by Liz Long
I nodded, tripped over myself to get up quick. The Airspinner had turned her attention away from us to another on our side; Brooklyn snuck up behind her, threw a heavy punch to the woman’s temple and she crumpled to the ground. Another of Felix’s men took her place and took a swing at Brooklyn. She proceeded to participate in a bloody fistfight.
The fight continued around me: A Waterbearer flung orbs of water at Nikolas’s fireballs; neither got anywhere as they both appeared of equal skill. Keegan fought a larger guy, who laughed at the punches. He threw a right hook to Keegan’s head that literally spun him around. I started to run to him but Finley sprinted past me and tackled the big guy; they both went down and Fin and Keegan stayed on him, hitting him mercilessly.
Another enemy leapt in and swung; as Gabriel dove towards him, the guy lifted his arm and froze Gabriel in midair, threw a punch that tossed him across the field. Gabriel stood up dazed and tried to swing but the guy froze him again. He walked to Gabriel, drew a knife and as I ran to them, the guy swiped at Gabriel’s face. Blood dripped from his cheekbone as the guy went in for Gabriel’s jugular. Anger bubbled in my throat. I drew my arm back, felt my blood boil as I hit him in the back with my fire; it consumed him and he went down with a scream as he burned to death.
Gabriel’s body unfroze and he gave me a brief nod of thanks before he jumped back into the fight. All around me, the blood spillage continued; screams of agony and fury flooded my eardrums. I couldn’t tell whose side was winning.
Renata dodged a swing from her opponent, took her own punch and missed; the guy, a Doubler, split into two identical men. Like a mirror image, his twin mimicked his throws at her, darted and twisted away from her every move. The more she missed, the more frustrated she became which made her sloppy. The split twins laughed at her; one took a jab at her back while the other went low for her kneecap.
Renata gave a growl and shouted, “I am so done with this shit! Donovan crowd, heads up!”
I had an inkling of what that meant and planted my feet. Squinty-eyed in concentration, she stomped her heel hard into the ground. The field cracked below her, but the rumble threw everyone, including her opponent, off balance. I managed to stay on my guard, but most of Felix’s crew fell to the ground. Our side took advantage, instantly swung, jumped, or lobbed fire at them as they struggled to get back on their feet. For a moment, we had the upper hand.
A Runner on Felix’s side zipped around one of Sheffield’s men. Whatever gift our man had, it didn’t include speed; the Runner went past him in a blur and the man dropped to the ground, his throat slit. I brought my hands up with a flame ready as another shape flew past me. There was a flurry of motion not five feet from me. When the blur stopped, Delia stood victorious over the now dead Runner, a jagged knife in her hand.
“He was a slow bastard,” she said with a proud smile at me, “and poorly skilled with a knife. One down, only a handful left!” She zipped off in the opposite direction with her new weapon.
Before I could even gape in shock at her, one of Felix’s cronies, snaggle-toothed and gaunt, got too close and hit me in the face. I buckled to my knees and he grabbed my arms, swung me into the ground. The wind whooshed out of my lungs and I struggled to breathe. He leaned over me, raised his fist to punch me again. I kneed him in the crotch and he fell over with a howl. I went to stand up and he grabbed me again. I swung my arms, made contact with his face as he clawed at me. I hit him again and again, took my rage straight at his nose. Unbelievably, he finally lay still as I spit blood out of my mouth.
I looked at my hands, the knuckles raw and bloody. It’d happened so fast; while I didn’t set him on fire, there was something immensely satisfying about beating him down by hand. Ignoring the pain in my hands, I looked at the friends I could find; they all looked battered and beaten.
My world slowed for a moment as I found others: Brooklyn could barely stand now, her hands clutching at her head every so often as though she couldn’t keep everyone out; Nikolas looked exhausted, coated in sweat, ash, his clothes looking drenched. His red Mohawk stuck in wet pieces to his head. A cut bled across Bianca’s beautiful forehead. Keegan lay bleeding on the ground; he didn’t move and at the sight of him, my heart almost broke in two. I couldn’t get to him without risking injury.
