The Elementals

“Oh my god.” I stare at the kitchen. “What the heck happened in here? A nuclear war?”

The whole room is wrecked. All the drawers are open, the contents scattered in various places on the floor. Most everything has scorch marks, pieces of broken glass and pottery are everywhere, and the entire fridge is lying face down on the floor.

“Did you kill him or something?” I poke Coal in the chest, pushing him back a step.

“I wish I did.” Coal mutters in response, the scene bringing back bad memories.

“Well, the stove is destroyed so it looks like you’re cooking breakfast.” I grab his hand and start down the stairs to the pantry.

Audrey wasn’t kidding when she said a decade’s worth of food. The entire fourth level is mainly taken up by a huge warehouse type room dedicated to food. Cans, boxes, giant fridges filled with milk and eggs.

I walk over to a shelf with pancake mix on it. It’s as if Izila literally lifted a grocery store and dropped it here. Pulling down the package, I turn and come face to face with Coal. I back up, startled. His hands are on either side of my shoulders, boxing me in.

“Can I...help...you?” I ask, voice faltering at the end.

His eyes search mine, cataloging every single detail. He’s not smiling - not even a smirk - but not frowning either. His expression is thoughtful, scouring my face for something.

My heart is pounding, hard thumps against my ribcage. I have to look up to meet his eyes; otherwise I’m just staring at his chest. I feel so small like this, compared to him. I never feel small. I intake a sharp breath as he leans closer, still silent.

“Coal?” I grimace as my voice squeaks in nervousness. “What do you want?”

He holds my gaze for a few more seconds and then pushes away, shaking his head. “Nothing, I’m good.”

I catch the breath I didn’t realize I was holding, and then chase after him. “Hey! That’s not fair! You can’t just...just do that!” I shake the pancake box for emphasis.

“Do what?” Coal asks, never breaking his stride. I have to jog to keep up with him.

“You know!” I struggle to put it into words. “You can’t almost...” I wave my hand, not willing to say it. “And then not! It isn’t fair. Stop it.”

“I can’t stop it unless you tell me what I’m doing.” Coal points out calmly, enjoying this thoroughly.

I clench my fists, stalking all the way up to the kitchen in silence. I only like this game we’re playing with each other if I’m winning.

Upon reaching the demolished kitchen, I recover a dented bowl, a half broken spoon, and a pan with numerous scratches running along it. I tear open the pancake box and dump the entire thing into the bowl, not caring if I spill some. Next are the eggs, which I crack harder than is absolutely necessary, then I splash the milk into the mix chaotically. I take the spoon and stir the batter angrily, going faster as Coal just smiles.

I take a spoonful of batter, yank the pan over and flick it off onto the black surface with a loud smack. I shove the pan at Coal expectantly, refusing to ask for a favor.

“Well someone’s ticked off.” Coal remarks idly.

I grip the spoon handle till the wood creaks ominously. Turning to him slowly, I see the smirk and give a low growl.

“There are over a million words in the English language.” I say softly, voice strung with tension. I stalk over to him, getting as close as I possibly can so I can glare straight up at him. I hate myself, but the gold flecks in his eyes start to distract me. I have to focus to remember what I was saying. I keep going, though my voice cuts out for a second. “Over a million words and none of them describe how much I want to kiss you -”

I stop short.

"Hit you. Hit you with this spoon right now.” I correct myself but Coal is already smirking, then laughing, and then he’s doubled over cracking up as I stand there seething with my face red.

“Now or later?” he asks, “Because both works for me.”

I clench my teeth. “I really, really, really want to -” I was going to threaten him but he cuts me off.

“Kiss me?” he snickers, and then backs up as I raise the batter covered spoon in the air. “Flippers,” he chides despite my warning. “Don’t deny you want to.”

I make another growl and fling the broken utensil at his head. Coal ducks under it, but the batter has splattered everywhere, including his face. He wipes some off his cheek with his finger, licking it off and nodding approval.

“Tastes good.” he smiles deviously. “Wanna try some?”

“I’m going to kill you!” I shout and my hand grabs the entire bowl and throws it before I can think. Batter is sprayed everywhere, on the walls, the cabinets, even me. The bowl itself narrowly misses Coal’s shoulder. He’s still laughing, almost immobilized with hysterics.

“I swear Coal...” I march up to him with purpose but he grabs my hand, yanking me down. I pull back, but inevitably trip and end up on top of him. I roll off while he holds up his hands, barely keeping a straight face.

