Rouge

by Isabella Modra

  Jack had never been more terrified in his life. I’m dreaming, he thought to himself as he tried to ignore the searing pain in his chest, hands and throbbing head. The din was deafening, but it was as though he didn’t exist. Caught in the middle, Jack could do nothing but hang there and pray that Hunter would snap out of it, or that Joshua would give in.

  He couldn’t believe the situation he was in. Hunter could shoot fire from her hands. Joshua was like the Iceman from comic books he’d read when he was a child. This was completely unreal.

  But Joshua had seen what was inside of him. He knew there was something wrong with him. Hunter had never noticed, and neither had Eli. Joshua, of all people, had seen the darkness and had taken him because of it.

  Am I a freak? He could not stop asking himself that question. The past few days had opened his eyes wider than they’d ever been before. Things started to come together, events in his life that could not be explained, his own actions questioned, and all the while Jack knew this psychotic man was right. He was different.

  And maybe he could use whatever hellish ability he had to get out of there.

  Jack looked up at the meat hanger his chained hands were hooked over. The hanger was looped tightly over a rusty metal rafter high above his head, connected to a pulley system Joshua used to lower him down like some kind of fishing bait. Jack wriggled back and forth, trying to imagine himself swinging high enough to lift the chains up and over the hanger, but he was too weak and his ribs seared with pain. Panicking, he chewed on the gag and narrowly missed getting hit by a stray ball of fire.

  I have to get the hell out of here before I roast like a freaking marshmallow! Fear rose inside Jack and in that moment, he felt it swirl inside him. At first it was a bitter taste just like in the alley where Joshua had found him. And then it bubbled inside him like burning tar, a mix of hot and cold, powerful and angry. Out of pure instinct, Jack looked up at his chained wrists and concentrated on the links. He didn’t know where the thought came from, but he had nothing left to lose. So he clenched his fits, held his breath and ripped his wrists apart.

  The chains shattered as though they were made of dry sand.

  Jack dropped, his knees buckled and he fell on his side, agonizing pain stabbing his chest. For a moment he couldn’t breathe and colorful dots danced before his eyes. Groaning, he rolled over and saw a brilliant bright light that had to be Hunter as she advanced on a cowering man against a stack of crates. Doubled over in pain and unable to move, Jack lay on the ground heaving in air but altogether astonished as his eyes fell upon the broken chains.

  I did that, he thought amazedly. And then he smiled.

  forty

  So consumed with rage and a yearning for painful revenge on Joshua, Hunter had lost control of herself. She was so eager to find a way to hurt him that she had forgotten who she was. She burned redder than the molten stone that had given her abilities, and it was too strong for her to find herself again. The fire was like a demon that had possessed her, and even when Jack called her name, even when Joshua screamed as the fire passed through his barriers and burnt his skin, Hunter continued to laugh.

  “Are you burning yet Joshua?” she snarled. The soft sound of rain on the roof began to patter in the background. “I could keep going, honestly, this fire never ends. You know the saying the things you do-” she shot him down again with another boiling ball of lava that landed on his leg and hissed dangerously, “-come back to bite you?”

  “Hunter…” Joshua heaved, slipping and sliding on his own ice. “You can’t… let it… control you.”

  “Don’t talk to me about control, you psychotic hypocrite! I’m not the one on a murderous bender strapping people to ice chairs and kidnapping innocent teenagers, am I?”

  Joshua lifted a hand to shield his face from the glare of the fire burning in Hunter’s hands, her hair curling wildly around the flames, her eyes now gold and bright as the sun. But Hunter wouldn’t allow it. She grabbed his wrist and squeezed.

  Joshua screamed as she channeled all her heat into his wrist, watching it sizzle, grinning. It was as if all the ecstasy in the world couldn’t compare to it.

  “I know, I know, I’m a terrible person,” he pleaded, his voice breaking. Something in his eyes had changed: He was less of the psychotic killer and more of the old Joshua. “But you’re better than me. Let go of the anger, or it will consume you! Please Hunter!”

