by Mia Marshall
I stared for several long moments, feeling denial and horror struggle in my mind. We had caused a man’s death. This couldn’t be real. Somehow, there was another explanation for this. I knew, though. I knew that he had been alive when we entered the building, and he was dead now, and we were the reason. Beside me, I heard Sera’s intake of breath as she struggled with the same realization.
“He...” her voice tapered off. There was nothing to say.
I felt rather than saw the flames in the door grow, the earlier effect of Sera’s dampening fruitless in the face of her volatile emotions. I half-heartedly attempted to put them out myself, but I could not easily access the magic through my own rage and despair. I did not particularly care, either.
“Who do we tell?” I asked, my voice flat.
“We’ll call my dad. He should know, anyway.”
I nodded. I didn’t want to leave him like this, alone in death as he appeared to have been in life, but I didn’t know what else to do. I grabbed his blanket from the pallet and carefully spread it over him, covering his spindly legs and arms. I knew I should be careful of fingerprints, but I didn’t care. With my thumb and index finger, I closed his eyes.
It wasn’t enough. Leaning over, I pressed a soft kiss to his grimy forehead, trying to wordlessly tell his vacant body how sorry I was. I felt several tears slide down my cheek and land on his face, drawing a path through the dirt on his own cheeks. It still wasn’t enough, but I didn’t know what else I could do.
Slowly, we turned and walked through the door, its flames now flickering merrily in marked counterpoint to our moods. As we turned toward the stairs, we heard a distinctive thump. It came from the second office.
I didn’t even look at Sera. I was certain she felt the same way I did, and even if she didn’t, she’d still have my back. This bastard was the reason we were here. He was the reason multiple people had died in horrible ways. He was the reason Sera had thrown a fireball at the door and the reason I had let it burn. There was no way that man was going to walk out of here. I felt the rage boil through me, and Sera definitely felt the same. I saw the flames rise. Even the fires still blocking the doors appeared to glow brighter.
I didn’t bother to look through the window. I didn’t bother to gather my magic about me. I simply slammed the door wide open and stepped inside, ready to face whatever waited for us in the room.
There was one other person in the office. Amanda Wilson lay on her side, her face a rictus of shock and desperate fear. I ran to her, irrational hope fueling me. Maybe he hadn’t had time to finish. I knew CPR. I could still save her. She was warm and pliable, and I doubted she’d been dead for more than a few moments. The loud thump had likely been her body hitting the floor.
I rolled her onto her back, tilted her head back, and began chest compressions, silently begging her to respond. She remained still, and completely dead. I continued the compressions, pressing down with greater force, imagining her heart beneath my hands pulsing and returning to life, picturing the water in her blood and trying to pull it through her blood vessels. I forced the magic through her inanimate cells, attaching it to her blood cells, sending it through the aorta and outward through the veins and arteries. I felt the movement, but no life.
“Take your time working on that desperate case, Aidan Brook. It just gives me more time to get away. Really, quite thoughtful of you.”
The voice rang through the warehouse, the acoustics magnifying it and blurring its origin. It could have come from below, behind, or even above us. I could continue my attempts to revive Amanda, or I could find the thing that had killed her and force a wall of water into his lungs. I made what seemed like the only possible choice at the time, though I still do not know if it was the right one. I abandoned Amanda, and I went to confront the monster that was taunting me.
He stood on the ground floor. I felt like it should be shocking to see him in person for the first time, but he looked much as he had on the tape. He still wore black clothes and the ski mask. It was too dark to make out his eyes or lips through the slits in the balaclava, but his voice told me he was smiling. The bastard was playing a game with us, and enjoying every second.
“Are you going to kill me this time? Third time’s the charm!” Without warning, a fireball sailed over my shoulder, flying at top speed toward its target. He dodged it neatly, letting it crash behind him. It caught fire where it landed, devouring the wooden floor and heading for the support beams. I took grim satisfaction in watching the fire spread near him and made no effort to stop it whatsoever.
“Temper, temper. If you kill me, you won’t ever hear what I know. And I know oh, so much, Aidan Brook. I know secrets you’ve never even imagined.”
I knew he was merely taunting me. It was part of his game, and I refused to play. I reached for my magic, determined to find enough water to shove down his lying throat, but for the first time ever, it wasn’t there. My rage and pain and frustration were blocking it. I forced myself to breathe, to be calm, and met with no success. I tried again. Nothing. Even my protective shield of water had vanished. In that moment, I might as well have been completely human.
Sera flung another fireball at him, and again he dodged it. He laughed as this one also struck the floor and caught fire, spreading across the dry wood. “Careful, there. You’re setting a lot of fires you might not be able to put out. Will you, Aidan Brook?” Sera flashed me an inquisitive glance, but before I could say anything, our quarry had left the room, opening the previously locked door of the third room and slipping inside.
“Damn him!” she swore, running down the stairs. I followed more carefully, starting to notice all the fires that surrounded us. The single fire on the upstairs door had spread throughout the room, swallowing the pallet and heading hungrily for our victim, and it looked like it was considering the room in which Amanda lay as well.
