We eat sandwiches that Tony has thrown together. Alexis is slumped on one of the couches and Tony is watching her. He looks like he wants to say something. I jump in before he can put his foot in his mouth again. "Earth?" I ask. Alexis looks up. "Yes, I'm just a weak one." she says. "Healing a tree is not weak." I say. "A strong earth elemental would be able to do more than heal." she says dejectedly. "They certainly wouldn't be drained so quickly." she stands. "I'm going to get the supplies from the store. I won't forget the M&Ms." she tells Misha. "I'll drive you." Tony offers. "It's alright. My car is in the shed." she says heading out quickly. Tony looks at me and says " what shed". We've been here two days and I hadn't noticed a shed. Tony and I go to the front door in time to see a sleek black BMW sedan peeling down the dirt road.
"Wow" Misha says squeezing in between us. " Can I ride with Auntie next time?" she asks. "Sure." Tony answers patting her own the head, then picking her up and swinging her around so that she's now sitting on his shoulders. Her sneakers swinging over his white T- shirt. Tony 's standard uniform T-shirt and jeans. "Let's go for a walk. No a run. " he tells her before taking off down the road. Misha holds on to his neck and I hear her happily squealing as Tony picks up the pace. "Don't go too far " I call just as they leave my sight.
I sit on the couch and pick up the map. I find the spot marking the safe house we'd used five years ago. Tony and I drove for hours that night. I was so upset after losing Jayson that I barely remember the drive. Misha cried off and on and I made a few feeble attempts to calm her. I think she felt Jayson leave the same as I did. I lost track of time. I know Tony stopped at a few remote places for gas. He tried to get me to eat but I couldn't. We made it out of the country in record time.
The little house Tony pulled up to was in The middle of a quant residential neighborhood. It was not what I had expected. When I walked inside carrying Misha in my arms, my jaw dropped it was nothing like the little cabin I'd been living in. I walked around and discovered two bedrooms, two bathrooms, a full kitchen and a little living room. The back yard was nice, but small by elemental standards. "Is this safe?" I asked after completing the tour. "Yes, sometimes hiding in plain sight is better." he replied taking Misha from my arms. "I'll give her a bottle, you get some rest." he ordered. I chose the master bedroom since it had a bathroom attached. I sat on the bed with my hands at my sides and closed my eyes. The image of the door exploding and the tornado above the house kept flashing in my mind. I felt my body start to heat up and knew I shouldn't, knew the elders could since my fire when it burned but at this point I had little control. I let the heat rise, maybe I'd burn the house down, maybe the whole damn town. I was so angry. Just when it felt like my body was about to explode I opened my eyes. I looked down at my hands and there was nothin, no flame, no heat nothing. My flame was gone floating on the wind with Jayson.
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