Sandy screamed as soon as the flames flashed in the pan and leapt to three feet. It happened too fast, and she both felt and heard the element expressing shock at its sudden growth. Just as had happened with her fall, her sudden fear triggered her powers, allowing her to “feel” the fire being manipulated.
Unlike before, she didn’t feel any sense of tension, so she felt certain she wasn’t the one controlling the fire. This scared her worse than the fire itself, which was why she continued to scream.
Trisha ran in, and her blue eyes blossomed wide when she saw the tall flames in the blazing skillet. She shouted “Ohmygod!” over and over as she went to look for something under the cabinet.
She found a fire extinguisher, but it didn’t work. The black plastic cone coughed the tiniest white plume, and its quiet hiss was instantly lost under the sizzle of the crackling grease fire.
“Of course he’s too cheap to have a working extinguisher!” Trisha shouted.
This helped Sandy to calm down, and then she could focus enough to look into the fire and find out who was controlling it. The fire shifted and took on new shapes, and then Sandy could see someone inside the flames. She could even make out other color details that the flames shouldn’t have been capable of. Inside the fire was a woman with wavy red hair not unlike her own. She wore a green silk top and a long loose brown skirt that fell to her ankles and hid most of her black leather boots.
The woman looked upset, like she hadn’t expected Sandy to see her. Sandy’s breath caught when she realized this was one of the witches trying to get in contact with her. If they found her, the witches would kill Kyle. She had to shut the spell down before the woman figured out where she was.
Extending her hand, Sandy tried to reach for the flames like she’d grabbed the air. It resisted her for an instant, and then folded back in on itself. Sandy tensed her mental “muscle” harder, trying to make the fire go away.
The flames in the pan vanished, but the fire in the pilot light resisted her.
Then the element reacted with anger to her brute force efforts, looping back to attack her. The fire made no light and had no color. Sandy saw it only as a wavering ripple in the air before the single flame became a giant hand to crush her.
Sandy fought to keep the invisible fire fist at bay. The flames licked the air inches from her skin, and her body felt too hot. Knowing that death would follow if she faltered, she kept her mental muscle tensed, forcing the fire to keep back. But she could not make it back down, and even if it could not get closer, the fire was growing hotter.
Trisha panted at almost the same pace as Sandy, but her attention remained on the smoking skillet with two blackened hamburgers. “Weird, it just went out.” She started to turn her head as she asked, “Did you—?”
She noticed Sandy panting and sweating, and she asked, “Hey, are you all right?”
“The fire is trying to get inside me.” Sandy fought to push the flames a scant half an inch farther away, but the furious element blazed hotter, crushing her in the heart of a furnace. Then the outer ripples of fire took on a ghostly white glow as the air began super heating.
“What the hell?” Trisha reached for Sandy’s arm. She was nowhere near Sandy before she shrieked.
Trisha yanked her hand back fast, but the skin in her palm sizzled even as she flogged her hand up and down. The skin and muscle directly underneath were seared and still audibly cooking though they’d been removed from the heat after only a second of exposure.
Only a moment later, Sandy’s clothing burst into flames in patches. Circles of fire jetted outward, and then the flame hand around Sandy flowed with veins of yellow and orange.
Her hair ignited next, and Sandy screamed in terror.
***
Sandy’s high-pitched keen shook Trisha from her shock, and she knew she had to act fast to save Sandy’s life.
Slapping on the kitchen faucet with her uninjured hand, Trisha grabbed the spray spigot from the side of the sink and pulled it up and around to shoot a stream of cold water at Sandy’s head. She put out Sandy’s hair before she moved on to douse her clothes. Met by their elemental opposite, the flame hand died fast. But for almost a minute, all water that hit Sandy’s body burst into steam.
When the tap water began to soak Sandy’s burned clothing, Trisha leaned over the sink and sprayed cold water over her wounded hand. Which didn’t feel nearly as good as she’d hoped it would. Hissing, Trisha dropped the spigot in the sink and shut off the faucet. She leaned on the counter to pant for air, but it was harder with the room flooded like a steamy sauna. She squeezed her eyes shut and gasped in time with Sandy’s terrified sobbing.
