“Hunter there’s something I want to ask you,” he began softly.
A loud whistle broke their moment and Eli’s head whipped to the side. He peered through the crack in the bleachers at the football pitch.
“What?” she asked.
He turned back to her with a shy smile. “Um... it’s just...”
“Eli please,” she begged, the suspense eating away at her like a worm inside an apple. He knows something. He’s going to ask about the fire in his bedroom.
Eli let out a long breath of air. “I should be so good at this now. Um...” Pausing, Eli looked up and then back down at her and pushed through the nerves. “Hunter Harrison. Would you do me the honor of being my date to the prom?”
Hunter’s heart leapt from her chest and soared right out of the top of her head. After everything that had happened to her this year, she’d completely forgotten about the most important event of a senior’s life, aside from graduating. And here Eli was, asking her to accompany him, even though she’d stomped on his heart merely two nights ago.
Hunter took his face between her hands again, stroking the stubble that lined his jaw and joined his dirty blonde hair. “Yes,” she said with a smile. “Of course I’ll go with you.”
Eli’s mouth twisted into a crooked smile that melted her heart. “Thank God. Honestly, asking you out gets scarier as we go.”
Hunter chuckled. “Well I hope you have plenty more opportunities to practice.”
“Me too,” he said and pecked her gently on the cheek. “Now I’d better get to class before the coach whips me bloody.”
twenty- six
“I can’t believe,” said Miss Smart as she shook her head slowly, “that after all this time I spent searching for an answer, it was sitting right in front of me every day in my lessons.”
Hunter shrugged and stabbed her plastic fork into her take-out box. “Believe me, I still don’t have all the answers, and I’m the one with the powers.”
Miss Smart winced as she raised herself higher on the pillow of her hospital bed. Despite the medication and constant rest, Hunter noticed little improvement in her teacher’s health over the next few days. The nurses were sketchy on the details, assuring her that the burns were healing well. But Miss Smart grew weaker and wearier every day Hunter visited.
While she sat beside her bed three days after the fire with the afternoon sun shining in on the two of them, Hunter explained everything she knew, right from her conception to Joshua’s knowledge and involvement in the destruction of Feucotetanus. And though it excited Miss Smart, there was still something very amiss with her health.
“It just makes so much sense now.” Miss Smart slurped a noodle into her mouth, her enthusiasm somewhat weary, but still evident in the sparkle of her eyes. “I researched this drug for so many years Hunter. I could never get my hands on a sample, of course, but I knew the formula. I tried to recreate it. It never had the same effect as it had on you. And this volcanic stone… Ravenadium… you really believe it’s alien?”
“I don’t know for sure,” said Hunter. “Joshua and my dad found it in a mountain in Cuba. It reacted to the drug, like a trigger system. Except the drug is what makes it come alive and burn. That’s how I got the power to create fire from my body. Ravenadium is in my blood.”
“That’s incredible.” She placed the Styrofoam cup back on the tray with quivering hands. She’d barely touched it. “This changes so much Hunter. I bet Joshua went crazy when he discovered this.”
Hunter snorted a laugh. “Something like that. He’s been training me almost every day since I found out what I could do. The Ravenadium has some sort of controlling effect on me. It reacts upon my emotions, and sometimes it gets out of control.”
“So this substance has a mind of its own, does it?”
Hunter smiled and put down her empty soup cup. “I just can’t figure out where it came from. Joshua has been searching for answers for so long, and he’s found nothing. But I know that it’s feeding off my anger and my fear and even my passion. All these emotions are what makes it stronger. I’m scared that when Eli and I… when the time comes and we want to…”
Miss Smart gave her an encouraging smile. “I understand. I would be cautious, Hunter. It seems like this substance that’s controlling you has a great attachment to your feelings. They’re a trigger for it. Make sure you know how to hold it in your grasp before you fully give yourself to him.”
