The Butterfly Girl: A Star is Born

Dry Out

[Sophia]

The pressure against my ears was becoming unbearable. My chest ached and my vision was starting to fade in with the rest of the murky water. My arms were tired and my lungs ached for oxygen. Soon, I noticed the darkness of the tunnel was starting to brighten and I knew I must've made my way out and I was at the bottom of the lake. I could hardly pull myself up any longer and as a last resort, I unfurled my wings and started pushing myself upwards. The top that Teri gave me didn't have holes in the back so it was a little hard to move my wings. But I soon noticed the effect had worn off and when I opened my mouth, all I felt was water rush into my mouth and I quickly shut it. At some point I knew I'd get to the surface, but I couldn't tell exactly when. This lake was pretty deep and I couldn't keep my eyes open any longer. I kept pushing my wings down and kicked my legs as hard as they could. Eventually I was able to break the surface of the water and pulled myself into the air. I coughed violently and wiped away the water from my eyes. I suddenly shivered, a gust of wind blowing against me made me colder than when I was in the water. I pushed my wet hair out of my eyes and squeezed the remaining water out of it. I looked around to see exactly where I was and pulled myself into the air again and landed at the top of the waterfall. I had a strange feeling in my head and in my eyes as I let my wings dry out in the sun. Both the blouse and the skirt stuck to my arms and legs. I hoped that they wouldn't become stiff when they dried out.

When my senses returned to normal, I walked over to the edge and sat down, still wiping the drops of water that ran down my face. As I controlled my breathing, I looked around to see how everything was. It looked pretty much fine to me, no fallen trees or anything. I just hoped Teri would be okay handling things by herself. As I sat there with the sun against my back and the cold wind making me shiver, I suddenly smelled something. I sniffed and looked up and around me.

Where is that coming from, is someone cooking food or something?

I stood up and looked around. At first, I thought it might've just been someone in the neighborhood cooking something outside and the wind was just carrying the smell. But when I looked behind me, I saw a pillar of smoke. I flew up into the air again to get a better look. It wasn't very far away, but I knew that wasn't good. Thoughts crashed into each other in my mind, trying to figure out what it could be. Accidental maybe? Probably, but those usually don't happen unless the air is warm and humid. And that only left me with one other reason.

Apolo might be in trouble. If he's not able to put out that fire, then something must be wrong. And the Twins have my bag. I hoped they weren't in trouble.

Despite the air making me really cold, I headed toward the smoke. The smell was getting closer and luckily it wasn't very strong. But I knew I had to be careful. Fires these days in this area can grow in less than a second and can be extremely dangerous. Just one of the joys of living in California. Well, at least you don't have to worry about any other natural disaster. Besides earthquakes and stuff.

Yeah, it's fine. Don't worry about it.

As I got closer, the smoke grew and it was starting to blind me. I had to land somewhere and walk towards it. It was kinda hard to see with all the trees, but the further I made my way towards it, I began to hear something. Soon I could see the blaze and it was growing, eating the ground and climbing up the trees.

I heard yelling. Someone was here.

"Sophie? Sophie!"

"Sophie, up here!"

I looked up and saw two dark figures up in the trees. I moved closer to get a better look. It was the Twins. They must be stuck up in the tree.

"You have to get down from there!"

"We can't! We're stuck!" they yelled from above. I knew I had to find some way to put out the fire and fast. My mind raced. Looking at the Twins up in the tree and back at the fire. I had an idea, but I wasn't sure about it. But it was the only one I had, so I might as well try it.

"Guys! Do you have my bag?"

"Yes! Here!" Fleetfoot dropped my bag and it fell to the ground.

"Help us get out of here!" Flyboy crowed.

I quickly retrieved my satchel before the flames could claim it. I stepped back from the fire, the heat was making my eyes burn and the smoke was starting to pile up. I shuffled through it as fast as I could.

The Twins, meanwhile started climbing up the tree, higher and higher, trying to escape the flames. But the smoke was blinding and it was starting to surround them, making it impossible to see and breathe.

"Sophie! Hurry!" they yelled.

Suddenly a faint hissing sound came from below, and among the thick, black smoke, it turned white. The hissing sound became louder and more smoke started to pile up. The Twins cried for help and I shouted that everything was okay.

"Try and climb to that other tree! Find a way to get down!" I shouted as I moved away towards the other flames that were still trying to stay alive. The Twins did what I said, moving carefully to the un-burnt branches and they reached across the gap, trying to find another sturdy branch to jump to. Fleetfoot took the first leap and just barely managed to hold on. He was able to pull himself up and grab onto the branch above him and extend a hand for Flyboy. He was hesitant at first, but he managed to grab his brother's arm and jump to the other side. They looked around on the ground them for any sign of me. They no longer heard the crackle of the fire, but I was nowhere to be seen. They cautiously made their way down the tree and kept looking.

"Guys! Guys! Are you okay?" I shouted from a distance.

"Yeah, we're okay!" FLyboy replied.

"Where are you?"

There was coughing heard from a distance.

"Hold on, I'm coming!" I yelled as I appeared from the smoke. Still coughing and clutching my bag. I saw them looking for me and they spotted me. I quickly trotted up to them.

"Sophie, are you okay?" they asked.

"Yeah, I'm good, I'm good." I replied. And then I realized.

"Wait, where's Apollo?"

The Twins looked at me with sudden stunned faces and stared at me.