Fire Angel

Author's Note: I know it's been a wait... but I promise it was worth it. I mean, just look at the scroll bar!!! =>

hope you guys and gals like this new installment

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It took a while for them to calm down enough to let me get away with Melissa. I still had the sword and I kept looking at it in awe, feeling a swell in my heart every time I recalled the voice from the statue. “I admit, that scared the crap out of me.” I laughed suddenly as we leaned against one of the trees near the museum.

“I think it would scare anyone.” she replied turning to me “You took it in stride though.” I let out a girlish giggle and looked away biting my lip. The sky looked bluer than I ever saw it and the clouds seemed beautifully defined and I felt her hand slip into my free one and my mind wandered to my parents, my real parents, as I slid along the tree to sit on the grass.. “What are you thinking about?” she asked, joining me on the ground.

“My parents.” I said softly, without hesitation. I squeezed her hand and looked down “My mom… the sword… how everything is just happening so fast…”I turned to her and sighed “It’s like, I manage to have a comfortable life and I’m just figuring out what I want to do in life and everything goes topsy-turvy. Now I don’t know what’s real anymore.” for a long time she didn’t say anything and I just looked back to the sky content to simply be in her presence. After a long moment she got up taking my hand with her.

“Come on. I want to show you something.” I shook my head

“It’s not like you’re giving me much of a choice.” I said motioning to our joined hands

“Yes I am. I’m giving you the choice to go there on foot or by portal.” I paused for a moment

“On foot please.” she chuckled and led the way, our hands still joined. It was more my fault than hers that we were both holding hands though. I wouldn’t be able to explain it if I was asked, but since I saw her I felt this… comfort being around her. When I was with Camille I could say I had a similar response but maybe not as strong…

We walked for fifteen minutes if so much when we stopped. I looked at her for some answers but she put her fingers to her lips and pointed past the trees. I peered where she pointed and was greeted with the sight of angels of all ages sitting around in a circle. Albeit the children couldn’t sit still for any lengthy period of time before they tried to go do something else but the sight had me intrigued.

“What are they doing?”

“Meditating. You’ll have to do it too, but I think we can make a few allowances so you don’t have to do it with a large group if you don’t want.” I nodded thinking I would feel too uncomfortable being thrust into the lifestyle too quickly.

“So that’s mainly what you guys do? Meditate?” she smiled at me

“No… I’m sure you say Jake before you left the hospital.” I nodded remembering the burns on his chest. “He’s an earth angel, and he’s been having trouble fighting fire as you may have noticed.”

“So… fighting too.” she nodded and smiled brightly at me.

“I have something else I wanna show you but it’ll take too long to walk.” I looked away from her and closed my eyes.

“What can it hurt?” she held my hand and instead of the nausea I felt earlier, I got I kind of light feeling rip through me and put me down. It took me a few moments to realize I wasn’t breathing for me to inhale and open my eyes. My jaw dropped as I saw the building before me.

“Is this…?” I walked towards it. The red walls and blue accents seem to go really well with each other. As I stepped within some preset boundary, the walls seemed to almost come alive and dance like flames. I paused to take it in before walking up to the door, not bothering to knock. The walls of the home brought back a sense of déjà vu but I shook it down and trailed my hand along the deigns on the walls. My heart began to ache for what I never had a chance to have and I sank to my knees with tears in my eyes. Melissa came next to me and put a hand on my shoulder. I never thought that I would find out who my real parents were, far less to know they were angels and to come back to the house they owned… I know at some point I had hoped that I could get an explanation for why things happened to me the way they did, and how I had survived the fire when no one else did. “They said that the ceiling split.”

“Hmmm?” her head was on my shoulder and my legs had fallen asleep. I fixed myself and began to get feeling back in my toes before I continued

“When I was a baby, they said the ceiling split around me so that I wasn’t crushed.” she lifted her head to look at me

“You were the survivor in the fire?” I nodded

“Mom had put me there, but it was already in flames when she did.” I rolled my head back to look at the ceiling. “For the most part the fire was just keeping away from me… and, if I’m supposedly so powerful… how come I didn’t cause any disasters when I was growing up? I did throw my fair share of temper tantrums as a child.” when I looked down at her I saw she had a very thoughtful expression on her face.