“Lucy,” someone said. I knew that voice and the knot in my stomach lessened an inch. I turned to find Gabriel covered in dirt and blood, his shaggy blonde hair a mess, bruises on every surface of skin I could see. Blood spilled from the cut on his face, making his skin ghostly white against the bright red color.
“He won’t hide behind his followers forever. We can’t let him run. He’s looking for you and I don’t know where Bianca took Sheffield,” he said.
“I know. Gabriel, I’m gonna need a favor,” I said to him.
Despite the battle happening around us, he managed to give me his cocky smile. “Is that right? It only took you a battlefield to ask?”
“Remember when you said you would never mess with my emotions? I need you to do that right now. I’m too scattered to focus on my own. I need you to make me really angry.”
“Well, I could mention that girl at my camper the other night…”
I threw him a dirty look. “Whatever it is that you do, I need your help. Sort of annoyed won’t do; I need to face the anger head on. It’s the only way I can beat Felix.”
“This is gonna suck for me, just so you know. You’ll probably require quite a bit of energy.”
“Can you do it or not?” I raised an eyebrow at him.
“Can I do it…” he scoffed. “Of course I can, dummy.”
“Then do it.”
He gave me a sexy smile. “I rather like you in bossy mode.”
I managed to roll my eyes before a body flew across the field and I snapped out of our conversation. He breathed deep and took a step back, gave me a questioning look as though to ask if I was ready.
I nodded, looked around again; Nikolas watched our exchange, whispered something to Keegan lying on the ground. I hoped he figured out the plan and that his whisper meant Keegan would survive.
“Usually, I’d touch you, but I don’t want you to burn me. You bottle everything up so well I’m worried this could get a little scary. Close your eyes and concentrate on what you’re feeling,” Gabriel said. I nodded and he lifted his hand in front of me. His long fingers could almost cover my entire face. A current shimmered from his hand to my face and I closed my eyes.
I could feel warmth from his hand and it intensified. I thought about the last few weeks, the incidents, people I’d met. Images flashed: Marty, his warm eyes smiling at me then charbroiled in the lot; Gabriel’s face as that whore left his camper; Keegan bloody on the ground nearby; my would-be rapist Mac, his hands on my skin; Felix’s cackle as he prepared to kill Sheffield; and then surprisingly, my father, who’d hidden so many secrets from me, so much that I now had to take on his fight for him. He never asked it of me, knew he shouldn’t, but his secrets led me to this path and now I would pay for his mistakes. He’d left me alone in the darkness to find my own way and without his help; if he’d only trusted me, believed enough in my gift to give me the self-confidence I needed, we might not be here in this battle. I’d never known how angry I was at him until this moment. I opened my eyes.
Gabriel looked at me in amazement. With his energy flowing into me, his entire body shook with my rage. “I don’t know what you’re thinking about, but Felix is in some fuckin’ trouble now.”
My skin burned hotter than I’d ever felt it. I looked down; flames coated my hands, which I wouldn’t consider to be unusual, except this time, the flames were reddish orange with a blue base. I’d never seen that before, not even with my father, and didn’t know if it was a good thing I carried that much anger around. My entire body hummed with vibration and I could feel my hair crackle with electricity. I practically bounced on the balls of my feet with my emotions in full swing. I felt a little nauseous from the power, like I�
�d taken drugs and couldn’t quite control my movement yet.
“Lucy, I-” Gabriel tried to say.
“Shut it. If you say anything other than kick some ass, I’ll lose all momentum.”
“I don’t think so, not this time. It’s physically painful to me, you’re so angry powerful,” he replied. “But Lucy? Go kick some ass.”
I didn’t dare try to put the fire away in case I couldn’t revive it. Instead, flames ran from fingertips to elbows as I circled the field, searched for Felix amongst the scattered bodies and ashes. I recognized a few from our side including the large man with beautiful black wings I’d seen my first night here. Perhaps he’d been in our second line and gotten impatient. Now he lay dead on the ground, feathers ripped from his appendages. It only infuriated me more. I held on to the anger…or perhaps now it held on to me. I made sure to pass Nikolas, still kneeling by Keegan, who lay unconscious on the ground. Nikolas saw my flames and his eyes widened.
