Chapter Fourteen
The Burning Building
Karan beamed down at Mai, a look of triumph on his monkey-like face. His red eyes made Mai feel like she was being scanned or searched. It was as if his eyes were looking straight through her. “So, out for a little stroll, are we?” he sneered. Mai tried to back away from him, but he grabbed her by the arm.
“Maybe, and what are you doing out here?” snapped Celie.
“I don’t think we’ve met before, have we little girl?” Karan asked Celie. While he was not paying attention, Mai opened her water bottle and pulled a large stream of water out of it. She hoped that Karan wouldn’t notice; she hoped that she could hit him hard enough to set herself free.
“What do you want?” Dakota asked, taking a step closer.
“I was just looking for someone,” Karan answered, his grip on Mai’s arm tightened slightly. Mai suddenly whipped her Water Snake at Karan and it hit him on the side of his head, making his grip loosen just enough for Mai to pull away and run back over to her friends. Karan put his hand up to the spot where Mai’s water snake had hit him; a small welt now was visible. Mai felt rather proud of herself. She had managed to leave a mark on him. It was only a bruise though, and would be gone soon. But any kind of injury she could give General Karan—big or small—was fine with Mai, as long as she didn’t get hurt in the process.
“You think you’re so tough, well let’s see,” Karan said, getting into a fighting stance. Mai, Dakota and Celie stepped back into a fighting stance too, but Wyatt just scowled at the fact that he didn’t have his swords. Mai prayed that he would find a way to defend himself. She didn’t want him to get hurt. She didn’t want him to be in pain. She knew he would find someway to keep himself safe, Mai just knew it. Just as Karan formed a ball of fire, a woman, pushing a stroller walked by and stopped cold when she saw Karan. Karan froze and put out his flame. But the woman continued to stare at him. Dakota and Wyatt looked at each other and grinned, while Mai and Celie giggled.
“What are you looking at?” Karan snapped at the woman. The woman ran off screaming, pulling her stroller along behind her. Karan shook his head and muttered something they couldn’t hear, then his fireball returned and he shot it at Dakota, who blocked it with and air blast.
“Celie, you help Wyatt back to camp, we’ll meet you there as soon as possible,” Mai said out of the corner of her mouth. If they could get back to camp safely, then they would only have to worry about two—Dakota and herself. But in that case, they would only have two people to fight Karan, and they needed as many people as possible if they were going to win.
“And miss all the excitement? Forget it! I’m not leaving!” Celie said back to her. Mai highly admired how brave and confident Celie was, and she wished that she could be like her. But she had lost her confidence long ago, and didn’t expect it to come back anytime soon. She would never be as spunky as Celie, or as brave. She wished that she wasn’t afraid to stand up for herself; that she wasn’t afraid to retort or snap back at people who hurt her. She wished.
Karan threw another fireball at Dakota who dodged it. “He doesn’t want you three, he just wants me! Run for it and you’ll be safe, I’ll catch up later!” Dakota shouted, blocking another fire blast.
“We aren’t going to leave you Dakota,” Mai said firmly. She couldn’t just leave Dakota alone to fight Karan, he wouldn’t stand a chance unless he could somehow summon up his Defensive Power. But the chances of that were very slim, so Mai wasn’t going anywhere. She would stay by his side and defend him at all costs. Not just because he was a Chosen One, but because he was her friend, and she had to help him no matter what.
“Fine, but just be careful,” Dakota warned, once again, dodging a fireball. Mai noticed that Karan was not the best fighter. His moves were uncontrolled and he didn’t seem to care where he was aiming.
“Hey, you!” Celie shouted to Karan. Karan froze and looked over at her. “You live in a zoo!” she sang, in the tune of Happy Birthday, “You look like a monkey,” Karan shot a fireball at her, which she dodged, “and you smell like one too!” Karan let out a yell of rage. He charged at Celie, one fist out. Mai launched a water snake at him and wrapped it around one of his legs. Karan tripped over it and fell flat on his face.
“Let’s get out of here before he gets up!” Wyatt shouted. The four of them turned and ran, but Karan got up just in time to see where they were going. Mai looked back over her shoulder at him, and saw him take after them. But then they turned a corner and he was gone from sight.
“If we stay in the middle of a big crowd he won’t be able to find us,” Mai said to her friends. She wanted nothing more than to get away from Karan. Even if he was weak, she still didn’t feel like fighting. It wouldn’t result in anything good for any of them.
