Imdalind 01 - Kiss of Fire

count,” I admitted.
    “Oh, great,” his sarcastic voice echoed through the clearing. “Now how am I supposed to know if I beat my record?”
    “What’s the record?”
    “Twelve seconds,” I answered Wyn, causing her jaw to drop even further.
    “Can you do magic or something, because that was wickedly fast.”
    Ryland balked at her question, his face paling to a ghostly shade of white like he had been caught at something.
    “Ummm, no. I just like to light things on fire.” He shook his curls, his uncomfortable face disappearing so fast I wasn’t even sure if I had seen it.
    “Too bad, that would be way cool if you could. You could pretend to fly and make things disappear!”
    Ryland laughed at her. I guess magic wasn’t cool to him. But then, I couldn’t see Ryland pulling rabbits out of hats with much flair.
    “Well, for losing count, Jos, you owe me a race.” Ryland leaned close to me, his face full of eager anticipation.
    “You’re on.” I answered him, already standing tall, trying to meet him at his full height, which only brought me to his shoulders. I tried to look intimidating by squaring my shoulders, but it looked rather silly, and both Ryland and Wyn laughed at my poor attempt to psych him out.
    “Oh, fine,” I said, giving in and grabbing Wyn’s hand to pull her over to the line of trees that surrounded the clearing. “You can play referee.”
    “You gonna cheat, Jos?” Ryland asked as he took his place at the tree next to mine, stretching his arms out in preparation.
    “Nope, I am going to win.” I gave him my biggest smile, and looked up to the tall branches above me. I knew I had a problem. Although I loved the feel, and the smell of Ryland’s sweater, it was way too big to be effective during a tree-climbing race.
    “Oh, great.” I mumbled.
    “Losing confidence, Joclyn?” His taunts were pointless; he hadn’t beaten me since the first time we had tried this.
    “No, but I swear you’re going to be in big trouble if I rip any of my clothes.” I shed the large sweater and let it fall in a heap at my feet. I looked down to make sure my green shirt was lying flat, before looking to Ryland who had fixed this strange look of happiness on his face.
    “I like that shirt, Joclyn; it looks very pretty on you,” said Wyn
    I turned to her and smiled in thanks. She gave me a big thumbs-up which made me smile more.
    “Don’t worry Jos. If you tear any clothes, I’ll just buy you new stuff. I still owe you a pair of pants anyway; we’ll have to go shopping.”
    “You wouldn’t owe me anything if you would stop ripping my clothes off, Ryland.”
    Ryland’s face blanched before spreading into a wide grin. Wyn laughed behind me. It took a moment for the reality of what I had just said to click into place.
    “No! I didn’t mean it like that.” I rounded on Wyn, silently pleading, but she didn’t even see me through the tears of laughter that rolled down her cheeks. “Ryland, tell her!” All my pleading was for naught, even Ryland laughed gleefully.
    “All right, Wyn,” I loudly interrupted the laughing, causing them to stop. “You tell us when to go. First feet to hit the ground again wins.” She nodded in agreement, wiping the tears from her face.
    I looked to Ryland, who winked at me before turning to his tree, still chuckling. My stomach twisted, whether with joy or nerves, I couldn’t tell, but I turned and faced my tree, nonetheless, stretching my fingers in excitement.
    “On your mark,” Wyn said, “get set, go!”
    I lunged toward the tree, my hands pulling me up into the tangle of lower branches. The second my hands touched the bark, a fire ignited within me. It always did this, every time we raced. I felt a strange energy surge under my skin as I vaulted up the tree, propelling myself higher and higher. The familiar feeling of flying took over me as I moved up, my arms propelling me faster and faster.
    I looked to the side to see Ryland keeping pace with me, although still behind. I grabbed the next branch and pulled myself up even harder, my legs kicking off to raise me up. I didn’t look down; although I wasn’t afraid of heights, I knew we were at least 20 feet up in the air now. I could see the deep notch we had placed in the tree all those years ago and knew it was almost time to make my descent.
    “Goal!” I yelled as I pressed my palm to the large gash in the tree, before turning to speed my way down the tree.
    “Goal!” Ryland yelled from