| Chapter 3 |
“This is your home?” Kammie gasped, looking at the dugout jutting out of a dirt wall.
“Do you like it?” asked Scarlet, grinning. A tiny flame scurried into the room, followed by a bigger flame, who looked very tired. “This is my son, Blaze, and this is my husband, Ignatius.” Scarlet announced, and Kammie noticed that Scarlet’s husband noticeably winced when she said his name. Blaze rolled up to Kammie, his smile looking too big for his face. “Me like you. Papa say good!” he said excitedly, and Ignatius smiled tiredly. “He is only two years old, so he has trouble saying some words.” “Oh! Well, thanks for letting me know, Ignatius,” Kammie replied, before he interrupted, “Oh, call me Ig, please, I just hate the name Ignatius,” “Then why don’t you just change your name?” Kammie wondered, and Ig looked surprised. “You can do that?” he asked, his face brightening. “Sure ya can!” Kammie said, and immediately he started listing names. “Agni, or Pyrrhus, oooh, or maybe Adish, or…” Kammie smiled, before turning to Scarlet, who was setting the table. She sat down on one of the wooden chairs, at the small round table, waiting until Scarlet had given them each a cup of steaming ginger tea, before starting to speak.
“I don’t mean to be rude, but how long have you and your family been here?” she asked carefully, looking at Scarlet. “Well, we were here at our wedding, which was fifteen years ago, and then we were here for Sol’s aunt’s wedding, which was twenty-three years ago, so thirty-eight years!” “Okay… And then how long have the elements been here?” Kammie asked hesitantly, before Scarlet answered, “Oh, since about 300 BC,” she answered airily, tossing her flaming fire hair. Suddenly, before they could say anything else, six different girls ran into the room, laughing. “Oh! Who are these little flamlings?” Kammie asked, hoping that was what they were called. Scarlet answered, “The tallest is Seraphina, she is 12, then there is Fiammetta, and she is 11, and then Vesta, Nuri, and Hestia are triplets, and they are all 10, and then there is little Tana, and she is 9.” “Whoa, so they’re all a year apart? How do you handle all these children?” Kammie remarked, as Scarlet said, “Oh, we still have Cyra, age 14, and Sunniva, age 18, but they are at their friend’s house,” “So, you have nine children! I don’t think my mom could handle more than me!” Kammie said, but in a sad way, too. If her dad had been here, her mother could have the twins she had always wanted. Scarlet touched her shoulder. “I’m sure your dad would have been very proud of you if he was here,” she said, and Kammie was startled.
“How did you know about my dad?” she asked, and Scarlet replied, “Most elements have a talent. Fire people are mind readers, (creepy, Kammie thought) water people are able to freeze and unfreeze, and earth people can make any plant grow larger. Other than that, we are most like humans, except for our culture, as humans like to call it.” “Huh,” was all Kammie could manage to say. Inside, though, all she could think about was the fact that she was right here, right now, in her dream, her father’s dream, her life. And it was amazing. “Let’s have a picnic for dinner!” cried the youngest, Tana. And soon enough, they had a blanket spread out on the ground, and bread, cheese, and apples lay munched away at by this hungry family, and their new-found friend. Kammie was just thinking about how beautiful the forest was when she saw the mountains, and the huge shadow hovering above them.
Read the next chapter to find out what the shadow is, and what it does!