Changeling: The Daughter of Fire (GxBxNB)

Changeling 4

I opened the door only to come face to face with the situation. There was fire everywhere, the walls, the furniture, but most horrifying of all, Ms. Bannerman's clothes were ablaze.

I froze for a moment but then my survival instincts kicked in. I lept onto Ms. Bannerman and ripped the clothes off her and hitting her, trying to beat the fire. Liam came out.

"Mom? Nadia?"

"Help me!" I screamed. He froze. "Liam! Get something to cover her!"

He ran to his room and dragged out a blanket, which we tossed around Ms. Bannerman.

"Let's get her out."

We dragged her outside and onto the lawn. Tons of people had come around and soon enough the blaring siren of fire engines came to our ears. The adrenaline wore off and I collapsed down, my stomach turned at the scent of charred flesh. Paramedics came, some took Liam and Ms. Bannerman away to the hospital while another group came to check up on me.

I was fine, the fire hadn't burnt me and my lungs were clear, the smoke hadn't bothered them. All I felt was this powerful exhaustion like I was about to pass out. My head was buzzing and my whole body felt numb.

"Miss Preston, why am I not surprised?" A deep baritone voice said from behind me, I looked up just to see Officer Ross in his uniform, the corpulent racist cop who's arrested me before. He grabbed my arm and dragged me to my feet. "You're coming to the station with me."

"I didn't do anything!" I protested as he forcefully dragged me to a squad car.

"Yeah, right there just happen to be a fire where you were." He snorted a little laugh. He'd been the one to arrest me after that little incident behind the school.

He pressed me against the side of the car and handcuffed me. I resisted the urge to kick and scream. That'd only make things worse and give him a legitimate charge to stick on me.

He put me in the back of the car and quickly consciousness drifted away from me. Replaced with nothing but darkness and a warm feeling in my chest...

***

I woke up when Officer Ross stopped and my head came to a stop against the grille separating the front and back of the squad car.

The Officer wasn't concerned about my safety. "Get out."

I did, my forehead was fine if a little sore. I started walking with him right behind me. "I want my parents and a lawyer!" I said the second we were in the police station, loud enough for everyone to hear.

Officer Ross grumbled something impolite before bringing me to a desk and giving me a phone. A second later he came with a basket. "Put your things in there. Then make it quick with the phone call." He said, removing the cuffs.

I emptied my pockets, which didn't contain much except for my phone, some gum, and loose change. I punched in my mom's number. There were a few rings before she picked up.

"Hello?" Mom's voice.

"Mom? It's me." I said, feeling a little relief at hearing her voice.

"Nadia, you're past curfew—" She began, her tone stern, but I cut her off.

"I know, I was at Liam's but there was a fire and the police dragged me to the station, Officer Ross thinks I did it, but I swear I didn't, it just happened," I said my voice shaky.

"We'll be right there. Don't say anything," mom said, "everything will be okay." We hung up.

"Get up." Officer Ross ordered.

"I have the right to remain silent, and to an attorney," I declared. "I'll exercise that right until my parents and attorney are here."

The officer wasn't happy but he dragged me to another room. Sitting me down in a chair. Officer Ross left to do things but he had one of his uniformed friends silently glare at me.

After what felt like forever, my parents came through the door, Dad in his trademarked flannel and jeans, while mom had her hijab on along with loose blouse and pants. Dad immediately planted himself in front of the officer.

"I swear I didn't do it!" I pleaded. "I don't even have a lighter."

Mom came toward me and hugged me. "It's alright Rohi," She whispered to me, "we know you'd never do these kinds of things."

I broke down and started crying, holding onto mom's shirt. She pulled me up against her into a tight embrace.

"Everything will be alright," She ran her fingers through my hair.

"We want to talk to our daughter in private to discuss her case, off the record, no camera or microphone," Dad said to the cop watching me. "We have a lawyer coming."

The cop left and Dad turned to me. "What happened?"

"I don't know, Liam didn't show up for the class, I decided to go talk to him. His mom forbade him from seeing me, she was drunk and she hit him... I went to the bathroom, she saw me, got angry I'd snuck in. And then the house was on fire, maybe she spilled something, forgot a cigarette or the oven... I don't know..." I started crying. "Liam pulled me out and we were on the lawn when the police arrived."

"Did you have a lighter?" Mom asked.

"Of course not. Officer Ross didn't even question me, he just dragged me to his car." I rubbed my head. "Kind of hit my head when we stopped, arm's still kind of sore..." I hiked up my sleeve only to see handprint from where Officer Ross had grabbed me.

Dad swore under his breath.

There was a knock and Officer Ross came in just then. Dad came right up to his face, baring the space between him and me. Officer Ross might have been a racist POS, but he froze in front of my 6'3'' mountain of a dad, my father being white also helped.

"Feel free to serve an indictment, but we're taking our daughter home," Dad said, "you have absolutely no proof she did it. "

"She's a known firesetter! And was at the scene of a crime, a woman's in the hospital."

"She sets fire to trash," Dad answered, his tone firm. "She's struggling with a mental illness, she isn't a criminal."

"She did break the law when she set fire behind her school."

"And now she's under treatment, which she's complied with exceptionally well. And, she's performed her community rehabilitation in an exemplary manner. She has a bump on her head and marks on her arm where you dragged her. Would you like to explain to the court how you battered a minor?"

"I- I- Fine, you take her, we'll contact you again." The officer grumbled.

My parents took me away and we drove off in the family car. When I came home, Ghali and Aisha were super worried about me but I brushed them off, getting upstairs and into the bathroom.

It was only then I realized how terrible I looked, I was covered in soot, bits of my clothes were charred and yet I was fine... I had lept at Ms. Bannerman to save her and yet the fire hadn't burnt me...

The thought of the fire brought a sudden warmth in my chest, just like in the Bannerman bathroom, my thought buzzed again, I closed my eyes, taking some deep breaths.

The buzz disappeared, but the warmth remained. I opened my eyes. And then I saw that my hand was wrapped in flames.