Sember (Forestfolk, Book 2)

Chapter 5

I grabbed a handful of his shirt and nearly lifted him off the ground. He yelped and writhed in pain as the material stretched across his burned back.

“You little sneak,” I seethed. “Pretending to be just another commoner when all along you have a filthy gift!” 

“It burns! Sember, it really hurts,” he whined, only irritating me more. 

“I ought to do the same to your manhood!” I looked pointedly at his crotch. My hands shook as my anger spun out of control. This boy had taken advantage of me. Humiliated me. I felt like the biggest fool in the entire forest. I wanted to teach him a lesson. Hurt him. The desire to inflict pain on him was so intense that my vision actually clouded with a red haze. 

“Sember, please! I’m sorry! My shirt!” 

Smoke rose from my fists where they clutched his shirt. A few more seconds and it would burst into flames. Then he would get what he deserved. I glared pure hatred into his gaping face, ignoring the thickening smoke between us.

Something niggled in the far reaches of my mind. A trace of humanity. It was a lone wisp of reason amid a firestorm of fury. It said he was as scared as a child. That he was utterly terrified. Of me. 

I abruptly pushed him away, and he stumbled backwards to the ground. My hands clenched and unclenched while I struggled to control my breathing. I will not explode. I will not explode.

I paced around as I fought to control the monster that lurked inside me. This rage didn’t just frighten Dozan, it frightened me as well. I had wanted to kill him. I had wanted to literally turn his bones into ash. No sane person would think such thoughts. People got angry and they yelled. They didn’t start thinking about murder.

Dozan clambered to his feet, and my attention snapped back to him. He raised his hands, expecting another attack from me. His face twisted with fear and pain. I stepped toward him and swatted his hands aside, grabbing his shirt again with one hand. He flinched, but I merely dragged him forward as I walked. His steps were halting and clumsy as I stomped back down the path, dragging him behind me. 

When we reached Zelly’s garden, both women gawked at me stamping furiously toward them, a cowering lad with a scorched shirt in tow behind me. 

I yanked him forward and shoved him toward the confused Icelings, not caring that he nearly fell to the ground again. “Tell them what you did,” I hissed. “Exactly what you did. And they’ll fix you. Tell them everything you know. Leave anything out, and I’ll destroy you where you stand.” I took a step back, my limbs trembling as I struggled to repress the fire inside. “I need to go.”

My head throbbed with the effort it took not to hurl a fireball at his face. I didn’t look at Siena or Zelly. I couldn’t. They were witnessing a monster in action, and I couldn’t bear it. I just spun around and launched into a full sprint toward the lake. 

I ran with blinding speed. I needed to get to safe ground. The energy inside me pressed outward in chaotic bursts, and I wasn’t sure how long I could keep it in.

I couldn’t remember the last time I had this much rage coursing through me. The nerve of that lecherous animal! I’d had no control over myself, and I hated it. What irked me even more was the fact that, while I was under his influence . . . I had actually enjoyed it. My jaw clenched over the admission, and I gasped with relief when I finally broke into the clearing. 

I didn’t hesitate. I splashed straight into the water and dived below its surface. I imagined steam hissing off me as the water touched my skin. The lake closed over my head, and I pulled myself downward. Winter was beginning, and the water was cold. Good. I needed it to be cold.

The rage ebbed as I swam. I went deeper, trying to swim away from what I had done, and from what I had almost done.

I had come so close to vaporizing Dozan. Over what? Embarrassment? Yes, what he did was wrong, but should I kill him for it? Only a monster would say yes. And for several long, fuming moments . . . I had wanted to. 

I stopped swimming, and found myself deep in the center of the lake. The filtered light was so dim, I was momentarily disoriented. My lungs started to burn, and it had nothing to do with my gift. In a panic, I began to swim upward. At least I hoped it was up. I kicked hard and my arms moved in wide arcs, but I wasn’t swimming fast enough. I was down too deep.

I pushed myself to swim harder. My lungs screamed for air. It was all I could do to resist inhaling a lungful of water. Never in my worst nightmares had I ever imagined I might one day drown in the lake that I loved. 

I couldn’t tell how far from the surface I was, but I was weakening. I was out of air. Out of options. And my lungs were caving in.

I was about to die.

Water pushed at me from all sides. Just one breath and it would all be over. I was ready to give in. My family would be devastated. Siena, too. What a disappointment I turned out to be.

Darkness crept around the edges of my vision. I’m such a failure.

An arm circled around my chest, and I felt a surge upward. Strong legs propelled us forward. When we broke the surface, I sucked in a desperate gasp of air. Then another. My savior was still hanging onto me as I floated there, gulping in air. I closed my eyes, filled with intense relief. Thankful just to breathe. 

“The water is not a place I would have chosen for someone with a fire gift,” the woman said.

It was Dilla. Dilla had saved me. 

“Thank you,” I said in between breaths. 

“What were you doing?” 

Shame reddened my cheeks. “I was . . . trying to get away.” 

“Permanently?”

I pulled away and turned to face her, treading water on my own. “Not intentionally.” 

She gave me a sympathetic sigh. “We all have things we’d like to get away from.” 

A sudden memory flashed into my mind. “Did you know that when I was six, I wanted to go diving with you? My parents wouldn’t let me.” 

She raised an eyebrow. “And now we know why.” 

I burst into delirious, glorious laughter. The kind that racked my entire body and made my anxiety melt away. Since I couldn’t hug her without attempting to drown both of us, I took her hand and squeezed my heartfelt thanks. “You are a life-saver, Dilla.”

When I hauled myself ashore, I headed straight back to Zelly’s garden. I had some apologizing to do now that I was calm. My shoes were full of water, and made squishing sounds with each step, but I ignored them. I needed to make things right. My wet hair clung to my face, and I pushed it aside.

Siena was gone, but when Zelly saw me, her hand flew to her mouth to stifle a laugh.

“It’s okay,” I said. “You can laugh. I know I look like wet laundry.”

She pulled her hand away and laughed openly—with delight, I noted, not derision. “Oh, Sember, dear girl. Don’t feel bad.”

“I made a fool of myself.”

“You had every right. That boy is the fool.”

“I guess.” I pushed a mound of dirt with my squishy foot.

Zelly came closer. “You’re not the only one who struggles. Siena spent a lot of her early years being confused.”

I looked up at her. “She did? But she’s so calm and collected all the time. I don’t think she’s ever lost her temper.”

Zelly chuckled. “Oh, it’s happened.”

“Right, but she’s not afraid of a monster living inside her.”

She leveled her pale blue gaze at me. “Talk to her. You might be surprised.”

 “Thanks, Zelly,” I said, finally pulling off a shoe and watering her garden with its contents. “Did Dozan spill his guts?”

Zelly chuckled again. “He sure did. You scared the living daylights out of that boy. Serves him right.”

“Good.” I grinned and dumped out my other shoe. “I’ll go find Siena.”