“I’m stronger now,” she said confidently. “I’m better at controlling it. There’ve been a few mishaps along the way, but it’s easier now.”
Miss Smart peered at her through her red-brown eyes. “Were you scared coming into the lab to save me Hunter?”
“No. I used to wonder what it would be like to be in a situation where I’d have to use my powers to save someone. Joshua drilled it into me to never let my guard down, but I was given these powers for a purpose. I decided to use it for good.”
Miss Smart reached out and squeezed Hunter’s hand gently. “Wise choice, Hunter. Your powers don’t have to be a burden. But after everything you’ve told me, you still need to be careful of how you use them.” Her eyes darkened suddenly. “You might think that you’re ready, that the fire is contained, but this thing has been crawling around in your soul since the day you were conceived in that fire. For eighteen years it has latched itself to you. It’s not about to stay down without a fight.”
Hunter’s tired mind began to race with fear. Can’t she just thank me and tell me something hopeful?
“I won’t lose control. This Ravenadium isn’t the boss of me.”
Miss Smart looked doubtful. “If you do lose control, Hunter, you won’t be able to stop it from spreading.”
“Spreading? Spreading where?”
“Into-” Miss Smart started coughing again and Hunter reached out to grip her hand for support. The cough was so severe that after a moment, her hand came away from her mouth and pulled a string of blood from her lips. Hunter stared at it, her stomach twisting, and ran to call a nurse. She returned with Miss Smart’s usual orderly – a pudgy black woman with kind eyes. Nurse Valerie tried to calm the woman down and ease her coughing fit with small sips of water, and eventually she turned to Hunter and said, “Visiting hours are over, Hunter.”
Hunter nodded sharply, collecting her bag and waving goodbye to Miss Smart who had her face buried in her hands as she retched violently. Feeling instantly ill, Hunter hurried out the door, the sounds of vomiting still echoing in her ears.
twenty- seven
The hospital ceiling was pale gray, just like the rest of the room. Just like the rest of the building, in fact. Jenny Smart was sick of it. She’d been there only three days and already she wanted to leave.
Jenny let out a long sigh and let her eyes roam the dim, empty hospital room. Water dripped into the tiny sink in the corner of the room where packets of plastic gloves were stashed. In the distance she could hear trollies rolling through the corridors and padded feet on the linoleum floors. There were soft voices from the receptionist desk a few doors down. It was late, and there were hardly any workers around. Valerie had said goodbye for the night, and she was alone.
Alone. It had become her life since she graduated college and became a teacher. Her work consumed her during the day, and then she caught the subway to her empty apartment in a building filled with grumpy tenants and busy families with loud, screaming kids. It was a wonder she got any of her marking done. Then she curled up with a book on the couch and tried to ignore the thumps from her roof or the arguing of her newlywed neighbors. When she finally crawled into bed, she stared at the empty pillow beside her and always felt an ache in her chest. Alone.
At least it wouldn’t be for much longer. It had been a long time coming anyway. The smoke from the fire that infected her lungs only sped up the process. For that, she was grateful. She couldn’t imagine living for so long in such a dull, depressing, sick place like this.
She was grateful for
Hunter. Apart from her mother – who lived in the Hamptons and sent the flowers before coming down days after the accident – the young girl was her only friend. Jenny wasn’t one to go out on the town with a bunch of girls or hit up bars and chat to burly men clasping pints of beer and hoping to ‘get some’. She was a science teacher, nothing special.
And now her theories were becoming a reality right before her eyes. Perfect timing, she thought sarcastically. And what happens now, Jen? She gazed at the ceiling, feeling ill and weak and altogether furious with her body. What can you possibly do with the biggest scientific discovery of the century while confined to a hospital bed?
She already knew the answer to that. Nothing. There would be no point. Her time was coming. It had been for a while now.
Jenny felt unpleasantly cold in her hospital bed. She drew the itchy blue hospital blanket further up her neck and felt a shiver go through her. Usually the hospital was perfectly comfortable, but tonight it was extra chilly.