“Calm down Flippers.” Coal can’t fight the smile on his face. “Let’s take it slow.”

“You drive me crazy!" I shriek and lunge at him. I pin him down by his shoulders, anger fueling me. He looks surprised by the force and briefly stops laughing.

“Beaten by a girl,” I taunt, ”Again."

The smirk returns to his face and he shakes his head. “Not yet.” he shoves me off, flipping me without effort. “You should have learned by now not to fight with me.” He says, shaking his head in mock disapproval.

“And you should have learned not to make me mad!" I spring up and tackle him. He laughs, holding back my hands easily as I try to pummel him. He holds my arms out so I can’t punch, leaving me desperately attempting to wriggle out of his grasp.

“Let me go!” I fight as hard as I can and get nowhere.

He smirks. “No.” I yelp as he pushes me off, flipping positions so he’s on top of me, inches away, holding my wrists to the ground. I push back, wrestling with him but he obviously has the upper hand.

“Get...” I push up with all my strength, which of course does nothing. ”Off!"

He stays put, looking bored while I continue to struggle with no results.

“Why is it that when I leave any of you alone, you get into a fight?”

I stop resisting as Audrey’s voice snaps me back into some common sense. She’s standing a few feet away, hands on hips, taking in the pancake batter everywhere and the two dirt covered teenagers on the floor.

“Coal started it!” I say in defense and he looks scandalized.

“Yeah, well he’s winning.” Audrey replies in the same tone and Coal grins triumphantly at me, rolling off. “Now get the...whatever is on you off, please, and don’t come back until you can sit together without killing each other.”

I stand, attempting to brushing off the dust even though it covers my whole body. “Yes Mom.” Coal and I chorus.

Audrey gives us a look and then I sprint down the stairs to the pool without another word, Coal right behind me. As soon as we’re out of earshot, Coal turns to me with most stuck-up, evil, churlish grin I’ve seen in a while. “So, wanna make out?” he asks.

My jaw drops and I shove him. “No! You’re so...so...ugh!”

“You’re thinking about it, you know you are.”

I close my mouth and count to ten. “It. Was. A. Mistake. I meant to say something else.”

“Freudian slip.” Coal waves his hand dismissively.

“Do you even know what that means?” I challenge, positive he doesn’t even if he did use it in the right context.

He flashes me a smirk. “It’s when a person says something they didn’t mean to even though they really did subconsciously.”

Okay, so he did know what it meant, how was I supposed to know that?”

Coal raises an eyebrow at my lack of response. “Speechless?”

“Yes,” I agree, “With shock that you knew that.”

“I’m more than just a pretty face Flippers.” He shakes his finger at me.

“Yeah,” I scoff. “You also have an ego the size of a small planet to go with it.”

“You did not deny that I am roguishly handsome.”

“Shut up.” I growl, annoyed that he caught that. I want the shy Coal back, the one that wasn’t cocky and obnoxious all the time. This one is driving me up the wall. I walk faster down the hallway to the pool room.

“Or what?” Coal shoots back and runs to catch up with me.

We emerge into the room, and the air gets lighter with the open space. I walk to the edge of the water. “Or I’ll make you.” I say simply, hoping it sounds like a threat.

I realize my mistake as he turns expectantly to me, grinning wolfishly. “I’d like to see you try.”

There’s two ways I could handle this: the mature way, and then the other way. Guess which one I choose?

I take a step towards him purposefully. “You would, huh?” His smirk fades, becoming confused because he obviously expected me to become more flustered like always. I reach up and put my hands on his shoulders, leaning in as close as I dare...

And throw him into the pool.

He’s completely off-guard and topples in while I cackle on the side. His face!

“That was evil.” He glares at me. “I wasn’t aware you were part time devil.”

“No,” I correct him. “That was a point for me.”

“So it’s a game now?”

“Of course it is. I’m winning by the way.”

Coal shakes his head. “I wouldn’t be too sure about that.” He says quietly, I can barely hear it. His face is dead serious, voice full of assurance. Then he glances up at me and the smirk returns. I roll my eyes and jump in after him.

“Nice of you to join me.” he grins.

I ignore him and splash some water in my face, scrubbing all the dust off. It feels good, because I was starting to choke off of the dust on my lips.

“There’re pancakes in your hair, Flippers.” Coal says indolently, looking amused.

I groan softly and dunk my head under. I rake my fingers through my tangles, trying not to whimper in pain. So I don’t brush my hair that often, it’s not like I have time during a fight for my life.

