THE FIRE SAGA

BLAZE 109 - FISSION

"When you're ready to begin, I'll be in the lobby," Tayte informs me.

"You're extending the leash that far? Aren't you afraid I'll make a run for it?"

"My control extends for a surrounding mile, much like your friend Barry's ability. Where his shield is restricted to visibility, mine impacts usage. Inside my shield, power runs free at my allowance. Outside power is innately negated and can't be controlled by me," he explains. "It wouldn't benefit you to bypass my range unless you're looking for a repeat of the earlier emotional overflow. If you go beyond my area of control, it'll all come flooding back, as demonstrated. That should be enough of a deterrent."

It isn't a leash so much as electric fencing, but I'm wearing a collar either way. Noted.

"I understand why you got me into this," I address the group once he leaves. "Now, how are you getting me out of it?"

Declan and Barry stand by the door. Tally and Derry replace them on the couch.

"What he's asking for doesn't seem that bad," Derry reasons.

"Are you kidding me?" I glower at him. "He wants to learn what I can do so he can use their powers against them like he's using mine against me."

"Worse," Tally points out. "He can already use your powers against you. He wants to use the powers on anyone he chooses, regardless of who he takes them from."

"He might not accomplish that no matter how methodically he studies you," Ryan offers. "These gifts can't be modified."

"Mine seem to change an awful lot."

"Because you haven't transitioned yet," he contends. "You're still coming to terms with everything you are. When you transition, things will be more stable."

"What happened to if I transition?"

He sighs.

Ryan was my biggest resistance cheerleader. That he's put down the pom-poms is discouraging. He has every right to, of course, but his lack of confidence merely validates my gravest fears. The concern is now when I'll transition. If has been stricken from the record.

"Well, you got me here without me blowing up. Take me back home the same way." If they dope me up, they could take me back to the bomb shelter and let me blow a gasket safely inside my sanctuary.

"We can't," Ryan counters. "We can't ever go back there."

I recall the bloody aftermath of the attack. It all happened too fast for any post-desolation cleanup. "We're fugitives?"

"Not fugitives, no," Derry corrects. "The security feed shows it was a raging bear attack. I wiped everything else from the hard drive that could incriminate us. There's enough footage left to make it look like we're an ordinary family who happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time."

"We chose the time and the place," I remind him.

He can't look me in the eye.

"If we're not going to jail, why can't we go back?"

Ryan steps in. "We had to ensure they wouldn't seek us out for questions. Even if we could've stayed, facing those families would've put more people at risk. You have to see we were doing what we thought was right."

"We shouldn't have to face those families?" I seethe. "They deserve more than a false memory pieced together by people who have no clue what they stepped into. We are fugitives. We are at fault."

Declan whistles low. "With your escalating condition, we couldn't stay, so we had to go permanently."

"They think we're dead?"