Chapter 24

I was expecting Claire to ask me an infinite number of questions. Instead she was awfully quiet. She continued to heal my charred body, which by now was almost back to normal. My curiosity was almost as peaked as hers was at this point.

I broke the silence, "so how are you able to heal so fast?" Claire didn't blink as I asked the question.

She slowly answered, "magic is a funny thing. Byron thinks it's straightforward, but the truth is that there are some things that defy logic or the rules. Why do you think agnir is so sought after?" She tapped her temple like she was telling me to think about it. She finally blinked as she looked down at my wounds. Her smile was still there but it relaxed a little.

I wasnt very thoughtful. With 2 voices in my head constantly I didn't have a lot of room for self reflection or deep thinking. "So... You're powers are unique too?" I asked.

She smirked, "you're hopeless. Anyways, it looks like your all better. Let's burn the ones I got and get going." She started collecting the still gnashing and biting heads that she chopped off. I burned them with agnir's flames. Then we headed to the sewer gate. Claire looked at me and folded her arms. "It'll be a lot faster if you do it." The gates were too thin to fit through.

I held out my arm, "agnir!" I whispered.

Her sword appeared and she started speaking. "You better keep those twinkly eyes to yourself Claire!" She had a fiery attitude.

Claire was so excited, "wow! She really talks! And she's real!" She held her hands out to touch the blade.

"ew don't touch me!" Agnir lit on fire. Claire backed away carefully. I cut the gates with two wide slashes making a large hole we could enter. Then I put agnir back away.

The sewer system had a small walkway we could walk on to avoid wading in dirty water. We could hear the dripping water from down the tunnel. Claire took the lead and we chatted quietly.

"so why did you keep your healing power secret Claire?" I asked. She was silent for a moment in thought, but answered, "you should always keep something about yourself a mystery don't you think? Otherwise people can take advantage of you" she seemed to be less chatty than her usual self.

"I guess, but between friends it's not a bad thing right?" I meant it too, Claire was maybe a little weird sometimes but she is also one of my first friends.

She slowed down to a stop. She looked over her shoulder at me, "sometimes the people closest to you aren't your friends Torin..." Her tone was different from usual. She seemed upset.

She kept walking.

It got quiet again after that.