“It’s possible…” she paused then looked at me, sighed then shook her head, “She may have bound your powers… It would explain the lack of powers until now… and even now they’re still more dormant than most fire angels’.” I looked down and thought for a long while before standing up.

“I want to see the rest of the place… you coming?” I held out my hand for her, deciding that I would let things happen in time. She smiled and took my hand…

~~~~~~

“What do you mean she can’t train with us?” we; Melissa, Camille, the blonde girl from the museum, Michelle, Ayden and myself, were within a semi-circular chamber with waterfalls cascading from the walls and into moats that poured out into little designs in the floor leading outside. To say simply, being in that room had me uncomfortable and I didn’t really know why.

“Simply that we cannot make allowances for young angels no matter what the reason.” one of the men at the table before us reasoned. His features had a malicious gleam to them and Melissa was about to make a retort but I took her hand

“I don’t really care anymore, can we please just leave?”

“Besides,” he continued “How else are we going to be able to measure her progress if we don’t see her in action for herself… she does claim to be the daughter of Aelena after all.” it struck me then that he and the others at the table didn’t really believe my claim earlier.

“It’s not just a claim you know.” the blonde argued “We all know the truth behind the statue, how-”

“Yes, yes. Only a family member of Aelena could possibly remove the sword. But it is only speculation my dear girl.” one of the others, a man with silver hair interrupted. “Aelena had no children otherwise how would we have not known about her?” he seemed so sure of himself and it was irking me. Instead of retaliating though I just bowed out and asked

“So where will I be training then?” as he was about to continue his little rant. Melissa looked at me as though I was insane while he and the others on the table got a smug look on their faces.

“You will train with the rest of the fire beginners with Renaldo.” he replied. I shrugged and sighed taking Melissa’s hand and dashing out of the room.

“Are you mad? His is the slowest class in all of Sierra!” she cried as soon as we were outside.

“I honestly don’t mind… I was just uncomfortable in that room is all.” I glanced back into the open door and wasn’t surprised to see the others arguing vehemently with them. “Who are they anyway?”

“They are the elders of water. It’s technically their turn to maintain peace in Sierra, not that the fire angels have a peaceful time when they do.” she rolled her eyes.

“I take it they don’t like fire.” I looked in and cringed as some of the water rose from the floor as the argument got more heated. Melissa sighed

“Your instincts are kicking in I see.” I frowned and looked at her curiously. “Your aversion to water is normal… but I guess you’ll learn more about it soon.” she took my hand again, “Come on, I’ll show you where Renaldo teaches.”

~~~~~

We walked to an area that resembled the first training ground that I had gone to and walked over to a man with teal hair and looked like he was in his forties and spoke to him while I took a look at the faces of the people I would have to train with for however long I would be training. She came back to me laughing and motioned for me to follow.

“So, what?”

“He said you could join in tomorrow and that he had a feeling the elders would screw you over.” she took my hand and I felt the light feeling come over me again and I plopped down on my butt moments later. “Glad to see you aren’t nauseous at least.” she joked as she went off into her kitchen. I shook my disorientation off and followed her.

“So… if I have an aversion to water… how do I bathe?” she paused and turned to me

“Like normal… the water from the angels are more damaging to you than the water from the earth. It’s not advisable to use your element while your immersed unless you know you can handle it though.”

“How will I know if I can handle it?” she gave me a long look before taking my hand.

“When you get angry, what do you feel?” I looked down feeling suddenly embarrassed.

“I don’t know how to explain it.” I admitted “When I got mad at Ayden when he slapped me I just… I don’t know.”

“You hands were in fire, which means you felt something related to your power… that’s what you’re gonna have to remember.” I nodded and moved for her to make lunch…

“The day feels longer.” I muttered as I moved to another room.

“It would.” she replied easily as I roamed the house. I’d given up on wondering how she manages to hear me every time and instead admired the work she had done on the house then I paused at a picture. It depicted a younger Melissa with what could only be her parents and I smiled at how cute she looked. Her hair seemed, at the time, more white than amber and her face held an air of mischievousness. I smiled at the thought of the trouble she must have gotten into and moved on. When I reached the stairs I froze at the mirror and frowned. My reflection mocked my facial expression, but my face looked almost completely different. My hair, that was once brown as the oak framing the mirror, seemed to now be equal parts blue and firry red and my green eyes seemed to have merged with the same red that marked Jarrod’s. I raised my hand to my face marveling at the fact that I had my parents in me this entire time without my knowledge, but felt a pang of longing as I realized that the ‘human’ me was almost becoming a memory now. My hand touched the mirror as I both felt and saw a tear slip down my cheek. ‘I thought I passed this phase already… Why do I have to figure this out all over again?’ I turned and went back into the kitchen after wiping my eyes and slumped on the floor in the doorway.

