Burn Read online

  Moving quickly, I rose and grabbed a coiled hose from the truck and connected it to the hydrant nearest to the house. Together, Jim and I took control of the rapidly filling hose and positioned it where Quentin had told us.

  The blowback from the spray was cool on my face, and I could feel the fire within me settle back to a glowing ember rather than a roaring blaze. Relief from the burning was immediate, and I found myself relaxing and breathing more steadily than I had since entering the burning house.

  Eventually, we managed to get the last of the fire out. Unfortunately, the house appeared to be a total loss. I felt a burst of empathy toward the family, and hoped the little girl I’d pulled out would recover. They could bounce back from a lost house. I wasn’t so sure they would be able to do the same if they lost a child.

  We disconnected the hoses and repacked all the equipment. Quentin did a final check then sent us back to the truck. “Good work, gentlemen,” he called. “Time to head back.”

  SIX

  Jade

  Our talk with Captain de la Santos went smoothly. So smoothly, that I wondered if he had been ready to call for help even before we showed up. He was happy for an outside perspective to be brought in, and gave the all clear for Tray, Cole, and Cade to examine the scenes.

  All that was left now was to talk to anyone who’d been at the different scenes. Other investigators had done interviews already, but it was always worth it to redo them on our own. We often discovered things the initial investigation missed, whether due to our powers, or from people remembering differently after some time passed.

  Laurie and the captain had been chatting for a while, so I tuned them out until I heard her question. “Was anyone unusual or unexpected noticed at the fires?”

  It was a somewhat subtle way to figure out if anyone was leaning toward Brennan as a suspect. He clearly thought they were, but finding out for sure would be good. I sat up in my seat and focused on both what the captain said and what he was thinking.

  His thoughts roved toward Brennan, but in a somewhat protective way. He was unaware of our connection to Brennan at this point, but still felt uncomfortable voicing any suspicion against him.

  “We’ve had a couple people in common at a few scenes, but none verified at all of them,” he hedged, dark eyes narrowed.

  The protective nature of his thoughts prompted me to speak. “Brennan Peterson.”

  Captain de la Santos’ eyes widened, which was the only outward sign of his surprise. Inside his thoughts were a flurry of concern for his young recruit.

  “He’s one of my men,” he answered cagily. “You know of him?”

  I glanced toward Laurie who gave me a slight nod to continue. “He’s the one who called us. He’s concerned that people believe he is behind the fires.”

  “And you’re here to help him?”

  “We came to find out what’s happening. He’s a friend, and I don’t believe he is capable of intentionally harming people,” I answered the obvious dig. The captain worried we would do whatever it took to declare Brennan innocent, whether he was or not.

  “I don’t want to believe he is either,” he answered. “He’s a hell of a firefighter, and I’ve seen that kid brave fires that scared veteran firemen in order to pull victims out. From that, I want to believe he is innocent.”

  Laurie eyed him slyly. “But,” she prompted.

  “But… he has been at several of the arson fires with no explanation why. And he’s been suspected of arson before.”

  “When he was a kid,” I nodded. “But they never proved anything one way or the other at the time.”

  “True, but the fact he was under suspicion then and now isn’t lost on anyone.”

  Narrowing her eyes, Laurie jumped onto a point I’d hardly realized. “How would they even know? He would have been a minor, and if he was never formally charged, the suspicion shouldn’t have been public knowledge.”

  The man huffed, and rubbed at his face with the back of his hand.

  “Look Captain, we’re not trying to attack you here,” I assured him. “We just need to know what you know. If there are people spreading this kind of rumor, things could get difficult for Brennan with some of the other guys.”

  He sighed again before answering. “We’ll be working together on this, so please, call me Paul. On the point Laurie rose; People know because Brennan’s adoptive father is a police officer. He has friends in the fire department who knew Brennan when he was a child. Don, the current fire chief, is the one who found him. He was just a kid, but they found him at the scene of an arson fire in the middle of the night. He never did have an explanation for what he was doing there. Not an acceptable one, at any rate.”

