Beautiful Souls (26 page)

    
              “You can’t! Someone will see!” I heard my mom’s voice call out again, this time even more distant.

    
              Every single thought inside me was completely consumed with reaching Leo: I could help him, I could keep him out of harm’s way, I could shield him and his mother from the burning heat of the licking flames.

    
              I was so close now. Leo and my dad had already reached the edge of the fiery circle that engulfed Leo’s home. The flames bounced and jumped outward, almost as if they were alive, trying to keep intruders from crossing their barriers.

    
              “Becca,
please
!” I barely heard my mom’s plea this time. The roaring blaze filled every inch of the surrounding twilight’s quiet.

    
              I put my feet down firmly on the ground when I suddenly realized with a gasp why my mom had been so desperately calling my name. I had been flying. In my precipitated advance toward the all-consuming blaze, I literally and unknowingly
flew
across the landscape to reach Leo as quickly as possible.

    
              I stalled for a hesitant moment, my feet frozen to the ground, astonished and terrified about what I’d just done. My emotions clearly had taken over my powers as I was driven to the edge. I wiped the thoughts from my mind for now and raced, feet contacting ground with each step, toward Leo and my dad. I desperately searched for a way through the fiery inferno to get access to the house.

    
              “Mom!” Leo screamed again.

    
              “Leo, over here!” my dad called to him.

    
              My dad had found an old horse blanket draped over a sheet of rotted fencing lying against the barn. He tried to make his way through the angry blaze. He and Leo used the blanket as both a weapon to cut through the whipping flames as well as a protective shield to guard their bodies against the intense threatening waves of fire and smoke.

    
              I couldn’t deny my protective instincts, not now that I was aware of my capabilities. The only two men in my life, whom I loved so dearly, desperately risked their lives to save yet another loved one. I focused everything in my power on my dad and Leo as they made their way into the blaze through dangers that I could not see, and then they disappeared behind the wall of fire as they headed toward the home’s scorched front porch.

    
              I heard Leo’s voice again, reassuring his safety, “Mom!”

    
              My dad’s voice yelled, “Claire!”

    
              Both calls were filled with underlying tones of desperation as they awaited some sign or response --- anything.

    
              Another massive explosion sent waves of heat into our bodies, reverberating everything inside my head.

    
              The house blown again, a secondary blast causing even more damage to the already damaged structure. This explosion was not as piercing as the first, but still with enough force that my mom and I were both blown back a staggering step. She took cover by protecting her head with her singed, ashen arms. The vulnerable skin across her face burned from the intense and deadly heat.

    
              My magical shield must have protected me from the blast because even though I had been knocked backward by the force of the explosion, I suffered no other effects of the inferno.

    
              “Dad! Leo!” I called out.

    
              I searched high and low for their dark silhouettes against the blinding blaze. They had been so close to the explosion. Could my shield really be strong enough to repel such force?

    
              My mom stood steps back, remaining in place where the second blow had left her standing. We both sobbed and watched on in horror as the second story of the home collapsed, sinking into the lower level and disappearing from sight as if it had never existed at all.                   I knew then, from my mom’s expression along with the gravity of devastation that took place before my very eyes, that there was no more hope of Leo’s mother making it out alive. It was impossible. Not even magic and spells could have protected her from this.

    
              I finally glimpsed movement just beyond the back edge of the charred house. The ring of fire still existed, lively engulfing and overtaking the home inch by inch. My tensed muscles finally released at the sight of them; my dad and Leo had made it out of there alive. My mom was still behind me crying uncontrollably, screaming my dad’s name.

    
              “Over there!” I shouted to her, pointing the direction of the dark shadowy movements I had just spotted.

    
              Here dark eyes glowed in the light of the fire and searched the area I’d pointed out. She held her breath in anticipation and waited to see her husband’s face emerge from the blaze at any second.

    
              I watched in shock as what I thought were two pairs of human legs step out into the night. A singed coyote, the very same one that attempted the attack on me, stood at the edge of the flames and looked back toward the fire, taking in the damage and devastation. A second later, it sprinted toward the woods and became nothing more than a dark, streaking blur taking off into the night.

    
              My heart sank. I watched two more figures emerge from the violently whipping and hissing flames. They took off, faster than I ever anticipated, after the coyote. They ran angrily and raging across the road, then made easy work of crossing the pitted, icy field.

    
              I glanced to my mom for a moment, my eyes pled with hers for an explanation that would make everything all right, but it did not come. There was nothing she could’ve said or done to change what had happened.

    
              My mom and I watched together, our arms around each other’s waists, as the two other shapes --- my dad and Leo, wolf and mountain lion --- bolted from our view,  becoming dark blurs of fury soaked up by the night. Their animal forms disappeared into the haunted forest after their prey; nothing but the hunt, sparked by rage and unbearable grief, driving them forward.

                                  
Chapter 11.

Saying Goodbye

good-bye

/,good’bi/

Exclamation

Used to express good wishes when parting or at

the end of a conversation.

