by Gabi Moore
Dion took out one match and struck it on the strike board. The matchhead instantly ignited with the blue and yellow flame casting shadows across the dim light of the room. The flame climbed up the thin matchstick and began to crawl to Dion’s fingers.
“That’s enough!” Dion snapped at it and the fire elemental jumped off the matchstick and landed on the floor.
“I need information,” Dion said to the flame on the floor. It stood there and burned without any sign of fuel. The flame soon grew to a foot in height.
Next, the flame shaped itself into the form of a human. Since it still burned, the shape changed while they looked at it. However, it merged into the overall outline of a humanoid shape, complete with eyes and mouth. The fire on the top of it formed into hair.
“What do you need, boss?” the fire said to him. “I’m your man, just tell me what you need and I’ll run it past you.”
“How many guards outside the door?” he inquired of the flame.
“Just let me check,” the flame told him and shot to the door. It shrank in size and slipped under the door before returning to them.
“It’s groovy,” the flame announced. “Dig it man, no cops, no guards, just a hall full of squares flipping their lids.”
“Thank you,” Dion spoke to it. “And by the way, where did you learn to talk like that?”
“I was at a boutique downtown near the college. Plenty of cool cats down there.”
“One final thing I need of you,” Dion told the flame.
“Fire away, heh, heh.”
“Who is the Fire Element Grandmaster? I need to see that person.”
“Michael Hades. He should be in the map listing.”
“Thanks,” Dion said and waved his hand over the flame creature. The flame shrank in size until it disappeared. “Time to send you back.”
“I didn’t think you had fire ability,” Sean said to him.
“I don’t have all my abilities,” Dion explained. “It’s why I have to see the elemental grandmaster to get the final power. I can still work with lesser fire elementals provided they want to help me. As you saw, that little fire spirit wanted to be useful. Too bad I couldn’t keep him around longer. You can’t stick an elemental in your pocket.”
“You asked me to remind you about the fire sensor,” Lilly told Dion.
“Oh yes.” Dion replaced a wire on the one he’d taken from the ceiling. “It works fine now.” Then he brought out the map once again. He found another table in the vestibule where it could be spread out and examined.
“Isn’t there any kind of directory for these things?” Sean asked Dion as the four of them poured over the map.
“A few basic bits of information,” Dion said. “Not enough to find the right location. I should’ve been specific when I asked the fire elemental what I needed to know.”
“Can’t you bring it back?” Emily asked him. “I mean, is there any rule which says a fire elemental can only be used once?”
Dion stopped perusing the map and turned to her. A strange look came over his face. “As a matter of fact, there isn’t. It’s not a good idea if you can’t bind them because fire elementals tend to burn things up. The smaller ones are the most playful and don’t understand how dangerous they can be to humans. But no, I suppose I could bring back the one I just released.”
Dion reached back in his pocket and took out another match and struck it after concentrating for a few minutes. The flame, once again, grew bright on the stick and fell to the floor where it grew in size.
“You need something else, daddy-o?” the fire elemental asked him. “Just let me know, but make it quick because I want to make the scene with a water pipe.”
“You didn’t tell me which store I could find the elemental master at. I need to know.”
“You didn’t ask, pops. I’ll show you right now.” The flame leaped on the map and bounced over to a schematic of a restaurant. As the flame cast light on the map, Dion leaned over and read where it sat.
“Texas Style Chili,” Dion read off the map. “It would figure. You may leave now.”
“I’m booking on out of here,” the flame announced and vanished.
“A chili parlor,” Sean said. “It makes sense. He’s been putting fire in people’s guts for a long time.”
“My dad used to go to his place downtown before he moved it into the mall,” Emily said to her friends. “He told me the food was good, but you needed to hit an ice cream parlor when you left.”
“At least we know where it is,” Dion said. “I’ll have to roll this map up and… hey, does anyone smell smoke?” Dion looked down and saw a big black hole in the middle of the map where the fire spirit had rested before it left. The hole expanded as he looked at it and sent up clouds of smoke as it consumed most of the papyrus.
Fearing it would set off the fire sensor, Dion yanked off his jacket and beat out the smoldering map before it could spread any further. The smoke alarm stayed quiet, much to his relief. Soon the smoke was drifting down into the subbasement, but the map was ruined.
Dion held up the map. Just about an entire section, which covered the fire part of the mall, was destroyed. A few stores and passages were readable on the sides, but most of it was gone. What the elementals hadn’t managed to steal, the fire had burnt.
“Ruined,” Dion said as he looked at it. “The map is useless for this last section. Now I remember why it’s not a good idea to use the same fire elemental a second time. They like to have fun at your expense.”
Dion sighed and rolled up what was left of the map. He put his jacket back on and returned the remains of the map to the inside of his jacket.
““It wasn’t a total loss,” Lilly said. “At least we know where you can find the elemental grandmaster. Is there still the clock tower part on the map?”
