Ember

“ You know, he doesn’t seem like a ‘Sarge’ to me.” I told Elin, tossing the stick back into the bushes. The German Shepard leaped after it, his tongue flopping around. We laughed as he ran back to us, a different stick in his jaws. “ More like… a …Buddy, or a Pal.” I scratched behind his ear.

“ I met a dog named Buddy before.” Elin reached her hand out and scratched Sarge’s other ear. Me and Elin decided to let Brady and Jack put up camp by themselves, so we sorta went… Exploring. Sarge had followed us, and we played a little fetch with him. He was a good dog, I had decided. I wondered how he could be so good, having an owner like Jack. Okay, that was a tad mean. Sarge seemed to like Jack a lot, though I didn’t know why. “ So, what do you think about them?” Elin asked, digging a stick into the dirt. I thought before I answered.

“ The tall one, Brady? He’s a little goofy… but he’s okay. But Jack seems like a jerk. Did I tell you he almost ran me over?”

“ You mentioned it. So you guys knew each other before?” She soothed her hand gently down the dog’s back.

“ Well, not really. I was walking with my friends and he almost hit me with his car. He flipped out, and started yelling at us. Then later that day, I had a little accident with a motor bike, and I had to go to the hospital.. And guess who was my doctor?” I rolled my eyes at the last part, and started breaking a stick into small pieces.

“ That’s so weird. Almost like… fate.” Elin murmured.

I laughed. “ More like just bad luck.”

But Elin didn’t laugh. She was looking absentmindedly at Sarge. I wondered what she was thinking. I stretched, and yawned. My muscles ached now, and I still had a light head ache. What happened in the car was a blur, and every time I thought of the strange girl… and the look in her eyes, my heart beat faster. I suddenly felt scared. I looked around.

Were we safe here? What did that girl want? How did she catch up to our car? How did she jump onto it like that? Why wasn’t she hurt when she fell off? When I ELECTROCUTED her?! That was what I did, wasn’t it? My ability? The reason I am part of the Hourglass, or whatnot?

“ Elin, what’s your ability?” I asked. The words felt strange on my tongue. I felt foolish for asking that.

“ Hmm?” She blinked, as if snapping out of a trance.

“ Your ability?” She blinked again, and stared at me.

“ I don’t really have one. My parents both had one, like yours did. But I wasn’t given an ability.” She answered, her bright blue eyes full of knowledge.

“ Then… why are you here?” At this, she laughed.

“ My parents taught me a lot about the Hourglass. About the Protectors, the good guys, the bad guys, everything they knew. They wanted me to use this information to help the Protectors, and to bring them together.” She explained, a smile playing across her lips. I looked at her.

“ Oh.”