Caloric

It was early morning on what would hopefully be their last day as prisoners. None of them slept through the night. Sometime around midnight, Skylar successfully levitated both Lily and Phoenyx a few feet off the ground. The feeling was amazing. It really was like flying. There was this feeling in Phoenyx’s stomach, almost like the way it feels to be on a rollercoaster, that free-falling, up and down, tingly feeling. It was a good thing she didn’t get motion sickness but, then again, her stomach was empty anyway so it wouldn’t have mattered. It was very exciting to see Skylar’s ability grow. She was certain he’d be able to bend the bars by the next day.

Sebastian’s ability had grown much as well. He could make the water float straight out of the toilet bowl and move all around the room. Too bad he couldn’t magically clean the water, too, because they were almost out of drinking water and she was getting desperately thirsty. If they had to stay in this room any longer, she would go for the water in the tank of the toilet.

Now they were all just relaxing and talking, taking a break in the place of sleep to regain some strength before starting again.

“I can definitely feel it now,” Lily said. “It’s a vibrating, fuzzy feeling all over. All the hairs on my arms are standing up, like I have goose bumps but I don’t.”

“Yeah, I feel it too,” Sebastian said. “That solar storm is definitely building. Can you feel it?” he asked Phoenyx.

She took a moment to assess herself. Now that she thought about it, she did feel different. She thought it was just nerves, this electric buzz all through her. It felt similar to that initial feeling you get after a beer, before you are drunk. Only it didn’t cloud her mind, at all, and it wasn’t really a high feeling but not necessarily unpleasant either.

“Yes, I feel it,” she said.

“I definitely feel more powerful,” Sebastian said. “I can…I feel the water in all the pipes under the floor and in the walls. It’s trippy as hell but really cool; I found a new sense I never knew I had.”

“Be careful with it, though,” Phoenyx cautioned jokingly. “You cause a leak in here and we might all drown.”

“We all stink pretty badly and could all use a bath,” he jibed.

“You aren’t kidding,” Skylar said. “You always act like a horse’s ass and now you smell like one.” He grinned teasingly.

Lily and Phoenyx laughed, secretly smelling themselves, and neither one happy with the results.

“I’m surprised you can smell anything with your nose so high up in the air like that,” Sebastian retorted.

“You want to see up in the air, do you?” Skylar asked.

Suddenly, they were all picked up off the floor and hovering just under the ceiling.

“Whoa!” Phoenyx and Lily gasped in surprise.

“Bloody hell,” Sebastian exclaimed, sounding extremely British just then. “That’s goddamned amazing! You’re lifting all of us at once!”

It wasn’t just the four of them. All of the empty water bottles, paper bags, burger wrappers, and apple cores were floating all around them. Only hours ago, Skylar was barely able to lift two people and now he levitated everything in this room without breaking a sweat.

“That storm is definitely getting bigger,” Skylar said. “I feel like I can do anything. I will definitely be able to bend those bars tomorrow morning. I’ll bet all your powers are stronger too.”

He set them all down softly.

“Why don’t you try?” Sebastian asked Phoenyx. “If Skylar can do that, I can’t wait to see what you can do.”

His face was boyish and hopeful. Lily was smiling at her.

Phoenyx swallowed. She couldn’t let them down. “Uh, sure. Let’s see.”

She took another paper bag and set it in front of her. She definitely felt a difference. She felt powerful. Just looking at the paper bag, she knew she could light it with no problem. It wanted to burn. It was begging to burn. It began to smoke. She felt their eyes on her and she wanted to just get it over with quickly, but it wouldn’t do anything more than smoke. She pushed her will harder but nothing happened. Something was holding her back. Something was stopping this from working.

“I can’t do it,” she said. “For some reason, it’s not working.”

“Keep trying,” Sebastian encouraged. “There was smoke just now. I saw you burn that paper yesterday. I know you can do this. Try again.”

She tried. All she felt was cold and her heart skipped nervously. There wasn’t even smoke this time. That humming inside her was strong and almost audible but something blocked it. Her heart beat even faster. It was like every time she would think, “fire,” another part of her would blow it out.

“It’s because you’re scared,” Skylar said. “Your fear is like a fire extinguisher, it slakes your power. That’s how your arm got burnt.” He nodded his head toward her right arm. “As soon as you became afraid of it, your power over the fire died and it started to burn you.”

She clutched her wrist.

“What are you afraid of?” Lily asked. “Aside from the possibility of getting killed in two days but we’re all afraid of that.”

