BRIGHTON
I’m so hot that I’m pulled out of a dream where Prudencia telekinetically carries me into the sky and kisses me with the moon behind her.
Prudencia’s head is nestled against my left shoulder as my scaly arm is burning up like it’s trapped inside a fireplace. The heat spreads across my body, and as much as I don’t want to let her go, I slide out from under Prudencia. I step over the used condom and put on my boxers so I can get some ice-cold water to go with the medicine I need badly to cool down my temperature. I fall to my knees and I don’t realize I’m screaming until Prudencia snaps out of bed in nothing but the bra and underwear she put back on after we had sex.
“Brighton, what’s wrong?” Prudencia asks and her touch burns me even more.
I flinch. “It’s hot, I’m so hot—AHHH!”
There must be some inferno around my heart. The poison is eating me alive.
Emil runs into the room with groggy eyes.
I hold my shaking arm and it hurts to breathe so much that I almost don’t want to. “Emil, this is it, bro; I’m dying.” I scream again as I punch down on the floor with my left fist to try and fight through the pain. It’s a losing battle. I grind my teeth so hard they might crack and go down my throat and choke me to death before this poison can finish its dirty work.
“You’re going to be okay,” Prudencia lies with tears flowing down her cheeks.
Wesley, Ruth, and Iris are gathered outside the doorway as Esther cries down the hall.
Emil hugs me. “I love you, Bright.”
The heat spikes to a whole new level and I shove Emil because I sense something explosive within me. My scaly arm glows like burning coal and I wish someone would press a wand to my head and put me out of misery. My vision becomes foggy like heavy clouds of smoke and clears moments later and I find something impossible.
My arm is blazing in silver and sapphire flames.
For a tenth of a second I trick myself into thinking the Reaper’s Blood is working, until the fire incinerates my flesh and bones. Blood pools around my knees. I must look like someone in a grotesque horror film. The flames erupt all around me until I’m completely consumed. I’ll be nothing but ashes in moments. My shoulder tenses as a fist punches its way out, stretching until the rest of my arm follows.
The silver and sapphire flames disperse from everywhere except my good-as-new arm.
“It worked! The Reaper’s Blood worked!”
I break out into a laugh, sweat and tears still on my face, and as the fire from the century phoenix vanishes within my reformed hand, I don’t see anyone else laughing or celebrating. They’re all stunned, but it’s the horror in Prudencia’s eyes and the dread in Emil’s that really sets me back.
“What?” I ask.
I investigate my body to see if I’m missing something bad. But I only see something amazing.
“How do you feel?” Emil asks.
My temperature is cooling down. My arm is sore and stiff but nothing that flexing my fingers and some stretching can’t fix. “Happy,” I say with a smile that feels as big as the one I had when Prudencia and I stopped to catch our breath during sex—a smile that has felt buried in my face for years and was finally freed. I have wanted powers since I was a kid; I never gave up on that dream like Emil did. The Reaper’s Blood seemed like it was going to take my life when instead it improved it infinitely. “I’m starting over with powers. It’s everything I’ve wanted—almost everything. Only two out of the three essences have manifested so far, but I don’t want to be greedy. This is a great start!”
I’m so excited I actually jump up and down, pumping my new fist that’s nearly identical to the one I’ve always had minus the nicks I’ve gained the past month from all the fights against specters and acolytes. I notice a thin white scar from where the fire ate away at my arm and trace it. Hydra essence killed Dad but it saved me.
I’m strong enough to save the world with these new powers.
“I want to start training,” I say, moving for the door.
“You should probably put more clothes on first,” Wesley says.
I’m still in my boxers. I don’t care. They all just witnessed a miracle.
“Settle down,” Prudencia says. “It’s three in the morning and you were literally just on fire.”
“But it stopped hurting. Emil, was it that bad for you?”
Emil shakes his head. “No. My fire never hurt me like that. Pru is right; let’s take this slow. Century phoenixes are different than gray suns. I heard how war-hungry Gravesend’s cries were; we don’t know how that’s going to play out for you.”
Great, now they’re going to blame all my instincts on some breed temperaments. I’m eager because if there’s a chance my mother is still alive we’re going to have to move fast to save her.
I sway on the spot and this dizziness feels different than all the other times since the Reaper’s Blood has impacted my system. Then I remember what happened to Emil and Maribelle shortly after using their phoenix fire for the first time. “I’m going to faint,” I say. I think about quickly reaching the bed so I can have a safe landing and I suddenly lunge forward so fast that I roll across the mattress and crash into the desk by the window. Prudencia massages the back of my head as she helps me onto the bed. “Did I just swift-run? I wasn’t even trying to do that!”
The powers are all manifesting. It’s happening; it’s all really happening. I rest my head on the pillow because I’m fading, but I’m already so excited to wake up knowing what’s waiting for me when I do. That enthusiasm clearly isn’t shared by anyone else in the room.
It’s almost as if everyone would rather see me dead than alive with power.