Flashfire

Ch18

"Hey."

Caleb lifted his head. He was admittedly surprised when he saw Liam floating in the corner of the ceiling. His glow was back to its normal, serene yellow. Caleb's eyes traced him as he floated down to the bed and sat right next to Caleb. Caleb closed his eyes sadly.

Idiot, Caleb thought bitterly, forgetting about their ESP and not thinking about the fact Liam would hear him. Why did I expect to feel him sit? He's not here. Get it through your head: he's not here.

"I am, though."

Caleb let out a hiss of air between his lips. He opened his eyes, but couldn't bring himself to look at Liam.

"I'm sorry," Liam said softly.

Caleb just shook his head.

Liam looked at the clock, it's loud green numbers mixing up in the edges of his own glow. "You should go to sleep, love. It's three AM."

"Can't," Caleb mumbled.

Liam bit his lip a moment. "Caleb, I..."

Caleb didn't answer.

"Can you bring me to my physical form, please?"

Finally Caleb looked at him, eyes wide. "What?"

Liam looked near tears again. "Please? We need to talk. I need you."

With those last three words, Caleb scrambled to his feet. Within minutes he had everything gathered in the living room. As he created the summoning circle, something he could now draw with near complete accuracy, he muttered to himself.

"Chalk to contain energy."

He picked up a large container of table salt and opened the pour tab. "Salt to make it stronger."

Liam watched in morbid fascination. Caleb then picked up the shaker with their narwhal mascot.

"Natron for spiritual safety."

Caleb went about lighting the ten candles, almost in a trance. "Fire for primordial power."

When that was done, Caleb looked Liam straight in the face. "Get in the circle. Please."

Caleb had never been in the presence of Liam when he became fully corporeal. He always had done the summoning in the bar. Each and every time, Liam would physically enter the bar from the door that led up to the apartment, roughly ten minutes after the ritual had been completed. Caleb didn't know why his body always appeared there instead of where his body was found, but he had his theories.

Caleb nodded to Liam, a look of strict determination on his face. "You know what to do."

Liam nodded once. "Gnil zgea hrl vgmwl fmsc he hrl bnwnjv. Gnil zgea hrl vgmwl fmsc he hrl bnwnjv. Gnil zgea hrl vgmwl fmsc he hrl bnwnjv!"

The candle flames roared to life for a second, and then returned to their normal height. Really, on Caleb's end, the ritual had always been anticlimactic. He knew when it worked because of the sudden burst of the candles. Aside from that, nothing changed until the summon was done, during which some or all of the candles would extinguish by themselves.

Watching Liam form, however, was unlike anything Caleb had ever seen. When it was all said and done, he decided he never wanted to witness it again. It made him feel like he was trapped in a horror movie, and it left him nauseated and sweaty.

Liam's body had flashed once, exactly in rhythm with the flames rising. Then, the very top of Liam began to shimmer. Caleb watched, horrified, as the glittering pieces of Liam began to disintegrate. They seemed to be pushed forward by an unseen wind. However, instead of falling with gravity, the sparkling specs of Liam arched downward to his feet. They gathered like great piles of golden sand. The more it gathered, the more solid Liam's features became.

Caleb watched, horrified, as Liam's body was reconstructed. The more corporeal he became, the more pain he appeared to be in. Once his chest had formed, he began to moan. Caleb's eyes watched as his forearms and wrists formed slashes, little spurts of blood leaking out at random as he formed. However, Liam moaned again, and Caleb watched as new skin flapped over the wounds and smoothed out until he was whole. Caleb nearly became sick as he realized the same thing had happened with his midsection, where the train had run him over; as he watched Liam being pieced back together, he hadn't realized originally what he was witnessing in that regard.

Finally, Liam was full. Looking exhausted and unconscious, his eyes rolled in the back of his head. Lifelessly he flopped forward, a dead weight.

"Fuck!" Caleb said in an absolute panic.

Luckily the candles had burned out. Even so, hot wax spilled when Liam had flopped forward. Caleb frantically rolled Liam over, brushing off any hot wax that managed to get on his arms. He then cradled Liam's head in his lap.

What did he do now? Caleb was in a full blown panic, fighting down the urge to be sick. For all appearances, Liam appeared to be dead. Caleb shook him, but it didn't work.

It always takes a while Caleb silently reassured himself.

By the time roughly five minutes had passed, Caleb began to stroke Liam's cheek. He continued to wait. And wait. And just as Caleb was about to cry, sure he had somehow screwed something up, Liam let out a soft moan. Stirring, his eyes fluttered open.

Unable to contain himself, Caleb showered Liam's face in kisses. After a few moments, Liam brought his arm up to cover his face. When he spoke, he sounded half asleep.

"Eurgh, what? Stop. Stop that. Ugh, wha—huh?"

When Caleb stopped kissing him, Liam moved his arm and his eyes fluttered open. Dully his eyes swept around the apartment, his brow scrunched in confusion. Finally he spoke.

"Where am I?"

Caleb laughed, stroking his face again. "You're home, love."

Liam looked further confused. "What? No...No. This isn't home."

Caleb frowned, not understanding.

"Who are you? Where am I?"

"Who am I? Liam, it's me, Caleb."

"Caleb? I don't know any Caleb's." Liam looked thoughtful. "Wait, do I? Wait—who am I?"

"You're Liam," Caleb replied, now growing concerned. "Liam Schneider."

A brief look of panic swept over Liam's face. "I am? Then why—why don't I remember that?"

Liam began to sit up, and Caleb helped. For a while Liam looked around the room, looking utterly perplexed.

"Yes...I took your last name when we were married."

Liam physically jumped. "Married? We're married?"

Caleb couldn't help but laugh. "Yes, silly."

Liam was starting to look scared. "What happened? Why don't I remember any of this? And why am I so sore and stiff?"

"Liam—"

Suddenly Liam grabbed Caleb and burst into tears. "What's going on, Caleb? I don't —I don't understand anything —"

"Oh, my God, calm down," Caleb said with a nervous chirp of a laugh. "You'll remember."

Liam swallowed hard, looking up at Caleb with glassy eyes. "I will?"

Caleb smiled. "You always do."