Sullivan’s eyes narrowed at her. “I really hate it when you people call me that.” He shoved his way out of the dungeon up into the main part of the castle.
“How about ‘jackass,’ then?” Teja called. She made an aggravated sound and looked back at her family. “Do you believe this?”
“Tej, maybe you should try being a little nicer to the guy.” Alder suggested. “If I’d just abducted a Match for myself, I’d be happy. I’d want to get along with him.” He paused. “Well, my Match will be a ‘her,’ but you know what I mean. Go court that guy. Pick him flowers or torture him with acid until he submits. We have lots of acid in the pantry.”
Fire Phases had unique ideas on romance.
Teja barely heard him. She was too busy following Sullivan, because she hated it when he was out of her sight, even more than she hated him being with her. The Fire Palace was safe…ish. Sure, there were flames here and there, but they wouldn’t hurt Sullivan unless he jumped into an inferno or something. Even then, Teja could control the blaze before it did any damage to her Match. Still, the idea of Sullivan innocently wandering around the fortress without her filled Teja with a surge of alarm.
And considering she’d given up on feeling anything… that was a very bad sign.
Chapter Three
They did all that men could do to subdue the disorderly element;
but it was beyond their power to do so effectually.
Outrages and rapine were hourly on the increase.
Rev. E. J. Goodspeed- “History of the Great Fires in Chicago and the West”
Christmas Eve Night: Two Hours into the Investigation
“I’m telling you, that fucking cow is setting us up, again!” Satour, of the Fire House slammed a fist against tabletop of the interrogation room. “It’s gotta be her.”
“You’re really blaming a cow?” Job, of the Earth House pinched the bridge of his nose. “Like a regular cow?”
“No, not a regular cow.” Djinn and Pele’s middle son rolled his eyes like that was crazy talk. “The cow. The regular ones are okay. But this one is a goddamn punk, who --like-- totally has a vendetta against us.” He nodded. “Sure, she looks like a regular cow, but she’s got the twisted soul of a demon from hell.”
Job resisted the urge to bang his head against the table. “I just want to figure out what happened in the Cold Kingdom.” He tried for the sixth time. “Half the realm would like to see you tarred and feathered, and you’re just making it worse. Right now, I’m all that’s keeping the Fire House from being Banished, so I’d really like some straight answers.”
“And I’m telling you the truth!” Satour protested indignantly. “Go talk to the cow, if you don’t believe me.”
Satour was the most pessimistic and paranoid member of his family. In his world, things could only get worse. In fact, they were already worse and getting ever more worse by the second.
…And everyone else was to blame for it.
Job sighed. As the leader of the Elementals, he was the one in charge of questioning the Fire Phases and it wasn’t going well. They’d been separated into various rooms around the Council Hall, each of them giving statements more incriminating and incendiary than the last.
The hell of it was, he actually believed they were innocent… They just sucked at it.
“Satour, why do you keep talking about a cow?” He asked tiredly.
“Because she’s goddamn evil!”
“If you’re trying to establish an insanity plea, you’re off to a good start.”
“You idiot.” Satour lowered his voice as if he suspected the room was bugged. “That’s what she wants you to think.”
***
Christmas Eve Night: Three Hours into the Investigation
“I think you should take this a little more seriously. Your family is being blamed for an unprovoked attack against the Cold Phases.”
“Oh, they’re always provoking us.” Pele retorted in her typical sardonic tone. “If we had attacked, it would’ve been totally justified.” She absently burned her name into the desktop with her powers, slouching like a petulant teen hauled into detention.
“Do you want to be found guilty? Is that it?” Job demanded. “Pele, people are very, very upset with you, right now. It’s a zoo out there and no one but me is on your side.” He waved a hand towards the door. “The Wood House is threatening war if you don’t return Sullivan Pryce. The Cold House is threatening war for this attack. The Air Phases are threatening war because you killed Yasil and…”
“Oh, they’d already Banished Yas. Bunch of crybabies.”
“The point is, you need to start giving me something I can work with here.”