  She laughed loudly, the cackle echoing in the warehouse. “You think you can fool me with this act Joshua? As soon as I turn away, you’re just gonna stab me in the back. Of all the things I’ve learned these past few months, I know one thing for sure; your loyalty is no longer to me, or my mother. You lost yourself to your power. Now you’ll never get out again.”

  “Hunter, just give me another chance to prove to you that-”

  “No,” she hissed. Her heart ached as she remembered her mother’s letter. “Sometimes we don’t get second chances Joshua.”

  Something like fear mixed with surprised flashed in the pale blue of Joshua’s eyes. It was the very same look he’d given her the night after the benefit when Hunter had blown up the stove. He knew something, something that scared him. Before she could decipher it, Joshua raised his other hand and pointed it at the roof of the warehouse. A torrent of ice disappeared into the darkness and crashed into metal.

  They both fell silent as the ice that had clung to the roof began to crack, and within moments there was a deafening crash and the corrugated iron ceiling caved in.

  Hunter had just enough time to dive behind the chair she’d been confined in and cower behind the ice tanks that had been sending cold liquid into her bloodstream as heavy debris from the ceiling fell to the ground and scattered. As if shaken out of a nightmare that wasn’t even hers, Hunter stood on her feet and looked up at the hole in the roof. Through the great gape, rain poured down on them. She had been so consumed that she hadn’t heard it pound on the tin roof of the warehouse.

  Hunter was sent back to the night of her first date with Eli. She had been so anxious that the fire would escape that she had run out into the rain. There, they shared their first kiss.

  Tears ran from her eyes and became lost in the rain as Hunter stared up at the ceiling and smiled.

  Be a fighter Hunter, came her mother’s voice somewhere inside her head, and no matter the pain this curse causes you, know that you are stronger. Your soul controls it. Use it.

  Just as the rain washed away the flames burning inside her, the voice of her mother and the comfort of the memory of Eli holding her under the veranda of Raoul’s restaurant gave her peace. It washed through her, cleansing and replenishing her. She was reminded of something that – in all her rage and fury – she had almost forgotten:

  How much she truly loved him.

  And just like the night she and Eli made love, Hunter grasped the fire and used it not for revenge, but for strength. Her fight was not over yet.

  Hunter stood slowly from behind the chair and breathed heavily, the rain soaking her pleasantly. A haze of rain and smoke surrounded her, blinding her. She could hear nothing but the thundering of rain and suddenly she started to sob. She had conquered her own battle and defeated her dark side. She was much stronger than Joshua ever believed possible, and for that, Hunter felt completely alive.

  “Hunter!”

  The plea for help rang in her ear. Jack’s plea. Hunter snapped out of her momentary lapse of bliss and back to reality.

  Joshua lay under a slab of fallen metal, unmoving. A stab of guilt flashed through her, but she ignored it. Her eyes searched for Jack through the sheet of rain and her heart leapt when she saw him on the ground, his leg caught under a rafter. She ran to him.

  “Jack, are you okay?” Her hands shook as she gripped the beam and heaved with all her might.

  Jack screamed through gritted teeth and weakly dragged his bloodied leg from under the rafter. Hunter dropped the metal beam that weighed a ton and ran to Jack’s side. Blood fr
om his chest and ankle dripped into the puddles of water around them. “Oh God, what did he do to you?” she gaped and hauled him to his feet. Jack cried out weakly. “We have to get you out of here.”

  “I couldn’t agree more,” he muttered. “Are you okay?”

  Hunter nodded, but her strength was almost out. Escaping the chair and the fight drained all her energy. And the pouring rain soaking her dress did nothing to fuel the flame. She looked up at Jack and didn’t need words. He saw the defeat in her eyes.

  “Hunter.” Jack stared deep into her soul. He believed she could get him out. He trusted her completely. “You made it this far. We’ll get out, okay?”

  Hunter blinked through the rain, wishing it could wash her away completely. But he was right. She couldn’t give up when they were so close to safety. Jack needed help, and Hunter intended to get him there. They were almost free and she was so close. Whether Joshua was dead or merely unconscious, Hunter had to keep fighting until Jack was truly safe again.