“One thing, if we want to stay in a crowd, we’ll have to go deeper into the city. We need to get out of here and back to camp, and that’s the other way,” Wyatt observed. They turned into a large alleyway and stopped. Wyatt was right.
“Come on, we can take him, there’s only one of him and four of us,” Celie said matter-of-factly. Once again, Mai envied Celie’s courage and strength. What she would give to be more like her.
Before anyone could say anything more, Karan came running at them from behind. “Watch out!” Dakota shouted.
Celie turned around. Her eyes began to glow as Karan’s body was surrounded by Black Light. Celie furrowed her brow in concentration. “I can’t hold him, he’s squirming too much! It’s taking too much strength!” Celie said, though her voice was different, it was ridged. Finally, the Black Light shattered and the glow in Celie’s eyes went out. She let out a frustrated yell. Karan ran forward at them and threw himself at Dakota. Once again Black Light formed around him in midair, catching him by surprise. Celie lifted him up ten feet and threw him in the other direction. The Black Light disappeared and Karan slammed into a building.
Suddenly a man came running around the corner and into the alleyway and shouted, “What in the world is going on out here?” He glanced from Karan, who was standing up slowly, to Mai, Dakota, Celie and Wyatt in turn.
“Nothing, we were just playing, right kids?” Karan said stiffly. Before anyone else could say anything the man began yelling.
“Playing? Playing? Is that what you’re doing? You’re making a racket is what you’re doing! Keep it down!” With that, the man turned on his heel and marched away. Dakota looked at Wyatt who shrugged. Karan kicked and sent a flare of fire at Dakota, who sent a wave of air at the inferno and blocked it.
“Hey you big, fat, monkey face! Is that the best you’ve got?” Celie taunted. Karan let out a cry of rage and sent an enormous fireball at Celie, who jumped aside. It flew past her and hit a garbage can behind her, which immediately caught fire. This gave Mai an idea.
“I guess that is that best you’ve got!” Mai shouted. Karan’s head whipped around to look at her. He narrowed his eyes and sent a fireball at her. Mai ducked and it went soaring over her head and hit a small bush, which burst into flames.
“Very sloppy. I’m surprised that you’re a general!” Mai said with a laugh. Karan launched another fireball at her. She sidestepped and it flew past her, hitting a parked car. It faded away, leaving a large black spot where it had been hit. “Wow, I can’t believe you’re the Fire Chief’s most trusted warrior,” Mai blurted out.
If she was going to have a fight with Karan, she might as well have some fun with it. Her plan was to make Karan so mad that he doesn’t care where his fire blasts went. That way, he would draw attention to himself, and make a lot of noise. People would hear, and come to see what was going on. Once other people had come, Karan would have to stop fighting until they were gone. And when the crowd went away, Mai, Celie, Dakota and Wyatt could go with them. Then, they would be safe—at least until they could reach Amo. Plus, she wanted to try to taunt someone other than Wyatt for once. She had never been very good at being outgoing, so now she was going to try. And so far, she liked it.
“Mai, what are you doing?” Dakota whispered.
“Just follow my lead, guys,” Mai whispered back. The others looked at each other, then nodded. Mai smiled at them, dodging another fire ball, which hit the bush again (which by now had been reduced to a pile of ashes). The others seemed to understand what she was getting at.
“Hey, where’d you get that armor? I like it, it looks very beautiful on you,” Celie shouted. She dodged Karan’s fireball which hit the garbage can—which had turned black.
“Hey, look at me! I’m Monkey-Man!” Wyatt shouted. He began walking in circles flapping his arms and making monkey noises. Karan sent two fire balls at Wyatt who jumped to the side to avoid the first one and ducked to avoid the second one. They both hit the side of a building and left a large black spot. Mai looked over her shoulder, at the other end of the alley, and a ways off there was a grassy hill, and at the top of the hill was an old, run down house. Mai came up with a plan. This one, she hoped, would work better than taunting Karan to the point where he’d explode. She had always heard that anger can make you more powerful, and the last thing they wanted was for Karan to become more powerful.
“Follow me and do as I do!” she commanded. The others shrugged and followed her as she ran out of the ally and towards the old house, Karan not far behind them. As soon as they reached the house, Mai started looking for a way in. It was a large, two-story house with boarded windows and doors. There was an old, dead tree in the front yard and the grass was long and yellow. Mai looked up to the sky. Dark clouds were swirling around. They were in for a big storm soon. Mai was looking frantically for somewhere to hide. Karan would be upon them any second now. She walked around the side of the house and saw a tall hedge.