When Trisha opened her eyes, Kyle was in the kitchenette doorway. She’d barely set eyes on him when he flickered, and his hand was over her throat.
Kyle growled, “What did you do?”
“I didn’t—” Trisha wheezed.
Sandy spoke at the same time. “She didn’t do it!”
Trisha nodded her head in spite of Kyle’s grip on her throat. Kyle released her, and she sank to the floor beside Sandy, coughing as she clutched her sore throat.
Speaking in short and shaking bursts, Sandy cried, “I just...there was a woman watching—watching me through the fire! I tried to make—the fire go away—and it attacked me!” She hitched in sobbing gasps between each outburst. “Trisha saved me. If she hadn’t doused me—I would have burned to death!”
Kyle’s frown became awkward as he looked at Trisha. “Sorry.”
“Christ!” Trisha said, and then hacked a retching cough. “We’ve got to get you out of the habit of choking like that! Do you cats always go for the throat first?”
Kyle sighed and scowled at Sandy. “You told her?”
Sandy nodded. “I figured she’d find out anyway if she’s staying with us.”
Kyle sighed again, and returned his attention to Trisha. “Yes, we’re trained to go for the throat first. Witches can kill us more easily than we can kill them, so if we have a chance to make a killing strike, we take it.”
“Okay, but I’m not a witch. I’m just the stupid bitch who didn’t know well enough to stay home and mind my own business.”
Kyle considered this for a moment before he said, “Fair enough. I’ll try to keep myself in check.”
“I can live with that, pun intended.”
Kyle’s gaze shifted to meet Sandy’s. “Are you hurt?”
“I think I’m burned,” Sandy said.
“Yeah, definitely,” Trisha said. “You also lost a lot of your hair, so we’re going to have to chop off some of the crispy curls.”
Kyle asked, “Which of you decided to cook?”
“She did,” Trisha said. “She said she could handle it.”
“I was handling it,” Sandy insisted, sounding indignant. “The fire was pushed to grow, and there was a woman watching me.”
Her face taking on a look of baffled amusement, Trisha asked, “How much burger grease did you inhale, honey?”
“She’s not hallucinating,” Kyle said. “The witches are probably looking for her, and while I was out of the house, Sandy doesn’t carry my protection from divining spells.”
“Oh—kay, I’m going to pretend that made sense to me,” Trisha said.
Kyle moved to the stove to examine the skillet. “You’ve ruined the pan either way, and it’s the only one I have.”
“It’s a good excuse for us to go out for dinner,” Trisha said. “Besides, Sandy and I both need to have a load of laundry done.” She grimaced as she looked at Sandy’s clothes. “Except for this outfit. It’s well done now.”
Kyle rubbed his forehead. “I’m not letting you outside. Either of you. It’s not safe.”
“I’m not going to escape,” Trisha said. “And like I said, we both need clean clothes. Right, Sandy?”
“I don’t know if I want to go out now. I’ll look stupid with my hair burned.”
“Well...but...” Her face screwing up in a frustrated glower, Trisha groaned, “Damn it! I just wanted to get outside! There’s no TV here, or even a radio! At this point, I’d settle for a magazine, but there’s not even that. There’s just old textbooks.”
“Yes, and the only reason I keep those is because the bookstore wouldn’t buy them back,” Kyle said, sounding irritated. “Because of those stupid text books, I’m too broke to afford anything else.”
“Oh, come on! You’ve got super speed, but it never dawned on you to take a wallet here and there?”
“Of course the thought occurred to me,” Kyle snapped. “But since I became an outcast from my clan and came here, I’ve been trying to stay good.”
“So you won’t nick a wallet, and you won’t harm a hair on Sandy’s red head, but you’ve got no problems choking me?” Trisha snorted. “You are such a hypocrite.”
Kyle’s mouth flapped, and then he said, “And you’re a bitch.”
“And that gives you an excuse to choke me?” No answer. “Well?”
“Fine, I’m sorry for being a dick.”
Trisha nodded. “Well then, I’m sorry for being a bitch.”
Kyle looked at Sandy, who said, “It would be nice if we could go to the library and get something to read.”
Kyle considered this, staring at Sandy with a worried frown. “All right, first we’ll try to fix your hair, and then we’ll go out.”
