Consuming Fire

Chapter 4

"If I have to stay in this hotel room for one more second,” said Eli, “I’m going to eat all the pillows and hope I get fluff poisoning.”

Joshua couldn’t blame the kid, even though his moodiness was starting to grate on all of their nerves. Weeks had passed since they arrived in Seattle. Weeks. And all that time, it felt as if the FBI had sat around on their asses, twiddling their thumbs and waiting for more children to go missing.

“Just relax Eli,” said Jenny in that perfect, calm-amidst-the-storm voice that made Joshua’s heart flutter. But he had to admit; even she was beginning to look a little drained of her usual spark.

“Yeah right,” Eli sighed and flopped back on the stiff, hotel bed. “How can anyone relax when we’re barricaded in by FBI agents and no one has rescued Hunter yet?”

Joshua couldn’t agree more: relaxing was the very last thing on his to-do list. First and foremost, he needed to get to the cabin. It had been too long, and every day was another day Hunter was either still stuck in ICE, or out there running the risk of being captured again.

But the FBI were watching their every move. He was still under suspicion for kidnapping and attempted murder. They were right about him, but it was circumstantial. And once he told them the truth about his powers… their trained eyes never left him.

“Joshua… have they told you anything?” asked Jenny as she sat by the open window with her feet propped up on the ledge. The agents took them shopping only last week and Jenny abused their generosity to the maximum, but as soon as the excitement died down, she went back to her habitual ripped jeans and hoodies. Joshua loved that about her. “Because for law enforcement, they’re very slow to react to the news that there are people with superpowers.”

Joshua ran his hand over his jaw – conscious of how badly he needed to shave – and shook his head. He’d been wondering that too. Barry took the news somewhat lightly that Joshua had the ability to control ice. Once Barry had interrogated every inch of Joshua – during which Joshua told him only the vital bits of information and not his entire life story – there had been nothing but routine questions, interviews with other FBI agents and then silence.

“I don’t know,” he said. “Every time I meet with Barry and his superior officer, Special Agent Fitzpatrick… they tell me nothing. It’s like they’re trying to make logical sense of it before they take it seriously.”

“But this is big,” said Eli. “I mean world changing big. The existence of people with powers is something people read about in comics. If it leaks into the media, everyone’s gonna explode. I think the FBI aren’t telling anyone until they know for sure that not only do you have these abilities you claim to have, but that ICE exists too.”

Joshua raised a hand and produced a beautiful swirl of light ice that danced above his palm. “I thought this was going to be proof enough.”

“I mean scientific proof. These things only happen in movies. If I saw someone do what you do Joshua, I wouldn’t believe it. I’d try to figure out how. Isn’t that what you did anyway?”

Joshua looked at Eli, and for the first time since this entire mess with him began, Joshua appreciated the kid for who he was: a very smart young man. He suddenly saw what Hunter had fallen in love with.

Love he had taken away.

“The FBI have strict protocol to follow,” said Jenny as she moved over to the bed, distracting him. “They’re not doing ‘nothing’; they’re just doing everything very thoroughly, by the books. Eli’s right. If they make one mistake and the world finds out, it’ll be chaos. People with powers like yours will be popping up all over the globe. And if the world finds out, Dr. Wolfe will know and he’ll recede into an even deeper hole than he’s already in. Then it will be impossible to find Hunter.”