“Are you afraid of hurting one of us?” Sebastian asked. “If you do, Lily can heal us. None of us would blame you because we are all just getting used to our powers—none of us really knows what we’re doing.”

“It’s not that,” Phoenyx said. “I mean it’s not just that. I’m afraid of losing control. The whole reason I started that damn fire was because I lost control of my emotions. When I use that power, whatever emotion I feel at the time just goes haywire. The fire feeds my emotions just as it feeds off what it’s burning. What if one of these times I can’t stop it and the fire just feeds and feeds until I don’t recognize myself anymore?”

“I can’t say that won’t happen,” Sebastian said. “But you’re stronger than you give yourself credit for. You have a power that is stronger than the fire, stronger than your fear or any other emotion. That is your willpower. Not once since we’ve been down here have I seen you give up, even for a second.”

“He’s right,” Lily said. “Right from the beginning, since we first woke up here, you’ve faced every terrible new thing head on. You’ve been my strength.”

“I believe you can learn to control this,” Sebastian continued. “Now you just have to believe it.”

Phoenyx shrugged. “I’ll try.”

“I hope you do,” Skylar said. “My telekinesis may be formidable but if we don’t have your fire tomorrow, we will be wasting a valuable resource.”

“No pressure or anything, but our lives depend on you,” Sebastian taunted.

“Gee, thanks,” Phoenyx frowned. “That makes me feel so much better.”

“Good.” He laughed. “Okay, I think we’ve had a long enough break. Let’s get to it.” He put his hand on Phoenyx’s shoulder. “I’m here if you need any help.”

“I know.” She smiled.

He squeezed her shoulder, then went back to his post. She went back to hers. Nothing they said really helped. She still didn’t want to use her power. Hopefully, she wouldn’t have to. Still, she would practice with it for now, for their benefit. They all deserved as much.

The day came to an end. The last day they would spend in this room, for better or worse. They all had a bite or two of their last apple, with just enough left for one more bite for each of them in the morning. There was no more water and, after having only small bits of very dry apple, Phoenyx was absolutely parched. She had no idea of the true meaning of the word ‘parched’ until this moment. She was looking at cotton-mouth in the rearview mirror.

Lily was curled up in the corner and Skylar lay on his back near the opposite wall, both of them trying to get to sleep. Once again, Sebastian and Phoenyx were sitting against the wall next to each other on either side of the bars, the late night talkers. Not that anyone could tell the difference between night and day in here but her circadian rhythm had adjusted to give her an inkling of time, finally.

She was so nervous about tomorrow. Talking about escaping was easy. Anything still to come is easy but they were right on the precipice. Seven or so hours from now, they would break out of this room and brave whatever obstacles await them on the other side of that door. Though the knowledge that no one out there could kill them just yet was a slight comfort, that didn’t mean they were safe from incapacitating injury as well. She had to stop being so morbid if she was ever going to get tired enough to sleep, and she had to sleep tonight to have strength enough for tomorrow.

“What are you thinking about?” Sebastian asked. “You’ve been quiet for too long.”

“The same thing we’re all thinking about.” She sighed. “Distract me.”

“All right.” He laughed. “Rather than thinking about what could go wrong tomorrow, think about how great it will be to finally get out of here. The four of us will all go out and celebrate. You and I can finally go on that date.”

She smiled. “That’s right. Just what did you have in mind for our first date?”

“A nice restaurant, a bottle of wine, then maybe some mini-golf—”

“Ha ha, wow, I haven’t played mini-golf since my ex-boyfriend took me on our first date,” she said. “So, I’m guessing that’s a classic first date activity for guys, huh?”

“Of course,” Sebastian said. “Well, really any game where we can come up behind a girl and put our arms around her with the pretense of teaching her how to play: mini-golf, bowling, pool—you name it.”

“Ha, ha, ha!” She laughed a little too loudly and remembered that Lily and Skylar were trying to sleep. She put her finger up to her lips and shushed.

“So, what happened between you and your old boyfriend?” Sebastian whispered.

She scoffed. “He turned my prom night into a nightmare.”

“Yes, you’ve said that,” he said. “I know there’s a story there and it’s not like we don’t have time for it.”

She shrugged. “All right, I’ll tell you. First thing you have to understand is that, even though it’s juvenile and silly, prom meant a lot to me. For the first time in pretty much my entire school career, I had more than one friend, and prom was basically my last chance to be a part of that group before we all graduated and went off to different colleges. My mom and I went in together on a really nice expensive dress from the same catalogue as my girlfriends who were going. Normally I don’t care that much about clothes but, as I’ve said, this was a big deal to me; my dress cost three hundred dollars.

