Consuming Fire

Chapter 50

"I have to save him," said Chevie. He started to reach down with a syringe to extract a sample when suddenly, two things happened.

Joshua shouted "no!" and leapt for Chevie.

And the glowing pool of Ravenadium started to move. It moved so fast that Chevie couldn't catch it. The three of them watched in awe as the snake-like substance crawled up the bed poles and attached itself to the knitted rug that covered Alistair's body. His father stopped twitching the moment Ravenadium touched him. It burned holes in the quilt, seeping into Alistair's skin until he glowed. But it didn't appear to burn him. Chevie held his breath, not knowing whether he should be trying to save his father from whatever the hell this thing was, or pray that it was doing its job.

And then, Alistair woke up. Not quietly, either. His eyes burst open. He gasped, his body shooting upright as his hands gripped the railing on his hospital bed.

And right before their eyes, Alistair's withered, tired old body started to change. His gray hair turned to brown, the shade it used to be when Chevie was a boy. His skin gained color, the wrinkles fading away. In just the space of a few seconds, he no longer looked eighty-five, but forty-five. He was Chevie's healthy, strong father again. Tears blurred Chevie's eyes but he was too shocked to move. Dr. Mark swore under his breath and Joshua walked slowly toward Alistair with his eyes wide and expectant.

Alistair smiled, and it made Chevie's heart flip. Not caring that he looked like a blubbering mess, Chevie closed the distance between them and flung his arms around his father.

Alistair laughed, heartily and loudly. "Chev," he said. "It's good to see you, son."

"I thought ... I thought I'd lost you forever."

"Not without a fight, m'boy."

Chevie pulled away. He looked into the eyes of the man he hated for disappearing when he was a kid, only to help him escape ICE and start his life again. He couldn't believe that after seven endless months, his father was not only alive, but young and healthy again.

"How do you feel?" asked Joshua.

Alistair turned to him. "Sorry, who are you?"

"Joshua," he replied. "I'm the man who found the substance that cured you."

"I'm not sure I'm cured yet," said Alistair.

"Well ... do you feel different?"

"Yeah, I feel alive."

Chevie grinned at his father. When he turned back to Joshua, he could see the anger freezing his cold blue eyes.

"Good for you," spat Joshua, speaking directly to Chevie. "Now we have no chance of saving a little girl from being poisoned."

"What is he talking about Chev?"

At that very second, the Captain and his soldiers appeared inside the room with their guns raised. Chevie looked at Joshua and Mark with a betrayed glare as he lifted his hands.

"What the bloody hell is going on here?" called the Captain.

"Arrest him," said Joshua. "He stole from me the last sample of Ravenadium we have to resurrect his father. Now we can't save a little girl from dying."

Chevie looked at his father. If there was one thing worse than the knowledge that he had, indeed, sentenced a young girl to die, it was the disappointment he knew he would receive from Alistair.

But there was no disappointment on his face. "We do crazy things for the people we love, son. I certainly did. Don't be ashamed of the choices you make. When it comes to family, we do what it takes to stay together. Whatever you did, I'll still be proud of you."

Chevie nodded. "I love you dad."

"Alright, enough," the Captain growled. "Mark, what do you say?"

"Chevie needs to be taken into custody to await a trial from the society, according to our rules."

"Rules I made," said Chevie as two soldiers moved to his side to cuff his hands behind his back. "I built this society!"

"That's no excuse," said Mark.

"Now wait a minute," said Alistair as he made to jump off the bed. One of the soldiers must have taken this as a form of attack and raised his fist to knock him down.

Then, something extraordinary happened. Alistair reacted quicker than any normal human being, taking the soldier's arm and shoving him to the side. Only the soldier – a man built of steel and muscle – did not just stumble backwards. He went soaring across the room into the concrete wall, fell in a heap on the floor and left a decent-sized wedge in his place.

Chevie could not believe his eyes.

"Dad," he muttered. "It worked. You-"

"Have an ability?" Alistair huffed a bewildered laugh. "Didn't see that coming."