“Hallelujah,” Trisha said, already standing up. “I’ll go get the scissors and a comb. Try not to choke anything until I get back.”
***
Trisha grabbed Sandy’s wrist, and the wound in her bandaged hand punished her for using too much pressure. Even with aloe, the burn was so bad that it would surely leave a nasty scar. Rather than switch hands, Trisha grimaced through her pain and pulled Sandy’s hand away from the back of her head. “You won’t draw nearly as much attention to yourself if you’d stop spazzing about your hair.”
Sandy pulled her hand away, but her pout grew wider. “I can’t help it. I feel wrong without my hair.”
Her hair had to be chopped to a little less than two inches everywhere but the back, so Trisha had aimed for a passable pixie cut. However, the damage in the back had been so extensive that Trisha had been forced to go with a fade cut using Kyle’s hair trimmer. So of course Sandy kept reaching up to rub the back of her head while she sat in the laundromat. After a few random strokes of the baby fine red stubble she got glassy-eyed and started to pant.
“I don’t see why you’re so upset,” Trisha said, and then huffed to vent her irritation. “You still look pretty, okay?”
Sandy sniffled, her gaze falling to her lap. “You’re just saying that.”
“I am not. Jeez, stop being so paranoid, nerd.”
“Hey,” Kyle said.
“She’s right,” Sandy said. “I am a nerd.”
“You are not,” Kyle said.
“I own Star Trek uniforms,” Sandy said.
“Um...” Kyle glanced toward the dryer to check the timer. “As in more than two?”
Sandy’s voice lowered to a quiet mumble. “One for every series.”
“Yeah, that’s pretty nerdy,” Kyle said, and then offered Sandy an apologetic look. “Sorry.”
Sandy shrugged. “If the shoe fits...”
“Totally what I’m saying,” Trisha said. “And since were talking about shoes, you fit a girl’s shoes even if you have short hair.” She grabbed Sandy’s wrist with her uninjured hand and pulled her arm down again. “So stop rubbing your head, nerd.” She huffed an annoyed laugh. “Right now you’ve got a look similar to Yasha Tar.”
“Tasha Yar,” Sandy said, and then smiled. “You really think so?”
“Yep, but you’re slightly cuter cause you’re sporting all those freckles.” Trisha sighed. “I used to have freckles, but then my mother bleached them out of existence.”
Trisha looked over Sandy and smirked at Kyle. “What are you smiling at, pervert?”
Sandy looked around and found Kyle trying to cover his smile with his hand. But he was cracking before his gaze met Sandy’s and, once they were looking at each other, he laughed. “Since we’re all coming out of the closet, I read Harry Potter fan-fiction.”
“But not the real books?” Trisha asked.
“No, there’s no man-love in the real books.”
Trisha spasmed in her seat so hard she fell on Sandy as she groaned, “Eeew! You’re a sick, sick nerd!”
“Why, because I like man-love?”
“No, because you want to see anyone in Harry Potter having sex.”
“I like Snape and—”
“I don’t care how that sentence, ends, pervert,” Trisha said. “It’s still not right, so don’t go there.”
While Kyle grumbled, Sandy giggled, squirming under Trisha to push her back into her own seat. “But at least now we know not to read over his shoulder at the library.”
“So true,” Trisha said.
“So what’s your guilty pleasure, Princess?” Kyle asked.
Trisha narrowed her eyes, “Princess?”
Kyle shrugged. “The shoe fits.”
Trisha sighed. “Fine. I like watching The Princess Bride. I know all the words by heart.”
“Doesn’t everybody?” Sandy asked. She deepened her voice and added in an accent as she declared, “Hallo, my name is Inigo Montoya...”
Trisha smiled and joined in. “You killed my father. Prepare to die!”
They said it over and over until Kyle shouted, “Stop saying that!”
Then Trisha and Sandy went into spastic fits of laughter.
***
Sandy sat down on the side of the bed, and then looked up when the door opened and Kyle walked into his room. He was dressed modestly because of Sandy, wearing a faded green T-shirt and a pair of flannel sleep pants. While he wore a different set of clothes to bed each night, he’d maintained the same modest standard each night.