God I hate the cold, she thought as she painfully turned over on her right and stared at the bedside table. Next to the pile of books people had kindly delivered was a glass of water. Frowning, she peered through the silver glow from the streetlight outside. There was no condensation on the glass, but the water was a foggy gray as if it had been frozen solid. She reached over and touched the glass.
It felt like ice and hardly rippled.
Miss Smart’s raspy breath came out in puffs of air and she peered around the room again. The curtain was drawn across the opposite bed, but she knew for a fact there was no one in it. Had another patient come in while she was sleeping earlier? Miss Smart would have awoken. She was a very light sleeper, especially in a foreign place.
Why is it so cold in here? She clawed at her blankets, but it made no difference. The cold was seeping through her veins, all the way to the tips of her toes.
The slightest cracking sound snapped her head to the side and she stared in horror at the glass of water that was slowly darkening, turning to ice before her very eyes. Her heart pounded, but it was no longer connected to the heart rate monitor. No one could hear it thudding against her chest. She watched the mantis-green curtain, waiting - for what, she didn’t know - until she felt the uncontrollable need to scream.
The second she opened her mouth, her throat constricted. It closed in on her completely. She went suddenly stiff and fell back on the pillow. Her blood was slowing. She could feel it thickening, freezing inside of her. Her muscles tightened and she couldn’t even move her eyes to the curtain on the other side of the room. But she could hear it rustling.
Footsteps padded at an achingly slow pace across the floor.
The water in the glass hissed as it expanded, crackling like bacon in a hot pan.
And the shadow of a man came into her vision, his silhouette blocking the light from the window. Jenny felt panic rise in her, but only for a moment. Then, she realized she knew exactly who it was.
Death. Finally, he had come for her.
The shadow loomed upon her and she saw his face. The eyes were psychotic and chilled her every bone. He was smiling, but then the smile started to fade. The longer he gazed at her, his eyes searching her face for something she didn’t understand, the more he frowned. Before she could decipher the confusion and – wait, was that hesitation? – he opened his mouth and breathed down upon her.
Jenny felt her entire body crack like the ice in the glass and her eyes drooped shut. She fell into a cold darkness and knew she would not be surfacing again. But in that darkness, she was released from the pain that gripped her body. At last, she was free.
twenty- eight
After returning home from the hospital that Friday night, Hunter sat with her computer open on her lap. She had absolutely no motivation to go to work, nor was studying of any interest to her.
The apartment was silent; Joshua hadn’t come home yet, or perhaps he was in the lab working and avoiding her. It had been like that lately. Hunter couldn’t remember a time when their relationship was simple and normal. It couldn’t have been just a few months ago that they were arguing about Hamilton or talking about taking a trip to Thailand after Hunter graduated. Suddenly he was this stranger she lived with. She missed being able to tease him about his awkwardness or laugh with him while they watched dumb programs on TV. Hell, she even missed the rock-talk and the way his whole face brightened with excitement when he started a new project or discovered a rare stone of some sort. She missed his company.
But things were different now. A darkness had settled between them as though a cavernous hole set them apart. Hunter still felt Joshua was to blame, because his behavior as of late hadn’t been normal. He was cold in everything he did; in the way he walked, talked, even acted around her. He changed. She noticed it now more than ever after the fire at school.
Unable to concentrate on her studies any longer, Hunter went into the spare room upstairs opposite Joshua’s bedroom. It was almost never used, only when Joshua’s friend Barry needed to spend the night because he’d had too much to drink. It was where all of Hunter’s childhood things were kept, along with a lot of Joshua’s books and trinkets that he no longer cared for. Then there were her mother’s memories, or those that were saved from the fire. Hunter sometimes flipped through the photo albums, just to feel happy that she once had beautiful parents. The photos ranged from landscapes of mountains where she and Joshua stood with Leo when they were much younger, to photos of Liz when she was pregnant in Cuba. Hunter’s personal favorite showed Liz splashing water on Joshua as they lay on the beach at the shack. His reaction always made her giggle.
