Enchanted flames, peersr12 [english novels for students TXT] 📗

was making her uneasy. She had left him with nothing but a note and her birthstone ring he had given her for her birthday. He had questions; was she able to answer them, she had no clue. She broke out in a sweat when he stepped to her again.
"Eric, please..." she turned away from him and rested her head against the rough bark. She felt him ease away. The horse snorted and moved restlessly. He had grown quiet, really quiet. If it wasn't for his even breathing and his aroma that filled the air, she would have figured that he had walked away. Sighing, she turned to face him, he was looking at her. The same way he had when they were nineteen and in love. But in it lingered doubt, anger and pain. Then in the blink of an eye, it was gone. He had shut her out..again. He turned and mounted the horse. He looked at her, no,more like looked through her,"I'm going to work. When you're ready to talk come by the pub, I'll mix you a drink. He turned the horse and started back towards the house,"You do drink, right?" he called over his shoulder.
"Uhh-"
"Never mind we'll work something out." With a click, he galloped off and left her. Casey looked down at the apple. She made a wave with her fingers and watched the apple float away.
Maybe one day the truth wouldn't hurt so much, she thought as she walked back towards the house. Holding out her left hand she watched as the apple dance in and out of the trees.
The earth seemed to welcome the rain as it released the heat of the day. She was standing on the hill, that hill, the one they called Deadman's Cliff. It overlooked the paddock and the stables behind her house. If the weather wasn't this bad she would have been able to see her house. Not that she wanted to. She was moving. She had no idea why they were moving. She heard her mother say something about the house being to big for the three of them. She missed her father, he would've persuaded her mother to let them stay in the house. She turned away and looked at the sea. It raged on, tackling it self, wave after crushing wave. She patted the neck of the horse that stood next to her,"They're gonna treat you good Shadow."
I think , she thought rolling her eyes. The black stallion snorted and stomped around. She looked at the black horse. If not for his eyes giving off her reflection she would have missed him.
"Sorry boy." she apologized realizing she had voiced her thought. She wrapped her hand around his neck and pulled herself up. Riding saddle-less was dangerous but it was going to be her last time riding Shadow and she cared not for the danger. She would rather sore legs than awaking in bed in some strange house. The horse neighed and blew frantically. Shaking its head and Shadow reared.
"Shadow?" she asked burying her knees in his side so she wouldn't fall. She bent to rub his neck. The lightning struck about four yards away from them. It was close enough for Shadow. He turned. It was as if his feet never hit the ground. He jumped the fence that surrounded the paddock and raced on towards the house. She readjusted herself and looked up. He was heading through the orchard instead of the normal track. He had to go down the hillside instead of coming down on the flat road. She groaned. She felt the throbbing pain in her legs as Shadow raced down the hillside, head buried and charging. She caught glance of it before he did. The felled tree rolled aimlessly to the bottom of the hill. Shadow was going both to fast for the jump and to maneuver away from it. She saw the house out of the corner of her eyes and her mother waving frantically. He was less than five feet away from the 'log of doom'. She glanced around the wet hillside. The only safe landing she would get was a thousand bruises. She took a deep breath and waited. Knees buried in Shadow's side, she kept telling herself she was going to be alright. Suddenly, she felt strangely tired.
Her vision blurred and Shadow reared. Lightning struck dead ahead of him, sending him crashing backwards. She saw this and dove off of him. She felt the thud he hit with as she tried to regain her composure. Through her blurry eyes she saw the tree hurling towards her mother. The lightning had made it take flight.
She stretched out a hand,"mum!"
If it could, the rain came down harder, stinging her skin. Lightning struck somewhere close by and the wind whistled past her. Shadow sprang to his feet and cantered off towards the house. To any of this she paid mind, she stared blankly at the log that floated hopelessly in mid air. Her head started to spin and she was beginning to feel faint. She turned her hand to look at her palm.
Had she done that? She answered herself as the log crashed into a tree and came racing towards her. Shadow had raced off and she was alone. The trunk raced towards her. She braced herself for impact, listening as it got closer.
Casey rolled over and sighed. The dream had replayed itself, for years. It hadn't bothered her much. She already knew the outcome. What disturbed her most was the hours of sleep she lacked after waking up from the dream. She didn't bother to glance at the bedside clock. Dragging a pillow over her head she started to settle back down into bed. The sound of papers hitting the floor made her groan. She thought about leaving them there but opted not to.
With one eye open, she arranged the papers and files with a single movement of her finger. She had learned to control her gift over the years. It was love for her mother that had brought out the flames of her power and fear for her life that had shattered the log moments before it struck her. The mere fact that she had moved a log had boggled her mind. She couldn't look at her mother because it reminded her too much of what had happened. So she did what she thought was best at the time, she ran. She wounded up in a town she didn't know, at a doorstep she found vaguely familiar.
Sighing, she lifted off the sheets and scanned the room for the shirt she'd discarded the night before. Motioning, the file took off and headed for the bedside table. Grabbing her shirt, she headed into the walk in closet. The penthouse was more of a bachelor's room. Bed, small kitchenette, bath and lounge.
Only a couple more days, she thought as she came out holding a fresh suit of clothes. Making sure they were suitable enough for what she had to do today, she went into the bathroom. She came back out a minute later toothbrush in mouth looking for her sneakers. She was going jogging at five in the morning. It was far too early to start work. The renovators weren't arriving until eight and her case was on a standstill until one of the victims awoke. Pulling on her left sneaker she walked back into the bathroom. She came back with a face towel around her neck. After she pulled on her other sneaker she looked out the window. A memory of her sitting atop the cliff just shy of Deadman's River made her smile. She wondered if she could make it to the cliff before sunrise.
"Only one way to find out." She said to herself as she left the room.