Pele leveled a put upon look in his direction. “This whole thing is horse shit.” She said in way of an answer. “You know that, Job. If I’d really been in on that attack, I’d have killed way more people than that bitch on TV. I don’t even think she was trying.” Pele arched a brow. “For real, what was the body count in the Cold Kingdom? Like two?”
“The Council’s still investigating that.”
“That think-tank is investigating, huh?” She snorted. “Boy, I’ll sleep safer tonight.”
“Can we focus on the facts? They want to have a Banishment trial for you tomorrow.”
“We have trials on Saturdays now? Is that even legal?”
Eian, of the Cold House slammed into the room. The Cold King was usually a studious, emotionless man, but now he was in an uncharacteristic rage. His blond hair was a mess, his white suit rumpled, and his face fixed in furious lines. “Where is my sister?!” He bellowed.
Job sighed. “Eian, we’ll find Freya. Just give me a second to…”
Eian cut him off. “We don’t have time for you to mollycoddle these murders, Job.” He jabbed a finger at Pele. “The Fire House is going to be Banished from the realm for what you’ve done!”
“You’ve been trying to get rid of us for years.” Pele retorted with a bored sigh. “Ever since your cousin, Teja, chose to live with us and Djinn beat the holy hell out of you. When are you going to give it up?”
“Well, today proved that I was right about you all along.” Eian bit off. “Finally everyone will see that you’re nothing but fucking gangsters. Finally, you’re going to pay!”
Pele snorted, unimpressed with the threats. “See, Job? If we were really behind this, I’d have made sure this asshole was the first one to die.”
Chapter Four
And new philosophy calls all in doubt,
The element of fire is quite put out
John Donne- “An Anatomy of the World”
Christmas Eve Afternoon
Sullivan wasn’t sure how to explain the volcanoes.
As far as he knew, there wasn’t a single volcano within a thousand miles of Florida. And there was no way the Cult could have faked the tall, smoking mountains in the distance. The glowing black peaks lit-up the sky in luminous orange. The effect would’ve been hard to manufacture outside of an Industrial Light & Magic FX studio.
And then there was the castle.
Yeah… That was another problem. No one could hide a Gothic castle amid the Mayport Beach bungalows. A huge, stone fortress complete with gargoyles and a moat made of lava was sure to draw some attention. Sullivan would have noticed if the Cult built the place on a side street or something.
Nope. It didn’t take any great detective work to piece together that Sullivan was a long way from home. As for the rest of this garbage…
Sullivan’s gaze went from Alder’s encouraging smile, to Djinn and Pele’s bored frowns, and finally to Teja’s gorgeous, unreadable, out-of-reach face. “Bullshit.” He said distinctly and watched with satisfaction as her hazel eyes narrowed.
Teja was so damn stunning it defied all known boundaries of stunning-ness. Dark hair and lush lips and a face like Sophia Loren. Her eyes were a brilliant hazel, with foot long lashes and radiant golden flecks that glowed when she was pissed off. And the girl was pisse
d off a lot, so there were tons of flecks to enjoy.
In fact, while Alder was spinning his fantastical tale of other-worldly, Men in Black style conspiracies, Teja just stood there with her back against the wall, scowling.
She even scowled hot.
Since he’d met her Teja had fluctuated between ignoring him, insulting him, and confusing him, but he’d never been so attracted to anyone in his life. Looking at Teja put crazy thoughts in Sullivan’s head. Impossible, crazy thoughts about her and him and naked bodies intertwined.
Her hair captivated him the most. Shoulder length and black, it fell in a halo of perfect curls. And at her temple, there was a streak of pale blue. Sullivan had no idea why he found that so intriguing, but he found his gaze drawn to it, again and again. Christ, he was just so relieved to have her back in his life, regardless of the circumstances. Down deep, something inside of him recognized this woman as his.
Which was insane.
Not surprising given the insanity surrounding him.
“Bullshit?” Djinn echoed incredulously. He up threw his hands in exasperation. “Explain what’s going on then, human?” He gestured to the window and the hellscape of fire beyond. “Where are we if not the Fire Kingdom? What’s happened to you, if we’re all such liars?”
