THE FIRE SAGA

BLAZE 111 - REVERSION

Tally wins the passenger seat, and I'm glad to have her aboard, though neither of us is eager to be involved in another experiment. Seems we're both capable of learning from hard lessons.

Next to arrive is Tayte, followed by two women who look as nervous as I feel. Chemical fire. That's new. The first is average height with short blonde hair. Silver highlights. The second is petite with short brown hair. No highlights. She has the brightest smile I've ever seen. The first, not so much on the smiling.

"Gundy, Brenda, meet Tally and Sheyla. Sheyla, if you could sit in this chair." Tayte points to the one by the desk. "Gundy, I'd like you to sit right here." He motions to the chair facing it. "Tally and Brenda, you can sit on the couch there." More pointing. Champ traffic director, this guy. He wants his dolls all positioned the way he imagined. Hmm. What would he do if I turned the chair sideways? I might not be able to fry him, but I can annoy him in other ways.

Gundy sits in the chair opposite mine, a bundle of nerves. What does she have to be scared of? Is she scared of me? What have the sisters told her? She snorts when I blow out an upward breath, forcing a curl up and away from my face. Interesting. The normalcy of the movement distracted her from her fear. Now she has tons to say. Somewhere in the middle of her explanation, my fire fuel valve opens—Tayte playing puppeteer—and the energy skulks through the containment grates.

For a split second, I consider using the opportunity to sever the tie binding Tayte's power over me. He gives me that disconcerting smile full of teeth. Of course he does. He has no fear, confident of what will happen the instant I snip the connection. It'll all come flooding back. More than I can control. I shift the chair just a smidge to the right, and he visibly flinches. Am I fighting dirty? Heck yes, I am. Petty still counts. Point to me.

"You're fine with this change?" I reiterate. "You're not being made to do this?"

"I need to know she's happy," Gundy states earnestly, her hands telling their own story. Declan does that. He pulls musical notes from the air to write songs. "Her face says she is, but I've come to find smiles are often deceiving when it comes to me."

"How so?" Her answer is immediate. A swell of warmth washes through me, a chemical-induced euphoria similar to the drugs Ryan pumped into me to delay my ignition. I'm simultaneously dizzy, lightheaded, drowsy, and somewhat sick to my stomach.

"Oh." I rub circles on my temples. "Can you stop, please? Can you control it?"

The feeling abates.

"Sometimes," Gundy hedges. "I can't always."

Turns out, Gundy has a unique Air Sumair talent, the ability to manipulate blood oxygen, producing an inebriating effect.

"Air Drunk is what I call it. Hypoxemia when I'm sad. Toxicity when I'm happy. Middle ground is the only time I can control it."

I frown.

"One of these times, I'll give her brain damage," she whispers. Brenda places her hand on Gundy's shoulder.

"They have an unsupported relationship," Tayte notes. "We cannot condone their desires. That's why Gundy has been approved for reversion."

"You had the audacity to question my open mind?" I accuse. "It's none of your business who she chooses as her life partner."

"She's a Sumair, but Brenda's a human. They don't belong together. They're from two different worlds."

I don't agree. Derry and I were in the same predicament. My fire was apathetic to his humanity. To be fair, it doesn't particularly have a preference who it consumes. Me? I support love, kindness, compassion, humor, and many more things that others use as a divisionary tactic. I don't let my beliefs invoke judgment.