“Jesus Christ, Luce,” he breathed in a hoarse voice.
“It’s a little overboard, I suppose.”
“No way. You’re better than all of us. Burn that son of a bitch into a crisp. I’ll take care of Keegan.”
I nodded and continued my search for Felix. Finally, I found him. His back to me, he headed towards the parking lot in escape. Even when he had the upper hand, he was nothing but a coward.
“Hey Dr. Hardy,” I called to him. He froze and turned around. I saw large black feathers drift from his pockets; flames crept up my shoulders. “Headed back to your lab for more vials and syringes?”
“Actually, yes,” he replied. “Plenty of easy test subjects right now. Don’t worry, I won’t be gone long.”
“You won’t be running tests on any of us ever again.”
“It’s too late, Lucy. I’ve already won this battle. Your friends are already siding with me, begging me to let them live.”
“You can’t have their gifts or mine for that matter. You’ll have to kill me to survive and my gift’s no good to you if I’m dead.”
“I’m sure there’s plenty of time for me to draw your blood. Sure will be easier that way, without you alive to thrash around and run your smartass mouth,” he sneered.
“Let’s see how well you handle your stolen gifts, then. Can’t back down now. What will your followers think about a girl beating you in a fight?” I gave him a knowing smile. “Besides, you want my gift too badly; you’ve worked far too hard for this moment.”
“You can’t beat me.” Even as he said it, his eyes went to my hands, now completely encased in blue sparks.
“I can sure as hell try.” I crouched into a fighting stance like Brooklyn taught me. My body itched with aggression.
“I’ve been practicing. You, on the other hand, can lose it with one small distraction or mood swing. I’m in touch with my anger; I know how to focus that into control. All I need to do is remember how I got these scars,” he said. He motioned to his arms, his face wrinkled in fury. His hands caught fire. “I took one of my own Firestarters out in a trial run yesterday. Poor bastard didn’t know what hit him.”
I crooked a finger at him. “Let’s dance, you and me. Prove you’re better than the Sullivans.”
I backed up into the field, away from his escape route. He came towards me like a panther stalks its prey, his stare never leaving me. I saw the hole behind him fill with my side of gifted; they wouldn’t let him escape so easily. I saw movement in my peripheral vision; I didn’t break my gaze with Felix but figured our people now surrounded the two of us. Neither side dared to help. I knew no one would; this was between Felix and me. We faced each other like an old fashioned draw, dared the other to twitch. Felix pulled the trigger first.
In an instant, he slapped his hands together with a fireball and threw it at me. I deflected it easily, practically caught it and lobbed it back at him with a little of my own firepower behind it. It zoomed to him, hit him dead in the chest. For a brief second, I was arrogant enough to believe that could do it.
He looked down at his chest as the fireball sizzled out, left a few scorch marks on his dorky blue button-up shirt.
“Is that all?” he said with a laugh. In the blink of an eye, he hurled a fireball the size of a small car my way. I caught it, but the force of it tossed me backwards and I spilled onto the dirt. I got up as fast as possible, spitting dirt from my mouth and wiping blood out of my eyes.
I had to give it to him-Felix’s wiry body allowed him to be faster than I’d realized. I’d absorb or fizzle out one fireball only to have another one hurled at me. Not only that, but he cheated. He’d zip one at me and chuck another into the crowd to keep my concentration split. I’d break the one in my direction, then close my fist to prevent an outsider from catching fire. I could hardly catch my breath to get on the offensive. At one point, I met Nikolas’s eyes; he mouthed an apology, knew he couldn’t help me save the innocent from Felix’s flames. That pissed me off more—Felix should be after me, not the others. I shouldn’t have to ask for help against another Firestarter, not if I was as powerful as I was told.
“Where’s your precious Sheffield? He’s run away, gone like Lenny!” he yelled. “Your father told you nothing, wouldn’t save you, couldn’t keep me from destroying you!”
“You won’t win,” I told him.
“I already have, you stupid little girl,” he said.
