Krith shouted, “Leave me alone!” He rolled out of the oven and ran towards the door. The dog ran after him, and the humans chased him into a corner.
“What is that thing?” Mister Yale asked.
“I’m warning ya’ll, if you don’t let me be, I will char your bones,” hissed Krith, sounding like a talking teakettle. He realized since he was currently two feet tall his threats weren’t very impressive, even though the carpet was burning under his feet.
“Is it a midget?” asked a policeman.
“But he’s bright red,” said the other. “We should take him for questioning.” He pulled out a set of handcuffs.
Krith grabbed Mister Yale’s ankle, tripping him and searing his flesh. Mister Yale screamed. “Kill it! Kill it!”
The policemen drew their guns. Krith inhaled deeply, and then blew flames at both of them. They howled in pain, rolling to extinguish the fire. Mister Yale tried to grab him and Krith threw a fireball at him. He calculated it to give a second-degree burn, enough to incapacitate but not to kill. Unfortunately, the drywall caught fire as well.
As the fire licked the apartment and spread across the floor, Krith realized he was in the deepest trouble of his life. He didn’t want anyone to die, but he was too small to pull anyone to safety, and he’d expended too much heat to grow any further. The fire was now beyond his control. He could absorb small amounts of heat instantaneously, but not hundreds of degrees. He also was helpless in stopping smoke, though his oxygen needs were different than the non-fiery kind.
As the fire engines blared their way to Pleasant View Apartments, a small figure wreathed in flame ran down the edge of the street. Someone dumped water on him and heard loud cursing, and then Krith burst into flame again and continued running, shrinking as he went.
Chapter Fifteen
Firefighters and Saviors and Scapegoats
Sara nudged John, who responded with a bleary-eyed, “Wha?”
“I smell smoke!” she hissed, pushing off the covers and standing next to the bed.
That woke him up. He nodded and rose. “We’ll take the briefcase.”
A simple brown briefcase under their bed held their marriage certificate, birth certificates, and all the documents pertaining to their bank account. John being the worrywart he was, he had insisted on two-person fire drills once a month ever since they were married. He felt oddly calm even though the fumes and shouts that drifted through their door made it clear this was not a practice.
Sara took the briefcase in hand while trying to rearrange her sheer nightgown so a minimum of flesh showed. John’s boxers seemed out of place, as they were festooned with little red hearts. When they hustled to the door, John touched the doorknob and flinched at the heat.
“Onetwothree.” John was not wasting time on pauses. They forced the door open with their shoulders.
The hallway was an inferno, hazy with smoke. Nothing but blackness and coals remained in Kryvek’s apartment across and to the left. Sara had a fleeting thought that Krith must have done something, but she pushed it away and counted in her head, trying to keep from panicking. They were near the end of the building, where a swinging door led to the stairs and another door opened to the fire escape. They crawled along the carpet, difficult for the seven-months-pregnant Sara, but she safely made it. Without looking back she carefully but quickly descended the fire escape. The elderly Youngs came after her with painful slowness, so she took Abish Young’s hand and supported her wizened frame down the last few steps.
“Thank you,” Mrs. Young whispered. “Where’s your husband?”
Sara looked around her and saw no John. She screamed his name so loudly that five firefighters ran to her aid.
Upstairs, John noticed Christine’s apartment door was still closed. Now that Sara was outside, he knew he couldn’t leave an acquaintance to die. He forced the door open, coughing and stumbling his way in. Flames grew along the floor and followed him in.
“Christine!” he shouted, his voice hoarse. “Where are you? Christine!”
He searched the bedroom. She wasn’t there. The bathroom. No Christine. The other bedroom. No Christine! Had she gone and closed the door behind her? Finally he looked in the linen closet—Christine was asleep, nestled among the towels. John had no idea what she was doing there, but he shouted and shook her. “Christine! Christine!”
She rubbed her eyes, gasping for air. “What’s going on?”
