The Wizards of India and the Hunt For the Beast

"Trackers have been chasing me my whole life," said Bastian, orange light reflecting off his face from the campfire. "The first time I met one, I was six. They made a portal into my family's living room. I got away that time and have been on the run ever since... to protect my family. I was working as a dishwasher at a fancy restaurant at a resort in Cabo when ten trackers ambushed me."

"Cabo," Itai, the young African boy curled in Bastian's lap, repeated sleepily.

"Si jefe, in Cabo." Bastian smiled and squeezed his arms tighter around the younger boy. He looked across the fire at Justin, who sat on a large log, arms wrapped around themselves. "I can absorb energy when I touch it. Well... sometimes... when I need it the most, it happens. Sometimes I absorb only a little, sometimes a lot. Sometimes it stays inside of me for a while and sometimes it disappears quickly. I don't really have control of it. With those ten trackers surrounding me, I was so scared. There was a stove with a burner on and I just reached out and placed my hand in the fire. First, my hand absorbed the heat, then my arm and my chest... I had never absorbed so much energy and I kept absorbing it. I couldn't stop... until I filled my whole body with fire."

Pausing, Bastian looked at the ground. Itai twisted in the older boy's arms and placed his small hand on Bastian's cheek. Bastian smiled and grabbed Itai's hand, pulling it away.

"Claro que si jefe," he whispered to the boy and looked into the fire. "I blacked out after that and woke inside a cage in an airplane. There was a guard who told me I had exploded... that the entire kitchen and restaurant went up in flames. He said... he said I killed eleven people, and that's not including the trackers."

Silence enveloped the village except for the crackling and popping of the fire and the hum of insects in the jungle. After several minutes, Erla, the girl from Iceland, who sat next to Justin, spoke.

"I can't get cold," she said.

This made Bastian snort, and Itai giggled.

"What do you mean you can't get cold?" he asked.

She shrugged. "I can't. I live in the snow and I can go outside with nothing on, lay in the snow and fall asleep. It feels just like sleeping in my bed to me."

"Do you sleep naked?" asked Eleu, the Hawaiian boy who sat on the other side of Erla.

Erla's cheeks reddened, and she shook her head.

"You will probably get along great with Niraj. He enjoys running around naked," said Eleu and he pointed at Niraj, who sat next to Bastian. Niraj, now fully clothed, simply grinned.

"How did you get caught?" Bastian asked Erla.

Erla shrugged again. "They just found me. My parents knew of my magic and they knew there were people that wanted to use me because of it. They made me an igloo hidden away in a snowfield, far from any town. When trackers were near, I would run there. Last time though, the trackers found the igloo. I am only seven. I can't fight back. But I don't know how they found me."

"Blood magic," said Justin.

"What?"

"It's something trackers use to find people. If they have your blood, it will lead them right to you."

"But they didn't have my blood."

For a moment that stumped Justin, but then they thought of Nitara knowing her brother was alive and of Vendari feeling that his son had been upstairs in the Reishi Corporation building.

"Maybe they can use the blood of your family."

Erla's eyes went wide and then her bottom lip quivered.