Sandy understood why he did it, and she appreciated his efforts to be good. But as soon as he shut the door, she thought of taking his shirt off and kissing his chest. The idea intensified when she raised her gaze from his broad chest to his golden eyes. Her fantasy continued with her kissing a trail down his stomach to the waistband of his pants, and then she had to cut her imagination off. Her cheeks heated in a blush, and she looked at the floor, worried that her eyes might give away her thoughts.
Kyle moved to kneel in front of her, his face set in a look of concern. “I just want to check your burns before bed and see if we need to change your bandages.”
“Oh, right.” Sandy smiled as she stood up. “It’s weird, but I haven’t felt them at all since...since dinner, I think. I guess the painkillers must still be working on me.”
Kyle raised her shirt to expose the bandages on her side, and Sandy hissed when he peeled the tape away.
“No way,” Kyle said.
Sandy looked down, finding normal, pale skin where blisters and bruises had been only hours before. “Whoa. What did you put on the bandage for it to work so fast?”
“I just put on aloe to relieve the pain,” Kyle said.
The door opened, and Kyle and Sandy looked around as Trisha walked in. She was looking at her hand as she said, “Hey, guys, you’re never going to—” She looked up at Kyle and Sandy, and then she smirked.
Kyle seemed to guess her thoughts and waved at Sandy’s skin. “I was just checking her burns. Only, she doesn’t have any.”
“Her either?” Trisha held out her hand. “Because I don’t even have a scab, and this was looking well done before the bandage went down.” She looked at Sandy and stared for some time before her mouth rose in a smile. “Did you heal us already?”
“I guess?” Sandy shrugged. “I didn’t know witches could do that.”
“That’s pretty freakin’ cool.” Trisha backed toward the door. “I’ll leave you lovebirds alone and hit the couch.”
Only then did Kyle let go of Sandy’s shirt, and he was still sputtering in search of an objection when Trisha shut the door.
Kyle sighed, and then smirked at Sandy. “I wasn’t doing anything.”
Sandy smiled at this and thought, Would you like to?
This time, her thoughts must have shown in her coy smile, because Kyle’s face went through a rapid shift of emotions in response.
Every night, Sandy had felt terribly confused sharing a bed with Kyle. He stayed on his side, and she was grateful that he kept his distance. She was still upset over the death of her mother, and her fantasies of touching Kyle seemed inappropriate to her. But they still came to mind, and while she resisted them, she also stifled her desire to roll over to lay on his side.
Now he was so close, and all she could think of was his kiss. Not on her mouth, but the feel of his lips trailing down her neck, and then down her chest. The thrill of her memory was almost as powerful as the real contact had been, even without drugs to create false hypersensitivity.
Her smile becoming flirtatious, Sandy said, “You could help me take off the other bandages.”
“Yeah, okay,” Kyle said.
Then, in a move that felt bold to her, she pulled off her shirt and dropped it on the bed.
Kyle’s eyes went wild with movement before his gaze rose to meet hers. She saw the conflict in his eyes, his uncertainty and his interest warring within him.
She hoped to encourage him silently by just conveying her needs through her eyes, but he still resisted her. She resorted to less subtle measures, taking his wrists to rest his hands over her hips. Her hands went to his shoulders next, and she urged him to lean closer. Kyle moved slow, but Sandy knew from his hungry stare that she could win this brief contest of her willpower versus his convictions.
The door clicked open again, and Trisha backed in through the door. “Oh, my, gawd, that is one huge rat. Kyle, you have to...” She turned around, and by then Kyle had turned away from Sandy.
Sandy covered her chest, narrowing her eyes while she thought, Will you go away?
Kyle spoke in the following silence. “I was just getting rid of her bandages.”
Her gaze still locked on Sandy’s, Trisha snickered, not fooled for an instant. Her laugh made Sandy blush, and then smile sheepishly.
Trisha raised her hand to cover her mouth. “Sure you were.” Dropping her hand, she grimaced and waved back at the door. “But before you play doctor with her, you need to go in there and kill the rat sitting on the couch.”
“Why? He’s lived here longer than you,” Kyle said.