Hey, can you just wait a second before punching me? I need to comb my hair. Okay thanks, now I’m good.

Yeah, I don’t think so.

“Is it out?” I ask Coal. He tilts his head.

“Since when have you cared?”

I pause. I don’t care. But I do care. And why is that?

“Since you started pointing it out!” I reply, agitated for some reason. “Come on!” I grab his wrist and pull him out of the pool. “We need to find some clean clothes.”

“You mean you don’t like pancake mix all over your shirt?” Coal asks sarcastically, gesturing to the white mess over both of us, even when we’re soaked. I make a face at him and he cracks a smile, leading me down a side hallway. “I think there’s some stuff down here. Audrey mentioned it.”

We check two rooms before coming into a closet type one. Once again, every single piece of clothing on a hanger is black. I push through to the back of the closet and find some drawers that have tee-shirts with actual color. “Here,” I throw one over my shoulder at Coal.

“It’s blue."

I turn to him, surprised by the fear in the statement. His voice dropped for a second, becoming cautious. “So? Do you have a problem with blue?”

He looks at me for a moment, and I have the feeling he’s not telling me something. Then, just as quickly as he changed he’s back to normal, reaching over my shoulder with a grin and pulling out a shirt and handing it to me. “Not if you don’t have a problem with red.”

“I don’t.” I say carefully, still looking at him, searching for any other sign that something’s wrong.

“Then neither do I.” he says easily, peeling off the ruined shirt from his chest.

I yelp and cover my face. “Coal!” I snap.

“What?” he asks, confused.

"Leave.” I say with my eyes still closed, and point in the direction of what I think is the door.

“Really?”

“Yes!” I say. “Now go.”

He sighs, though half of it is a laugh. Then he gives a fake gasp. “Don’t tell me you’ve never seen a bare chest before, please.”

“Not yours!" I cry, leaning against the wall and sinking down to sit, still covering my eyes.

He coughs out a laugh. I crack one eye open, peering through my fingers and then shut it quickly as Coal smirks at me.

“Flippers...” I shrink back as his voice comes right in front of me. I feel his hands on mine, pulling them away from my face. “Flippers, look at me.” Coal says gently. “I won’t bite you, I promise.”

“Yeah, ’cause the first thing I think about you is “dang, this guy is gonna bite me!“” I mutter but open my eyes just a tiny bit.

He’s crouching in front of me, smiling with half his mouth - I hate it when he does that, I hate it so much, it makes my stomach all fluttery and light and my breath catch - why won’t he stop smiling? Unavoidably, my eyes fall to his chest, tan and flat and muscled and -

“Look at my face.” Coal instructs, letting go of my hand and tilting my chin up.

I try to talk but make kind of a whimpering noise, forgetting proper English for the time being.

“That’s probably the cutest thing I’ve ever seen.” Coal says with a fondness that is usually directed at animals. “Are you okay? You look like you might faint.”

“Put a shirt on.” I reply, taking the blue fabric from his hand and pushing it into his chest. “And leave.”

He chuckles, rolling back on his heels and stands, walking out the door while still laughing.

I quickly switch shirts, for the first time in my life wondering if I look alright. I smooth out the wrinkles and then smack myself. Why do I even care? I don’t, not at all. I storm out of the door with as much poise as I can considering that seconds ago I was cowering on the floor, soaking wet and covered in pancake batter.

Coal greets me with an amused grin and thankfully, a shirt on. “You look good Flippers. Red suits you.” He says cheerfully in response to my glare.

I don’t answer, just stomp ahead of him so he can’t see the happy smile fighting its way onto my face.

We pass the second level door and I pause. “Go ahead,” I say to Coal. “I...forgot something.” He looks doubtful. “Go, I’ll catch up. Save me some food.”

I start down the stairs again to be convincing. As soon as Coal’s footsteps fade I double back, quietly open the door to Level Two and creep in.

Is it a bad idea?

Of course it is that’s why I’m doing it.

I just want to talk to them.

The place is dived into many glass cells, making me shiver when I think what they were meant to hold. I walk slowly down the middle, but freeze behind a pillar when I hear hushed voices.

“...have to remember. Exactly." That was the clone, hissing angrily.

“I told you,” Caelum replies just as impatiently. “I can’t. It’s really fuzzy. All I remember is blue, and that it hurt. A lot, thanks for asking.”

“Oh, suck it up.” Tide3000 snaps. “Blue...” she mutters. “He’s fire, it doesn’t make sense! How could it be blue?”