Noun

An instance of saying “goodbye”; a parting:

“
a final goodbye”.

                   Three days after the devastating fire that destroyed Leo’s lifelong home and took the beautiful soul of his mother, we all stood gathered in a grief-stricken circle surrounding the coffin of Claire McMyllin.

    
              I had never attended a funeral before today. I was too young to attend my grandmother’s funeral, and I was far too small to even remember her death. Every other grandparent of mine died before I  had even been born.

    
              I’d never felt so low and helpless in all my life as I did that very moment. The pit of my stomach seemed to have opened up a bottomless hole where all hope and emotion had gone to die, seemingly never to return.

 
                 Leo and I didn’t talk much; only the necessary words, that he must form in order to get through the day, were verbalized. He made as little human contact with anyone as possible and to my disheartened state that included me.

    
              Leo wasn’t himself, understandably, even expected, but he seemed to be withdrawing into himself more and more with each passing day. A part of him was missing. His mother’s death had left such a dramatic change and deep sorrow in his daily function and personality that I feared the worst. My thoughts were overcome with worry for him. I was terrified that Leo may never again resemble my best friend --- my boyfriend. It felt to me as if I’d lost him, as well.

    
              The entire town of Fairview showed to pay their respects at Mrs. McMyllin’s funeral. Emmy, God bless her heart, never left my side. She was there as I firmly gripped Leo’s hand while they pallbearers lowered his mom’s casket into the frozen grave.

    
              Emmy was also there that morning at my home, helping my mom and I ready our house and prepare food for the wake. And she was there, still loyally by my side, as she sat next to me on our living room couch as friends, relatives, acquaintances, and townspeople mingled in small groups while talking in whispers about the tragedy and loss of such a beloved woman.

    
              It was very strange to me to be surrounded by all these people who would simply go home and pick up their lives right where they left off. My mind baffled at how the world continued to move on without as much as a hiccup or blink, when it seemed to me as if everything I had previously known just stopped.

    
              Time still passed, slower at first then more quickly. The pain crept in at random unexpected moments, wrenched my insides, then left me with a dull ache that never fully passed.

    
              “You’re welcome to stay with us for as long as you need,” my dad’s voice offered sincerely.

    
              I raised my head to see my dad speaking with Mr. McMyllin at the opposite end of my living room. My mom busily bustled in and out of rooms, refilling drinks and offering food as she saw fit. I knew I should have been helping her, but I just couldn’t force myself to move from my position on the couch.

    
              Leo sat alone in a corner, hollow bags rested under each eye. His eyes now looked bluish-gray in color, as opposed to their regular ocean-blue glow. My heart broke again and again in to hundreds of shards each time I looked directly into those hollow eyes. I sat frozen to my seat, full of grief and sadness at the sight of Leo in the corner all by himself.

    
              “Thanks,” Mr. McMyllin replied. “I think we might stay at the cottage,” he dropped his voice at that word, “For a little while…if that’s all right with you.”

    
              “Of course,” my dad nodded. “Use it for as long as you need.”                   “I do have one favor to ask though.” Mr. McMyllin continued, “If it’s not too much trouble, of course. We’ll be too far out in order to get back over here in the mornings, and I’d be very appreciative if you could feed and water the horses before you set off to work in the mornings. Leo can head over after school to take care of the rest.”

    
              “I’ll do it,” I let out before I had even considered what I was saying.

    
              Everyone turned to stare momentarily, apparently startled by my sudden outburst.

    
              “Why thank you, Becca. That’s very kind of you,” he paused. “Are you sure though? You know, with everything you have going on? Do you think you’ll be able to spare the time?”

    
              I knew immediately what Mr. McMyllin had been referring to --- learning and practicing my new powers. “Yes,” I answered. “I want to do it.”

    
              That was definitely true. I did want to do it. I wanted to be near anything that reminded me of the old Leo; the same one that had remained a constant source of kindness and stability in my life --- until these past three days.

    
              Leo and I had spent countless hours in that barn while growing up. I knew that by simply being there each morning, I would again feel a small amount of that closeness we shared for so many years. Now that he had become so distant, I desperately needed that feeling of security back.

    
              “Thank you, Becca,” Mr. McMyllin answered gratefully.

    
              I caught a flicker flash through Leo’s eyes as they momentarily shone their familiar ocean-blue color. Leo’s father thanked everyone for their kind words and support. Together they walked out.

    
              I wasn’t sure why, but that felt final. Maybe it was Leo’s change in personality or appearance. Perhaps it was the lack of words, lack of any acknowledgement of me, lack of any emotion at all, but it felt like goodbye when he silently walked out of my living room. It felt as if he had just walked out of my life, as well.

    
              My heart ached even more than before. When Leo walked out the door, I felt all the breath in my lungs being sucked out. I was beyond tears, beyond screaming for him to come back, beyond anything I’ve ever felt before. I wanted nothing but to curl up into a ball in this very spot and sleep till the pain subsided.