“The map never covered the clock tower,” he explained to her. “When I go into it, I will have to do it alone. We might know where to go today, but the map was useful if we ran into trouble. It’s not going to be of much use in this section of the mall since it was burnt away.”
“But it doesn’t change a thing,” Dion continued. “We still need to get inside the rest of the mall.” He pushed on the door into the mall and it opened with ease.
Chapter 5
The four of them stepped into the mall just under an escalator. Once they were inside, Dion closed the door and tested it. Locked. The door was set to lock on closing to keep people from venturing inside. Whoever set the lock didn’t anticipate anyone invading from the other side.
Other than the red color, it resembled every other part of the mall. The window looked into the parking lot. Since they were on the opposite side, they couldn’t see the grove of trees where the Naiads waited for their boyfriends. They could see the highway, which made the mall attractive to merchants.
Lilly wondered what would happen to this mall the day another highway or mall was put in place. It too would lose stores and die. It seemed to happen everywhere. A new shopping district would open and an older one would die off. Was it the product of evolution or something else? She couldn’t tell and didn’t much care.
“So, where do we go to find this chili place?” Emily asked Dion. “Do we make a right here at the main concourse?”
“It’s what the map said.”
Michael Hades was supposed to be the master of Southwestern chili. His restaurant in downtown Scipio was a landmark for years. The local choice of eating establishments in Scipio tended to the exotic only in the way of Italian foods, as the Italians had brought with them their love for spices when they first showed up at the turn of the century. For the longest time the other big non-English speaking group in town was German, but the town’s German themed restaurants had never taken off at the time. Most of them were integrated into the local beer halls located just outside the auto plants.
Sean didn’t like spicy food, so he knew little of what made the Hades restaurant so popular. People would order the hottest
chili on the menu and expect to become sensory deprived in minutes if the pot was fresh.
Michael Hades had a theory about the preparation of chili and he didn’t think a good pot of chili should be so hot it rendered your taste buds useless. He once told a news reporter a good pot of chili had an excellent flavor hidden under the spices. It should sneak up as the customer was finished with his meal. He should leave the table with flushed skin, but still have a sensation of satiety and fullness. A good bowl of chili was subtle as the snap of a whip, not blunt as the blow from a hammer. It should let you know it was there in a subtle manner, not smash you up the side of the head and stomp on your face. He wouldn’t say where his chili recipe had originated just that it was “south of the border”.
On cold winter nights, he would spin a tale to his patrons, which had him stranded off the coast of the Mayan Peninsula when his merchant freighter hit a sandbar. He would tell people how a beautiful senorita took him home to meet her father, Don Gordo, who showed Senior Hades the secret of cooking the perfect bowl of chili. He was forced to promise marriage to get the recipe, but he snuck out of the hacienda one night. An army of guapos chased him north until he reached the border crossing at the Rio Grande. He was forced to memorize the recipe before he swam the river and only with the vision of a steaming hot bowl of chili in front of him was he able to survive to reach the other side. Captured by the border patrol he was only spared the indignity of a jail cell when he could recite the final scores of every baseball world series from the years 1960 to 1970. They almost arrested him anyway when he expressed his love for the Cincinnati Reds and the border guards were all Dodgers fans. He was released only when he cooked them a pot of the secret chili recipe. To this day, the pot of his chili is kept at boiling temperatures and every night a new batch of vegetables and meat is added with the ten-pound batch of seasoning that Don Gordo gave to him.
At least this was the general outline of the story he told on cold winter nights. No one knew if there was any truth to it at all. Some people pointed out that Hades changed the story a little bit each time. But no one cared as the man was a natural born storyteller and people loved his chili. Who cared if half of the ingredients came in steel cans certified by the USDA.
In truth, Hades learned the power of fire elementals at an early age when his particular clan of elemental workers discovered his unique ability to start bathroom fires and spontaneous combustion on piles of wood. By fifteen, all his peers bowed to his innate ability to control the unpredictable fire spirits and the salamanders, which could be reasoned with, but still enjoyed burning down the occasional house.
He needed a career and a cook was the best choice. Hades used the best and most up to date cook stoves in his kitchen, but he didn’t need them. The man could cook a slab of beef in minutes by directing a fire elemental to do the job. However, the stoves were needed for the kitchen staff and the restaurant inspectors. In the summer, he gave a cookout that employed salamanders and no one ever complained about the barbecue.
Placing a satellite restaurant in the mall was a dream of his and he spent every other day at the new restaurant ensuring the quality was the same that he was known for in Scipio. The business hadn’t quite picked up yet. However, it would soon do it, he felt. It was only a matter of time until the word spread in the little community around the mall about his new place.
Michael Hades was what the locals liked to call a “ruddy man”. His hair was red and his complexion followed. He was tall and wide; sometimes he had difficulty getting out of his car. But he was a generous man and rewarded the people who worked for him in every way possible. Christmas bonuses were always big and he bragged not one cook was ever let go for lack of work. It was considered an honor in the food business to work for the man and one year in his kitchen was worth the twelve you might get anywhere else in town.
