Set Alight

Chapter 18

Emma/Jem

I feel so out of place. Jack disappeared to find Sam, who came in looking annoyed and confused. After reading the piece of paper that was passed around (I don't even know what it says) she, much like Danny, drops the paper and flies (figuratively, of course) across the room to throw her arms around both me and Danny.

So here I am, in the arms of two middle age people who I barely know, holding me so tight I can barely breathe and I'm pretty sure that at least one of them is crying. I was already confused when I was cleaning my hair in the shower and my fingers came away gray. Obviously, I had found the grayish piece of hair and spent thirty minutes using shampoo to scrub away the gray piece, which turned whiter and whiter until it was just as white as Jack's.

I remember that Danny(or somebody else... Jack?) at one point mentioned that a halfa born's hair has a white streak in it, and I concluded that I must be ghost born. So I came in here, people said a bunch of stuff and now here I am with the two adults.

I look to Ashton, who has a smug look on his face. "Do you know what that says?" I ask, gesturing to the paper now in his hands over Danny's head.

"Yup!"

I pause waiting for him to continue, but of course he doesn't. "What does it say?" I demand impatiently.

He doesn't say, but he brings the paper up so I can read it. I read my own name, then the "Real Information" part.

The first thing I think is, "Jem Wildfire sounds much cooler than Emma Wildfire" and the second, which I also say aloud, "My dad's not my dad?!"

This seems to sober Danny and Sam up. They both pull away, but Sam keeps her hand on my arm. I look down at it, but even though I think I'm making a weirded out face, she doesn't remove it.

"My dad's..." I say again, but the repetition doesn't make it any more believable. I was always able to rebuke Lindsey's claims with a simple argument that ended the entire conversation: He's my dad. But he's not. And that means every time I said "Hi, Dad," he knew he wasn't, and he knew who my real parents were, and he didn't say or do anything...! This is just... It's just...

And my vision blacks out.

I'm not in my comfortable room when I wake up. I'm still in the dining room. In a chair. Which is much less comfortable than the amazing plush bed that I've come to love. Also, everyone's sitting in chairs, me at the head. Oh, and they're all looking at me. Which makes it really awkward.

"... Hi," I say. Then, I turn invisible. Because it's incredibly awkward. And I sink into the chair. Also awkwardly.

"Emma," Ashton calls. "Come out, come out, wherever you are!" Creepy saying complete with a creepy bad-guy tone. Annoyed and still in shock, I walk through the table and through him and his chair, and tip it backwards. He yelps in a distinctly feminine tone and glares about three feet to my left. "Not funny."

He's right. Nobody's laughing. Neither am I.

"I don't particularly care," I drawl, and move before his gaze can find where I was.

The whole room is tense and seemingly judging my reaction, which even I can say is not great.

"Jem, please turn visible," Sam says quietly. Hearing my allegedly real name makes me angry. Either angry at me for not figuring it out, or Danny and Sam and Jack for not, but mostly at Dad- no, not even Dad, for hiding this from me. For taking me. It doesn't matter who I'm angry at. I'm just angry.

"Don't call me that," I snap, still invisible and still pacing silently, through people, around the room, not ghost. I'm afraid my fire will lash out. Danny and Sam share a look that isn't missed by me.

"Please sit down so we can talk about this," Danny tries instead, not using any name.

"I don't want to," I announce childishly.

"We've been looking for you for fifteen years, and you won't even talk to us?"

I know the tactic being used. Trying to guilt me into compliance. It works, obviously. I grit my teeth but still don't show myself. "I am talking."

"Emma," Ashton pleads, looking to me desperately. "Hear-"

"NO!" I jump up on the table loudly and turn visible as my boots hit the surface. "You don't get to talk like you know! I spent my whole life believing one thing. My school and social life didn't matter, because I always had my dad. He was the only thing that mattered, the only thing I had. And now, everything I'd always defended and believed, even though everyone else said it was wrong, is wrong! Everything I've ever known was all just a lie and a suppression to keep me away from you! It wasn't even about me, ever!"

"How could you know that?" asks Danny, softly, as though harsh words will shatter me. He's right. I'm sick of everyone being right.

"You'd understand if you lived with him," I reply, but the string of words is shaken and broken by suppressed sobs.

"Emma..." Ashton starts softly, reaching out to me with his hand. My eyes have filled with tears, and instead of blinking them away, I force them out. It's suffocating in this room of people that know nothing about me but pity me anyway. I step away from Ashton.

"No..." My voice sounds far away. "Just leave me alone." Ashton looks at me expectantly. "All of you." I jump from my perch and, desperate to be away from them, I take off running, switching to my ghost form in an instant. I don't waste time opening the door and phase through.

My fire crackles in my chest as result of my warring emotions, so I take flight and get away from the castle in fear of destroying everything around me.

I have nowhere to go, I realize as soon as I clear the castle. I can go home, to a fake father who's not really my father, or stay with a father who hasn't even known me two weeks.

There are no other friends, in the Ghost Zone or the human realm, and... I sink, falling to my knees in the air. He made sure I didn't form any relationships so that I couldn't go anywhere, ever. I choke back a sob as my fire takes advantage of my weakened state to escape down my arms and pool in my hands.

Fire. I suddenly remember the one place I'm always welcome to here in the Ghost Zone. Almost blinded by my tears, I fly in the general direction of Blaze's. When I spot the flaming palace in the distance, I fly faster, falling from my flight onto my feet too fast. Seized by momentum, I stumble-run towards the door, falling heavily onto it when I reach it and knocking loudly.

"Wildfire," greets Blaze when she opens the door. She tilts her head when she sees me, tears running down my face, hair a mess, fire darting around my fingers. But she doesn't comment. "Come in." She stands aside, and I stumble in.

"I-" I don't have anything to say. I can't find the gratitude within myself to thank her, and I can't bear to tell her what's wrong.

She gently, motherly, takes my hand and leads me up the stairs, both of us floating and weightless, but following the slope of the floor. She leads me down a golden hallway and stops in front of a door.

Gesturing, she says, "I think you'll feel better in here."

I shake my head wordlessly, my mouth too sticky with tears to form any words. She just leans her head in the direction of the door, before lowering her hand and drifting off. I can't imagine possibly feeling better, but as soon as I open the door, I realize that this is perfect.

Shutting the door with a slam behind me, I take down every wall I'd put up to combat my fire and let it loose at the first target.