Phoenix

Angus Fenwick

"We've decided we like you," Apple said as they settled into the couches around the fire pit with their dinner. It was fish soup laced with vegetables and seasoned with dried herbs, generous on the onion and garlic and slightly peppery on the tongue.

Ash looked up from her bowl, surprised to find Apple was talking to her. She quickly looked back down again.

"We haven't had any new Phoenix members for a while," Ollie said through a mouthful of his own soup.

"Well, not since Heatheranyway... " Apple said, shaking her head ever so slightly.

Ash sat straighter. "What happened to her?" Ash couldn't contain her curiosity. Heather was becoming yet another unanswered question, a pause on the end of everyone's sentences.

"There was an accident," Ollie said. "A few years ago. During training. Heather... she, well, something went wrong and she—"

More unfinished sentences.

"What happened?" Ash pressed, unable to hide the impatience in her voice.

Ollie gulped. "Her force got out of control," he finally said. "She self-immolated."

"Self immo-what?" Ash said, trailing off on the unfamiliar word.

"It means she burned herself alive," Apple said, screwing up her nose.

"That's why Eli's got those scars. He tried to save her," Ollie said.

Jacob put down his bowl, his already pale pallor turning grey. He clasped his hands together to stop them from shaking. "Could we talk about something else?" he said. "I'm trying to eat."

Ollie whacked Jacob on the back. "Sorry Jakey, forgot you were squeamish these days."

Apple narrowed her eyes, scrutinising Jacob. "Is everything alright?"

Jacob nodded, but refused to make eye contact. Apple pursed her lips, but didn't say anything more.

Ash looked down at her lap as an image of Freia's brother came to mind. The soup rose in her throat and she had to swallow a few times to keep it down. Thankfully, the common room started filling with people, all returning from their island duties. She took to focussing her attention on each member of Phoenix House as they climbed into the room via the rope ladder into the room, trying to remember each face, each scar, each smile.

The Phoenix members noticed her too and their expressions morphed from surprise to confusion. Ash guessed her resemblance to Heather might've gone unnoticed during the night of the demonstrations when there were other, more interesting things to look at. But she had not escaped their notice now.

Thankfully, nobody brought up the resemblance and, one-by-one, the Phoenix Wanderers served themselves dinner from the pot of soup on the fire and spread out around the room to eat. A few nodded as they passed and some exchanged polite greetings, but otherwise, they mostly kept to themselves.

One particularly friendly face emerged from the crowd, hand proffered. He had an uncensored grin that extended far beyond his face, and features that had reversed their colour conditioning—pale skin stained golden-brown and mousy brown hair bleached blond.

"Name's Angus," he said. "But you can call me Gus. Nice to meet you."

Ash leaned back, confronted by the boy's open friendliness. When she shook his hand, she was surprised to find his grip was tentative.

"Sprout," she said.

The grin broadened. "Cute name."

Ash blushed deeply, but was saved from responding by Ollie, who jumped up to stand beside Gus. "You're gonna be our new teacher," he said, nudging Gus on the arm.

"So I heard," Gus said. "I'll finally get to see what you're made of."

"I'm the best out of all three of us," Ollie conjectured, pointing to Apple and Jacob. "I can throw the farthest and the hottest flame."

Apple scowled. "There's more to being a skilled fire-wielder than how far you can throw a flame. What about being able to control the brightness and intensity? I'm best at that."

"I'm more accurate than both of you," Jacob said. "And I can control which way the flame will burn."

Gus chuckled. "Well, I can already tell this is going to be interesting."

Ollie puffed out his chest. "I'm still the best."

Gus winked at Ash. "Don't worry. We'll go easy on you. It can take a while to connect with your force at first, but once you become accustomed to its presence, you'll catch up to the others in no time. We'll start you with small flames and work your way up."

Ash felt her blush deepen. She didn't tell Gus she could feel her force all the time. That she'd been so connected with it since the incident in the alley, it was becoming impossible to ignore. She also didn't tell him that 'small' hadn't worked for her so far and that once the flames escaped her control, they were the ones calling the shots. Nobody except Eli, and maybe Oroton knew what she was capable of. And even then, she suspected they didn't know the extent of it otherwise they would've warned Gus what he was getting into.

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