  After all, isn’t that was heroes do?

  “Let’s get out of here,” she smiled and both of them twisted around.

  Hunter and Jack froze before taking even a step as their eyes fell upon the pile of fallen debris where Joshua was moments ago. Her heart practically flew up in her throat and she was almost afraid to turn, because she knew he’d be there with that same psychotic smile, fully recharged and angry as hell.

  And she was right.

  The two of them spun back and there he stood.

  “How sweet you two are,” Joshua purred. “What would Eli think of you moving on so quickly Hunter?”

  The fire raged inside her, but she swallowed the urge to fry him and gently moved away from Jack. He wobbled on his one good foot.

  “Run Jack.”

  Jack hesitated. Hunter turned to him, pleading with her eyes. A million words passed between them.

  “You’re brave Jack,” she whispered, trying to smile. “I know that. But this isn’t your fight.”

  He took an unsteady step back and glanced at the long corridor leading to the exit. For a moment, Jack paused. He lifted a hand to her cheek, the touch of his skin electrifying. Once again, Hunter saw the darkness in Jack’s eyes, but this time the darkness was full of hope and promise. They told her that she would see him again soon.

  “Go!” she shouted and Jack limped back into the rain and disappeared into the dark shadows on the other side. She lost sight of him and that was when she was truly calm. She turned to Joshua, warm inside. She didn’t want to hurt him anymore. Though she hated him from the bottom of her soul, she wouldn’t stoop again. The fire was hers to control now, and it wasn’t meant to be deadly.

  As if instinctively, Hunter’s hand reached up to her neck to touch the empty place where her necklace used to be. And though it was no longer there, she knew it was with Eli, and Eli was with her, just like her mother and father had always been.

  You are not alone. The thought gave her courage to face Joshua without the fire. The only warmth came from this knowledge that beat powerfully inside her heart.

  “You lost Joshua,” she said. Her mouth twisted into a humorless smile. “Despite your wise remarks, you can’t beat me this time. You’ve nothing left to bargain with.”

  Joshua faltered ever so slightly, the left side of his lip twitching up. “I’m much stronger than you Hunter. I’m older and smarter.”

  “Those things don’t matter to us, to our powers. I have something you don’t.”

  He snarled at her. “Oh yeah? What’s that?”

  Hunter shook her head slowly and began to back away, down the isle of the warehouse into the falling rain again. “If you really can’t figure that out for yourself, Joshua, then you are truly lost to the ice.”

  Joshua’s pale face went instantly slack as his eyes widened. He took a step toward her, his hand outstretched. “Hunter, don’t you leave me! They’ll find you! The world will know your secret! I swore to your mother I’d protect you-”

  “Enough!” she shrieked back at him. Her shoulders slumped from physical and emotional exhaustion. “It’s done, Joshua. They know. And I couldn’t care less whether they find me or not. I have nothing left to live for, no thanks to you. But you know what? It doesn’t matter. So long as I still have a hold of myself, I will never be like you.”

  “Hunter, please-”

  “If I ever see you again, you’d better hope you’re strong enough,” she growled. “Goodbye Joshua.” The words were almost lost in the rain as she limped away.

  She was aching. The gash in her shoulder bled down her back. Her head throbbed and her heart felt as if it had been beaten like dough or spun in a washing machine. But despite the grief, she stared ahead at the open door of the warehouse, at the pounding sheet of rain and saw a glimmer of hope on the horizon. She had finally figured out the answer to controlling the flames. It wasn’t training with Joshua or sitting alone in a hotel room. The fire was there in her anger and her fear and her passion. But what kept it in her grasp, what soothed the flame and left it alive and strong was the simplest and most powerful emotion of all.

  Love.

  Smiling to herself, Hunter lifted her tattered Prom dress and walked away from Joshua, into the warm shower of rain.

  epilogue

  The laboratory was a complete mess. The majority of the filing cabinet contents lay spilled across the steel floors. His desk was littered with every kind of geological device he owned. Water bottles and dishes and off-smelling food packets were scattered on the shelves next to pages of information with ugly brown stains. Among this chaotic clutter, Joshua sat cross-legged on the floor. He rocked back and forth, his hair in disarray, his shirt crinkled and unbuttoned. He gazed at the pages spread before him as though the answers might finally jump out and slap him in the face. Someone had to slap him, or he might lose his mind.