“How am I supposed to know?” Caelum asks irritably. “Izila said it was just Tide that was special.”

I’m special? How? I lean forward, trying to listen.

“You’re a terrible liar.” I jump a little as Coal comes up behind me.

I push my fingers to his lips. “Shut up.”

“If you want to kiss me you should at least -”

“No seriously, shut up, I’m eavesdropping.” I whisper, and motion to the cell Tide3000 and Caelum are in. Coal goes quiet and listens as well.

“...he is too, obviously. Izila doesn’t even know about Coal.” The clone says.

Coal tenses next to me, eyes darkening with confusion.

“There are files,” Caelum suggests, “On the fourth level. They might help.”

“Well, if you get any brilliant ideas about escaping anytime soon,” the clone sighs and rolls her eyes in exasperation. “Do enlighten me.”

I wait for more, but Caelum gives no response. He looks like he fell into a volcano. His hair is blackened and his clothes have numerous burn holes in them.

I grab Coal’s hand and drag him into the hallway as quietly as possible. Once we’re out, I lean against the door, arms crossed. “Anything you feel like telling me?” I ask him, eyes narrowed. “Something blue related, perhaps?”

Coal looks down guiltily. “I was going to say something...eventually.”

“Yeah, like in the next decade.” I scoff. “So what happened? You threw a plate at Caelum, and then...” I prompt.

“He threw it back.” Coal says quietly, still observing the ground.

“God, you’re like a three year old!” I stomp my foot impatiently. “Just tell me what happened that has the clone so wound up!” I don’t understand why he’s being so withholding with the information.

Coal steps back, surprised. “So-we-were-fighting-and-then-I-got-really-mad-and-then-all-my-fire-turned-blue-and-blasted-everything-in-a-giant-explosion-sort-of-thing-and-it-only-lasted-a-second-but-it-took-out-Caelum-easily.” He blurts out so fast I can barely understand him.

I try to process what he just said. “Your fire was...blue?”

Coal nods.

“Fire can be blue, I’ve seen it before. Like on a lighter.” I say. Why hasn’t he told me this sooner?

Coal shakes his head. “That fire is hotter than normal. I’ve never been able to get to that temperature before. And it it’s harder to control my power now.” He adds quietly.

“Alright,” I say shakily. I don’t know what this means. What I do know is that it scares me, a lot. And that I’m kind of mad at how he carefully avoided mentioning any of this. “We should go find those files that Caelum was talking about.”

“Right now?”

“Yes right now.” I start walking down the stairs again and after a moment Coal follows. “Why didn’t you tell me?” I ask tightly, a little hurt.

“I didn’t want to bother you.” He says.

I stop at that, grabbing his hand and holding him back. “Bother me?”

“It’s not your problem.”

“Yes it is!” I exclaim, louder than I meant to. “Are you blind? I care about you, you moron, and your problems are my problems. Now if you so much as breathe differently, I need to know about it, okay?”

I’m surprised that I said this and Coal looks a little stricken as well. But he smiles crookedly after a second and nods. “Okay.”

“Good.” I straighten. “Now let’s go.” I drag him down the steps.

We reach the fourth floor and after checking every room find only one that’s locked. We ignored it the first time exploring but now it’s critical.

“The files have to be in here. There’s nowhere else left.” I say. “Do you happen to still have that Visa card?” I ask Coal.

“As a matter of fact, I do.” He pulls it out of his pocket and steps forward.

I watch closely as he slips the card in between the door and the wall. He stops and looks at me quizzically. “What?”

“I want to know how to do that.” I say and motion for him to continue.

“Well just watching won’t help.” He rolls his eyes at me in fake exasperation. “Here.” He backs up, allowing me to the front of the door.

His right hand takes mine from around back and guides to the card. Like a puppet, he helps me through the steps.

“See?” he says in my ear.

I blink out of my daze. The door is now unlocked and I have no idea how I did it. I was too busy marveling at how close Coal’s face was to mine as he looked over my shoulder to instruct me.

“Uh, yeah.” I say as he pulls away and opens the door. “That was...um...great.”

“Really?” he asks with a smirk, “Which part, picking the lock or me?”

I struggle for a reply to that because really I was talking about Coal. But I’ll never tell him that so I just shake my head and follow him, cheeks pink and sulking.

I turn on the light switch to the side and slowly a giant maze of filing cabinets is revealed by fluorescent bulbs that flicker in and out.

“Whoa...” I trail off, awed by the sheer amount of papers that must be in there.

