Playing With Fire

Chapter 12: Curse You, Mark!

The third hour

"Is this alarm getting annoying to anyone else?" Pax asked.

"Meh," Trixie replied. "Can't be more annoying than babies crying all night."

Pax and I sat in silence, not knowing what to say. This ten-year-old has been through more than most adults.

"So can you tell me about the bad guys we are fighting now?" Trixie asked, well, begged would be a better word.

"Why not," I said. "We got nothing better to do."

"So what are they like? Is the main guy super scary? What about his right-hand man? Is he scary too? Do they have special powers? Have they captured you and you've escaped?" she fired off the questions in about five seconds. I don't think she even breathed.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa kid," Pax said with a laugh. "Slow your roll, but to answer one question that you haven't asked, most of your questions are going to be for Bri; she's gotten almost all the action."

"Ok! So Bri, who is the head, man?"

"So, his name is Bill, and to answer your second question, yes, he is scary, but not too scary because he looks like he is in his late seventies."

"Great, so we are fighting old guys," she said which, made me laugh. "So who is his right-hand man?"

"Well, we think he is Mark, but we are not entirely sure," I answered.

"What is Mark like?"

"Well, when he isn't irritated, he looks like your friendly Italian grandpa," I started.

"You think he looks like an Italian grandpa?" Pax asked me while trying to contain his laughter.

"Well yeah, don't you?"

"No," he said, still kind of laughing.

"Anyways," I continued to Trixie."He looks like an Italian grandpa, but when he gets mad or frustrated, he looks like Grumpy Cat."

"Grumpy Cat!" Pax exclaimed and broke into a fit of laughter, which started to cause us to swivel in the road.

"Pax! Pay attention!" I cried as I grabbed hold of the steering wheel to steady us.

"Sorry," he said, still laughing to himself, and then mumbled, "Grumpy Cat," while shaking his head.

"Anyways," I said again to Trixie. "After that near-death experience, what other questions do you have?"

"Well, what are we trying to do? Like, can you tell me all that's happened before you met me?"

"Sure," I said and cracked my knuckles to get started. "Well, first I was born-"

"I mean the important stuff."

"Oh, right," and I started again. "First, my best friend, Miranda, was kidnapped when I was nine. Then we skip like seven years-"

"Whoa, you can't just do that," Trixie said, stopping me. "What happened to Miranda?"

"Let me get there," I replied, and continued.

"So we skip seven years, and I figure out that I can do this," and I showed her how I could light my hand on fire.

"Oh my gosh," she exclaimed. "That's so much cooler than my superpower."

"Eh, it's okay- wait. Your superpower?" I asked.

"Yeah, watch," she said and then disappeared.

"You can turn invisible and you didn't tell us?!" I shouted in shock.

Her head appeared, which was kind of creepy. "Sorry?"