Dion only knew a little bit about the restaurant they needed to find. He’d remembered the location from the now burned map. His aunt and uncle stayed home most of the time and didn’t eat out much. It was always a treat when they did. In fact, this would be the first time he’d ever visited this particular restaurant.
They walked down the concourse a bit and decided to wait before approaching the restaurant. So far, there was no sign of Karanzen’s men, but this could all change in a minute. Dion was surprised none of them lurked anywhere in the vicinity. Usually, he could spot one or two in the distance who kept an eye on him and his friends once inside the mall. Even the security cameras couldn’t watch every part of the mall and security needed human eyes to keep a watch on everyone. But today he didn’t see any of them in the mall.
“Do you remember exactly where the chili place was located on the map?” Sean asked Dion. Sean was dressed a little better than normal today with his shirt tucked in his pants. Emily had spoken to him about his appearance.
“Not exactly,” Dion said, “but most of the food places are in the same location. All we have to do is find them and the Hades restaurant will be there.”
“Emily wants to check out this record store,” he announced. “Why don’t we go inside it and meet up with you later? That way if any of us tangle with your uncle there will be at least one party left for the rescue.”
“If he strikes,” Dion told him, “we’ll be hit at the same time. But you might as well go ahead and check it out. I’m going into this game store. Plan on both of us returning here in a half-hour.” Dion checked his watch.
Sean looked at his. “No problem. See you then.” Then he walked away with Emily.
Dion watched him leave and turned to Lilly. “I don’t see how it will be problem to let them have a little time to themselves. Let’s go to the game store.”
“As long as you reach the restaurant on time. I just hope the owner is around today. He has another one downtown. What if he’s there?”
“He’s here today.”
“How do you know?”
“I just do.”
Chapter 6
The Elewheron Puzzle and Game Company was a small shop in the large mall. When Dion and Lilly walked into it, the shop had several jigsaw puzzles laid out on a table where people were in the process of putting them together. In the back of the room, several other high schoolers were looking over the selection of war games. Some of the war games came with complete sets and figures, but many of them had a collection of pewter figures that needed to be purchased separately from the main game.
To Dion it seemed to be a good deal for the game makers. Sell the players a basic set, and then continue to upgrade it and force them to purchase more figures to play. Some of the figures came hand-painted, others were bought without decoration and the player could paint them on their own. Naturally, the game store sold paint and various modeling compounds to upgrade the figures. Once again, it was a good plan for all parties involved since the gamers could add some individual flair into what they did and the game company could sell them more products. It was quite a step up from the toy soldiers he remembered as a kid.
The manager looked to be in her twenties and was behind the cash register when they entered the store. She wore the “Ben Franklin” glasses, popular with grandmas and hippies from ten years ago and had a trace of grey in her hair. She smiled at them, but didn’t push herself on the new couple in the store. She continued working on an account book as they made their way around in the store and looked at the games.
“Were you ever good at jigsaw puzzles?” Dion asked Lilly as they shuffled through some of the boxes. “I never was. Every time I think of a jigsaw puzzle, I think about a movie I saw on TV where some rich lady spent all her time putting them together. I have better things to do with my time.”
“I liked putting them together as a kid,” she told him. “Haven’t had much time to do them lately. Emily still likes to put them together.”
They walked over to a table where several puzzles were partially assembled and looked at the result. Across from them, a man in his twenties attempted t
o get a puzzle together, but he wasn’t very successful according to the look on his face. He picked up one piece, then another, and looked at them as he tried to find a place to put each one on the partially completed puzzle.
“Have you looked at this one?” The manager’s voice grabbed their attention.
Dion and Lilly turned around to see the lady walk up to them with a small-boxed jigsaw puzzle. “It’s our latest and I think you might like it.” She sat it down in front of them and walked away.
Dion picked it up and looked at it. The puzzle showed a large fireplace in a castle with a blazing fire in it on the box. The puzzle was complicated and had close to five hundred pieces. He opened it and saw the freshly printed puzzle pieces inside. This one had never been assembled before.
“Fire,” Dion said and looked at Lilly. “The puzzle depicts a fireplace. How long do you think it would take you to put this one together?”
“Not too long with your help,” she told Dion. “Do you want to go ahead and try?” She gestured to the empty table in front of them.
“I think it’s important we do it,” Dion said as she dumped the pieces out. Lilly began looking at them and piling the various puzzle pieces into different piles.
Dion worked with her as Lilly went into problem solving mode and began to assemble the puzzle. She would pick up a piece and either put it in the puzzle or into one of several piles she had on the table.
Lilly worked quick and soon had an outline of the final picture in front of her. As they were able to compare it to the one on the box, she had an idea of what to do.
Dion knew something was about to be revealed in the puzzle. Why had he chosen to go inside this store? If he’d gone into another one, would the message have been delivered a different way? He decided it was a matter of fate that he’d picked up this puzzle in this store and continued to help Lilly.