Downstairs, both doors were engulfed in flames, and the two fireballs Sera had just aimed at our target were progressing at an alarming speed. We only had a few minutes to eliminate this monster before I would also be a victim. At the moment, I wasn’t even concerned about that possibility. I only wanted him dead.
Sera stood in front of the door, holding the largest fireball I’d ever seen. It writhed and twisted in her hands, and I could almost see bodies pulsing within its depths, pushing against the barriers as if seeking escape. “Just open the door, Ade. I’ve got this.”
Hoping he hadn’t bothered to lock it behind him, I reached out. The knob twisted easily in my hand, and the door silently swung open. I had only a moment to look inside the room before Sera threw her missile, and I saw the lone figure I expected to see—except this man was dressed in a black jacket, with a red collar circling the man’s neck.
“Sera, no!” I shouted, a fraction of a second too late. The fireball flew into the room, smacking directly into the guard’s back. His clothes were instantly aflame.
Fortunately, the man was no fool. He immediately removed the jacket and got low on the ground, crawling toward us. It did little good. He had been restrained, his left leg shackled to the wall, and could only move a few feet. Behind him, he had only the solid wall of the building and an eager fire. Ahead, he saw the two of us, standing amidst an inferno of our own creation. Desperate, I reached again and still found no magic. The flames rose higher, and I could do nothing to help.
“Put it out, Sera,” I screamed. She looked at me, confused, wondering why I wasn’t doing my part. I only shook my head at her. The fires stoked the panic and anger building inside me, and I could find no words to explain.
Her brows drew in, her face a mask of concentration. I knew she was focusing on pulling the flames to her, but she might as well have been attempting long division for all the good it did.
The fire continued to burn, and I was unable to stop it. I kept reaching for my magic, only to find it inaccessible through my borderline hysteria. The more I tried, the more upset I became, a vicious cycle of futility. The fire con
tinued to rage.
Sera’s efforts were no more successful. She had simply started too many fires to control. Everywhere we looked, wood burned, the flames eagerly consuming anything in their path. We only had minutes before the catwalk crushed us, or possibly the roof. Longevity is not the same as immortality, and if we wanted to live, we needed to get out of there. “There’s no way,” I said, looking blankly at the front door, now a wall of flame. Sera could get through it, but I could not.
“Come on, Ade. Let’s move.” She pulled me to the door. “Here’s what’s going to happen. I’m letting go of all the other fires. They don’t exist. It’s just this one now. I’m going to make it as small as possible, then I am wrapping myself around you as much as I can and we are rushing through that door. You hear me?”
I shook my head. “You do that, the guard has no chance. You let those flames burn at full strength, and he’s dead.”
“It doesn’t matter. If I don’t do this, you’re dead, and that is not going to happen.” The debate was over. A moment later, the flames before us lessened enough that we could see the dawn sky through them, and Sera decided that was good enough. Grabbing me, she leapt through the door, landing on her back and immediately rolling to put out any fires that clung to my clothes. “You hurt?”
Mutely, I shook my head no. I felt nothing. A moment later she was back inside the warehouse, searching for the guard. She couldn’t have been inside for more than a minute, but each second felt like a small eternity. I knew that Sera should be safe with fire, but I should also be able to control water. Should wasn’t worth much this night.
Finally, she walked back through the flames. There was no mad rush, no quick roll this time. She was alone. She looked at me, her black eyes pools of regret and sorrow, and shook her head silently. “Let’s get out of here before the fire trucks arrive,” she said, climbing into the driver’s seat. Slowly, I joined her. There was nothing else to do here. As we drove out, the flames in the doorway were once again burning at full strength, blocking me from seeing inside, but also blocking anything else from escaping. Whoever was in there, he was dead.
Two miles down the road, the storm that had been threatening all day finally broke. The rain poured down in sheets, removing any evidence of our presence at the warehouse. It drenched the land and extinguished the fire. Sera and I said nothing, and I only stared out the window, watching nature accomplish what I had been unable to.
Chapter 7
When I finished my story, the room was silent for several long moments. Sera looked at me and offered one silent nod, letting me know that she agreed with, or at least accepted, my version of the story. Brian stared into space, perhaps imagining the fiery death of the man who had killed his girlfriend. Vivian met my gaze directly and nodded, though I could not tell whether she was merely acknowledging the story or harshly judging our actions from that night. I hoped it was the former, if only because while I might consider myself an irresponsible killer, it would be hard to work together if others shared that opinion.
Mac stood up, grabbed my coat off the rack, and chucked it to me. “Let’s see it, then,” was his only comment. I followed him out to his Bronco, and a moment later Vivian and Simon slid into the back seat. Sera and Brian were meeting her father at the airport, and so the four of us drove in silence to the scene of all my worst memories. When we’d run away years ago, the fire seemed to stretch halfway to the stars, its power so all-consuming I thought the building had no chance of survival. I’d expected to find nothing when we arrived. And yet, here it was, its four walls black and burnt, but standing.
