Rouge

Rouge - Chapter Twenty-Six

“I can’t believe,” said Miss Smart as she shook her head slowly, “that after all the time I spent searching for an answer, it was sitting right in front of me every day in my lessons.”

Hunter shrugged and stabbed her plastic fork into her take-out box. “Believe me, I still don’t have all the answers, and I’m the one with the powers.”

Miss Smart winced as she raised herself higher on the pillow of her hospital bed. Despite the medication and constant rest, Hunter noticed little improvement in her teacher’s health. The nurses were sketchy on the details, assuring her that the burns were healing well. But Miss Smart grew weaker and wearier every day Hunter visited.

While she sat beside her bed three days after the fire with the afternoon sun shining in on the two of them, Hunter explained everything she knew, right from her conception to Joshua’s knowledge and involvement in the destruction of Feucotetanus. And though it excited Miss Smart, there was still something very amiss with her health that Hunter could not put her finger on.

“It just makes so much sense now.” Miss Smart slurped a noodle into her mouth, her enthusiasm somewhat weary but still evident in the sparkle of her eyes. “I researched this drug for so many years before I knew you. I could never get my hands on a sample, of course, but I knew the formula. I tried to recreate it. It never had the same effect as it had on you. And this volcanic stone … Ravenadium … you really believe it’s alien?”

“I don’t know for sure,” said Hunter. “Joshua and my dad found it in a mountain in Cuba. It reacted to the drug, like a trigger system. Except the drug is what makes it come alive and burn. That’s how I got the power to create fire from my body. Ravenadium is in my blood.”

“That’s incredible.” She placed the Styrofoam cup back on the tray with quivering hands. She’d barely touched it. “This changes so much. I bet Joshua went crazy when he discovered this.”

Hunter snorted a laugh. “Something like that. He’s been training me almost every day since I found out what I could do. The Ravenadium has some sort of controlling effect on me. It reacts to my emotions, and sometimes it gets out of control.”

“So this substance has a mind of its own, does it?”

Hunter smiled and put down her empty soup cup. “It feeds off my anger and my fear and even my passion. All these emotions are what makes it stronger. I’m scared that when Eli and I … when the time comes and we want to …”

Miss Smart gave her an encouraging smile. “I understand. I would be cautious, Hunter. It seems like this substance that’s controlling you has a great attachment to your soul. It was born with you, after all. Your emotions are a trigger for it. Make sure you know how to hold it in your grasp before you fully give yourself to him.”

“I’m stronger now,” she said confidently. “I’m better at controlling it. There’ve been a few mishaps along the way, but it’s easier now.”

Miss Smart peered at her through her red-brown eyes. “Were you scared coming into the lab to save me?”

“No. I used to wonder what it would be like to be in a situation where I’d have to use my powers to save someone. Joshua drilled it into me to never let my guard down, but I was given these powers for a purpose. I decided to use them for good.”

Miss Smart reached out and squeezed Hunter’s hand gently. “Wise choice, Hunter. Your powers don’t have to be a burden. But after everything you’ve told me, you still need to be careful of how you use them.” Her eyes darkened suddenly. “You might think that you’re ready, that the fire is contained, but this thing has been crawling around in your soul since the day you were conceived in that fire. For eighteen years it has latched itself to you. It’s not about to stay down without a fight, unless it knows that you are its master.”

Hunter’s tired mind began to race with fear. Can’t she just thank me and tell me something hopeful?

“I won’t lose control. The fire isn’t the boss of me.”

Miss Smart looked doubtful. “If you do lose control, Hunter, you won’t be able to stop it from spreading.”

“Spreading? Spreading where?”

“Into-” Miss Smart started coughing again and Hunter reached out to grip her hand for support. The cough was so severe that after a moment, her hand came away from her mouth and pulled a string of blood from her lips. Hunter stared at it, her stomach twisting, and ran to call a nurse. She returned with Miss Smart’s usual orderly – a pudgy African woman with kind eyes. Nurse Valerie tried to calm her patient down and ease her coughing fit with small sips of water, and eventually she turned to Hunter and said, “Visiting hours are over, dear.”

Hunter nodded sharply, collecting her bag and waving goodbye to Miss Smart who had her face buried in her hands as she retched violently. Feeling instantly ill, Hunter hurried out the door, the sounds of vomiting still echoing in her ears.