CHAPTER 13

Two glass containers sat on either end of a table in Yolanda’s lab, both glowing like tiny infernos from their contents. One held the ashes from the phoenix, the other contained the embers from the smaug.

When the door slid closed behind Afu, Yolanda spun around with her yellow lab coat flapping open as if she was some superhero of the periodic table.

“So is it true then?” She smiled, filled with so much excitement she might have burst into flames. “Was it a phoenix?”

“Yes,” all five of us said at the same time.

“Hot dog!” Yolanda drove a fist into her open palm. “I really wish you would have kept it alive. The possible–”

“We tried,” I said. “At the risk of getting burned alive, too. The Sandman didn’t do shit, so Patrice trapped it with the chain net. Then it blew itself up.”

“Must have been some kind of defense mechanism,” Brannigan said. “Maybe like when there were bumblebees and they’d die after stinging you?”

“The tranq laser didn’t affect it?” Yolanda could have been talking about her collection of mold spores. “Whacky.”

“More like wack,” I said. “Wack as hell. The Sandman should put anything living to sleep. Not just dragons. Do you remember what happened to that one smokie on Slayer 13? Newton or somebody?”

Afu nodded. “Accidentally power jumped into the path of the laser and was out cold for nearly a month.”

“This bird is obviously different,” Yolanda said. “The fact that it exists is a complete anomaly. If only I’d been able to study it.”

Chief took out his holoreader and set it on the table between the two containers. A hologram video of the phoenix rose above the screen. The fiery bird flapped its wings, zooming toward tiny versions of Afu and me.

“I didn’t see this until Renfro and Naveena were already on their way,” Brannigan told me.

I rolled my eyes.

In the holovideo, a chain net flew into the picture and caught the phoenix, throwing it into the ground. A moment later, tiny Afu tackled tiny me as the phoenix fire grew bigger despite the foam I had been dumping onto it – I hadn’t even realized that was happening. Next thing you know, the phoenix burst into an explosion of flames that could have destroyed two city blocks.

We were goddamn lucky to be alive.

Brannigan shut off the holoreader as a digital Patrice was calling us ash kickers, and returned it to his pocket. “What do you make of that, Yolanda?”

The propellerhead rubbed her chin and walked around to the other side of the table. “I’m going to talk this out because it’s all muddy in my head right now. We know that fire acts differently depending on the conditions and the fuel it’s gobbling up to continue burning. But this,” she held a hand out to each glowing container, “won’t quit burning.”

“It even burned up a wraith,” said Afu.

Naveena widened her eyes and turned to me. “No shit?”

“Yup,” I said.

“And these two are very different substances.

Not just in how they look.” Yolanda grabbed each container and began sliding them towards each other. “But similar in how they – ouch!”

Yolanda jerked her hands back when the containers touched. The smaug’s embers flashed and died, while the phoenix ashes grew flames and filled the container.

“What in fuck?” Brannigan said.

Renfro whistled. “It’s like the one container absorbed the energy from the other.”

Rubbing his hands and breathing heavier, Afu said, “You know what the legend says about phoenixes, right?”

Yolanda shook her head. “Not this again.”

“There was only ever one phoenix at a time, right?” Renfro said.

“Yeah,” Naveena said. “But that’s because it would burst into flames whenever its body was failing and would rise again from the ashes.”

Rise again from the ashes. What if Afu was right?

We all turned our gaze to the phoenix flames. It looked like bottled hell inside the glass container.

“Told y’all!” Afu shouted.

“But that’s impossible,” Yolanda said. “Matter can change, but it can’t revert back. And it sure as poop can’t reform into a living thing.”

“Then how do you explain what we just saw?” Afu asked.

The yellow flames danced across my vision. I looked down and noticed the glow was casting shadows of us all. “Dragons,” I said. “And ghosts. Hell, even the droids out there directing traffic in the middle of Parthenon City. Remember when people thought they were impossible, too?”

Naveena nodded. “She’s right. I think we need to be more safe than sorry on this. Chief?”

“Right,” Brannigan said. “Yolanda, we need to lock these ashes up. Somewhere fire resistant and only accessed by you and me. Can you make that happen?”

It was the first time I’d ever seen Yolanda surprised or upset. “But… but how will I study it if it’s locked away?”

I could have sworn she was on the verge of tears.

“You can study the video I have and the damage to Cannon 15 when they tow it back here. If I think it’s safe to do so, you can take the ashes out intermittently to do your job, but I’m firm on this, Yolanda. Okay?”

She dropped her head and nodded slightly. “I can put it in the safe-room and change the card-reader to only let in you and me. I know someone who’s an expert on mythological creatures. I have to find his information. It’s been a few years. Maybe some of you can go talk to him and see if he knows something that can help.”

“That brings up a good question, Chief.” I said. “What do me and my crew do until Cannon 15 is repaired? And what about those redneck… those volunteers who died today?”

“We’ll notify their families and tell them what happened. Propellerheads on scene told me there weren’t any bodies to recover since they’d been burned, eaten, or both.”

“One of their bodies is still in Lake Erie,” I said, remembering swimming over Wilkins’ corpse.

“No use keeping this clusterfuck secret. And those idiots should have never been out there in the first place. I heard them on the video. Volunteer smokies my ass. As far as your truck and getting back to work, you can’t do shit while one of your crew is lying in a sick bed anyway. Williams, you’ll have to earn your new pay-grade by filling out a big ass report on everything. And I mean everything. I want it as thorough as you can make it. No loose ends.

“Otherwise, I’d say you all earned some paid time off for the great job you did today. Who knows how much of the state that thing would have barbecued if you hadn’t been there. Oh…” Brannigan puckered his lips.

“Oh?” I asked.

“Well, this isn’t really the time or place, but Sherry’s been bugging the shit out of me to invite all of you out to our house this Saturday. I’m throwing a barbecue. Might as well turn it into a celebration of the ash kickers, the only smoke eater team to ever fight a goddamn phoenix. Plus, I’ll have a keg.”

“I’m there,” the other three said in unison. Keg is a magical word.

“Don’t go throwing around nicknames for us.” I pinched the bridge of my nose.

Ash kickers. Ridiculous.

“I kind of like it,” said Afu.

“I think I should stay here with Patrice,” I said. “Going to have to cancel my DJ gig, too. So it’s a no for me, Chief.”

“Patrice will be there, too,” Brannigan said. “I know this is scaring the shit out of you, but you’ve seen how fast the curate works. Look at your arm.”

I did. Where a gash had been, now there was only a slight pink scar that would also vanish in time.

“I expect her to be fully-recovered by the morning,” Yolanda said.

The day of a DJ gig I usually slept in so I’d have energy to go until two or five o’clock in the morning, depending on the venue. That usually didn’t happen if my mama needed help with moving Daddy from his bed to his wheelchair to the toilet and back again.

But Afu said something that I’d been feeling, too. I missed this, the old team together. Even though it wouldn’t be fighting scalies or running from flying wraiths, it was something I’d been craving but hadn’t known I’d been missing.

I sighed and looked at Brannigan. “Can I bring my parents?”