Phoenix

Initiation Part 1

They gathered out the front of Paradise Tavern to a suspended night—the soft sand underfoot and the full moon on their faces. Nobody spoke. The waves held still, the crickets ceased their trilling, even the breeze seemed to be holding its breath.

Eli stepped towards the great pyre of firewood and raised his arms. The air prickled with heat and a rush of flames shot from his fingers, igniting the pyre in one pressured release. The circle of Wanderers stepped back with a gasp, their faces flickering red. Ash stifled the urge to step closer to the suffocating heat, which beckoned her with its flaming fingers.

Oroton raise his voice. "All those who received coloured robes this afternoon, please step forward."

Trembling, Ash did as she was told. She was joined by Ollie, who was equally as shaky, and two extremely tall twin sisters in royal blue robes who, straight backed and unsmiling, exuded a grim confidence that made Ash feel very small and young.

Oroton smiled. "Fire and water. Opposing forces together at last. How are you all feeling?"

The twin sisters nodded in perfect synchronisation. Ollie squeaked something incoherent and looked as though he might faint. Ash remained silent.

Oroton nodded at Miki. "Would you like to take it from here?"

Miki nodded and directed the twins away from the fire and down to the sea.

Oroton turned to Eli. "I trust you have what you need?" He gestured to the pyre.

Eli nodded and the older man retreated into the shadows, blending with the watching crowd.

Eli held out a dirt-covered root that had been crudely hacked from the ground. Cleaving off two corners, he handed one to Ollie and one to Ash. "Chew on these," he said.

Ash placed the root on her tongue and immediately, her mouth went cold. As she began to chew, the coolness spread to her nose, her throat and made her eyes water. The beach, bonfire and all the Wanderers took on a hazy hue, as though she was viewing them through a mirage. When Eli spoke again, his voice echoed, as if on a distant cliff. "Hold out your hands," he said.

Ash did as she was told, but felt as though she was moving in slow motion, pushing through honey. Eli drew two hot coals from the centre of the fire, barely flinching when they touched his exposed skin and dropped them, one-by-one, into their cupped hands.

Ash flinched, expecting searing pain but felt only an uncomfortable tingling. The flame changed from orange, to red, to blue and suddenly, she was no longer standing on the beach in front of a bonfire, but in a stark white room, looking through barred windows onto a dusty street. High-rise buildings leapt from concrete sidewalks and plastic bags skittered along the gutters. She was in Ace, that much was certain. But it was a district she didn't recognise and a room she'd never seen before. She looked down and found her carmine robes had been replaced by the black and white jumpsuit. That's when she realised. She was in state jail.

"Look what we have here," a voice said. "It's the drawler come to get what she deserves."

She spun around. A dozen boys and girls clustered around her in a tight-semicircle, backing her against the wall. The speaker was the mammoth orphan she'd given a blood nose to on the day of the recruitment. Her hands bore the same sausage fingers, her shoulders sloped with the weight of her trunk-like arms and she wore a smile that revealed bucked front teeth, crooked and yellow, like dollops of melting butter resting on her bottom lip. "Thought you were a straight shooter, didn't you? Thought you'd got away clean." She spat at Ash's feet. "Even rats can't run forever. Isn't that right, Eric."

Another, familiar face came into focus and this one shocked Ash to her core. It was Freia's brother, gangly as ever, his charred face flaking off in large patches and his hair falling out in chunks. He looked inhuman, though his sneer was still the same—still as twisted, still as devoid of emotion. "Thought I was dead, didn't you?" he said. "Well, I'm not. And guess who I fucked last night."

At those words, Ash lunged, fingers clawing for his eye sockets. But the semi-circle of onlookers grabbed her arms and held her back. She struggled and screamed, but was at least a dozen times overpowered. The group began to chant, "Kill, kill, kill..."

Individual voices rose above the chanting. "Rope her from the rafters."

"Sling her like a carcass."

Eric stepped forward. "Burn her at the stake." He held up a lighter.

The mammoth girl smiled. "Not until she's felt it all."

A fist flew at her face, crunching her nose. Searing pain shot into her head and black spots swarmed her vision. Before she could recover, a knee flew into her stomach. She heard a sharp crack of a rib, and felt her lungs compress like the bellows of an accordion.

Faces swarmed before her eyes—the faces of every kid she'd ever fought. They each took their turn, doing to her what she'd done to them until her body screamed, her lungs burned, and her consciousness faded. Just when she thought she would black out, Eric's fingers twisted around her throat... and squeezed.

She knew what would happen then.

She would die.

She would burn.

As the life seeped from her veins, she focussed the last of her dying strength on the hands that held her. The children yelped and jumped back as though they'd touched a scolding stovetop. Next, she send a rush of heat at Eric, who loosened his hold on her neck. She heaved a lungful of air and as she did, the fire inside reared and roared. Let me take them,it pleaded. Let me kill them.

She looked into Eric's eyes and saw only empty black holes. There was nothing there, no soul, no feeling. People like him didn't deserve to live. But then who was she to decide that?

The fire pushed against her fingertips, but this time, she couldn't do it. She couldn't take Eric's life again, no matter what filth came out of his mouth. It would not fix what had happened. Killing him would only give her more nightmares. If she killed him, Freia would want to kill her, and then someone who loved her would want to kill Freia and so on and so forth. The chain would go on forever, unless—

She pulled her intention back, heaved it in with one choking breath. Her lungs filled with fire, burned from the inside out. Her mind swirled and went black.

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