“Fire. Quick. You need to get out.” John pulled her up, no mean feat as she weighed nearly the same that he did. Part of the burning ceiling fell to the floor in front of them, creating a barrier of flame. John looked back and forth, hyperventilating. The window! There was a large window that could be opened, and they were on the fifth floor. He dragged Christine, who appeared to be drugged, as no urgency or danger had sunk into her mind, and opened the window.
“Hey!” he shouted at the milling crowd of firefighters, survivors, and onlookers. “Someone get a blanket or a trampoline or something! I’ll drop this woman down!”
Several people shouted back and spread out a net provided by the firemen. John closed his eyes and prayed to whatever deity might be listening, and then pushed Christine up and out.
“What’s happening?” she asked the second before she fell.
“You’ll be fine,” John promised, hoping with all his might, and then let go.
* * * *
Edofine’s first sensation was one of comfort, safely tucked in clean sheets in a quiet enclosure. He sensed love, intense love, coming from both sides. As he began to smile, though, a faint undertone of dissonance drifted into his keen ears. He opened his eyes to blinding light and whispered in Elvish, “Individuals I care about are in peril.” Not only were the lights above turned on, sunshine streamed in the window.
No one answered him. With the same effort it would have taken him to split a log he pushed himself up and rubbed his eyes, briefly noticing the bits of metal and plastic attached to his body. When his vision focused he saw he was in a white hospital room, bare except for his bed, the medical paraphernalia connected to him, a chair, a stool, and his unconscious friends. He reached down and pulled Lira up to a sitting position.
“Joy Tears, Tira, Fierce Tears, Lira, Lira Steele...” he called softly.
She remained still.
Edofine reached over to the other side, where Cousin Kryvek slumped. “Kryvek, Kevin, Kevin Fletcher, Kryvek, Accepting Heart, Kevin Fletcher...”
Kryvek stirred. “Hmm?”
“You are both drained. Thank you for giving me your energy. Our human and demon loved ones need help.”
Lira yawned and looked around. “My, that took a lot out of me. Edofine?”
Edofine pulled off a tube and took Lira’s face in both hands, kissing her deeply. When he pulled away, he said, “Thank you,” in English.
Lira’s silver eyes filled up. “Edofine, you’re all right. What time is it?”
“Did I do anything terrible after drinking that coffee?” he asked.
“You scared everyone and damaged the building, but no one was hurt,” Kryvek said. “Care to give me a hug?”
“Certainly.” Edofine’s scrawny frame met Kryvek’s more muscular, healthy form in a brotherly embrace.
While they held one another, Edofine murmured, “Can you feel it? The distress? Sara and Christine and John and Krith, where are they?”
“We sent them back to the building,” Lira said. “Do you hear something?”
Kryvek cupped his hand around his ear. “I’m not as sensitive as you, Edofine. Hold on, hold on—someone we are connected to is screaming.”
Not only do Elves perceive the emotions of everyone near them, once they are sufficiently tied emotionally with someone they are forever connected to their wellbeing. With the right kind of incantations the silvery threads linking their hearts together become visible. The connection between true loves is gold.
“I’ll call a nurse,” Lira offered, pressing a button.
“I would like to leave,” Edofine replied. “What time of day is it?”
“It’s four in the afternoon. If you’ve been restored through Song, we just need to test your vital signs before we let you go. Most hospitals have stricter rules but Elves become sick and then well again so quickly we’re more flexible. Let me go get my equipment.”
Kryvek nodded. “Please hurry—I believe my sister needs me.”
“Is she hurt?” the nurse asked, knowing that Kryvek could tell.
“No, but she’s frightened.”
The nurse nodded and sped away. Even though he was clothed in a medical uniform he gave the impression of wearing a resplendent cloak.
“Krith is also afraid,” Edofine said, “and Sara’s grieved from something. Could it be me?”
“Probably. Can you tell what’s going on with John? I never spent time with him.” Kryvek obtained Edofine’s clothes, which had been folded and left under the bed. “Let’s get you dressed.”
“I know nothing concerning John, for he has not been willing to be my friend,” Edofine said.
