THE FIRE SAGA

BLAZE 112 - REFRACTION

"What do you want me to do?"

Tayte takes out a notebook and pen. "I want to see what you can do with her spool," Tayte advises.

I make circles with my thumbs and index fingers. "How do you propose I do that, exactly?"

He lifts a brow. "How do you activate your flame?"

"Which part of it?"

"Any part of it."

"Well, for the emotion reading, I just get a sense of how people feel. I don't technically do anything. It's just there. Innate."

He starts writing. "How does projecting your emotions work?"

"I sort of wrestle the emotion and pin them with it."

"Your output is minuscule compared to your input. Projection happens when the emotion you feel is stronger than what you're absorbing. The more powerful emotion wins out."

I give him a chin lift in agreement.

"Can you manipulate how others feel, or is it more you just make them aware of your position?"

"I can manipulate it. Mostly, I only do that to calm people down."

"Hmm."

"Not to hurt anyone," I add.

"Of course not." He scoffs. "You simply have a curious mind. We have that in common."

I scowl. It's on the heavy side of disapproving. I am not like Tayte.

"So, your empathy allows for reception, projection, and manipulation. Can you hide your emotions?"

"Does indifference count as a shield?"

"It doesn't, but that's not entirely what I mean. Can you shut it all off? Like a switch?"

I run my hands through my unruly auburn curls. Chopping them off is a viable option, especially if we stay in this humid climate. The frizz was bad before. With the new curls? My head is spring loaded and ready for rapid fire.

"Focus, Sheyla," he chastises, commandeering my spiraling thought train.

"I have an emergency shut-off switch," I report. "Had. It hasn't worked in a while. Maybe blew a fuse or something."

"Alright, you can't actively stop someone from reading your emotions, but you can incapacitate yourself."

"Could." I correct. "Usage is presently problematic."

He underlines that in his notebook. "Were you perceptive to your surroundings in a shut-off state, or was it like you were somewhere else?"

"I was behind fireproof glass. I just pulled the emergency shut-off switch, went full-on blank stare for about thirty seconds, then blinked back to normal however long later."

"It's not an active ability. More a self-preservation tactic." This he circles in the notebook. "What else can you do?"

I slide my hand into my pocket, sheathing Brody in my palm. He's cool to the touch despite the heat coming off me. "How is any of this relevant to what you're asking me to do?"

"Fact gathering allows me to theorize what you have the potential to do," he reasons.

"I used to smell people." Yeah, that didn't come out awkward at all. Best I follow up. "Everyone had their own scent. Humans smelled sweet, Solathairs were floral spices, and Sumairs had varying scents, depending on what element they were converted from."

"What do I smell like?"

I shrug. "I can't do it anymore. Well, I can smell things but not people."

"What can you smell?"