Maybe we could hide behind here, she thought. She pushed her way through the branches until she came to the other side. “Perfect!” she whispered. There was an opening in the side of the house, just big enough or them to fit through. “Over here, quick!” Mai called to her companions. They scurried over and stopped in front of the hedge.
“Mai, where are you? Karan’s almost to the top of the hill!” Mai heard Dakota’s voice call out.
“Through the bushes!” Mai whispered hurriedly. There was the sound of moving feet and the rustle of leaves, and then one by one Celie, Dakota and Wyatt crawled out of the hedge.
“He’s so slow,” Celie said with a smirk.
“So what’s the plan, Mai?” Dakota asked.
“We can hide in the house,” Mai answered in a whisper. She pointed to the hole, but Wyatt shook his head.
“Mai, if you think I’m going in there, you’re crazy!” Wyatt said quietly, shaking his head. Before Mai could answer, they heard footsteps in the grass. Everyone froze, not daring to move.
“I know you’re here somewhere. Come out, come out and play,” Karan’s called out from the other side of the hedge.
“Okay, change of mind. Let’s go,” Wyatt whispered. Mai crawled through the opening first, followed by Wyatt, then Celie and Dakota. When Mai stood up, she took a quick look around. There was dust piled up an inch thick on the floor and what was left of the furniture. The walls were falling apart and the whole place smelled of mold. They were standing in a large entry hall with a wide staircase and a piano sitting in the corner. There was a long, moth-eaten rug.
Wyatt coughed. “Mai, we can’t stay in here, we’ll get sick.” He coughed again.
“Wyatt, shush!” Mai hissed quietly. She held up her hand to silence him. There was movement outside. Her heart was pounding so hard she wouldn’t be surprised if the others could hear it too.
“Come on, we need to find a better place to hide than just standing here in plain view,” Celie whispered.
“Alright, lets go upstairs, I don’t think Monkey-Head will be able to find us,” Dakota said quietly. The others agreed, so they tiptoed over to the staircase as quietly as they could. They were almost at the top, when there was a soft cracking noise.
“What was that?” Wyatt asked.
They stopped and looked back at the opening. Nothing had changed. “That’s weird,” Dakota said thoughtfully.
“Let’s keep moving,” Mai said, grabbing his arm and pulling him forward. Suddenly, there was a loud crashing sound and a large dust cloud appeared. Mai felt Dakota’s arm slip out of her grasp. When the dust cleared, they saw that one of the steps had collapsed under Dakota’s weight. The lower half of his body was trapped under the stairs, splintery pieces of wood holding the rest of him up. His face contorted in pain.
“Dakota, are you alright?” Mai asked, fear in her voice. She knelt down beside him. He didn’t look well.
“I-I’m okay,” he said, though his voice was very hoarse.
“Come on, we have to get him out of there, Mai!” Wyatt exclaimed, urgency in his voice. “That noise was really loud and I’m sure that Karan must have—“
Suddenly there was a loud crash. “Did I hear my name?” Mai felt her blood turn cold as ice as she saw Karan walking through a large hole he had made in the wall. Why did they have to put up with this? What had she ever done to deserve this? Things couldn’t get much worse.
“We’ll hold him off, you get Dakota out of there!” Celie said to Mai, stepping in front of her, along with Wyatt.
As they descended down the staircase, Karan stepped back into a fighting stance and said, “It looks like you’re in a bad situation, Chosen One.” His words were harsh and unforgiving. Mai started to panic as Dakota grew pale and limp.
“Dakota! Dakota, what’s wrong?” Mai asked, tears in her eyes. His face was growing pale.
“M-my side,” he wheezed.
“It’s okay, everything’s okay. I’ll get you out of here,” Mai assured him. She opened her water bottle and pulled out a stream of water. With one hand, she held Dakota up by the arm, and with the other cut the splintered wood away from Dakota’s waist with a move called The Blade. Mai heard Celie laugh as she dodged one of Karan’s fireballs. Dakota winced as Mai carefully pulled him out of the hole. She had to bite back a scream as she saw what was wrong with Dakota. A piece of wood had gone into his side. It had gone in very deep, making him bleed all over Mai as she laid him across her lap. It was bad.
“Look out!” Mai heard Wyatt shout from behind her. She looked over her shoulder and was able to duck just in time to avoid a fireball, which soared over her head and hit an old chair at the top of the stairs. The chair caught fire and slowly, the fire started spreading. Mai hesitated, then carefully removed the piece of splintered wood from Dakota’s side. He was losing a lot of blood, and he was trying to fight back his tears.
