CHAPTER 143

He frowned. "Even your body can only take so much punishment," he said.

"And since it is my body, it is my choice." She folded her wings around her. "I do not wish to talk about it. One of my greatest fears is to lose the sky."

"Then let's do everything in our power to avoid that." He examined her face, then brushed a lock of hair away from her brow. "So you can breathe fire..."

She shrugged. "Not that it's a big deal, but yes. It is called heartfire. By my former clan, anyway. I'm not very good at it and lost control."

"Is that why you've never used it before?" He had seen her in more than a couple of fights where it would have come in handy.

"Heartfire is different for every one of my kind. I have a powerful flame, but a tiny body, so it's difficult to control." She put her hands on her hips. "It also uses a tremendous amount of energy. If used too much, I can fall into hibernation until the sun's light awakens me once again."

"Like when we first met?" She had been tucked in a shadowed alcove and covered with Mandragora vines, the plant siphoning away her energy. "You were asleep."

"My people get our energy from many places." Her dark eyes sparkled, and she glanced down at his crotch. "But you know this already."

He laughed, then looked out into the forest. It felt as though he was being watched, but in a non-threatening way. Was it the trees?

"I was thinking about taking a walk. Would you like to come with me?"

She nodded. "I will follow you from above."

"Nah, not like that. Come see the forest with me."

Her cheeks darkened, and she licked her lips. "I would like this."

"C'mon, let's go." He walked to the edge of the barn and was grabbed from behind. The roof disappeared from beneath his feet as Abella glided through the air and then landed roughly near the tree line. He stumbled a few feet before regaining his balance.

"That hurt more than I thought it would," she explained, rubbing at her wing joint. "Sorry, I thought I could carry you."

"As long as you're okay." He held out a hand, and she took it with a smile.

The trails around the cabin were covered in thin snow that did little to slow Mike down. Every step Abella took made a crunching sound, her toes spreading apart to leave wide tracks. Her tail swished in a serpentine pattern, which left a smooth furrow behind them. If they somehow got lost, someone would easily be able to find them.

He didn't worry about losing his way. Even with the cabin still close by, he could feel it. His magic shifted inside him, like a magical compass that always pointed the direction home.

Abella told him stories from centuries past, and he shared a few tales from when he was younger, mostly camping while in the Boy Scouts and college. She hung on every word, and he noticed that her wings would make a rippling noise when she laughed, like a tarp in the wind.

They skirted the area of the forest that had burned. He couldn't help but notice that the subconscious hum that hovered around him all the time dimmed when they passed through the scorched areas. It was as if he had been disconnected from the woods, a sensation that left him feeling hollow inside.

Abella noticed this, her eyes dropping to the ground.

"I couldn't control myself," she explained, but he stopped her by putting his arm around her shoulders.

"I always knew you were hot," he joked. "Guess we now have proof, eh?"

She elbowed him in jest, a casual act on her part that knocked the wind from his lungs. He coughed and took a moment to compose himself.

"It's just that I had no idea you could breathe fire," he told her with a wheeze. "Is it difficult?"

"It depends. Some of my kind couldn't even light a candle, but their strengths lay elsewhere. I could boil away a small pond if I could control it."

"Why not practice, then?" He put his hand on hers and squeezed to reassure her that he was just curious.

"Heartfire doesn't just burn things. It also changes you." She explored her forehead with her free hand, then let out a sigh. "If I were to practice, my outer appearance would eventually change. Perhaps I would grow horns, or my face would deform. I like my body the way it is, much more human than monster."

"Is that why your kind can look so different from one other? Do you all look the same when you're born, and then change, or...?"

She chuckled. "When we hatch, we vary wildly in appearance. However, the use of heartfire always results in a more fearsome visage. My flames are so strong that I fear what I could become."

"I see. Fire breath that could change the appearance of the user. Interesting." Mike stroked his chin thoughtfully.

They moved away from the scorched clearing and toward one of the nearby hills. Eventually, they found themselves in the rocks that surrounded the hot springs. All around him, he could hear the mutterings of the forest, with the occasional chatter of the spiders.

"Something on your mind?" Abella asked. "You're distracted."

He didn't even know where to begin. Sensing the forest was likely related to his interlude with Amymone before coming here, and he definitely didn't want to bring up the spiders. Struggling to come up with an answer for her, he thought about his discussion with Emery.

"You've been at the house a long time. Did you ever sense that it was alive?" he asked.

"Hmm. Interesting question." She paused, her tail crunching against some rocks through the thin layer of snow. "I guess it depends on what you mean. Ever since you came, I would argue that it feels more alive than ever."