Free Kindling by Abigail Colucci Page B

looked like I had been through a wind tunnel.
    I went to the bathroom and poured water over my head, then brushed out the blood and knots. I got my hair to look fairly normal and pulled my wet tresses into a clip. I still looked beaten up, but washing the dried blood off helped. I splashed water over my neck and it made me feel a bit better. My body stung and my muscled ached. My heart began to race. I was headed down for another fight, I knew, and I had this overwhelming feeling that this one was probably going to change my life.
     

     
     
     
     
     
    I was actually glad to put on the yoga clothes. They were comfortable and familiar and soft against my bruised and beaten body.
    When I was dressed and looked a little better, I went back downstairs. Heike, my parents, and Braith were waiting for me. My parents had changed out of their formal clothes and into sweatpants. Heike changed back into his black leather and Braith, god, even with the bruises and swelling and redness and messy hair, he was gorgeous. Somehow, this struck me as incredibly annoying and I glared at him as I took a seat. He looked genuinely hurt, so I felt bad and broke my gaze. Maybe he was more than just an insane mimbo ...
    “So,” Heike began. “Braith filled you in a little?”
    I shrugged. “A little.”
    “And there was no way you believe him?”
    I didn’t hesitate. “Not for a second.”
    “Ah,” Heike said. He turned to my parents. “Menno, you want to start?”
    “No, go right ahead,” he said. “I’ll fill in if necessary. But I’m sure you can handle it, old man.”
    Heike chuckled and nodded. I was pretty apprehensive, because it felt like an intervention and, there was a huge part of me that just didn’t want to hear what they were going to tell me. “Where should I begin?” Heike said, mostly to himself. Then he looked at me. “You’ve got to listen, okay? No interruptions?” I glanced at my parents. My mom gave me a thumbs up and I sighed.
    “No interruptions,” I agreed.
    Heike nodded. “You have to know I didn’t want this for you, Katja. I wanted you to have a normal life, we all wanted you to have a normal life.” He nodded towards my parents and sighed. “I’ve been hunting with my father for as long as I can remember. Even as a little boy, my father would take me on even the most dangerous excursions. He made me do things I won’t forget. There were times I was so scared I thought about killing myself just so our enemies couldn’t have me. So, I vowed I wouldn’t have children and put them through what he put me through. And for many, many years I held good to that promise. Until I met Molly,” Heike blushed. I looked at my mom and she smiled. “And then you came, Katja. We knew you were a girl and I was so happy, because usually it’s just the boys that are given The Gift. But, when you were born a month earlier than expected, on a Saturday, under a full moon, at midnight, I had to admit to myself that, maybe, maybe my daughter was cursed and it was all my fault.
    “I remember when you were just two weeks old, Katja, I could hold you in my hands. You were so tiny and fragile. It was my job to protect you and I knew I had failed. In our world its called having The Gift, but it’s a curse, too. You’ll never have a normal life. So, by cursing you with the hunt, I failed you, Katja. But I wasn’t sure, of course, so I brought you to Mexico to see The Oracle. We stayed with her for a month, and I’ll never forget when she called me to her and told me. “The child is a hunter,” she said. That’s all she said, because she knew I knew already.
    “We left The Oracle when you were three months old and went to stay with the Chavez’s, your grandparents and papá. They have been my family for all my life, Katja, and I could trust them with you and your mom. I knew what I had to do. I had to leave and try with everything in my power to keep you safe. But I knew, if you got too attached to me and I