“Wait, so you won’t kill a rat, but you were ready to choke me? Man, I play one stupid prank on you and suddenly I’m competing with Nazis and Satanists in your book?”
“I’m not going to kill you so long as you don’t escape.”
“Oh, that’s so much better,” Trisha said, her face wrinkling in a scowl as she put her hands on her hips. “Thanks, jerk.”
“You could at least pretend to be sorry for what you did,” Kyle said, moving to sit on the bed.
“Look, I’m sorry for what I didn’t do.” Trisha shut the door and then looked at Sandy as she leaned against the door. “I came over with plans to use your powers with blackmail. Your pictures were never online, but I said that to make the girls think my prank was really worse than it was. And I blew it by bluffing because you panicked and jumped.
“That should have been enough for me, but once I realized how much power you had, I also realized that you could be worth millions. That’s what I feel bad about, that I was going to blackmail you.”
Kyle cleared his throat and asked, “What about the prank?”
Trisha shrugged. “I’ve got mixed feelings about it. Part of me wants to complain that Sandy overreacted, but then she might not have lost it if I’d just teased her instead of adding the pictures and the bluff. Also, I didn’t think about the fact that she was already suffering from depression, even though Maggie told us she was. So it’s my fault that she jumped, and I feel bad about that.”
Trisha gestured at Sandy. “On the other hand, I don’t think Sandy minds your company.”
Sandy blushed as she and Kyle exchanged a glance, but she offered no objection. He didn’t either, which pleased Sandy and filled her with relief to know she wasn’t wasting her time.
Trisha shrugged before going on. “If you’d pull that stick out of your butt and give her a chance, I don’t think you’d mind her company either. So I don’t feel all that bad about setting you up. Maybe the way you found out about her powers sucked for both of you, but Kyle, you’re the guy best suited to protect her from the other cats and the witches. So maybe I did a good thing by setting you up.”
“That’s seriously tortured logic.” Kyle shook his head. “Do you think it forgives what you were thinking?”
“No, and I’m not saying I didn’t screw up. But seriously Kyle, you were ready to kill me over this. Supposedly, you won’t harm one hair on the rat in the living room, who is—” Trisha opened the door and went on as she closed it again. “Who is still there, and he’s sleeping there like it’s his—dear God, you’ve had me sleeping in a fucking rat’s nest and you didn’t tell me?” Her voice grew higher in pitch and volume until she was almost shrieking. “Ohmygod, you are such an asshole!”
Kyle grimaced at her. “Okay, honestly? Urge to kill is rising right now.”
Trisha narrowed her eyes, and her lips puckered like she was sucking a lemon. She waved at Sandy. “So long as I don’t escape, you know she won’t let you do it.”
“And I agreed not to kill you. But you could still try dialing back the bitch vibes to about a three or a four, please.”
Trisha’s gaze moved to Sandy’s, momentarily pleading for help.
Sandy wasn’t sure whose side to take in the matter. She was mad at Trisha over the blackmail, but not so much over the prank. After all, part of the prank was, Sandy got to kiss a hot guy and make out with him at a party. If the end of the party hadn’t sucked so badly, Sandy would have sworn it was a good night.
And, having time to think back, she also felt she’d been overreacting by jumping off the tower. But, to be fair to herself, she was on drugs and suffering from the lingering effects of a month-long depression. Her judgment could accurately be called impaired.
The results of her non-landing had forced the three of them together, but while Kyle couldn’t stand Trisha, Sandy wasn’t so sure how to feel about their hostage.
Trisha had nagged Sandy not to feel so self-conscious in public, and once she’d relaxed, she’d enjoyed her first trip out in public with short hair since her old life. It was an interesting lesson, discovering that having short hair wouldn’t cause anyone to misgender her. It had been such a huge fear in her mind, but no matter who talked to her, they always addressed her as “Miss.”
Trisha was an active gabber, and even if she annoyed Kyle, Sandy found her kind of amusing. Once they discovered a shared loved The Princess Bride, Trisha showed other nerdish characteristics. She’d clearly seen more than a few Star Trek episodes, though she was terrible with names. (Her favorite captain was Von Ric Dicard. Sandy almost peed herself laughing.) The library books she brought home were heavy with paranormal romances, which made Kyle roll his eyes. Sandy thought it was funny, and she had wondered aloud if there were any romantic threesomes in paranormal romance.
