Consuming Fire

Chapter 19

Hunter awoke to a creaking sound she instantly presumed was a guard coming to collect her from her cell. Her eyes were sticky and her body ached, but her mind snapped to life as if she were being jolted by an electric shock.

But she was not in a cell anymore. She was in a strange, other-worldly place. And then it all came back to her and she remembered; she was free.

The cabin was colored silver and blue, embers long burned out in the fire at her feet. Her neck had cramped up from lying on the couch. In the distance, an owl was hooting.

There was no one in the room. They must've all moved upstairs to bed. Only Will remained, lying on the other sofa, still deeply unconscious. Muscles aching, Hunter slipped off the sofa and crawled along the floorboards towards him.

His eyelids fluttered softly in sleep, his breath going in and out. She was so close, she could see the outline of the scar along the edge of his jaw, indented in the rough stubble littered with dirt. Almost subconsciously, she traced her fingers over his cheek and curled her hand around his.

"No matter what happens," she whispered, "I won't ever let him hurt you again. I promise."

She wasn't sure how long she sat there, but soon an urge to go outside moved her to the porch. Her bare feet took her through the glass doors and down the wooden steps to a path that led through the trees.

The air was warm but the wind chilled her. She filled her senses with clean air and freedom, ignoring the smell of the Death Caves still on her worn jumpsuit. Her limbs ached as she walked down the gravel path and soon came to a glittering lake.

It was beautiful and calm, billions of stars blinking down at her and the black expanse of space spread further than her eyes could see. She never saw a sky like this in New York. But it was nearing dawn and the sky would brighten soon.

The smile on her face faded when she saw a figure walking slowly across the shore, his back to her, his hands in his pockets. Her heart started to pound and she thought Men in White and Agent. But then he turned onto the short boardwalk just a little further and came to a stop at the end of the deck where he sat down on the edge and dipped his feet into the water. She knew even from a distance that it was Joshua.

A strange calmness overcame her. She should hate him. The last time they spoke — aside from just hours ago when she nearly set him alight — he was kneeling before her in the warehouse, a broken and confused man who could not control his power.

But she was not angry, and she could not explain why. Every time she tried to work herself up, a buzz of comfort washed over her and the anger dissipated. She gave herself a few more minutes to calm her beating heart — almost turning back to the cabin to avoid talking to him — before she finally went to the boardwalk. When her footsteps announced her presence, he turned and his pale eyes caught hers.

Joshua flinched, obviously expecting her to shoot a ball of flames at him.

"Hello Hunter," he said.

She sat down beside him, rolling up the filthy cuffs of her jumpsuit and dipping her toes into the chilly water. It was refreshing and soothing and cold all at once.

They sat in silence for a few moments, each of them not knowing what to say. Hunter couldn't tame her own thoughts. Looking at him now, she could tell he was a different man. She wanted to know what had changed him.

In the back of her mind, she still yearned to be angry with him. But she had been through so much more horror, and had taken him for granted all her life. He deserved some form of forgiveness.

"I don't know where to start," said Joshua. He looked out at the lake, clenching his jaw to keep it from quivering. "I don't know how to tell you I'm sorry, more sorry than I can express in words."

Hunter took a deep breath in and a deep breath out. When she felt brave enough, she spoke.

"I know. I can see that."

"I can't let it go. The things I've done ... I can't escape them."

"I know what you were going through," she said. "I didn't back then, because it used to be all about me and how I wanted to use my powers and how I over exaggerated and thought I had the ability to be a hero. It was like this ... consuming fire that took over my emotions, and the same happened to you with the ice."

Joshua nodded but said nothing.

"Weirdly enough, I found my peace with the fire after the warehouse. I didn't realize how much of a vice it became until I couldn't use it as a weapon when I needed it most. Now it's consuming, but ... it's like it knows me. We're one soul combined. Does that make sense?"

The tips of Joshua's fingers crackled and turned white. Hunter frowned at him.

"What's wrong?"

"Nothing." He shoved them in his pocket. "I just don't like the thought of what happened to you in there. And I blame myself for it."

She sighed. "I hated you for killing Eli and Miss Smart. I hated you so much that I nearly lost my mind. And that caused me to let my guard down and I got captured and I went through hell and I blamed you for it."

He lowered his head and nodded dejectedly.

"But I know what it's like to make huge mistakes; I've made them too. So I have forgiven you. I may not love you like I used to, but I forgive you. Can you accept that?"

Again — and after some hesitation — he nodded. His next words were drowning in gratitude. "Thank you, Hunter. That's all I need."

Despite their past, despite all the secrets they still had buried inside them, Hunter found some peace in sitting on the deck with Joshua. The world stretched before them, freedom in their wake. If she tried hard enough, she could pretend that they were completely alone, that the past few years had never happened, that they were camping in a remote location with nothing on their minds but serenity, and that all was well with them.

Fire and ice sat together on the lake as the sun breached the horizon, torment and heartbreak behind them. And it was bliss.