A black, soft cotton glove keeps their fingers from touching. Gingerly, Nika pulls herself out from under the desk. The boy stands with her. Heart beating nervously, she pulls away. The office is relatively unscathed, though the door to the outside world is missing. She glances at the boy. He seems to be waiting patiently for her to move at her own pace. Cautiously, she moves into the main room.

The first thing she notices are the rough chunks of wood, remnants of the front door. Then she sees the shattered pieces of the cabin window, glinting with moonlight. Nothing here seems on fire. Outside, a darkness looms. Whatever powers the lights must be gone. Nika walks outside.

To her left, the cafeteria is silent. Eerie. She walks tentatively toward the doorway, and a smell, almost like rust, reaches her. Nika tenses as she hears a crunch. The boy crushed a piece of glass under his boots on the way out. He looks at the stars with casual familiarity. Still uneasy, Nika shifts her gaze to the clearing under the oak tree.

She puts a hand to her mouth as she realizes what the dark shapes are, obscured by the great tree’s shadow. Over the small rise, she sees distant flickerings of red and orange. She’ll have to walk past them if she wants to know what happened to her mom.

Nika begins the walk to the cabins. She tries to stay away from the bodies, a part of her glad for the darkness, while the other is morbidly curious. Not sure what the boy expects her to do, she glances back frequently. He follows casually, a few steps behind. Should she say something? Suddenly, Nika slips in the dark. Her arms pinwheel as she falls backwards.

He grabs her arm, and she has a moment to catch herself. She holds his hand as she steadies herself. She considers letting go again, but, staring at the distant flames… She doesn’t want to find her answers alone.

“How are you going to fix this?” she asks, as they walk along. He looks perplexed. “Like you promised.” Ah, yes.

“My brother is like lightning. He never strikes the same place twice. If we go to one of these places, you will be safe.” He speaks calmly. As if his brother really was just a storm that will pass. But now she is more confused than before.

“Your brother did this?”

“Yes. He is a hurricane, while I am the eye of the storm, pulled along by his senseless antics.”

As Nika gets a good look at the cabin area, she finds that antics are a poor choice of words. Every cabin is ablaze, in various states of being burnt to ash. More bodies are on the ground. The heat is oppressive, but she tries to move forward anyways, until a gust of wind blasts her with a wave of smoke. She coughs repeatedly, backing away. At the edge of the center clearing, she looks out at the cabin area. She sees the burning outline of the main stage, its metal frame still defiantly upright, refusing to burn. The smoke has already made her eyes watery, but the thought of being so close to knowing for sure… Maybe the boy knows? Should she trust his answer? She won’t know if she doesn’t ask. Nika wipes a tear from her face.

“Did anyone else make it?” This time she knows she sounds brave. She wants answers.

“No.” He pauses for a moment, reading her emotions. “Who did you lose?” For the first time, Nika hears him concerned. But something about it lacks… depth.

“My mom.” she answers, voice wavering for just a moment. He nods gravely.

They stare at the fire for a few minutes. He, contemplatively, she, collecting herself. He lets go of her hand. Nika notices but doesn’t move. Then he puts his hand on her back. Too close.

Nika pushes herself away and storms off, toward the campground entrance. She’s had enough, of all of this. As pieces of debris crack under her boots, she hears the boy running after her.

“Nika, wait! Let me tell you what happened here! You’re not safe!” It’s the first time Nika believes the emotions in his voice, which rings with panic more than concern.

She stops at the entrance to the parking lot. She is acutely aware of her copy of the car keys, resting in her jacket pocket. But first.

“Tell me.” she says angrily, not turning around. The boy stops a few steps behind her and collects his breath.

“My brother has put a great curse on me. It is what gives him the power to destroy all of this.” He probably just gestured at the campground. Nika doesn’t bother turning around to check. “At every step, he has stopped me from freeing myself, for his own selfishness. Today, I came here looking for two ways to break the curse. The ground here is -was- sacred, and used in many healing rights. I also came here for you.”

“What- what do your problems have to do with me?” Nika asks disbelievingly. Curses? Magic? If the night’s events hadn’t been so strange, she wouldn’t have believed him for a second, and she certainly wasn’t going to believe it if he said she was some long-lost tsarina.

“I have heard that your family has hidden away an artifact which grants three wishes. After our confrontation today, I am sure my brother knows as well.”

Nika turns and stares, trying to process this crazy story. What was this boy and his fairy tales doing in the 21rst century? Why did just enough of the puzzle pieces fit together, that she actually thought he might have said the truth?

“Please, Nika, if we look together, I can protect you from my brother.”

“I can look after myself!” she shouts. But, looking past him, she sees the campground alight. Can she protect herself from that? She chooses her next words carefully.

“If the curse is broken, he won’t be able to do that anymore?” She points at the burning cabins.

“And, you will have saved me from a terrible fate.” He bows nobly.

Nika sighs, “I just, I have a lot to think about.” Like, how wise is it to wander away from a crime scene with a strange boy? She looks at the boy, who has mostly been kind to her, and at the utter destruction of the campgrounds.

“Can you meet me here, in two days?” Oh. He surprises her by saying something sensible. Two days. Enough time to think on everything, and to pack if she’s crazy enough to go.

“Sure, okay.” She nods, and begins walking toward the cars. Almost at the first row, she stops and calls back to him.

“One last question, what’s your name?” He smiles before answering, wry and a bit mischievous, like telling her a secret.

“It’s Mikhail.”