“What’s wrong?” her tone was concerned, but I didn’t bother to look up when I answered.

“I just realized that I have no idea who I am, or what I have to do… again.” I heard the clatter of metal on marble and footsteps as she knelt down on the floor next to me.

“How do you figure?” she asked, her voice as gentle as a passing breeze.

“Looking at myself in the mirror, I see a face that’s more noble and a hair color that would have gotten me kicked out of school than I ever remember seeing. It’s like as I came here my whole world was changed… and I just got out of this phase in high school… I mean, I only had a year to graduate and then I was going off to college to major in computer technology. Now it turns out, I’m actually an angel with some more celestial purpose in a war that’s been waging for heavens knows how long. And to top it all off, I now have an indescribable fear of water wielding angels.” she chuckled at my last statement and gave me a kiss on my forehead

“And I’m not going to leave you to fend for yourself just yet. We‘re gonna work this through together and when you get out of it you‘re gonna look back on this and laugh, k?” I looked up at her and saw the mischief from her portrait emanating from the sky blue eyes I kept finding myself lost in more and more. I smiled, nodded and she went on with the cooking once she was sure I wasn’t going to burst into tears or have a mental breakdown. She finished soon and motioned for me to follow her to the dining room. While we were eating I looked at her and asked

“Can you teach me to meditate?” she paused with the food on the way to her mouth and looked at me curiously.

“Why?”

“So that I don’t look like a complete fool in front of the others.” I replied looking down to try to hide my blush.

“Oh… sure, I guess.” I glanced up to see her smirk slightly. We finished in silence as I wondered if meditating would be difficult or if it would just be some strange mumbo jumbo that I could easily do by sleeping. She put me back in her den as she went to clean the dishes and told me to relax. I sat on the couch and looked around, noting the obvious lack of television and made a note to ask her about that later. The curtains billowed and separated as she came back, causing me to jump slightly.

“Sorry.” she said noticing my slight panic. “I did tell you to relax.”

“Uh, yeah… I still didn’t expect the curtains to move apparently on their own though.” I replied quickly as she went and manually opened the windows and walked through to the patio. I glanced to the other room where I swear I saw a door leading outside and shrugged.

“I know what you’re thinking.” she said as I got outside I suppressed a smile and tried to look innocent. She shook her head and motioned for me to sit down. “Meditating is something that usually takes a while to master, however it can come naturally to some people.” I looked at her as she sat cross legged in front of me with her back erect… subconsciously I opted to mimic her as she continued “To meditate is to go into yourself and become one with your element. Depending on how well you can master the meditation, you would be able to understand what you can do.” I nodded and looked out at the scenery for a moment.

“So the whole zen thing applies here?” I thought back to the breathing exercises we had to do sometimes when we were in P.E.

“Except it’s more dangerous than the ‘zen thing’.” I looked at her and hoped she would explain. She sighed “If you were to apply all that you learned with the zen exercises without preparation with you powers you could very well destroy a town on earth… I’ve seen it happen.” my jaw had dropped and I had to regain some semblance of thought so that I could close it before she continued. “But don’t worry. The land here is actually built for elemental discharges.” I nodded slightly and looked back out to the scenery and sighed

“How do I start?”

“Close your eyes… and try to keep it clear of unnecessary thoughts.” I did as she said, but began to wonder what was unnecessary thoughts. I felt her hand on my thigh and heard her whisper, though I wasn’t sure if it was really said aloud or if it was just in my head. “Focus on one thing and let yourself search from there.” with her hand on my leg I could only focus on one thing really. I began to memorize the softness of her hand compared to the curves there and began to get lost in the feel… then, something else. Her hand moved, but the other feeling… the warmth, was still there. A gentle breeze picked up and I felt the heat begin to spread throughout my body starting from somewhere in my chest and spreading to my hands and feet. I opened my eyes and saw red for a moment and panicked. All at once the red was gone and I felt a powerful ache run through my body and resonate in my chest. My hands which had been on my lap for the duration of the meditation was now clutching at my chest as Melissa wrapped her arms around me as though trying to ease my pain and panic. Tears sprang to my eyes

“It hurts.”

