Flame Touch

Chapter 19-Knox

I woke up to the sound of screaming girls. Almost the equivalent of having ones ears peeled off with a cheese grater, just more annoying. The blanket that was covering me was on fire and so was the room I was in. Though it didn’t really bother me, but I really hoped they had insurance in there.

I casually walked through the flames and into the main hall where the whole of the Luminist colonists were munching away happily at their food. Apparently whoever ordered breakfast liked Mexican because there were tacos, burritos, anything you can think of that ended with o. Stella bounced up to me, again on fire.

“HI! How are you?? Sleep well? Why don’t you get some breakfast??” she asked in between mouthfuls of tortilla chips. I shook my head though, “I usually take a cold bath before I eat, do you know where the bathrooms are?” I asked a bit impatiently (sleeping in a fiery room with another four girls snoring their heads off does not do well to improve morning stench). I waited for an answer, but didn’t get one. She stared at me like I was crazy so I stared back like she was crazy, “What?” I asked. She leaned in close, “What do you mean you want to take a cold bath? You’re a Luminist, start acting like one.” She said and walked away without another word. I shrugged, no point of following her, I walked out of the main hall to go find the bathroom. I was in my pajamas in front of a bunch of boys for Pete’s sake. I saw Taris and Semba, but decided I would find the bathroom on my own. Taris looked like he was enjoying his quesadilla and I didn’t really like Semba too much anyway, so I walked past them and into the same red corridor, until I found myself in front of a blue one. Past it was the biggest dome of water I’ve ever seen in my life. All most like an Atlantis indoors, big enough for a bath I’d say. I stepped into the blue glow.

Now, you might be thinking, “Knox! Don’t you think you should do something before going into the glowy stuff? Don’t you recall anything that happened the last time you didn’t focus on something before you went into a glowing hallway?”Well whooptido. You’re right. I wasn’t thinking ok? Morning breath really gets to you. Stupid toothpaste dependence.

Anyway, I walked into the blue glow and almost immediately turned around, but couldn’t. My feet froze onto the floor and a chill worked its way up into me and exploded. I couldn’t think or breathe or move. The cold worked its way up into my mind and my thoughts as my vision flashed purple and black. My eyes were burning with cold and I couldn’t even scream. “I have to do something.” I told myself. “Focus on something!” So I did. I focused on the burning. The cold was so extreme that it was almost boiling hot. Everything was burning, everything burns, even cold burns. My muscles relaxed, but the floor didn’t let me go. I stood there as my body returned to me, and I focused on the heat in the ice and found strength. I think I was going delusional and was just about to faint until someone grabbed my hand.

“Knox!”

The floor finally loosened its grip on me and I fell to the floor next to a familiar blond haired boy.

“Taris! How did you-?” I started until I realized my whole body was numb and started to shiver like a madman.

“Why would you want to go into the Aqua’s dorm? Didn’t you see the glowing floor and the sign that says “Aqua Only”? Usually, when a sign says something, you follow it. You’re lucky you’re not frozen like a Popsicle by now,” he stopped in the middle of his scolding for a bit, “How are you not frozen by now anyway?” I stared at him, almost not processing the information he told me.

 “H-h-how d-did you know w-w-where I was?”

 He looked at me like he wanted his question answered first, but finally said, “Stella told me you wanted to take a cold shower or something, and Semba saw you walk out. We both reasoned you would find the Luminist bathroom, but then I thought that,” he paused again, “Look, when I first came here I did the same thing you did. Except I was frozen within five seconds of stepping onto the floor, so how is it that you’re not an ice block?” he said, all the while grumbling that he had a cold for months.

 I looked back at the floor, “I-I t-t-think it’s because I c-concentrated on the b-b-burning in the freez-z-zing.” He looked at me like I was mad, probably as a result of my non-stop shivering so I continued, “I m-mean, it’s like wh-when you go without sleep for a wh-while and it feels like you’re n-not sleepy anymore. O-or when something’s so h-hot that it f-f-feels cold.” I said. He kept looking at me, but not like I was crazy anymore. “You really are something else.” He muttered under his breath, “Find the heat in the cold.” he continued and turned back to me, “Well, we better get you to some place warm, or would you rather take a hot shower?” I pondered this (Oh, pondered, fun word), then asked a completely different question, “What is it with you huh?” I asked him very openly. He cocked his head to the side again and encouraged me to go on, “I mean, first you act like a normal guy, the you act like you’ve never seen technology in your life, THEN you take us to New York, which has a bunch of technology by the way, then you act like you know everything that’s going on in whatever place you’re in. So which is it?” I asked, “I need to know.” He sighed at this change of subject (I don’t do well in pressured situations okay?), “Look, it’s complicated, I’ve been stuck in this place a while you know? People don’t leave unless they have a reason to. I guess that’s why I became a head figure, so I could get out more.”

“What about Semba then?”

He snorted, “That freeloader just tags around with me for the same reason.” I laughed, glad my shivering went down and he took me to the Luminst showers and showed me where all the towels, shampoo bottles, and clean clothes were and left.

Let me tell you that the word bath didn’t mean the same thing to the Luminists.

“WHY THE FUZZ IS THE WATER SO HOT???” I almost screamed. It felt like fiery meteors, but it also felt good. Really good. I think I stayed there for an hour before getting out. When I finally did get I felt like a million bucks ( which is a weird thing to say because really, a million bucks probably just feels exactly like one buck, or two because money doesn’t really feel anything does it?). I glanced down at the mark on my arm and noticed that it was pulsing in a happy warm orange-red colour. I was about to walk back when I saw a tack board with a couple papers on it, I read one:

Know Your Colonies!

LUMINISTS

-Leo

-Sagittarius

-Aries

AQUATIC

-Aquarius

-Pisces

-Cancer

VENT

-Gemini

-Scorpio

TERRA

-Taurus

-Virgo

-Capricorn

I looked at the paper for a while. I wondered what each colony could do, and where the heck was Libra? Wasn’t there something about Libra not picking an element to belong to? I wonder what Sunny could do, then, if she was a Libra. I closed my eyes to think about it.

Bad idea.

As soon as I closed my eyes I felt a blast of cold go through me, just like when I stepped in that glowing hallway and I opened my eyes to see that there was a perfect circle of white fire around me. Don’t ask me why, but I reached out and touched it and it was icy cold and fiery hot at the same time. They didn’t burn me or freeze me, but maybe that was because I was the one making them. I closed my eyes again.

And the flames vanished.