“So anyway, I got all dressed up and was expecting Scott to make the night romantic for me if he had any hope of us trying the whole long distance thing. We planned for him to show up in a limo. When he knocked on my door, all that was outside was his crappy jeep with the word ‘prom!’ written all over the windows in florescent marker. Our two friends John and Amy were in the backseat.

“‘You look beautiful,’ he said.

“‘Thanks. Uh, what happened to the limo?’ I asked.

“‘Oh, I called in too late and they were out of limos,’ he said. ‘But I promise, the jeep will be just as good.’ Then he held up a long stem red rose and I thought, ’well at least he got the tuxedo and the rose right.’

“So, we got in the car and started driving; and then he got a phone call. I didn’t really pay attention to anything he said. I just assumed he was talking to our other friends who were already there. But then we made a turn onto the highway, which was going in the opposite direction of school.

“‘Where are we going?’ I asked.

“‘We’re just making a quick stop,’ he said. ‘We’re getting some, uh, party supplies.’ He winked at John in the rearview mirror. John then slapped the back of Scott’s seat and started howling like a moron. I knew they both had a thing for pot and even did some of the harder stuff like coke sometimes. Most of the time it didn’t bother me, but it did irk me a bit that we were putting off prom to get whatever drug they wanted.

“So we drove fifteen minutes out of town to some house in the woods. There was a huge party going on there and cars parked everywhere. Scott and John said they would be right back so Amy and I waited in the car. After about five minutes, we decided to go inside and look for them so we could leave. Everyone at the party stared at us like we were freaks the whole time we were inside. Some of the especially drunk girls were falling over themselves to touch our dresses and tell us how pretty we looked in them. When we finally found the guys, they were in the back yard, sniffing lines off a piece of cardboard with some older thug looking guys.

“‘It’s time to go,’ I told Scott.

“‘Yeah, come on,’ Amy said, tugging on John’s arm.

“‘Just one more minute, babe’ Scott said.

“It was right then that red and blue lights flashed all around and sirens sounded. Everyone went crazy and started scattering. Scott and John grabbed our hands and pulled us through the side gate of the backyard to get to the jeep. Cars were taking off left and right and we jumped in the jeep and started to drive away, and cop cars started following everyone off the property. We were all freaking out and yelling at Scott. He did the smart thing and turned really sharp down a side road that went into the woods. Just when we thought we were safe, the car sputtered and died.

“I really started yelling at Scott then, telling him how he really should have gotten a limo and how I couldn’t believe he dragged us all the way out there. We heard sirens in the distance so we couldn’t just wait there. We pushed the jeep off to the side and ran through the woods in the direction we thought the main road was. By the time we got back to town, my dress was covered in mud and the bottom was ripped up all in shreds, and prom was over. So I broke up with him that night and felt about a hundred and seventy pounds lighter ever since.

“So much for wanting romance, huh?”

“Wow, that’s pretty messed up,” Sebastian said. “I’m sorry you didn’t get the prom you wanted… What did your prom dress look like? Just so I have an idea of what a three-hundred dollar dress looks like. Paint a picture for me.”

“Uh, let’s see, it was lavender chiffon with gold lace at the top, sleeveless with a sweetheart neck line, and it had a long flowing skirt that went all the way down to the floor,” she summarized.

He nodded. “Okay. So, something like this?”

Out of the corner of her eye, she noticed a color change on her lap. She looked down and saw the blue jeans she had been wearing for a week turned into a shimmering two-toned lavender chiffon skirt. Her rather odorous tear-stained black cotton T-shirt became a tight fitting lavender bodice that shaped her breasts perfectly and left her shoulders bare.

“Oh, my God!” she exclaimed.

When she looked back up, she was no longer in her prison, but in a large gymnasium decorated with hanging pastel streamers all over the ceiling. No more of the painfully bright florescent lights; the whole gym was dimmed, lit only by different colored accent lights. She looked at Sebastian and saw that he was now adorned in a wonderfully fitted tuxedo.

“Wha—” was all she could muster.

Sebastian stood up and offered her his hand. “I figured since you never got to your prom, and this might be our last night alive, I’ll bring the prom to you. Can I have this dance?” The song “At Last” began to play.