“Yeah,” Coal agrees with a low whistle. “They’re in alphabetical order.” He says, pointing to the labels on each stack cabinets.

“Oh gee, that’s so helpful.” I mutter. “Now there are only twenty thousand places the file could be.”

Coal ignores my cynicism and points down the room a little. “I’ll go under F, and you go under E to look for Elementals.”

I follow his instructions, which feels weird because I’m usually the one bossing people around, and we split up. Rifling through the first cabinet of E’s proves to be fruitless, as well as incredibly disturbing. Let’s just say E can also be for “experiment” and leave it at that.

I finally discover something after about half an hour.

“Hey Coal!” I call, pulling out a file labeled “Element Biological Weaponry: Fire”. Sounds cheery. “Come here!”

I sit down on the floor and spread the papers out, grabbing half the stack. Coal settles next to me and we start to read. Most of it doesn’t make sense, but then I happen upon some very interesting information.

Experiments have shown the same symptoms in common, including: eyes that change pigment with different emotions and impressive memory abilities. Other behavioral side-affects include: slightly raised temper levels, lower patience levels, and possessive behavior.

I look over at Coal. He’s got all of those things, which cracks me up. He’s so cute while reading, scanning the page, slightly narrowed in concentration, face full of intent. It’s funny to think right now that he almost burned a forest down. I giggle softly to myself and keep reading.

Then I reach some science logs and my blood starts to run cold.

12:34 AM

Specimen #4 had incident involving the blue fire, now named the “Hyacintho event”. Like all other specimens, #4′s core body temperature gradually rose and experienced trouble in controlling their fire.

2:37 AM

Like all previous specimens, specimen #4 reported pain after using their abilities. Skin is no longer holding up against the fire.

3:02 AM

Specimen #4 caught on fire with no use of abilities. Burns occurred and specimen complained of feeling too hot. Core temperature: 108 degrees Fahrenheit.

3:07 AM

Specimen spontaneously combusted and could not control flames. Specimen died.

My fingers are trembling, the paper in my hand quivering ever so slightly. Still, I force myself to keep reading. I skim over the page, key words popping out and making me shake harder. Every single experiment starts being affected by the fire after the Hyacintho event. The one Coal had two days ago. That’s why he felt so hot.

Suddenly I can’t breathe. Does this mean Coal is going to die? It feels like my heart screeches to a stop.

He can’t die. I need him. I freaking need this idiot so bad.

There is no way on Earth I can survive without him. I don’t know what I’d do. He knows exactly how to get on every single one of my nerves, but also how to make me feel better. He knows when to joke and when to be serious, when to be quiet and when to talk. He knows me better than I know myself.

I’m overwhelmed with a feeling I’ve felt precious few times in my life. I love him. I love the jerk.

I love the way he moves his hands when he talks, even if it’s only few sentences. I love how he glances down at me every couple of seconds to check that I’m okay. I love his always ruffled black hair, his crooked smile, his stormy grey eyes. I love his voice, and I love how sweet he is without even trying. I freaking love this idiot so much it hurts.

I am completely, totally, insanely and irreversibly in love with him.

And now he’s going to die.

The light - which had been flickering on and off intermittently - chooses this precise moment to blink off permanently, leaving us in the dark.

“It’s okay,” Coal says comfortingly because I gave a little whimper of fear. “I’ll just -”

I realize what he’s doing in a nanosecond and lunge blindly at him. ”No!" I shriek.

But it’s too late. I see the spark and suddenly his entire body is on fire, not just his hand. For a split second, confusion crosses his face before it twists in pain. I smash into him, the momentum sending us to the floor. I cry out at the intense heat.

Coal’s eyes light with panic and then he throws me off him and to the ground. He rolls away from me on his hands and knees, teeth clenched in pain.

“Coal!” I scream, hating the tortured expression on his face.

Then suddenly the fire goes out, throwing us back into pitch blackness. I dash over to the spot where I last saw him, reaching out and touching skin. It’s overly hot, close to burning up. I find his shoulders and grab both of them.

“Coal!” I ask urgently. “Coal are you okay?”

There’s no answer, until hoarsely he says, “Is that it? Is that how you felt? Did it hurt that much? Like you were being stabbed and crumpled and - oh my god Tide I am so sorry.”

I want to cry. At least he’s talking. I trace my fingers down his arms, cataloging any marks but find none so far. His fireproof system hasn’t failed completely.

“I couldn’t -” he whispers, almost to himself. “I couldn’t control it.”