He clapped his hands together, formed a giant orange ball and threw it at me. Instead of engulfing me as I’d expected, he widened his arms at the last second and I became surrounded inside a giant fireball. I could hardly see past the flames. He steadied his arms and I tried to push on the inside of the cage to no avail. He had trapped me inside my own weapon.
Chapter 40
The heat overcame me, became suffocating. Despite my best efforts, I couldn’t get out. Felix was strong and had me cornered. I tried to stave off the panic, but it crept up on me. The blue flames began to melt back to red and orange. I concentrated on my anger at Felix, but it wasn’t working. I bit back a scream. Felix was going to beat me. An erratic drumming pulsed through my limbs and it took me a minute to realize it was my heart, pounding my rib cage the way my fingers tapped on my knees.
Between my fiery cage bars, I found Gabriel, who looked more worried than I’d ever seen him. I glared at him, motioned for him to mess with my emotions. He shook his head helplessly; he had no more energy to give me. He had to lean on others for support.
Felix stood twenty feet away from me, a smile on his face. He knew a victory when he saw one. And then Finley, the only human in the gifted battle, charged at him with a scream. Nikolas tried to stop him, but he burst through the line and ran straight for Felix.
Finley stabbed the mad scientist with a syringe no one had seen him holding. It looked like a smaller version of the one I’d seen last night. Did it have Felix’s own cure in it? For one heart-stopping second, we all froze, stared at Felix in wonderment. Would he be human now? Could the battle be over?
Instead, Felix gave a bark of laughter and pulled the syringe from his shoulder. He burst into flame and hit Finley with a horrible crunch. Fin flew across the field in a fiery, crumpled heap and lay still. Delia darted to him and beat the flames off his skin, his clothes. He didn’t move.
“You can’t make me human—I already am!” Felix said with a laugh.
I cast one more desperate look around and found Sheffield. He gripped Bianca’s shoulder, leaned against another circus member I didn’t recognize. Sheffield looked awful, pale and sweaty. His eyes met mine and I had but a brief second to see that despite his appearance, his steady gaze gave me comfort. He looked tired, yes, but not like a man who might die…or lose everything to an enemy. He nodded; he couldn’t kill Felix to protect his people, but he believed in me.
Felix’s nasally voice cut through my panic. “I’ll be the most powerful gifted being ever created. I killed Lucy Sullivan, daughter of the great Lenny Sullivan, the most talented Firestarter in
existence.”
His arrogance, the mere thought he could be better than my dad, made my rage mount again. The only person who would be better than my father would be me. My temper flared, and with it, my fire. I burst into blue flames; the heat that had moments ago suffocated me now gave me power. My hair stood on end; I felt power course through my veins like never before. Shouts of terror and admiration alike reverberated through the crowd.
I concentrated hard; my head felt as if it might split in two, but I couldn’t stop. I had to control Felix’s fire now or I would lose. I released myself from his cage by drawing my arms into my chest, brought his giant ball of fire into my body. I glowed with flames, shaking with the power that threatened to consume me.
I barely noticed as those around us took several steps back. Never had I controlled or absorbed so much of another’s fire. Even my lungs burned with pain. My heart pounded erratically, my entire body screamed in protest and for a second, I wondered if I might die. I looked at Felix, who narrowed his eyes and prepared another fireball.
Through the flames circling me, I saw Felix’s expression. For the first time, he looked worried. I knew he wanted out and if that meant running, he’d do it. I couldn’t allow that. If he escaped, this might never end.
“You’re nothing, Felix; a no one, a nerdy scientist with a complex. You say the gifted aren’t human, don’t belong in your world.”
“You don’t, science has clearly proven that. But I know many government officials and scientists who are willing to figure you out, make you a part of the everyday world.”
“You have it backwards. It’s you who doesn’t belong and you will never force us to accept you. You will never be one of us. No matter whose gift you take or how many humans know about us, we will always be here,” I taunted him.
The crowd bellowed their agreement. Felix’s hand flew to his temple, tapped his glasses in his absurd tic. Flames lit up his pale face. I wanted to break his nose.