Trisha had giggled at the joke, but Kyle muttered “ha” in a deadpan tone of voice.
Now they were going to share a bed together. It would make a beautiful three-way romance if Kyle and Trisha didn’t hate each other so much.
Sandy lowered her arms and waved Trisha over. “Since you’re sticking around, you can help peel off the bandages. Apparently, I don’t need them anymore.”
Trisha smiled and walked to the bed. As she did, Kyle turned and grabbed a bandage from Sandy’s back to take it off in a fast rip. Sandy yelped and stood up, and Trisha caught her around her hips to keep her from crashing into Trisha’s chest.
Trisha scowled at Kyle. “You are such a sadist. Here, let me show you how it’s done.”
She pulled off a bandage from Sandy’s ribs, her smile growing when Sandy let go of a relieved sigh. “Better?”
“Yes. You get to do the rest,” Sandy said.
Trisha’s smile widened, and she dipped her head to search for another bandage. “Don’t take this the wrong way, but you’ve got great tits.”
Sandy laughed. “Is there a wrong way to take that?”
“I always thought you wore a padded bra.” Trisha peeled off another bandage. “But these are nice. I guess you took some kind of pills?”
“Hormones. I take them every morning.”
“Huh.” Trisha pried off another bandage, wadding it into a ball with the others. “Turn around.” Sandy did, and Trisha went for the last bandage. “So, if I wanted to take a pill, could I turn into a guy?”
“Sort of?” Sandy shrugged. “I mean, if you’re mentally a woman, I don’t know if just changing hormones changes your gender. Like, for instance there was this one guy who his coworkers started slipping him hormones in his coffee. And he started developing breasts and urges to knit.”
When Sandy turned around, Trisha had a hand over her mouth, her eyes wide and full of shock. “The horror.”
Sandy giggled, sitting down on the bed and taking her shirt to put it back on. “For him, it was horrible. Once he caught his friends and got off the pills, he was grateful to be back to normal. So you see, estrogen alone doesn’t make a man into a woman.”
“Right, but I’ll bet those little pills made you a happy camper.” Trisha sat down beside Sandy, and her smile had grown wider in the time that Sandy had the shirt over her head. Before Sandy could ask what was so funny, Trisha said, “If pills gave you great hooters, do you think I can take pills to make my boobs bigger?”
“You don’t need bigger boobs,” Kyle said.
“You don’t have to butter me up,” Trisha said.
“I’m just stating a fact,” Kyle said. “Given your thin frame and height, big breasts would make you look top heavy. Also, it would detract from your ass, which is exquisite.” Leaving Trisha momentarily speechless, Kyle rolled over and crawled to the other side of the bed. “So, I still have to go to classes tomorrow, and I’m ready for sleep.”
“Sure, I’ll get the light.” Trisha smirked at Sandy. “You can take the middle of the bed, to protect me from him.”
“Please,” Kyle said.
“You just said I don’t need bigger boobs and my ass is exquisite.”
“True, but that’s a far cry from ‘I want to do you all night long.’”
“Oh, so you only want to do Sandy all night long?” Kyle sighed, and Trisha snorted as she flicked off the light. “Or maybe I can join in on this all night orgy. You know, we cheerleaders are extremely limber.”
“That would be tempting if you weren’t also so mouthy.”
“Goodnight, jerk,” Trisha said, and then settled under the covers.
“Goodnight, bitch,” Kyle shot back.
Sandy rolled on her side and felt for Kyle’s arm in the dark. She found his side instead, and chose to pat his chest. “Goodnight, Kyle.” She rose up, intending to whisper a joke in his ear, thanking him for not killing Trisha yet.
But he misread her approach and kissed her. He tried for a brief peck, but once Sandy was hovering over him, she offered him a chance for something a bit more daring. He accepted the offer, licking at her lips, and then at the tip of her tongue. As good night kisses went, it wasn’t too bad.
When he broke contact, Sandy breathed out a shaking laugh and said, “Sweet dreams.” She snuggled against his side and thought, I’m sure mine will be.