As Hunter looked closer, she saw the glint of her mother’s necklace, sending her hand to her neck where the chain still hung. She sighed, put the album down and started looking in the other boxes.
An hour later, Hunter happened upon an interesting book. It belonged to her mother – as it said in the front title page. It was a Chinese medicines biography. Hunter flipped through it, wondering if it had something to do with her necklace and why her mother made it out of a Chinese symbol, when the book flipped open almost instantly to a bookmarked page. There, between images of a fire-breathing dragon and a hot-chili soup recipe, was an envelope.
Hunter’s heart started to race. She picked up the package and read her name on the front, written in her mother’s handwriting. Without hesitation, Hunter took the book, shoved the box back on the shelf and ran into her bedroom. It wasn’t every day that she found a personal letter written from her mother.
Inside the envelope was a letter and floppy disc. Hunter breathed a laugh, realizing they would not have had USB sticks in the nineties. She put down the floppy and opened the letter.
‘My Darling Hunter,
If you’re reading this, it either means that Joshua has told you everything about what you are and has given this to you after finding it in my book, or you are even more like me than I hoped and have found it yourself. Whichever it is, it doesn’t matter, because it means that I am not there to tell you myself, and for that I am sorry.
After the fire that destroyed my apartment and killed your father, I was distraught. I had no idea I had fallen pregnant, nor could I explain how I survived. Joshua was there to comfort me, and is helping me through my pregnancy. I know he loves, but I just can’t give my heart to anyone but Leo. I hope that Joshua will one day learn to give himself to someone else.
When I was only a few months pregnant, Joshua discovered almost by chance that you, too, were immune to fire. He and I spent months researching, and soon Joshua suggested we run some tests on you to determine whether it was true or not. Your DNA is remarkable, and I saw Joshua change in front of my eyes. He became obsessed with you, infatuated by your science and structure. There are differences in your molecular biology that are unlike anything we’ve ever seen, and certainly not like mine. Joshua predicted that, sometime in your future, the particles from the volcanic rock would mold themselves in your core, but there is no w
ay to determine the outcome. I am so afraid, Hunter, of what this substance will do to you. But Joshua is far from fearful.
He changed, Hunter, and I’m scared. He spends more time studying you than he ever did with his work. He is always in the lab we built in this shack. I’m afraid of him. He’s a different person, frantic, sometimes even psychotic. I hope it is only the pressure of my pregnancy and this incredible discovery that has driven him to madness.
You must understand Hunter that I never wanted any of this. Your father and I were young, we wanted to raise a family away from New York when Leo finished his research and I finished my contract at the hospital and we had enough money to start a life. I never asked for this curse, and I hate it for killing Leo and infecting both you and me. I feel like I’ve lost everything and have only you left in my life, you and this poisonous infection. More often than not, I wish I could rip it out of me, but I don’t know what that will do to you. Sometimes I hear it talking to me, whispering, taunting, wrapping its claws around me. I only hope that it is easier for you.
But I’ve realized, after months of hating the fire for the mess it made of our lives, that without it we wouldn’t be who we are today. Despite the evil in us, Hunter, there is good. There is the promise of strength, of a life that means something. I know it will be hard for you to grasp this, but you must accept that the curse is a part of you. It was given to you for a purpose. It’s up to you to unravel that in your own time.
Be a fighter Hunter, and no matter the pain this curse causes you, know that you are stronger. Your soul controls you. Use it.
I am sorry for Joshua. I had no control over him. If there is a way I could take it all back, I would. But sometimes we don’t get second chances. That’s why we need to make the right choices now, when it counts. So make it count. Let yourself love and have a happy life, a normal life. But never forget who you are. This curse within you might not be a curse, but a shield. If you learn to grasp it, it will lead you to greatness.
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