“Coal...” I try to calm down enough to help him.

As if noticing me for the first time, he jumps away. “Get away from me.”

I stop. “What?”

“I could blow up any second.” Coal says, pushing my shoulder back with his hand and sliding away. “I don’t want to hurt you. Get as far away from me as possible.”

“No.” I grab his arm, pulling him back and straddle him so he can’t move.

“Tide!” Coal snaps, and there’s fear in his voice. “Go away.” He’s trying not to let panic creep in. He’s trying to stay calm when he’s the one dying, and I’m freaking out. The incredible sweetness of this makes me wrap my arms around his chest and squeeze as tight as I can.

“I’m not kidding Tide, leave and lock the door. You have no idea -”

“Shut up and let me hug you.” I say, voice catching. My throat is tightening with tears because even the thought of losing him scares me.

“You don’t understand,” Coal insists. “Get away while you still can because I will hurt you.”

“You’re going to hurt me either way, you idiot.” I sniff. “And you think for one second that I’m leaving you’re insane.”

“Tide...” he tries pushing me off again, but I take his hand and slam it to the ground, pinning it there. There’s a newfound strength in my limbs that’s not going to budge no matter how hard he tries.

“Hello?”

A beam of light falls onto my face as the door is opened, and Oh’Rian appears, trailed by Terra and Stella. As my eyes adjust to the sudden brightness I realize I’m sitting on top of Coal, an inch away from his face.

Coal smirks. “Well this looks...interesting.” He mutters, so quietly that only I can hear.

The Grim reaper staring him in the face and he decides to make a wisecrack comment.

I’m too worked up to be bothered to respond. “Coal’s going to die!” I cry to Oh’Rian. Coal takes my surprise as an opportunity to push me off and back away to a safe distance.

“So...you’re doing...what exactly?” She asks slowly.

“The light blew out...he was going to use his powers again but I had to stop him...” I messily collect the scattered papers into a pile and wave it in the air. “It says it all here! The Hyacintho event...spontaneous combustion...”

I’m near the point of insanity. Coal is going to die. I refuse to accept it but it’s the only clear thought running through my mind. Coal is going to die. He’s going to die. Oh my god he’s going to die!

“Tide!” I jump as Stella stoops next to me. I’m curled in a ball, choking back tears. I don’t remember sitting down. Maybe I fell. “Tide, you are in shock. Calm down.”

“I’m not in shock!” I snap. “Coal is going to die and you’re worried that I’m in shock?"

“I’m not dead yet.” Coal says reassuringly, though he stays away.

“That doesn’t help!” I scream at him. I bury my face into my arms, rocking back and forth like a crazy person. Dry sobs rack my body, shoulders shaking with each gulped breath.

Stella puts her hand on my shoulder. “Tide, breathe.” She commands firmly. “You are panicking.”

I’m panicking? What about Coal? He’s the one who’s going to freaking die!

“Where have you two been?” Audrey shouts from down the hallway, attracted by the commotion. “It’s been almost two hours! I was worried -” she stops as she enters the room and sees the chaos unfolding.

Owen, Steel, Maple and Sparky push through the door behind Audrey.

“What’s going on?” Owen asks.

I don’t answer because my voice won’t work. Stella rubs my back comfortingly like I’m a child who just scraped their knee. “Tide has read files about the patients before Coal and discovered that...” she stops as I shake harder, trying not to cry.

“I’m gonna die.” Coal pipes up. “I am right here, you know.”

Everyone seems to finally notice Coal sitting far away against the wall. He shrugs as if indifferent to his fate.

Oh’Rian walks over haltingly and picks up the messily stacked folder. She flips through it, frown deepening with every page. After a minute of dead silence, she snaps the papers shut and looks around the room. We all stare back expectantly.

She glances down grimly. “It’s something wrong with their immune system; the one specializes in being fireproof. It wears away after the host body can’t support the virus anymore. It’s just been held back awhile for Coal.”

“Well?” I demand. “Isn’t there something we can do?”

Oh’Rian looks thoughtful. “It depends. What I think is that the problem is not with Coal, it’s with the virus. It’s programmed itself to wear away eventually. Assuming that Coal can still survive through it, we just have to inject the virus again and it will rebuild the cells that are fireproof.”

It sounded scientific enough to work. Besides, Oh’Rian is a genius.

“So let’s go do it!” I say as nobody moves. “Fix it. Do whatever she just said.”

Oh’Rian grimaces. “We need someone who can clone the virus. We need Izila.”