Fire {Elements of Power 1}

Chapter Seven: Roxy

Vincent grinned wickedly and gestured for me to go ahead of him, towards the house. When I didn't move his smile grew even wider. "What's the matter Roxy? Scared that you can't do it?" He had me there. I shot him my dirtiest look before storming towards the door. There was no way I was letting him think I was afraid - I wasn't afraid of anything - I just didn't like going out of my way to make a fool of myself.

Standing on the porch, I took a deep breath before ringing the doorbell. We could hear the resulting sound echoing through the house. Then there was silence. Nothing stirred. The air around us was still, the house even stiller.

"No one home. Oh well, guess we'll have to try another day," I said, barely trying to hide the enthusiasm in my voice at such a lucky escape.

"No... he should be here." Vincent looked confused.

"Maybe he died years ago and no one noticed." I smirked - what luck. But the words were barely out of my mouth when we heard the echoing footsteps along what must have been a wooden floor inside.

Dr Scott was a squat, balding man in his late sixties. What was left of his hair was white and frazzled and he had a partiality for ridiculous polka dotted ties. He looked like a relic from the Midnight Era and had clearly never heard of de-aging serum. I knew all of this because his picture is on the back cover of all of his books, which Vincent had made me read last year. All I could see of Dr Scott in the flesh was an eye - very bloodshot and a watered down brown colour - which was inspecting us through a small peep hole in his door, probably trying to assess our risk factor.

I arranged my face in the brightest smile I could muster and, with a great deal of false cheeriness, said: "Hey, Dr Scott? I'm Nora and this is my Tutor, Victor. I'm writing a paper on the Brizan Occupation for school and was wondering if I could ask you a few questions?" The trick to lying convincingly is to stick as close to the truth as possible. Nora's my middle name and talking to him was crucial for my studies - they're just not the sort of studies Dr Scott thought I was talking about.

"No," came the gruff response and the eye began to retreat from the door.

"Wait! Let us in." I put as much effort into my tone as possible, trying to make it honey sweet, like Vincent was always telling me to, but to no avail; the eye kept getting smaller.

"Make it a negative - that's easier, remember?" Vincent whispered in my ear, coming up close behind me on the porch. "Soft and gentle."

"Dr Scott, don't go." The words came out soft and inviting, oozing like honey. The eye stopped.

"Well done, keep going. Stick to negatives and use that tone exactly."

"Won't you let us in? This really won't take long."

The door creaked slowly open to reveal Dr Scott. He was standing in his hallway, looking slightly bemused in a dishevelled dressing gown and slippers. He looked as if he had been wearing the same clothes for the last five years. I raised my eyebrows at Vincent: this was his hero? But he looked just as confused - clearly he had not realised how much of a recluse Dr Scott had become.

"Thank you." I shot the doctor a dazzling smile and walked past him, along the dusty hallway into what must have once been the lounge. There was an antique fireplace in the centre of the room and I made straight for it. The bottom was covered in a thick carpet of ash, but it was cold and there was no sign that a fire had been lit there recently. I cupped my hands together and then opened them out slowly, a gleaming ball of flames expanded between them as I did. Once it had swelled to the size of a human head I put it down in the fireplace. The room was immediately filled by its warm glow and I dragged the biggest chair in towards it, so that I could feel the full force of its heat.