“I know.”

~~~~~~

I woke up the next morning unsure of how I got back in the room and when I went to sleep. I looked down at myself and noted that I was wearing a large blue T-shirt over some simple panties and I shook my head at Melissa’s audacity. I stretched briefly then remembered that I was supposed to begin training with Renaldo and sighed. ‘I might as well get up and get it over with.’ I thought swinging my legs off the side of the bed thinking that I was sounding like I had on my first day of school. ‘Now I just have to hope it’s not as bad.’ looking to the right of the wardrobe that had the clothes and picked opened it wondering how I could have not noticed it before. I opened it to see a bathtub with steaming water and lavender scented bubbles already waiting for me. I paused for a moment to reevaluate how much audacity Melissa was now allowed to have and came up with a rather large number before I went further into the bath, stripping my garments along the way and sank into the warm bubbly goodness with a sigh. ‘Okay… this, I could get used to.’

~~~~~~

“How was your bath?” she asked as soon as I came downstairs, dressed in burgundy pants and a breezy white top.

“Heavenly. What’s for breakfast?” she smiled and put French toast on a plate and handed it to me.

“You’re probably not gonna get killed with work on your first day, but I still suggest you eat enough.” I raised an eyebrow but did question her. Three French toasts and two glasses of lemonade later she surrounded me in her portal and we were a short walk away from where I would begin my training.

“Nervous?” I nodded and she gave my hand a squeeze. “Don’t be.” I gave her nervous laugh and muttered

“Easy for you to say.” she giggled and showed me where I would be training.

“I’ll be back later to pick you up if you want…”

“Yes please.” I replied almost instantly. She smiled and sent me on my way, watching and waiting until I was among the other fire angels before she left, almost like a protective mother or…

“Hi…” I said raising my hand in a feeble attempt at a wave at the forty-odd fire angels before me. They watched me warily as one of the girls closest to me waved back

“Hi.” she moved forward and I managed to see that she had amber eyes under her deep purple bangs “Don’t mind them, they just can’t remember what it was like for them on their first day.” my nervousness began to dissipate as she smiled at me and held out a hand

“I’m Sara by the way.”

“Karianna.” I replied taking her hand tentatively her jaw dropped and she was about to saw something when a voice came behind us.

“Well Karianna, you came on a very good day.” I glanced back and saw the teal haired, sapphire eyed Renaldo standing behind me. His wiry frame seemed to ripple with hidden power as he observed me then his class. “My class is going to go a bit further into the realms of meditation today, so I will have some time to give you a run-through… is that alright?” I nodded and he clapped his hands twice and his students got into their meditating posture which seemed like any spin-off of what Melissa and I had done yesterday. He then motioned for me to follow him to the lake which wasn’t more than five meters away from where they were now meditating. He had me sit down and get comfortable before he started;

“Fire is a very misunderstood element, it is constantly called the element of destruction and chaos rather than life and a part of order… which is understandable when you take into consideration the destruction fire angels have the potential to wreck when they are just learning their control.” I nodded as he continued, “Fire angels draw upon the sources of power within them, that is molded by their emotions, and their essences take a physical manifest.” he held out his hand before him, palm faced upwards and a small ball of fire was born in his palm with barely any air between it and his palm. My jaw dropped slightly and he smiled as he continued “I’m sure you have done much more impressive things when you were not thinking about it, but that is the whole point of these lessens, to learn control… and to not fear yourself and what you can do.” I held my breath for a moment and thought back to yesterday, to my panic when I had done what I had done… but Melissa wasn’t afraid… she was smiling, like I had done something good… so why…? “Once a fire is utilized,” he continued, bringing me out of my reminiscing. “A host of things may be accomplished depending on the skill and will of the wielder. It can be used for burning, obviously, healing, building and holding.”

“Holding?”

