I ran from Adacus like my life depended on it.

I tripped over an evergreen tree’s large root and face-plant in the dirt. The pine needles on the ground dug into my skin.

I screamed.

That wasn’t normal. Leo dragged me to the grass as I continued to cry in pain.

I struggled and cried as he pulled the needles out of my skin.

It felt like someone was repeatedly stabbing me with a knife.

He then set me on the ground and disappeared.

Once the pain had gone down I sat up. The needles had left tiny holes that were bleeding all over my arms and face.

I picked myself up and ran to a nearby stream, collapsing in the cool water.

Then everything went black.

I woke up staring at the sun. I felt my arms burning, and tried to sit up, but someone forced me back down.

That’s when I began to panic. Had I been kidnapped? Was I going to become an experiment for a mad scientist?

I screamed, but someone’s hand covered my mouth.

Leo’s hair was tousled and he looked tired, but his eyes ensured it was undeniably him.

“What are you doing to me?” I yelled. He shushed me.

“Chill, Dedri. I’m helping you.” He gestured with his hand hovering over my arms producing heat waves.

The pine needle wounds were sealing themselves, I could feel it.

He moved his hand and shook it. He stopped once he saw me staring and hid it behind his back.

“Alright, you can sit up now.” He tried to cover it up, but I could already see his skin peeling. His healing me was hurting him.

I reached for his hand and he winced. It was bright red and the skin was peeling worse than I’d thought.

I avoided his eyes as I examined his hand and said “Why’d you do that?”

He seemed surprised at the question as he continued to stare at me.

“No, thank you?” He asked.

“Thank you. Now why did you?” I asked, standing and walking to the large waist-length blades of swamp grass growing nearby.

I plucked a few and sat next to him, offering my hand.

He reluctantly gave me his hand, and I got to work weaving the blades together to create a sort of bandage.

“Leo, answer my question,” I demanded, finishing with the bandage.

He was reluctant. I sighed and we sat in awkward silence.

“How did you heal my face?” I asked, trying to get him to speak.

“I just held your head and used the heat from my hand to seal up the scars,” he said shrugging.

My face burned as I pictured my head in Leo’s arms. “Thanks. For everything. And… I’m sorry, for hurting you.”

I hugged myself with my arms and looked away from him.

It was my fault the rusty metal had dug deeper into his arm. He was hurt because of me.

He’d repeatedly been hurt since I’d come.

“Hey, it’s fine. Kai almost killed me when I first met him,” Leo said laughing.

That didn’t make me feel better. Kai was a boy. I was a girl. My doing that might’ve destroyed whatever…

I cut that thought off before I could finish.

“Come on Cedar, let’s get going.” He offered his hand, but I declined.

I didn’t deserve him.

He grabbed my arm to stop me. “What’s up with you Dedri? You’re not mad at me are you?” He asked.

“No, no of course not!” I responded urgently. I hadn’t made things worse, had I?

“What’s up then? You know you can talk to me right?” He asked.

I looked at my feet. “Yeah.”

Leo stared a me a moment longer. “Ok. Come on then, Alea might die without a girl around.” He put his arm around my neck and we walked back.