Fair Flame by L.E.P. Smith (best ereader for pdf and epub TXT) 📖

Prologue

A piercing scream rang out in the distance. Yes, it may have been mid-afternoon, the sun burning brightly… no sense of danger surrounding me, but then again, I haven’t gotten used to my new powers yet. I hadn’t felt the presence that was beginning to surround me and my family. I began to run towards the sound. It was still audible, but not out loud, I realised. The scream was in my head. Its resonating sound still lingered in my mind, aching, pressing down into me. Hurting…..Stop!

The pain vanished…as did the lasting sound of the shriek. Sudden silence…If anything, it was more disorientating than the noise. I stopped running to breathe. I came to realise….there was no noise at all. No birds, no wind blowing. The children in the park opposite: completely noiseless and still, as if they were but a snapshot of the moment before.

I shivered. Something was terribly wrong. It was like a cold hand was caressing my back….trying to seem innocent, but not quite managing it. Whoever this was they were strong, but not quite strong enough to conceal themselves completely, even to me, a newcomer to her powers. Either that or they were new too, and hadn’t gotten the control.

A noise broke through the silence. A shuffling sound. It was getting louder, but I wasn’t sure whether I should find somewhere to hide, or face it head-on. My courage gave out. I couldn’t stand to meet whatever it was coming towards me. I turned, scanned around me. The only place I could see to hide was on the other side of the street…

Could I make it?

Chapter 1

My name is Effie. Well, ok, it’s Elizabeth…but who wants to introduce themselves as that?? It’s a bit of a mouthful! ‘Effie’ came about as my dad let me go camping with my school….they had to get him to come collect me after only a few hours. I may have set light to the teachers’ tent…whoops. Since then, he’s called me his ‘fair flame’. Well, that was a long time ago now. Too long.

So, I’m Effie, I’m 22 years old, and I am a witch. Not a particularly strong one, mind you. Not yet anyway. I hope to get more powerful, but there is a limit to each person’s ability. But I want to be the best I can. That’s every witch’s aim.

I only found out about my ability a year or so ago; my dad had tried to keep it hidden from me. I understand it now, but I didn’t then.

Well, let’s start at the beginning, shall we?


My 21st birthday approached, and that’s when things started to go really weird.

I awoke that morning with a feeling of trepidation. As though I knew that something wasn’t right…..I was spooked. I sat up in my bed. Shot straight up, having momentarily forgotten that my bed was on the sloping wall, so I grazed my head across it.

I padded my way to the bathroom, trying to convince myself there was nothing wrong, I was just being silly, but I couldn’t get the feeling to leave me.

I walked into the room, the cold tile floors aiding in waking me up. I look up at the mirror and gasp. My eyes, they were purple, not the bright violet purple, but the purple of the sky with an oncoming storm….dark, and yet, still bright.

I just stood, staring blankly at my face. They were a nondescript blue when I had gone to bed the night before, nothing remarkable. But now? Amazing.

‘Effie? Effie?!’

My dad had come through the door.

‘I’m sorry Effie, I didn’t want you to find out like this, not without me being at your side as you saw your flames’

‘…My….flames?’ I croaked out, as though my voice had been unused for many days ‘Flames?’

I dragged my gaze away from my reflection as my dad lifted my hand carefully, as though trying not to startle me.

‘Woah….what the hell is going on?? I’m on fire!
I’m…on…FIRE!’

I looked at my dad. He was smiling at me, as though proud. Proud? I was just completely thrown by this turn of events….what was happening to me?

I looked back to the flames dancing on my skin. These were also purple, as my eyes were now, but these were bright. As if violets had been captured and turned into fire. They didn't burn...just left a slight tingling sensation where they licked.

He had now begun to murmur in the background.

‘She has purple flames….what does that indicate? I’ve never seen purple before…does that mean she’s strong or weak? …or something completely, entirely new?’

'Dad?'

'Hmmm?'

'DAD? Look at me! What is happening to me??'

He was still just staring at me, his gaze grazing my hands, my face, studying.

‘Well….I guess I should’ve told you many years ago….My family? The ones you don’t see, well, the reason you don’t see them is that…’ He trails off…

‘Dad! Come on….tell me, then tell me if you know how to turn these damn flames off! I look like a Christmas pudding here, all lit up like this!’