Lira smooched Edofine on the top of the head, inhaling the warm scent of Edofine’s waist-length brown hair. It smelled like maple sugar. “I will go visit the ladies’ room for a moment.” She straightened her dress, a one-piece, modest cotton with embroidered leaves.
“Will you marry me?” Edofine called after her.
“Ask me later,” she replied with a laugh, her lithe body swaying as she left.
“How many times have you asked her already?” Kryvek inquired.
Edofine blushed. “Since the second day of knowing her, I have pled for her hand five times. Why do you not do the same?”
“I have no one to ask.”
“What about Christine?”
“I’m her adopted brother! It’s practically incest.”
“You will never be happy with anyone else, for I can hear how you feel about each other. Besides, you are not even the same subspecies. Elf and human matches are increasingly common.”
Kryvek scratched his head. “Be that as it may, I hope she’s okay.”
Once Edofine had gone through a quick check up, both the nurse and the doctor he brought over declared him fit to leave. They warned him against taking any sort of caffeine, even avoiding large amounts of chocolate, and also to stay away from stimulants, depressants, alcohol, sleep aids, and any medicine that caused drowsiness. Any other medication had to be checked with the OMHI clinic, though a good rule of thumb was to take a fourth of the recommended human dose.
Kryvek drove his zero-emissions hybrid down the crowded streets. Edofine and Lira sat in silence, filled with anxiety.
When they were within sight of their home, all three gasped. Though still standing, Pleasant View Apartments was a structure of charcoal, with gaping holes in the walls and some of the floors collapsed. Tenants, wrapped in blankets, milled around a table set with sandwiches, water, and coffee.
Kryvek saw Christine and parked the car.
Lira ran to hug Christine. “Are you okay? Why are you all still here? When did the fire start?”
Christine sat on the ground, her hair a birds’ nest. She wrapped herself in a donated blue blanket, under which her brown flannel pajamas protruded. “Hi, Edofine. I’m happy you’re walking. They’re trying to arrest the person who started the fire, based on Mister Yale’s description of a two-foot tall man with bright red skin. He was looking in Kryvek’s place for drugs, because he thought Edofine had been on drugs, and Krith either attacked or defended himself. I’m not sure which. And John...”
Edofine shook his head. “Krith would not have attacked anyone save in defense. Where is he?”
“No one knows,” Christine answered. “John saved my life and now he’s in the human hospital.”
“Where’s Sara?” Edofine asked, looking around. He spotted her and waved.
Sara, also wrapped in a blanket, came and sat down next to Christine. Her body shook with worry. “John’s all burned and they won’t let me go see him because they won’t let any of the healthy people leave. They think it was arson, and they don’t believe Mister Yale’s story.”
“We were not here when the fire began, and we can go visit him,” Lira reassured her.
“How did John save your life?” Kryvek asked, taking a seat next to Christine and wrapping his arms around her.
Christine explained, “I was so upset about Edofine that I took a sleeping pill, and it made me so drowsy that I didn’t wake up from the smoke or fire alarms. He hauled me to the window and dropped me to safety.”
“I’m so proud of him,” Sara said, looking up at Edofine, “but…I never even got a good look at him once they pulled him from the building.”
Mister Yale, who had been talking on a cell phone, withdrew from the crowd and lunged towards Edofine. “You!” he growled.
“Yes, sir?” Edofine asked, standing straight.
“Don’t try anything. I know it was you. Everything was fine before you came. You brought that demon, didn’t you? My insurance doesn’t cover it. Now I have to sell this place to those crazy people.” He grabbed Edofine’s shirt and lifted him up so they were face-to-face. “The OMHI’s buying it and I’m broke!”
“I am very sorry for the problems I have caused,” Edofine replied, grimacing from the humiliation and from his own weakness. Usually he could beat someone this size in a fight, but he was still recovering from having his stomach pumped.
Kryvek punched Mister Yale in the jaw. “As you are no longer my landlord, I’m not going to let you push us around.”
