Playing With Fire Read Online Free Page B

from his seat and started barking commands.
     “Scarlet,
get the guy into a chair and do your best to spread out that wing.” Seth
searched by a nearby register counter frantically. “Al, go get Mr. Hale and
Jake. They’re both upstairs with Darren.”
    Al
nodded and trotted up the stairs to the far corner of the room by a boarded up
back door. Seth left but I could hear him shuffling through the contents of the
counter on the other side of the room as I helped Vaze over to a chair. Vaze
struggled as I lowered him into the seat and let out a pained breath.
    “You
could have ran,” he managed to croak. “Why didn’t you?” His question made me
stop and think. I wasn’t the type of person to just do nice things for people I
didn’t even know. I decided to answer with a question of my own.
    “Why
didn’t you ?” I replied.
    Vaze
let out a chuckle, and immediately grasped his torso and clenched his teeth.
    “I’ll
tell you some other time if we get the chance,” he said and before I could
reply, Seth came back with gauze, a needle and quite a bit of very fine thread.
Remembering my earlier commands I yanked Vaze’s damaged wing so that it was
spread out, which wasn’t the best idea, because he screamed in pain and his
face went pale. Seth grabbed my arms before I could do more damage and made me
sit down on the other chair.
    Rapid
footsteps echoed down the stairs as Al came bounding down the stairs at full speed
along with Darren and Jake. Jake rushed past Al and ran straight to me while
ignoring Vaze, who was wincing in pain from Seth’s work. It wasn’t long before
my big brother’s deep blue worrisome eyes were focused on me. In fact, it was a
little too soon. I still hadn’t thought of a smart mouth comment to explain
what happened.
    “Are
you okay? How did this happen? You look like you’re freezing to death! You know
better than to run outside like a brain dead idiot in this weather without at
the very least a coat.” Jake removed his cloak, which I assumed he had recently
stolen from a shop or borrowed from the old bookworm because it was nicer than
what he used to have, and draped it across my shoulders. I laughed. Jake
over-reacted too much sometimes. He was the closest thing to protective parent
I’ve ever experienced.
    Heavy
footfalls from the stairs signaled our last interruption. I turned my head to
see the old bookworm himself, walking slowly toward us. If he was surprised by
Vaze or me, he sure didn’t show it.
    The
bookworm’s real name was Draco Hale, but I never bothered to call him anything
but bookworm since the day I met him. He was a round old man with a balding
head and a pure white beard to frame his always rosy cheeks. In reality he was
a sweet guy, but I’ve always had problems with almost every adult I’ve ever
met. And when I say ‘almost every adult’ I mean with every adult I’ve met so
far. Who knows? Maybe I’ll meet an adult someday that I don’t automatically
want to piss off. He wore round rimmed glasses to go over his soft black eyes.
His white apron was stained with ink from having to rewrite books that were too
damaged to put on the shelves, or from copying books down just so there was
another copy living in the world. Though he had the appearance of a kind old
grandfather, he always had a weary look in his eye, as if he’d seen too much of
the worst of what life had to offer.
    He
towered above all of us with a presence I couldn’t place but it felt like  
something ancient and powerful. He strode over to me and knelt down.
    “You’ve
seemed to have gotten yourself into quite a big mess this time haven’t you?”
The bookworm’s voice was deep and reminded me of a gong or maybe a conch horn,
but underneath its power was the lush feel of sympathy and kindness. And the
tone he used made me think he wasn’t surprised at all. At least there was one
person in the room who wasn’t freaking out.
    “You
have no idea,” I sighed, smiling weakly. The