Cold Snap (Warriors: S1B3)

Chapter 9

Earth date: 10/25/11, 16:18

We don't really talk to my Aunt Gina and her family. They're super-religious, and her kids are all super-sheltered. I remember one of the handful of times their family came over to visit ours, when Mom and Dad's divorce wasn't set in stone, but it was close. Kristi had told me I should listen to Amy Winehouse, so I had been listening to "Rehab" before they came. Zeke, the youngest, was sprinting through the house before he came to the computer where YouTube was open. He stopped in his tracks and gaped at the screen. Then, he pointed at the screen. "That's a bad song," he said in sort of an awed whisper.

The look Daphne had on her face when I materialized in the base reminded me of Zeke's dumbstruck look. "Margaret, you're here," she said.

"Yeah."

"But...you're grounded."

"Yeah. So?"

Daphne had a look on her face like things didn't compute, so I moved on. I turned to Mr. Cole. "I can do it. I can kill the Faukan."

"How?" Max asked.

I looked over my shoulder. "I can show you. Come here."

Max stepped forward. I didn't want to hurt him. A surprise was what I had in mind. I concentrated, drawing heat towards me. I saw people shiver. I put two fingers together and pointed a little off to Max's right. A thin streak of flame blasted from my fingers.

"Oh shit!" Frazz yelled. 

"Margaret, how are you doing that?" Joey said.

"That's amazing!" Kristi said.

Max didn't look fazed by the flames zipping over his shoulder. Instead, he rolled up the sleeve of his hoodie and stuck his hand into the flame. 

"Max!" Mr. Cole said. 

But as far as I could tell, the flames weren't hurting Max. They washed over his hand and up his arm, and he looked at the flames with his usual unreadable expression. He started walking towards me, still blocking the fire with his bare hand. Once he was close enough, he clapped his hands over mine, and my fire extinguished with a hiss. He took his hands away, and I could see his hands weren't even slightly burned. 

"Nice," he said. "That should work."

"Margaret, how did you do that?" Kristi asked. "Max, how did you do that?"

"Margaret makes sense," Frazz said. "I mean, she doesn't, but the fire does."

"What's that supposed to mean?" I said.

"I mean, you freeze things. And things freeze when the heat is removed. So, makes sense that you could control the heat the other way."

I wanted to say something, and then stopped. That...did make sense.

Frazz turned to Max. "And...friction heat?"

Max nodded. "So, Faukan-killing?"

"Faukan-killing!" Kristi said. "We can do it now!"

"Margaret, can you sustain that?" Mr. Cole said.

"Yeah, I think so. Do we know where the Faukan is?"