Mister Yale dropped Edofine and punched Kryvek, knocking him to the ground and pummeling him. “You Fletchers! You ruined me!”
Sara gasped and ran to find an authority figure, while Christine shrieked, “Stop it! Stop it!”
Edofine tried to pry Mister Yale off his cousin, but ended up falling backwards.
Mister Yale paused his beating of Kryvek to kick Edofine. The former landlord swore, interspersing punches with expletives. Edofine covered his ears and shouted, “Stop hating! Your hating is too loud! Please stop! I would rather you thrash me than hate me!”
While this was going on, Lira searched the ground for some ants. She found five and whipped one of her earrings off. This time she didn’t just prick her hand, she ripped through the skin in a deep, long cut. Blood dripped onto the ants and Lira muttered, “Dogs. Attack dogs. Become dogs that attack, large dogs, bloodthirsty dogs born of my blood. Take this sacrifice and kill.”
The ants swelled, and in a split second five Rottweilers appeared on the grass, mouths foamy and full of teeth. They growled and attacked Mister Yale, who screamed and ran for it.
Kryvek had a bloody nose and sat up, squeezing it shut. Nasally, he asked, “Can you control them?”
Edofine watched the dogs. “I notice they are not very fast. Mister Yale is outrunning them.”
Lira shouted, “Go! Leave him! Return to me!”
They stopped following Mister Yale, who was curled up in a terrified heap on the ground about fifty yards away, but they did not return to Lira. Instead, they disappeared in a grove of trees.
Three men in white coats pulled Mister Yale up. “Are you the one talking about a red demon starting the fire?”
“Dogs. Where did the dogs go?” he asked, frantic.
“What dogs?”
“The dogs! They were right here! They were chasing me. That Steele woman’s behind it. They’re all freaks,” Mister Yale continued to splutter as the men hauled him away.
“I hope those dogs don’t hurt an innocent person,” Christine said softly.
Lira nodded. “I am never doing that again. Are there bandages? I need one for my hand.”
&nbs
p; “I need some ice,” Kryvek said, blood dripping down his face. He had some bruises as well. They headed for the first aid table.
“We must find those dogs,” Edofine said, standing.
“Are you okay, dear?” Lira asked. “The spell will wear off, and they’ll turn into ants again. I just don’t know when.”
“I understand you were motivated from love and righteous anger. Evil will not come of it. I am fine. Bruised and sore, perhaps.” Edofine took Lira’s hand. “We should go to John.”
A short while later, Edofine and Lira stood by John’s bedside. “You’re a hero,” Lira said.
John smiled. “Thanks. This hurts, though.” He had second and third-degree burns on his chest and arms, which were wrapped up with ointment.
Edofine peeled back the dressings, his eyes dripping with gratitude and regret. “I apologize for the grief I have caused you. You are badly burned now, but I know what to do.”
“What are you doing?”
Tears brimmed over and ran down Edofine’s cheeks. Edofine touched them and then touched the burns, spreading the tears over the black and pink skin. Wherever his tears touched, the burns healed without a trace.
“Damn,” was all John managed to say.
* * * *
The tenants of Pleasant View Apartments were eventually allowed to either go stay with others or go to a motel. The Fletchers and Lira checked into a Super 8, paying for adjacent rooms. Sara stayed with John while doctors puzzled over John’s miraculous recovery.
Later that day, Lira called Edofine and told him Krith had been hiding in the kiln of her art studio. He had to be coaxed out as he was convinced everyone wanted to kill him.
Chapter Sixteen
People and Solutions and Family
The Tufts, the Fletchers, Krith, and Lira gathered in one tiny motel room for a conference. It had been several days since the fire. Everyone had been busy filling out insurance forms, buying new clothes, and watching the OMHI’s Elf construction team restore the Pleasant View apartment building. By using magic they planned to finish fixing the place in a month, even though they had to work late at night to prevent passersby from noticing how bricks were levitating, workers were singing, and intricately choreographed dances seemed more important than hammer and nails.
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