  “Do you believe he’s an arsonist?” Rae cut in. She’d been quiet, mostly gauging the emotional reactions to whatever we said.

  He met each of our eyes with a solemn look on his face before answering. “I believe I can’t close my eyes to the possibility. There are too many unanswered questions around the guy. That said, my gut says no. I hope you’re able to determine the truth, one way or the other.”

  “Thank you, Paul,” Laurie said. She stood and offered her hand. When the man took hold of it, she met his eyes. “We will do our best to figure this out. We appreciate your candor.”

  As we moved toward the door, he stopped us. “One more thing you maybe should know… Brennan’s birth parents died in a suspicious fire when he was a kid. He was burned, but the fire was found to have originated in his room. The same room where he was found.”

  It wasn’t all news to me. I’d seen flashes of the fire that had killed Brennan’s parents running through his mind three years earlier as I pulled him from the burning warehouse. I hadn’t seen anything more specific at that point, but he’d been nothing more than a young child.

  A young child with newly awakened powers.

  A young child who may have—however inadvertently—killed his parents.

  SEVEN

  Tray

  The blackened building still had smoke coming from it. Strange how a fire that had been out for over a day could still be smoking. This was the fire that had prompted Brennan to call Jade. The straw that broke the camel’s back, so to speak. By unanimous vote, we’d decided to start with the most recent fire, hoping any vibes Cade and Cole could pick up would still be around.

  “They think Brennan did that?” Cade pointed to the burned out husk of a house. “The firefighter who risks his life every shift to save people from fires? What would make them think he would be capable of this?”

  Cole shook his head. “Previous suspicious history. Not too unusual when painted with the accurate history of his uncontrolled powers.”

  “True,” Cade nodded thoughtfully. “So… if it is Brennan, do you think he is aware of doing it? I know Jade doesn’t seem to think so, but he wouldn’t be the first person who was able to hide something, even from her.”

  This time I responded. “I doubt he is. Why would he call us? He wants to figure this out more than anyone.”

  “I’d agree,” Cole answered, his voice calm. “If he was doing this on purpose I don’t believe he would risk us coming in and catching him. And if he knew he was doing it, from what Jade has told us, I suspect he would tell us and basically beg us to help him control it.”

  All of this was assuming Brennan was even the one setting the fires. “Another option,” I offered. “Brennan has nothing to do with the fires, and just happens to be drawn to them for some reason.”

  “Some strange side effect of suppressing his powers?” Cole suggested. He scratched his chin thoughtfully. “He doesn’t use his fire starting powers, only his suppression ones, right?”

  “As far as what Jade has told us, yes,” I agreed.

  “So, his power isn’t being fully utilized. Neither is yours, Tray. So, what happens if you push your power away for any amount of time? What do you do if you aren’t in a place you can use it without being seen, and can’t even move that ball
around?”

  I shuddered. I’d grown accustomed to having times each day when I could use my telekinesis, whether for large things or smaller ones. But it hadn’t always been that way. “I lose control,” I admitted softly. “Things get… messy.”

  Messy was a mild term for destroying almost everything within twenty feet of me. And throwing a person against a wall with considerable force. Granted, the guy hadn’t been an innocent, but I still regretted the incident.

  The brothers smiled sympathetically. They knew already. Cole was simply thinking out loud and trying to get everyone to connect to Brennan’s mindset. He hadn’t been looking to dredge up bad memories for me.

  Forcing the dark thoughts back into their little steel box, I smiled. “Yeah. And that was only pushing the power for a couple weeks. I’d imagine if he’s been blocking it away for his entire life, it would be looking for ways to escape.”

  “So the idea of his power taking control and just randomly setting things on fire is not out of the question,” Cade said. He looked between me and his brother. “But that wasn’t really the question. I more wondered whether he would simply be drawn to the fire. Why else would a pyrokinetic with no desire to use his powers become a firefighter?”

