Undercity: Manifest

Chapter Twenty-Seven

An unnatural heat burned through her as she thrashed in bed. Sadie was dreaming. In her dream she was surrounded by white hot flames radiating unbearable heat. You shouldn't feel things in a dream. Each of her senses was overactive. The heat burned her skin, the smell of smoke caused her nose to restrict and worst of all, she couldn't wake up. 

She was vaguely aware that she was screaming, either in her dream or her sleeping form. Wake up. She willed herself. The flames were moving in on her as she cowered from the increasing burning. Finally, something snapped, and the flames melted away from her like waves falling back into the ocean. 

She shot up in bed coughing and clutching her throat. The smell of burning was still present in her nose and the back of her mouth. Her skin was clammy and feverishly hot to touch. Slowly, she rolled to the side and onto her feet. Nothing could have prepared her for the still smoking sheets and brown singe marks surround where she had been lying. A load gasp escaped her as she took in her burned bedding. 

Her necklace was hanging from the lamp which sat on her bedside table. A terrifying thought shot to the centre of her mind. Did I do that? 

She thought back to what Zach had taught her about accessing her magic and concentrated on the burning sensation she had experienced in her dream. Digging deep, she was able to feel the pull of something new. She reached out her hand, and looked at her palm which was surrounded by a thin red flame. It was like looking into the flame of a candle sitting on top of her forearm. 

She snapped the flame back. This isn't possible. Leaving her room, she took herself into the kitchen area and poured a glass of water which she gulped down in an attempt to cool her still raw throat. Her chest was heaving as she struggled to compose herself. 

Her bed was still scorched, but no longer emitting the thin waves of smoke it had been before when she went to grab her phone from her room. She stared at it for a while before she dialled Zach with shaking hands. 

'Do you have any idea what time it is?' He asked gently.  She hadn't thought to look, and felt guilty for waking him. Although she suspected he was already awake ahead of going into work. It was 4am. She cringed internally. 'Sadie?' She hadn't answered him. His voice was soft, and he sounded concerned.

'Something happened.' Her voice was deep and broken as she spoke. 

'Are you okay?' 

'Yeah.' She couldn't hide the hesitation any more than she could find the words to explain what had happened. 

'I'm coming over.' He didn't give her chance to argue with him. She could hear him moving around and the unmistakable sound of keys being picked up. 

'Okay.' She said weakly. 

Sadie was sitting on her sofa with her legs curled underneath her when Zach entered her flat. She had left the door unlocked, and was so deep in her own thoughts that she didn't notice him until he was crouched in front of her. His deep brown eyes were filled with worry as he took her hands. 'What happened?' He asked her. 'Why can I smell smoke?' 

She swung her legs down onto the floor causing Zach to back up and release her hands. Moving her hands to her face to rub the sleep from her eyes she forced the words out. 'I think I have fire magic.' 

Zach's eyes widened. They both knew the gravity of what she had said. There hadn't been a four-element witch since before Hecate's punishment. 

'That's impossible.' He wasn't accusing her of lying, more trying to get his own head around the idea of it. Sadie had been doing the same in the twenty minutes it took Zach to get to her.