Mai hugged him gently. “Hang on, Dakota,” she whispered. Then, with a wave of relief, she remembered her healing powers. She opened her water bottle again, and pulled out all that was left, just enough to heal Dakota.
“MAI!”
Mai turned around. What happened next seemed to happen in slow motion. She saw an enormous ball of fire coming at her and Dakota, one too big to dodge. So, out of instinct, she put her stream of water out in front of them. The water blocked the inferno, but evaporated in the process, leaving Mai defenseless. She looked back down at Dakota whose eyes were closed.
He’s unconscious, Mai thought, terrified.
“Hurry up back there! I can’t hold him off much longer!” Celie cried. Mai stood up, putting her arms under Dakota’s to keep him up. She dragged him to the top of the stairs, only to be greeted by the smell of smoke. She looked up, horrified. The fire had started spreading, overtaking the hallways and moving on to the stairs. Smoke was filling the building.
“We have to get out of here, now!” Mai yelled back to Wyatt and Celie. “The fire’s spreading!”
If they didn’t get out soon, they would, perish and never to be seen again. They had to get out before the fire engulfed the building completely. Mai didn’t even want to think about what would happen if they didn’t. All she knew for sure, was they were in deep trouble.
Jee was standing outside the supermarket, still reading his newspaper. Though not really reading it. More like looking at the pictures. Karan sure seemed mad at me when I give him the signal.
“What did I do to make him so mad?” he wondered out loud. “Oh well, I’ll go see if I can find him, so I can apologize for whatever I did.”
He folded his newspaper and walked along the sidewalk, waving at everyone he passed. “Wow, I must be popular, everyone’s staring at me!” he said with a grin. He quickened his pace as he tried to remember where Karan said he would meet him. He looked up at the sky, which was now gray.
Looks like we’ll finally get some rain, he thought pleasantly. He suddenly felt a sharp pain in his head. He looked forward again and saw he was face-to-face with a pole. “How dare you attack me!” he shouted at it. A woman walking by sped up as she walked past him. “You think you’re so tough, don’t you?” He poked it with one finger. “But you can’t beat me!” He rolled his newspaper and whacked it. When nothing happened, he hit it again. “I-don’t-like-you! You–are-evil!” he shouted, whacking the pole between words. He felt a tap on his shoulder. He turned around, lowering his rolled up newspaper. A man, wearing a suit was standing behind him, a curious look on his face.
“Hey, Pal,” the man said giving Jee a quizzical look. “What, exactly, are you doing?”
Jee inclined his head slightly. “Just following my orders, kind sir.”
The man was looking at him kind of strange. “Following orders, yes I see. Well, have fun with that.”
Jee heard the man chuckle as he walked away. Wonder why he’s laughing. He probably just remembered a funny joke. I wish I knew a funny joke.
Jee put the rolled up newspaper in his pocket. “I’ll be back for you,” he whispered to the pole. He walked away, feeling he had done the right thing, but then, something caught his eye. An old building on a hill had smoke rising from it.
“FIRE!” Jee shouted at once. “FIRE IN THAT OLD BUILDING!” Everyone walking along the street stopped and pointed at the old building.
“CALL THE FIRE DEPARTMENT! CALL AN AMBULANCE! CALL THE POLICE! CALL MY MOTHER!”
Everyone started talking and yelling frantically, saying things like:
“Yes, call the fire department!”
“Hurry! Get to a phone!”
“How did a fire start there?”
“Why does he want to call his mother?”
Jee reached into his pocked and felt around for his cell phone. Once he found it, he strained to remember the number that he was to call in case of an emergency.
It had three digits, he thought. Was it 411, or 991?
“Hurry, call 911!” he heard a woman shout.
“That’s it!” he exclaimed. He opened his cell phone and dialed, 911.
Mai ducked as a beam fell from the ceiling. She was having a hard time breathing. She knew she had to get Dakota out of here as soon as possible.
“CELIE! WYATT! WHERE ARE YOU?” Mai cried. The smoke had grown so thick she could barely see a foot in front of her. She hoisted Dakota up onto her back. “CELIE! WYATT!”
The only sound she could hear was the fire crackling. She dropped down to all fours, Dakota lying across her back. Suddenly, the floor gave a rumble, then collapsed. They fell down to the story below. Mai landed first on her stomach, and Dakota landed on top of her. The fire had not yet reached this level of the house. Mai inhaled and filled her lungs with fresh, clean air. She took a quick glance around the room. There were old, moth-eaten couches along the walls and a broken television sitting on a dusty bookshelf. This was probably the family room. She stood up, but staggered. Her ankle hurt. She had sprained it.