Sullivan kept his attention on Teja. “I don’t think you’re lying about this being your mutant homeland. I’ve suspected for a while that you weirdoes aren’t human. Honestly, I’ve been expecting something like this.” Looking outside at the geysers of magma, it felt like he’d already known this “realm” of their existed, in fact. Which just went to show that their craziness was contagious. “But I know you’re lying about the rest of it.”
Her eyes narrowed at him.
“Did he just call us mutants?” Pele asked Djinn in a stage whisper. “Should we be offended right now?”
“Maybe he means --like-- awesome mutants.” Alder suggested. He was playing with an Etch-a-Sketch that he’d probably stolen from some child’s stocking, trying to spell out obesities with the little dials. “Like Wolverine.”
Pele snorted. “Wolverine’s a pansy. I like Sabertooth.”
Teja pushed away from the wall and moved closer to Sullivan. “You know damn well that we’re not lying.” She snapped, ignoring the others. She loomed over him, seriously annoyed with his attitude. “Deny the truth all you want, but I’m betting that you know exactly who we are and what you are.”
“What I am?” Sullivan repeated, dryly. “A mutant who controls fire? But --oh wait-- Grandpa just forgot to mention it.” He snorted. “Yeah, I remember you guys telling me that before and it’s still bullshit.”
“We control Fire. You control Wood.” Alder corrected, concentrating on making an “F” on his toy’s gray screen. “Your grandfather was a Wood Phase. Plants, trees, paper… Ya know… wood stuff.”
“He called us mutants again, D.” Pele observed sourly.
“We’re not mutants!” Djinn bellowed, jabbing a finger at Sullivan. “I am the Fire King.”
Sullivan rolled his eyes. None of that even deserved a response. He liked watching Teja’s gaze flash with that pissed off light when she glared at him, though. Hell, he just plain liked watching her no matter what she was doing. She could be clipping her toenails and he’d find it fascinating. Feeling so damn connected to this woman was asking for trouble.
Deep inside, there was just a bone deep satisfaction that she was beside him. He’d been terrified that he’d never see her, again. Having her so close was worth every second of this stupid abduction. Teja clouded his reasoning and sent his instincts haywire, but they were still screaming that she was his. They told him that he should stay with her in this asylum as long as she’d have him. They wanted him to get even closer to her and to not let her slip away, again.
Clearly, he was losing his mind.
Teja glowered at him. “Human, it’s dangerous to just stick your head in the sand and refuse to see the truth when it’s burning right in front of your eyes.” She held out a hand and a flame instantly appeared. It ignited in mid-air, an inch above her palm. The fire crackled, alive and glowing, but somehow not burning her.
Sullivan blinked. Even knowing that they weren’t human and that they possessed superpowers, his mind still automatically tried to think of a rational explanation for that trick. He could feel the heat of it, so it wasn’t a projected image. Some kind of hidden lighter maybe? Or what was that gel stuntmen used before they set themselves on fire?
Teja made an aggravated sound, seeing that he was still trying to deny her nutty story. “Alright. How about this?” She closed her hand so the small flame disappeared. “We’ll do it Wild Bill style.”
“You guys get Westerns in this dimension, huh?” Sullivan drawled. That explained the Gunsmoke themed fake names they were always giving him. Cross Earp, and Randa Goldrush, and Atlee Little-Big-Horn…
“I used to hang out in Deadwood.” Alder volunteered helpfully. “Before it got all touristy, they had some…”
“Not, now.” Teja interrupted. She grabbed a throw pillow off the sofa and shoved it against Sullivan’s chest. “Here. Toss it.”
He glanced down at the fringed monstrosity and stifled a cringe. Everything in the place looked like it had come from the H.P. Lovecraft’s garage sale. Creepy, morbid, and/or weird stuff filled every surface. Suits of blacken armor covered one wall, some of which may still have had body parts in them. The head of what looked like a Cyclops was mounted over the crematorium sized fireplace. Somewhere above him, he could hear one of Teja’s relatives playing the Alvin and the Chipmunks Christmas album fuck-the-neighbors loud. Not that these freaks had any neighbors.
