Fire And Ice

Chapter 56 - Changes

Natalia's P. O. V

I scrambled to lock the bathroom door, just before the handle moved.

Annya's voice came through the door, "Is someone in there?"

"Yeah, sorry. I'll just be a minute." I called back.

My eyes darted around for an escape and my heartbeat quickened.

The smell of burning plastic jumped at my nose, and I looked down to see my toothbrush on fire in my hand.

I yelped, tossing the flaming brush into the sink, but it still burned and my hand was still on fire.

"Is everything okay?"

"Yeah!" I replied, waving my hand around to try and put the fire out, "I thought I saw a cockroach!"

"Okay..." She sounded sceptical, and I couldn't blame her. A cockroach would hardly warrant the way I yelled.

I searched the ceiling, praying to whoever that I'd find a smoke detector. Not finding one, I used my non-flaming hand to turn the sink tap on and pump soap onto the toothbrush, hoping to at least kill the smell.

"Ava, are you okay in there? What's that smell?"

I wanted to sink to the floor and barricade myself in here. The only other option I had was to leave through the window, but there were people milling about outside and I didn't have any way to get down without drawing attention to myself.

'You need to get Kaesha, she might have a spell to help you.'

I wasn't ready to tell her, or anyone for that matter. What would she think of me, asking her to help me but not disclosing something so important? Plus, there was no way I could tell Kaesha and not tell Hailey, and this was the worst way for her to find out. I liked my lives separate, but what choice did I have?

"I think my curling iron is broken! I'm sorry, can you get Kaesha for me? I think I've got an emergency in here and she's helped me out with this before."

"Okay, sure. I'll see if she's awake."

A minute and some sleepy voices later, Kaesha was knocking at the door.

"Ava? What's wrong?"

I unlocked the door and opened it for her, hiding behind it and locking it as soon as she was inside.

She turned, "Ava, what's that smell? What's going-ahh what the fuck?"

"Shh, please don't freak out. I can't explain now, but I need to get back home without being seen like this."

She inspected me from head to toe, "Yeah, this'll definitely require an explanation. I can help you out with an illusion, but you'll need to do something about that." She pointed at my still flaming hand.

"Annya came to the door and I panicked and this happened. I can't get it to stop."

"Does it hurt?"

I shook my head.

She thought for a moment, "Okay, I need you to take deep breaths and calm down. You're fine, and everything's gonna be okay, just relax. If this is anything like magic, you need to find the flow of power within yourself and direct it inwards."

I followed her instruction, closing my eyes to focus on the feeling within myself and look for a way to shut the fire off. Every time I tried to still my breath, a sound from beyond the bathroom door would meet my ears and my agitation at being caught increased.

Finally, I opened my eyes in frustration, and huffed and puffed on the fire to put it out instead. During the time I'd had my eyes closed, Kaesha had fixed the sink and my toothbrush.