“CELIE! WYATT!”
Still no answer. She bent over and scooped up Dakota, supporting his weight was getting harder by the second. She limped over to the door and opened it. Thick, black smoke bellowed out of it, making her cough.
We can’t stay in here much longer. And I don’t know how much Dakota can last, he losing a lot of blood. She held her breath and trudged through the door. She got down on all fours again, with Dakota on her back. She crawled around, hoping she would find her friend and brother. But instead, she saw a light coming from her left. She crawled as fast as she could. There were small flames blocking the way, but she didn’t care. She kept going, the flames licking at here skin as she crawled towards the light. Finally, she came to the source. It was the large hole Karan had made in the wall when he entered. She crawled out of the house and collapsed as soon as she was five yards from the wreck. She felt woozy and was having trouble breathing. She rolled over and looked at Dakota. His pale, lifeless form was lying in an odd position, and he was still bleeding.
I have to find you some water, she thought desperately.
She sat up and rubbed her sore ankle. She lifted Dakota into a better position, but as she did this, Dakota’s unused water bottle, still full to the brim, fell out of the pocket of his blood-stained pants. Mai hurriedly took the bottle and opened it. She took a large stream of water out of it and fitted it around her hand. She lifted Dakota shirt enough so she could see his wound. Mai was horrified by how bad it was.
She carefully placed her hand on top of his wound. Immediately, the water began to absorb into his skin and the wound began to close up. As soon as all the water on Mai’s hand had been used up, Dakota stirred slightly, and Mai knew he was going to be alright. Suddenly, Mai felt something grab her upper arm. She turned around and looked up into the face of Karan.
“Move aside little girl,” he commanded.
“No, let go of me!” Mai screamed, fighting as hard as she could against his grip. She heard the sound of sirens, but Karan didn’t seem to notice. He lifted Mai off the ground and set her in a standing position.
“I’ll take you to my bear-coon, then I’ll come back for your little friend.” He looked down at Dakota.
“What did you do with my friend and brother!” Mai screamed.
“I did nothing with them. They disappeared shortly after the house caught fire. The last I saw of them, they ran up the stairs, looking for you.” Mai spat in his face. He looked away and wiped his face on his sleeve.
He looked back to her and smirked. “I don’t want to play your little games.” He began to drag her away. Mai looked back at Dakota’s lifeless form, but as Karan rounded the corner, they heard a voice. It was Wyatt.
“Over there! That’s him!” two policemen ran up and stood before Karan. Mai looked around them at Wyatt, behind him was Celie.
Go to the other side of the house. Dakota’s back there and he’s unconscious. Get him out of here, Mai said, trying to contact Celie with her mind. To her astonishment, Celie nodded and darted away.
“Unhand the girl,” said one of the policemen. Karan looked from one policeman to the other and smiled.
“As you say.” He threw Mai roughly to the side. Mai stood up and ran over to Wyatt, throwing her arms around him.
“I’m so glad you’re alright! What hap—you’re covered in blood?” Wyatt said, his eyes wide.
Mai let go of him and said, “I’ll explain later. How did you get the police?” She had never been so happy to see the police in her entire life. About ten feet behind them, Karan was being forced into a squad car.
“Some man named Jee called and reported the fire. We just got lucky.” He hugged her one more time.
Karan suddenly let out a yell of rage. “JEE! I’M GOING TO KILL YOU!” Those were the last words they heard him say before his was shoved into the car and taken away.
“Come on, now’s our chance to get back to camp. No one’s looking,” Wyatt said under his breath.
Mai smiled. They both ran around to the other side of the house where they found Celie, helping Dakota walk. He was conscious again, but just barely. Without a word, the four of them walked off. They heard frantic voices yelling behind them. It was the policemen calling for them, but they didn’t stop. Mai had always been told to trust police officers, but she didn’t think that they could help with this problem. They didn’t know about Solaria, or Romokka, so what could they do? If they told them the truth, they wouldn’t believe them anyway, and they would just think they were lying to stay out of trouble. No, going to the police wouldn’t work this time.
Even if Karan was arrested, they still had many things to worry about. They continued walking until they reached their camp fifteen minutes later. Tito and Amo greeted them and helped Dakota into the earth-tent. Mai took a water bottle out of the picnic basket and healed Wyatt and Celie’s burns as well as her own and her sprained ankle. They agreed that the day’s events would be discussed after some rest.
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