I felt a warm hand touch my face.
“You’re burning up,” my mother said.
“I’m fine. How are you?” I asked.
“I’m fine. I guess you know now,” she said.
“Why didn’t you tell me?” I asked holding her hand to my face.
“You don’t need to be worrying about me right now,” she said. I shook my head and she gave me a questioning look.
“You are the only thing in this world that I need to worry about mom,” I said.
“No. You have Vergos to train. You have Lena to protect. You have to become a full Phoenix Summoner,” she said.
“I don’t want to be,” I whispered.
“That’s not up to you and it’s not up to me. Phoenix Summoners are born not made and you were born a Summoner. I know that I tried to keep that away from you but now I know that my decision was wrong. I shouldn’t have kept that away from you,” she said. I blinked at her and wondered if I was hearing correctly. “I want you to leave Vestara. Tonight.”
“What?” I asked sitting up straight.
“I want you to leave. I need you to finish your training. You have a purpose to this war and you must fulfill it,” she said pulling her hand away. I know what she was trying to do and I wasn’t sure if I could do it. She didn’t want me to watch her die so she is sending me to train with Vergos.
“What about you?” I asked her.
“Don’t worry about me. I need to speak to Lena now,” she said. Lena came in before I called for her. I stood up and walked out the room. I stood in the next room and listened carefully.
“He’s going to need you Lena,” my mother said. Lena didn’t say a word. “Alec is a special boy. He only cares for others. He doesn’t think of himself anymore and that concerns me. You seem to be the only person that can give him light when his world is too dark. You mean more to him that he will ever know. I know this very well. That’s how I met his father. Like father, like son is what I always tell Alec. He would never know what that means. You are what that means.”
“How do I help him?” Lena asked. I heard the strength in her voice and my eyebrows rose in surprise.
“You’ll know when the time comes,” my mother told her. I walked out the front door silently. It was dark and the moon was the only light of the night. My arm was still tingling but this time Vergos was calling for me. He wasn’t in danger because then my mark would be burning until it was unbearable to handle.
“Here,” Lena said from behind me. I turned to see her holding a saddle in her hands. I looked down at it and hesitated when I took it from her hands. “You can take Becks. I’ll take Night.”
“Thanks,” I said. We walked to the small stable behind her house. Becks and Night were two stallions that Lena’s mother bought when we begged her to one day when we were kids. We were surprised when she finally said yes. Becks has always been my favorite. He was just very loyal to me but Night was less afraid of Vergos than Becks. We saddled our horses and rode off to the cave where Vergos called for me.

Chapter Three


When we got there, we could see flames from the mouth of the cave. We tied the horses tightly to a tree and ran to see what was wrong. When we finally got to Vergos, he was taller than earlier today and he was completely covered in flames. He had gone through another growth spurt and he was stronger than before. I looked at my bandaged arm and saw that my Phoenix burn had expanded and the bandage around my arm no longer completely covered it.

Imprint

Text: My original idea
Publication Date: 09-06-2011

All Rights Reserved

Dedication:
To Verbayne who demanded this book when I turned it away (not finished yet, sorry) :)