  “How,” he whispered, raking his hands through his greasy hair. “How did she do it?”

  For days now, Joshua had nearly driven himself crazy as he searched through every page of information he’d ever collected. He went through his notes on Hunter’s powers, on Liz’s powers and even his own powers. But no matter how hard he worked, he could not understand why the ice seized control of him so easily, and the fire bowed to Hunter.

  I have something you don’t.

  “What?!” he screamed at the empty room. He slapped his forehead with the palm of his hand at least ten times, the pain doing nothing for his poor, befuddled mind. “What do you have?”

  No sound remained but the gentle humming from the glass tank in the corner. He hadn’t heard from Hunter. She didn’t return to the apartment. He wasn’t even sure if she found Jack, who disappeared before Hunter herself. But so long as she was out there, she was in danger. He had to do something about that eventually, but right now he needed to know how she had overcome the fire within her so suddenly. For years, Joshua struggled with the cold, dark devil in his soul, and still he let it control him. He had hurt her more than anyone, when all he wanted was to keep her safe. Joshua’s eyes welled with tears and he covered his face in his hands.

  Hunter knew he’d killed Eli. She was splitting with rage, and at one point he truly believed she lost herself to the fire and she would find revenge and end him. But then the roof collapsed and it started raining and something in her changed. She was herself again. But how?

  Joshua couldn’t possibly figure out the answer on his own. It was neither scientific nor logical. He needed someone who knew the truth, someone who had the research. Someone smart.

  With shaking hands, Joshua got to his feet and stepped carelessly over the papers to where the filing cabinet stood against the far back wall. The top left draw was already open, so he stuck his hand inside and pressed a four-digit code on the back panel. After a moment there was an electronic beep and the cabinet was sliding gently sideways for him.

  Joshua stared at the steel door, at the glass window the size of a hat and the foggy mist t
hat surrounded its fringes. He swung open the freezer door and as the cool air blasted over him, he relaxed a little. At least here, he was at a regular body temperature.

  The door swung shut and silence suffocated him. Only the consistent puff of air coming from the two machines before him resounded in his ears. It was just louder than the thumping of his heart.

  Joshua had made many mistakes in his lifetime. Most of them were parental. He wasn’t exactly the greatest role model, nor did he ever win Dad-of-the-year. But one thing Joshua prided himself most, above anything, was his persistence. He spent his entire life taking care of Hunter, devoting his time and energy into raising her in a world without harsh testing and probing from the public. Only when the ice took over did he ever experiment on her, and that was many years ago.

  The ice had come back a few months ago. It was the night Hunter ran away, when she killed the homeless man. Joshua was alone in the lab when the Iceman – a blue figure of himself that Joshua imagined to make listening to the voice a little easier to visualize – returned to him like a ghost from the past. Joshua tried to force it back inside him, but he was so filled with other emotions like worry and fear for Hunter that he had no strength to fight it. Since then, the Iceman was always present, talking to him, convincing him to do what was necessary to keep Hunter safe.

  Now, the Iceman stood on the other side of the small freezer, his arms crossed and a crooked, gleeful smile on his lips. You screwed up, he said. The voice echoed inside Joshua’s mind.

  Joshua ignored him, but he knew he was right. He had screwed up big time. And the only way to fix his mess was to bring them back.

  Slowly, Joshua approached the left steel table and reached out shakily, touching the tip of a frozen hand. Joshua gazed down at Miss Smart, deep in a coma and frozen at sub-zero temperatures. She was alive – he hoped – but there was a chance she’d have some sort of brain damage if he woke her. She looked close to death when he went to the hospital to kill her. Not only did her relief surprise him, but the look in her eyes before he put her to sleep reminded him of Liz. He wouldn’t do it. He couldn’t be that person. No matter what the Iceman said, he couldn’t kill her.