Chapter 2

If someone had told her the sunrise had changed, she would have called them a liar. She was engulfed in a wild array of yellow bursts, radiance forever beautiful, sitting amongst dewy grass and sweaty. She stretched and yearned for a soft bed. The waves crashed furiously, begging the cliff to aid in its ruthless crusade to board land. She turned and looked about the cliff. The stubby grass gave to a forest which surrounded most of the open area including the stretch of flatland that lead to the river, Casey noted as she shifted to examine the land below. She grinned remembering the nights she and Eric played in the river.
The hand that she felt on her shoulder made her jump in surprise. She acted on reflex and before she herself knew what she was doing she was on top of him in a rather awkward position to anyone else. Her nails dug in his neck and her right leg pinned his body flat to the ground. There he was, the man occupying her thoughts, laying beneath her and she was causing him pain. His eyes opened wide with suprise and his breathing was already becoming difficult. She slowly released him scowling so deeply her vision blurred beyond anything she could remember. She cursed herself vividly, unable to believe she had let her senses drop and worse yet cause harm to Eric. By the time her vision returned he was sitting upright holding on to his neck. That was when she noticed the streams of blood her nails had caused.
"What the -" Eric exclaimed looking at his bloodied hand. He turned to her, "Have you lost your mind?"
Of course she had, Casey thought sighing, "Sorry, I didn't hear you come up and you scared the shit out of me."
He stood and put his hands into his pockets, "You almost killed me and how is it possible that you didn't hear Lily galloping up here?"
Casey looked at him. Her tongue itched to tell him, tell him the truth. Her fingers itched to touch his neck and heal his wounds. But only one outcome came to mind and she hated it drastically. She had no other choice though he would ask too many questions, questions she wasn't ready to answer just yet. She inhaled sharply and waved a hand in front his face before touching his neck. Moments later he was standing in front her looking at her with that strange look in his eye. "I wasn't aware that you had heard me calling."
"Mhmm." Casey lied, breaking eye contact with him before she changed her mind and told him everything. He was wearing a dark blue vest and his riding slacks. She looked behind him. She was beautiful. A chestnut mare carrying a star on her head whilst her black mane blew with the morning breeze. Lily. She glanced at Eric. His gaze was on the river.
"Aren't you cold?" she asked, trying to close the distance that had grown between them. He raised a brow and shook his head. The look in his eyes told her different.
"Ok." she said turning back to the river.
"Where did you go?" he asked standing a few feet away from her. Casey shrugged and made a face, “To gran's and then I went away."
He clicked at the mare. She blew softly then slowly came over to him. He patted her neck and rubbed her under belly.
"She expecting?" Casey said walking away.
"Your eyes don't fail you, I see." he said coldly.
Casey didn't look at him. She didn’t blame him for his attitude but she could only blame herself for hers. Years of shutting people out just made her a naturally snippy person. It was difficult with him though, he knew her and knew his way around her defenses. She found herself being wary about what she said around him and she found it exceptionally hard keeping her gift a secret from him. But she needed to. It was