Burn | Xavier Thorpe

New Powers, Old Mysteries

I couldn't get the drawing out of my mind. Nothing about this situation made any sense. I dragged it out of the drawer I stuffed it into, the yellowed paper providing minimal contrast against the ink.

It had been done in only pencil, the image was almost smudged from what it must have once been. Looking at it now, I couldn't say exactly where it was located. It was a courtyard, but the pillars weren't exactly like the ones I recognized in the quad. Similar, but the difference was enough I couldn't claim whether it was actually different or if it was just the artist.

The flames engulfed her arms and lower body, only the top of her collarbone and her head were visible through the flames. A true phoenix. Unafraid of the flames against her skin.

Fire at a distance was fine. Now. It had taken years to reach this point though.

I threw the page down, freezing as the shadow of my desk lamp revealed a watermark. Picking it back up I recognized. I know there was something in my old home that had the sigil.

The manor I grew up in had been in the family for generations. Brite after Brite born and raised in the same manor and within minutes the entire place became a flaming tomb for a phoenix, her family and her closest friend. I hadn't seen mother in my escape, but I didn't doubt that she was dead before the fire broke out. Normie cops couldn't be trusted and whatever had occurred was never investigated properly. Brushed off, a simple house fire caused by the neighborhood outcasts. Or so the normie cops liked to say when they updated Gomez, the closest known living relative. My adoptive father and biological uncle, but my biological father by the lies we have built. A good father nonetheless.

Unable to sleep, I climbed down from my loft and slipped out the window with a brief glance at Wednesday who nightmares appeared to be escaping as well. The drawing was folded in my hand as I used the side door that connects to the landing, sneaking past any potential teachers looking for haunted souls breaking curfew.

If they didn't want us sneaking around, they need more teachers. Or better locks. It was ridiculous, the library doors were open, an invitation to anyone wandering around. Given the use of cell phones, most information in libraries was easy to find without a book. Phones didn't have the same musty smell as the old pages of barely used books. The more obscure information proved easier to find within these books.

None of them had anything relating to the symbol on the sketch. Searching by flashlight there was nothing related to the annoyingly familiar image. Carefully slipping books back into place, the soft sound of footsteps echoed through the silent room. I slid into the shadows, near one of the sets of drawers against the walls. It felt like every light near me vanished completely as I turned off my flashlight. Complete darkness, except...

Except I could still... see.

After a moment of adjustment, the darkness had gained sharp contrasts. The colors were still muted, however I could see the lines of the shelves and the title of the texts on the shelves.

That was new.

Muffled tap, tap, tap echoed off the old wood floors. I held my breath. Getting caught would cause me more trouble than I need. Wednesday keeping the attention as the troublemaker and not simply the troubled one granted me freedom. I would become the prisoner Wednesday claims to be should someone find me. The footsteps came closer, the sweep of a flashlight over the shelves just barely missing the corner where I was. Silence banged in my head like a drum.

The footsteps began to recede until there was true silence once more. I shifted and accidentally knocked a roll of paper from the shelves. The map laid out and I moved to roll it up. It was an old map of Jericho and the neighboring town. Soteria.