“A technique that is to restrain and not hurt… all elements have that ability, but using it with fire is more of an interrogation use.” he closed his fist over the flame, effectively putting it out. “I want you to be able to start small and begin to utilize your flame, you fire.” he knelt down before me and took my hands “Feel the energy flowing through you and let it begin to ripple through your being.” I looked at him for a moment wondering if he was seriously asking me to do this now and saw that there was no hint of hesitation in him. I took a deep breath and closed my eyes and tried to concentrate on feeling the energy that was supposed to be flowing through me and came up with a blank. I opened my eyes and looked at my hands trying to think of a different tactic when he released my hands. He stayed with me as I began to recall the heat I felt build up within me and I kept my focus on my hands. After a while, I began to feel something different… similar but different, moving along my body. I began to pull away from it but Renaldo put his hand back in mine to reassure me.

“Hold onto it.” I took in a shaky breath, not knowing where this aversion was coming from and began to focus on my hands again, trying to keep the unfamiliar/familiar feeling there… trying to move it along my arm to my hand. My eyes inadvertently closed and I began to feel it more acutely. A heat rippling through my body and following my direction slowly. The prickling heat in my palm caused me to open my eyes and look down, then up, then back down again. My hand now had a ball of fire, slightly larger than the one Renaldo had, burning steadily in my palm. He had a very pleased expression on his face as he said

“I’m glad that you are an intuitive study Ms. Karianna.” I nodded and marveled at the little ball of fire, wondering if I could make it any larger or if it would be foolish to try.

“So I did good?” I asked tentatively, getting used to the warmth that was playing around in my hand.

“You did very good.” he replied smiling putting his hand over mine, almost as though he was trying to smother the flame but surprised me my simply taking some of it into his and moving it to his other hand before straightening himself and facing the water. “I want you to practice with that small flame to try and expand your control a bit… you are, after all, behind in class.” I nodded

“What do I have to do?” he turned back to me and allowed the fire to cover his hand, then recede to his fingertips, forming a ball in his palm before letting it roll around the back of his fist and switching hands.

“You have to become as one with your fire.” he shifted the flame up to his face and I made an interesting pattern by his eyes along his cheek “Not fear it, and not let it control you.” I nodded and looked back to my flame and breathed in. This was going to be a long day…

~~~~~~

I lay back on the grass as the sun hit it’s peak and sighed as we were allowed to leave from now to rest and or practice for the rest of the day. I honestly didn’t think that attempting to do what he did would be so draining. In fact, I had only gotten past moving the flame from one hand to the other and letting it recede to my fingertips before I had to start all over again. I closed my eyes briefly and inhaled. When I opened them again I decided to try it again. Sitting up and focusing on my hand, I conjured a flame and began to try and make it spread along my hand. Moments later I let out an exasperated sigh as the flame extinguished and flopped back on the grass.

“Next time… don’t stifle it.” Melissa’s voice came from somewhere to my right. I turned and saw her looking at me intently.

“I’m sorry.”

“Don’t restrict it to simply what you’ve made… it needs more to bring it up your arm… that is where you were going right?” I nodded and she came over to me. “Try it again, but let it flow.” I reoriented myself and tried again. The flame leapt into my hand and I pushed myself to maintain it at a reasonable size as I let it begin to crawl up my arm. Melissa smiled at my progress and I let it recede again.

“Thanks.” I said feeling a bit more empowered as I extinguished the flame and shook my hand.

“No problem.” she held out a hand to me. I took it and found myself now on the floor of the den.

“How do you do that?” I wondered out loud as she moved off to the kitchen.

“Wind manipulation.” she answered “You would learn how to do it with fire sooner rather than later.” I smiled at the thought and conjured another flame in my hand, almost eager to learn new things.

“What’s it like?”

“What’s what like?”

“Moving like that through wind.” I heard her pause with what she was doing

“It’s difficult to explain… the same way it’ll be difficult to explain what you feel when you’re holding fire, it’s just a part of who you are.” I looked at my hand as she spoke and breathed out before letting it spread along my hand. After a moment the fire began to look different. Almost like I wasn’t just on my hand anymore… but it was my hand… I shook it off and moved from the den to help her with lunch…

~~~~~~

Days passed and I seemed to get more and more comfortable living with Melissa, until it began to seem weird for me not to be. I worked with Renaldo to join the class and trained with the rest of the students with one minor difficulty.

“I can’t keep it small.” I complained slumping on the couch. Melissa came to me with some hot chocolate and a curious expression.

“What do you mean.”

“The fire, it’s supposed to be smaller, but I swear it’s getting out of control… and I keep having to stand partially in the water so that I don’t scorch the earth! It’s so frustrating!” she put my chocolate on the table and put a hand on my shoulder

“Did you tell Renaldo about it?” I shook my head

“I didn’t know how too. Besides, he has so many others to deal with… it’s kinda hard to get him by himself.”