‘So you do!' he laughs 'Ok, my family are all magical. Some are witches – like you, some are shifters, some are psychic, and a few are even…’ His abrupt stop has me panicked. It doesn’t even register that he’s just called me a witch…

‘A what Dad? Some are what??’

‘You don’t need to know right now. We’ll get to that at some point. Right then my Fair Flame, how do you feel about this?’

'I am a...witch?'

'Yup!' THe smug look on his face seemed to get worse, if it was even possible.

‘Ok…a witch. That doesn’t seem so bad…but will I stay all flamey for the rest of my life?!’

He chuckles. ‘No, of course not. You just gotta learn. And you will, soon. We’ll be on our way soon. Go get - ’

A loud crash interrupts his sentence. He freezes. Looks at me. His jovial behaviour has now disappeared, replaced with anxiety, and what I think is fear. I’d never seen that look on his face before, nor ever since.

Footsteps pounded up the stairs. My father was frozen..not even a flicker of recognition as I frantically waves my hands in front of his face. I slapped him. He didn’t move, not at all. His flesh upon the palm of my hand was as hard as stone, but with a waxy feel. Was this to be first impression of magic?

The footfalls were getting louder. I began to shout at my dad. ….but nothing, no reaction. I then hear talking from outside my bedroom door.

‘Shhh….can you hear that? She’s awake! How? She should be down. Ok, you know what you need to do then, right?’

A grunt was all I heard from the second man that was violating my house, my home.
‘On my count…3…2….1…NOW!’

I scream.

Chapter 2

I drift in and out of consciousness, catching some speech from my captors. Most of it makes no sense at all, but some strangely does.

‘Why do you think she stayed awake? And how much does she know about….Well, I have no idea what she’ll think of her…who can tell? Strange….We ought to check up on…But what about…Phoras’ family will…What if? What if she wakes before we get there? Don’t worry…She couldn’t possibly…No. No way is that feasible that she is….I think that Jimmy’s the best one…Hey! Was that….’

I wake in my

comfy bed, covered with my

thick and warm duvet. I stretch, and look around, waking as if from a dream. But as I view my surroundings, I notice that that my bed is the only thing that is mine. The rest of the room is filled with clinical plastics, and cold, cold steel.

I find myself not in my own clothes anymore, but now in a hospital gown, with IV drips linked to my left arm. The liquid is a strange blue colour. I wonder what it contains. But I slide these out, tearing off the sticky tape holding them in place. The needles emerge red and bloody; the liquid that was forcing its way into my veins leaking out onto the floor. Now that I’m free of the restraints of the tubes, I stand to look around.

The first thing I notice is that beside my bed is a huge mirror. I know they’re watching me. I can feel their eyes; hear their pencils scratching the paper upon which they’re writing on. Wait, I can hear

them writing

?? I shake my head, clearing it of such idiocy. I turn back, finishing my exploration of my surroundings. I become aware of a camera positioned by the door. I wonder why they need a camera, as well as the one-way-mirror. Surely they’d have me being watched all the time, if they made the effort to take me away from my dad and my home. Apart from the camera, and my bed…there’s nothing.

I shiver.

‘Elizabeth.’ I start, the voice making me jump. ‘Elizabeth, welcome’

Welcome? I think, welcome?!

‘Welcome? Why are you welcoming me? You kidnapped me; hurt my dad, shut me up here, and that is completely devoid of any welcome at all! And you want to welcome me?!’

‘Ah, yes well, we had hoped to get there a little earlier, and be able to talk to your father first. But, we didn’t get there in time. So we had to take measures to ensure your safety. It had to be done, and I’m sorry.’

‘And my father? Is he OK?!’

‘Dan is fine. We didn’t harm him. He knew that this may happen. He’s actually here with us.’
‘He’s here? Can I see him? Speak to him?’ I know I sound desperate, but it feels like days since I saw him last.

‘It has been days, Elizabeth. Four to be exact,’ a new voice adds. This voice sounds friendly. ‘You’ve been out since we took you four days ago.’

‘Four days…..right, so that’s why I feel like crap then. Why have I been kept out of it for four days? There’d better be a damn good reason for it!’ My anger is growing. How dare they do this to me?! What have I done that warrants such treatment? Such…a lack of my own human rights?