My body is on fire and not in a good way.
“Door!” I screech, sprinting through the kitchen, my bare feet squeaking on the tiles.
Luckily, Cat doesn’t hesitate. She jumps from her stool and whips open the sliding glass door.
I knew there was a reason she was my favorite sister.
The sun beats down, high in the blue Phoenix sky. Anyone else might find the intense rays uncomfortably warm. But most other people don’t run around wrapped in a toga of flaming bedsheets.
Fortunately for me, a swimming pool sits a couple of frantic leaps out the back door. The water shimmers, its calm surface cool and inviting.
I wreck the tranquil scene with a self-serving cannonball.
Safely in the water, I hold my breath and stay immersed. The cool, gentle cradle helps soothe my racing pulse and clear my panicked mind. When I can think again, the only thing that keeps me from groaning in mortification is the fact that I would drown myself in the process.
I can only deal with one life-threatening event each day.
My lungs ache, demanding I stop pouting and give them some well-deserved oxygen. With a strong kick of my legs, I break the surface and breathe in deep.
“Hey, Fireball. You have an accident?”
Immediately, I miss the almost meditative silence of being underwater. Harley, my older sister, grins at me from her poolside lounge chair.
I do my best to affect a casual air, which is an impressive feat for someone treading water while clutching the charred remains of a bedsheet to cover her naked body.
“I wouldn’t call it an accident. Merely a failed experiment,” I say.
That does her in. Harley collapses back on the cushions, cackling like an evil villain. I imagine the red-gold curls spiraling down to her shoulders are Medusa’s snakes.
As Harley shakes in mirth, the sunlight glistens on her gloriously tanned skin. She’s one of those elusive redheads whose melanin decided to work right. The only reason someone might mistake me for tan is because I have so many freckles that they blend into a solid brown blur at a distance.
Big sisters suck.
Cat, who followed after my mad dash from the house, settles at the edge of the pool, dipping her feet in and offering me a sympathetic smile.
Baby sisters are much preferred.
Once Harley calms down enough to talk, she gifts me with a smirk. “Guess those flame-retardant sheets didn’t work out like you were hoping.”
“Not exactly.” The blackened edges float wistfully in the water around me.
Not for the first time, I curse the means in which my Elemental gift chose to show itself.
Dad had told the three of us, once we were old enough to understand, that the Byrnes descended from one of the rare family lines who could trace their origins back to the ancient Elemental Gods.
Our ancestor being the Goddess of Fire.
“One day, your powers will reveal themselves.”
“When?” Harley, the oldest and most demanding of us, asked.
“I’m not sure. But the magic is normally tied up with a strong emotion. And it will likely be different for each one of you. None of you need to worry though. I will help you. I’ll teach you how to control the fire, like my mother taught me.”
Dad kept to his word, helping Harley when she was thirteen and her fear of a rattlesnake ended up setting the whole front yard on fire. And again, when Cat was eleven and her anger melted the tires off the bike of a bully who was mocking her best friend.
Fear. Anger. Those were emotions my dad could incite in them enough to practice. He was mostly successful. I’d say, ninety percent of the time, my sisters were in complete control of their abilities.
But when I was fourteen and the sight of a teenage heartthrob singing about basketball on my TV had the couch underneath me going up in flames, we ran into a problem.
No way in hell was I going to try getting aroused when my dad was anywhere in the vicinity.
I insisted on practicing by myself.
Unfortunately, that meant no one was waiting to douse the heat if it got out of hand.
Fourteen years later, and I’m still setting furniture on fire.
“It’s not fair!” My feet settle on the pool floor, my body having floated to the shallow end. “I can’t even touch myself unless I’m in the shower.”
“You could always hook up with a Squid,” Cat supplies, her voice gentle.
If it were Harley who had made the suggestion, I would’ve snapped back. Instead, I groan in defeat.
“All the Squids are cocky bastards. You can barely stand to be around them, and you’re one of the most chill people in the world. Last time you ran into one you melted his shoes to the ground.”
Cat blushes at the reminder. Most people are shocked when they see a girl so sweet lose her temper. But I love it. She’s glorious when she’s in a rage.
“I’m not saying talk to them. Just…sleep with one.”
The plan might appear good in theory, but reality is often a disappointing bitch. A Squid helped me pop my cherry.
Even in my brain, that sounds gross.
Correction: a Water Elemental was my first. And what a disappointing event that was.
Twenty-two and desperate, I caved. When the guy was finally naked, he spread his arms wide and raised a set of thick eyebrows, as if to say, You’re welcome. Suffice it to say, I didn’t have to battle my fire too badly during that drunken escapade. Whenever a little flame popped up, he’d just douse it with a wave of his fingers.
So I know what a dick feels like inside me, but I would’ve thought a Water Elemental would be better at getting a girl wet.
A repeat held no appeal, and I was back to practicing on my own.
And failing miserably at it.
“Forget Squids. Quinn runs so hot, she needs an Ice Elemental,” Harley declares as she rubs on a generous coating of tanning oil.
I snort in response. “Sure. I’ll go out and find one of those. And I bet he’ll be riding a unicorn on his way home from tea with Bigfoot.”
None of us have ever met a descendant of the God of Ice. Dad said they were rumored to have died off over a century ago. Elementals in general are rare. Phoenix is home to well over a million people, and there are maybe fifty of us magic wielders among that number. Possibly more, but it’s not like we put our powers on display. That’s a good way to get yourself dissected in some government lab.
No thank you.
We keep our abilities to ourselves and fit in with the humans as best we can.
Harley twirls a curl around her middle finger. “I fucked a guy with big feet. And I’m talking mythically large. Plus he had more hair than an entire waxing parlor could handle.”
“Are you trying to tell us that you not only met Bigfoot, but that you also slept with him?” Cat asks, flicking water at our big sister.
Harley fiddles her own fingers, evaporating the droplets before they land on her sun-drenched skin. “I’m just saying you never know what’s out there. Maybe you need to take a sex pilgrimage north. Search the wild, frozen tundra to find yourself an Icie.”
“An Icie?” I tug the mostly disintegrated sheet around my legs as I head for the pool stairs. “Is that what we’re calling them?”
At some point, someone made up nicknames for each of the Elemental descendant groups. Squids, Petal Pushers, Airheads, Stoners, and Pyros. They aren’t the most flattering, but we all seem to have embraced them.
Harley shrugs. “Nah. I can think of something better. Give me a minute.”
As I climb out of the water, dripping and barely covered by my singed bedding, a rush of jealousy overwhelms me at the sight of Harley, so relaxed and carefree on her lounge chair, and Cat, calm and rational while making gentle waves with her feet. Both of them are able to explore their sexuality, sleep with whoever they want, without worrying that they might barbecue their partners or turn their bedrooms into ashes.
“Why are you here? This is Cat’s and my house. Ever think we might like our privacy?” I know I sound spiteful, but I’m strung tight and looking for a fight.
My big sister lies back on her chair with a smug smile. “My apartment doesn’t have a pool. Plus, I like to be around when you turn into a fiery comet of lust.”
“Why? So you can mock me?”
A flicker of something wicked flashes behind Harley’s hazel eyes. “No, though that is a fun bonus.” She holds a hand up to stop my angry growl. “I’m here because I know a perfect way to cool you down.”
* * *
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