“Especially since you don’t want to stand out any more than you already are.” she chuckled. I rolled my eyes and reached for the mug on the table and took a sip. “I could talk to him if you want…”

“Nah,” I said hurriedly “It’s alright. I can manage…” she gave me a skeptical look over her mug but before she could say anything I saw a flurry of feathers and cloth as someone landed on the patio. I looked up and was greeted by the sight of Ayden’s aqua hair being pushed back from his face. The window that acted more like a door than anything was opened and he walked inside while Melissa gave him a cursory smile.

“To what do I owe this pleasure Ayden?” I drew back from him slightly as a chill emanated from him despite the warm smile on his face.

“I’m regrettably the bearer of unfortunate news today.” he said slowly, his smile fading only slightly. “Malcolm has insisted on seeing how Karianna has progressed.” I rolled my eyes. I had learned that Malcolm was the silver haired water angel elder who seemed to not like me.

“And do I have to see him right this second?” I asked leaning toward Melissa. He smiled and shook his head

“He may be passing in your class tomorrow… just thought you might want to know before you got an unpleasant surprise.” I nodded and sighed looking at my mug again. “if you don’t mind me asking… how far have you gotten in class?” I looked at him for a moment before glancing down at my tea and letting my heat emanate from my hands so that within moments it was steaming again.

“I can’t shoot it out yet… it’s still a bit too uncontrolled.” I said softly. He nodded then smiled

“You’ll do fine.” I nodded and smiled before leaving to go upstairs. I think I might need a bit more rest if I was going to have to deal with Malcolm of all people.

~~~~~~

3rd person perspective

~~~~~~

Karianna was lying on the couch with her head on Melissa’s lap, letting the wind angel play with her hair as she slept. There was a fire going in the hearth that had the trademark bluish tinge that Karianna had become so adept at producing when a slight chill invaded the room.

“Don’t you ever think to give advance notice before you come Ayden?” Melissa asked as he came in.

“Sorry.” he replied bowing his head slightly before observing the two on the couch. “It seems someone has gotten attached.”

“She’s fire, I’m wind… it’s natural.”

“It seems more than that Mel.” Melissa flashed a cheeky smile at him

“Well, what do you know about being natural? Wind is always attracted to fire.”

“As is water to earth and vice versa.” He walked over to the fire and looked at it for a long moment before asking “Did she do this?” Melissa nodded and smiled as she moved an errant strand of hair from her face. “I actually came to ask how today went.”

“She accidentally hurled a fire ball at Malcolm.”

“You say ‘accidentally’?” Melissa chuckled and nodded

“Yes, accidentally. I actually say that part for myself.” A warm smile stayed on her face as she recalled the events “Malcolm insisted on seeing her progress with the flame and all went well until he turned around to say something to Renaldo. Apparently Renaldo was in the process of disagreeing with whatever it was, but at the same time, Kari lost control of the fire and it went flying straight for Malcolm.” a soft chuckle escaped her “She ran up to him and helped her up saying, and I quote, ‘Oh well… I guess that’s why I’m in class right?’”

“Feisty is she?”

“She takes after her mother I guess…” Ayden got a curious look on his face as he turned to her.

“It’s true we were alive when Aelena and the other fire angels were killed… but we were still children then. Our powers hadn’t matured…”

“I know. We weren’t allowed in any tribunal. We weren’t allowed to be away from out parents much apart from classes.”

“So how are you so sure she’s like her mother?” Ayden took a step forward.

“I read…” she said slowly. Ayden waited for her to continue, knowing that there was more to the story. “Do you know she practices?” she changed the topic.

“All of them practice. You-”

“No, I mean… in the dead of the night when she thinks I’m asleep. She goes to the little lake partway down the cliff to practice…” Melissa motioned out the door “Somehow she found the single path to the lake and goes down… so now we have a mini hot spring.”

“Are you serious?” Melissa nodded as Ayden’s face contorted into one of wonderment. “Hot springs can only be created by-.”

“I know. That’s why I think she’s like her mother… and her father.”

“Does Malcolm know?”

“Heck, Renaldo doesn’t know. You’re the only other person I’ve told.”

“If she is… but then this opens a whole new pathway…”

“A new hope.”