“Toss it?” He studied the funeral-colored pillow. “Why? Aside from the aesthetic reasons.”
“Toss it in the air.” She crossed her arms over her chest. “Check for wires and hidden gas tanks to be sure I’m not tricking you, first. Then throw the damn thing.”
“Fine.” Sullivan hesitated, then set the pillow aside and reached over to grab one with a sequined hand grenade on it instead. “But, whatever you’re going to do, it’ll be with a prop that I choose. Otherwise you could’ve rigged this.”
Teja actually smiled at his suspicious inspection of the fabric. It was just a quick lifting of the corner of her mouth, but it still charmed Sullivan to the depths of his soul. Amusement turned Teja’s eyes pure gold. He actually had to glance away from her before he made an idiot of himself and started begging her for mercy.
Sullivan wasn’t the only one shocked by Teja’s slight grin. Alder’s eyebrows shot-up. Djinn’s jaw literally dropped. Even Pele was visibly surprised and, up until now, Sullivan had only seen her look condescending and sarcastic.
Teja apparently didn’t notice. “Satisfied?” She prompted, when Sullivan just sat there holding the pillow.
He cleared his throat. “Yeah.” Not knowing what to expect, he tossed it in the air, so it went spiraling high above their heads. He watched it as it soared towards the vaulted ceiling.
Teja didn’t.
She didn’t take her eyes off of Sullivan, even as the pillow caught fire. It was such a quick, intense blaze that it seemed like a miniature tornado of flames engulfed the thing. Sullivan had to squint against the glare, as the pillow was consumed. Hot soot rained down as the fabric disappeared under the relentless heat. The entire pillow vanished. What had gone up intact… came down as cinders. Nothing remained but a small pile of ash and the smell of smoldering polyester stuffing.
Sullivan slowly turned back to Teja. He felt something powerful and right, crackling on a frequency that seemed just out of reach. Some energy that felt oddly… familiar. It tugged at Sullivan’s memories, pulling at places inside of him, until he had to will it away.
What the hell was going on?
Teja held her hand to her lips, her thumb cocked gunslinger-style, and calmly blew against the top of her index finger.
The appearing out of nowhere to kidnap
him.
The volcanoes.
The whole Frankenstein’s castle thing.
All of that he could ignore or chalk up to… something. Just something else going on besides more supernatural crap. But, for some reason, he knew Teja was telling him the truth. Whatever just happened to that stupid pillow, he knew she’d done it. The rest of this Twilight Zone episode he was still iffy about, but not Teja.
He didn’t believe in magic… but he believed her.
And that made even less sense that the lava moat.
“Alright.” Sullivan said grudgingly. “Let’s say you can Fire Starter all sorts of home furnishing. Incredible. I’m very intimidated. What does that have to do with you jokers abducting me?”
“All the best relationships start with a hostage situation.” Alder told him seriously. “Kidnapping shows you care.” He’d gotten the “U” almost complete on his Etch-a-Sketch.
Pele rolled her eyes. “This doesn’t even count as a kidnapping. A real kidnapping means chains and maybe a mallet and somebody worth kidnapping. This is just us looking out for the human, because he’s so frigging helpless.”
“And young.” Djinn interjected. He looked Sullivan up and down. “How old are you? A hundred? A hundred and twenty?”
Sullivan decided not to bother resisting this new lunacy. “I’m thirty-five.”
“Holy crap! He’s thirty-five?!?” Pele snickered in “laughing at you, not with you” delight. “He’s a baby! An infant. Nice, Tej. You know that makes you --like-- ten times older than him, right?”
Teja flashed her a glare.
Alder pinched the bridge of his nose. “Humans have different lifespans, Mom. Until he Phazes with his Match and his life expectancy stretches to meet hers, Sullivan will stay with the human chronology. They only live to be --like-- two hundred or something. That’s why it’s good that he has Teja, now.”
“Well, it’s impossible.” Djinn made a “case closed” gesture with his hands. “We should just forget about this kid and send him packing. There can be no Phase-Match until Sullivan is at least ninety-three. That’s the Council’s law.”
Magic of the Wood House Page 5