Phoenyx felt her face light up. She took his hand and let him pull her up. Still holding her hand, he put his other hand around her waist. She put her arms around the back of his neck and they began to dance.

“You are just full of surprises,” she said. “The song couldn’t be more perfect. Do you know that this song is at the end of just about all of my favorite romance movies?”

He smiled so handsomely. “How did I do with everything else? I’ve never been to a high school prom so I just had to wing it.”

“It’s perfect,” she said. “I wouldn’t change a thing.”

“Hmm, we may have a problem,” he said, biting his lip. She cocked her head curiously, and he said, “I think I made your dress too sexy because you are killing me in it.” She threw her head back and laughed, then drew him near and kissed him.

When they managed to stop kissing, she said, “Thank you for this. I couldn’t imagine a better way to spend what could be the last night of my life.”

“Thank you,” he said, “for turning out to be so amazing. If things do turn out for the worst tomorrow, I wouldn’t regret any of this because I got to meet you.” They held each other’s eyes for a moment, then she put her head on his shoulder and just swayed with him. She wanted to savor every second of this, to enjoy it to the fullest. She never wanted to let him go. Whatever happens tomorrow, at least they had tonight.

“Since this might be our last night together,” he started after a while, “there’s something I want you to know.” He pulled away just enough to look at her, still keeping the dance going. “I…I dreamt about you before we met.”

Her heart warmed.

“I know,” she said. “That night when you and Skylar were talking about it, I was still awake and heard by accident.”

He blushed and closed his eyes in embarrassment. “Oh God; all this time, you knew and didn’t say anything?” He laughed, getting more embarrassed by the minute. “I can’t believe you heard all that. You must have thought I was crazy.”

She also laughed. “It’s okay. Actually, I didn’t think you were crazy because I’ve dreamt about you too.”

The embarrassment left his face. They shared a look of complete understanding and acceptance.

“We both dreamt about each other before we met,” he said. He lifted one hand to caress her cheek, and she melted into his touch. “So, it is as I thought, as I hoped…we have met in other lives before this one.”

She nodded. “Or at least one. I think the one I dream about was our life before this one. I was working in a dance club as a bartender—”

“I was a mobster who left the life to play piano in your bar,” he finished.

“Yes,” she said, feeling absolutely completed. “You had the same dream.”

“More than that,” he said.

“Really? You’ve dreamt about our other lives?” she asked, mystified. “Tell me about them.”

“They’re only bits and pieces but I’ve dreamt about us living in times and places all over the world,” he said. “We’ve been painters in fifteenth century Vienna, nobles in ancient Egypt, a politician and a prostitute in ancient Greece—”

“A prostitute?” she blurted.

“Yes, sorry, they weren’t all fairytales.” He chuckled. “I think prostitutes were celebrities in those times because you were quite famous.”

She pictured it. She supposed it wasn’t all that different from certain female celebrities today who use sex to acquire fame. With her powers, it kind of made sense that such a profession would have crossed her path in at least one of her many lifetimes. With her ability to compel and affect men the way she does, she probably barely had to do any real work.

“Maybe it’s a good thing I don’t remember our other lives together.” She laughed.

“I’m glad I’ve had a chance to see parts of them,” he said. “I’ve seen us meet a hundred times, dance a hundred times, get married, have children, fight, get old. I feel…unbelievably blessed to have a glimpse at our connection to one another. The fact that we are these supernatural beings and have lived thousands of lives is incredible. But to know that, in almost every one of our lives, we somehow manage to find each other—”

He didn’t finish his thought. He didn’t need to. They had a deeper connection than just being Fire and Water. They didn’t dream about Lily or Skylar, at least she hadn’t. So it didn’t seem that all four of them found each other in each life. Just she and Sebastian were bound to one another as much as their elements were bound to them.

The buzzing inside her had been growing all night, and she was quite aware of it now. It felt as if her soul was spreading, growing, and radiating from her. She could almost see a sort of amber glow on her arms. Come to think of it, she could just barely make out a similar teal-tinged glow emanating from Sebastian. Even through the illusion he created, she saw it. She felt more connected than ever to him. She felt this glow from him—a kind of palpable spiritual matter which was cool, refreshing, and placating. She wondered if he felt her aura, and if it felt hot and out of control to him.

“Tell me more about our lives together,” she said. “I wanna know everything.”

As they swayed back and forth and more music played, he told her stories about what he’d dreamt. She let his words paint pictures inside her head and push out all the worry of what tomorrow would bring.