The Elements Trilogy: The Secondaries

Chapter 39: Fire

Sky bolted.

Tony sat up with a gasp, as Troy snarled and pointed in the direction of Skylar, weaving her way in and out of tables and giant computer screens.

"Get her!" he roared at Stacy.

I dashed out in front of Stacy, my upper body erupting in flames. The harsh brightness and heat of the flames caused Stacy to jump back, his black eyes burning brightly, but I didn't know whether it was from anger or the flames.

He hissed angrily, but made no move to jump past me.

"Skylar!" Tony shouted at the top of his lungs. "Skylar, relocate! It's too obvious, tell them to move to Harry's favorite place!"

"GO AFTER HER!" Troy screamed. "STACY, GO!"

Stacy took a step forward, but I increased the height of the flames on my body, and held my out hands. The flames lit up the dark room, casting eerie shadows on Stacy's face and the computer screen.

He started forward, but I grabbed his arm, burning him. He pulled back angrily, hissing in shock, his face contorting.

The door slammed shut as Skylar found her way out, and Stacy growled menacingly, but I stood my ground.

Troy spun around to face Tony. "Where is she going?! Where is Harry's favorite place!"

Tony smirked up at Troy. "Like I'll ever tell you."

Troy straightened his back, and looked down at Tony who was sitting on the ground. "Stacy, stand down."

Stacy stopped growling at me, his features immediately relaxing into an unlined, calm face.

I let my body cool down, but not entirely. My arms still glowed like embers, and I could feel heat radiating from my face.

Troy picked a walkie talkie, and spoke into it. "Alexandra. Can you hear me?"

Tony and I exchanged a confused glance. Who was Alexandra? Tony jerked his head toward the door, and I nodded. I glanced at Troy, but he was to preoccupied, barking out orders into the walkie talkie.

I started inching towards the door, but as soon as I started moving away, I bumped into something hard. Something seized my arm with an iron grip, and I screamed.

Troy spun around, reattaching the walkie talkie to his hip. "Well done, Stacy." He smirked. "Don't let go."

The clone hummed with pleasure, and tightened his grip on my arm, even though it was still scorching hot. I made my arm go as hot as it could, without catching on fire.

Stacy stiffened next to me, but to my dismay, he didn't let go. Troy chuckled. "He won't let go, Parker. He physically can't, since I ordered him. He'll just hold on while you burn his skin."

The smell of burning flesh hit me like a slap, and I glanced over at Stacy. His face was contorted in pain, and I saw something flicker in his black eyes; panic.

I remembered something Jamie said to me when he first joined us on the way to California.

I'm sorry if I avoid you, Evie. Nothing against you...it's just I've had bad experiences with fire. I'm skittish around it. It happens to be one of the few things that terrifies me.

Guilt racking my stomach, I stopped burning Stacy's hand as Troy turned back to face Tony.

"Now." Troy clenched his fists, steel grinding, making a horrible noise. "Where is Harry's favorite place?"

"I'll never tell you." Tony repeated venomously.

"Well then," Troy said slowly. Steel scraped against steel again, but this time he wasn't clenching his fists. He was slowly dragging a small hunting knife out of its sheath. "Maybe I'll just have to force it out of you."