The inside hadn’t fared as well. The flames had devoured large chunks of the roof, and years of exposure to the elements and wildlife made this formerly industrial building feel raw and primitive. The fire had stripped the entire building down to bare bones, leaving ragged holes in walls and gaping wounds where doors once stood. The catwalk no longer ran completely around the building. Parts of it had fallen to the ground, and in other places only one end had come loose, dropping to the floor and creating ramps that only the most adventurous soul would dare to climb. The metal staircase still stood, untouched, but it was no longer connected to anything. Despite the destruction, I could easily picture the building exactly as it had stood that night. I doubt I’d ever forget.
“Show us where you last saw the guy,” said Vivian. She wandered around the warehouse, peering at concrete and tapping various support beams. It looked like she was considering buying the place. Mac stood still, slowly moving his eyes over every inch of the building, an expression of pure focus on his face. I suspected that, if asked, he’d later be able to draw it from memory.
“Over here,” I called, pointing out the room closest to me. There was no longer any door to speak of, nor even much of a room.
Simon shifted and prowled, appropriately enough, around the decrepit catwalk, and the rest of us stood together in the burned out warehouse, looking for clues and explanations that were at least ten years old. I had never been back here. The day after the fire, I’d told Sera I never wanted to see her again, climbed into my car and headed north with no plan beyond escaping any place or person that reminded me of that night.
I didn’t know who I blamed more: Sera for her recklessness and uncontrolled power, or me for my utter impotence when my magic was most needed. It didn’t matter. I crossed the state line and did my best to pretend that I could outrun memories, and I kept running until Sera appeared on my porch four days ago. Standing in the building where our decisions had killed two innocent men and contributed to the death of an innocent woman, I felt everything come full circle. There was no running, and no escape. The previous ten years of solitude might as well have never happened.
I was certain Simon wouldn’t find anything. The fire department and time would have long since removed any evidence, if there’d been any to begin with. We were mainly here for that third room, the concrete block into which the killer had vanished. If we were to understand what was happening now, we had to grasp what had transpired before. “The fire was all through here,” I said, though it was unnecessary. The charred ruins told the story of the fire’s progress clearly enough. “And both doors were completely engulfed in flames.”
Mac walked to the back door and studied it closely. “You’re sure he couldn’t have run through here when Sera was carrying you out? If he’d rolled immediately, he might have made it.”
“Maybe, if he didn’t have to walk through two hundred feet of uncontrolled fire to get to the door. The minute Sera concentrated on the front door, she lost all control of the others. No one could get through those fires. The guard didn’t make it two minutes before he... before he died.”
I stopped, remembering his face as I’d last seen it, terrified and confused. He’d been a large, healthy man, much like Mac, and probably expected death to come in the form of cancer or heart disease much later in life. I doubt he’d ever pictured being overwhelmed by a fire caused by a woman who barely reached his armpit. I never learned his name, but the face I would never forget. “Plus,” I said, pulling myself back to the conversation, “that was one hell of a fire outside. Sera really wasn’t messing around.”
“Shouldn’t his iciness or whatever have protected him?” I wondered how much time Mac had spent with elementals, considering how unfamiliar he seemed with our magic.
“An ice’s powers work similar to how a water’s does. I find the water, either in the air or in something like a pond or river, then do pretty much whatever I want with it. But I can’t make water where there is none, just as he can’t make ice when there is no water in the air. We can only manipulate what is there, and by the time we left the warehouse that night, the fire had certainly consumed all the water in the air. Some of us can store a small amount of our magic, so in theory he could have frozen something small, but that’s it.”
“Something small, like a heart.”
“Exactly. But since he’d just frozen Amanda’s, he wouldn�
��t have had any reserves to set up even the smallest protective layer. He was dealing with the same human weaknesses as the guard. I don’t see any way he could have escaped.”
While we talked, Vivian examined every corner of the third room, standing on tip-toes to run her fingers along the ceiling and crouching down to examine the ground. “I do. I see a way,” she said.
We looked at her in surprise, and Simon jumped down to join us. The room in which she stood was completely enclosed. It had no windows, and the only door led to the main area of the warehouse, where the fires would have destroyed any living thing.
Vivian pointed down. Parts of the warehouse had been modernized over the years, but these rooms hadn’t been updated since the building was first built over a hundred years earlier, and the floors were packed dirt. “I don’t think he had time to dig his way out,” I offered. Vivian didn’t respond. Instead, she reached out a hand, fingers spread. Slowly, the floor responded to her summons. Five separate streams of earth rose gently upwards, attaching to each finger.
She repeated the motion with her other hand, then yanked on them both, moving the earth easily into a pile and creating a large hole immediately next to the concrete wall. She did it again, and the hole enlarged. The entire process took no more than twenty seconds. In several minutes, Vivian would have a space large enough to crawl outside.
“Would he have had the time?” asked Mac. “That’s a lot to do while smoke is filling your lungs.”
Vivian nodded. “I might be able to do it. And remember that I’m not an especially strong earth. Anyone with more magic than me could definitely do it.”