  A valid point. Cole’s nod showed he agreed with the assessment. “We’ll have to see what we can tell from Brennan himself when we meet him tonight. And what we can determine from the scenes. Assuming we get the okay to enter.”

  Conversation died down, and we all sat for a few minutes, staring at the destroyed home. It didn’t appear to have a basement, so the ground floor should be okay to walk on. Assuming, of course, that the ceiling didn’t collapse for some reason.

  A loud beep broke the silence, and Cole checked his phone. “Laurie texted,” he informed us. “We’re good to go. She says we should wear our hardhats unless Tray is willing to hold the whole house up for us.”

  I snorted. “Yeah, right. You have the hats in the trunk, right?”

  This wasn’t our first time going to a scene that wasn’t safe, so we always came prepared. Cole didn’t answer; instead, he simply popped the trunk and grabbed the hardhats for all three of us.

  “Let’s get started,” he said as he handed them out.

  We made our way up the drive, and my nose crinkled at the stench of burnt plastic and rubber. Not pleasant smells under any circumstances, but especially hard to take at what used to be someone’s home.

  “You coming, Tray?” Cade asked.

  He gave me a peculiar look, which I met with a grin. “Coming. Let’s get this party started!”

  The other man’s raised eyebrow told me he wasn’t completely convinced by my false excitement. It wasn’t that I didn’t look forward to meeting Brennan, because I did. Any others with physical powers excited me. However, I did have some fairly heavy concerns over what he was apparently capable of. Even if Brennan didn’t know for certain whether he was the cause of these fires, he still thought there was a possibility that he was. Which meant that even he had no idea just how powerful and dangerous he might be.

  Positive, I reminded myself. There’s enough negativity here already. Everyone else will be worrying about Brennan’s lack of control. I can be in his corner, ready to push him into fighting for control of his power.

  It wouldn’t be easy, but it could be fun. Where I used the little rubber ball to focus, he could flick his fingers to light a fire. Letting it out in little bursts could help prevent the explosions we thought might be happening.

  That wasn’t the important thing right now, though. It was time to help Cole and Cade figure out if they could sense anyone else at the scene who might have had a reason to set the fire.

  Inside the house was humid from the slowly drying water soaked into the walls and floors. Blackened shards of wood jutted out where the steps used to be, and the drywall throughout the house was cracked and darkened by smoke damage. So far, there was nothing I could see that the brothers would need me to move for them.

  They walked around, touching as much of the house as they could as they tried to get a read on what happened.

  “Anything yet?” I asked.

  Despite the slight hazard of exploring a burned out husk of a house, I was a bit bored. With nothing else to do, I started using my power to shift some of the burned wood. The clatter drew Cade’s attention and the blond man shot a grin in my direction. “Nothing yet. But please, keep crashing wood together. It really helps our concentration.”

  Dropping the piece of charred wood, I smiled sheepishly. “Sorry. Just bored.”

  “Do we know where the fire actually started?” Cole asked. His eyes were unfocused as he tried to find any vibes that may have come from the arsonist.

  Finally, something I could do to help. I shot a text to Laurie to find out anything the fire chief would have told her. Reading her response, I frowned. “She says the fire started outside near the back door.”

  Cade nodded before casting another look around the lower level of the house. “Let’s check it out.”

  His brother waved us on. “I’ll keep checking in here, you guys go ahead.”

  I exchanged a look with Cade, unwilling to leave Cole by himself in an unstable building. An impatient huff told me Cole had noticed. “Don’t worry, I won’t try going upstairs. I’ll be careful, little brother.”

  “If it makes you feel better, I’ll keep an eye on him through the window,” I offered, clapping Cade on the shoulder.

  He smiled at me, but offered a different suggestion. “How ‘bout you stay in here? Can’t be overly dangerous outside.”

  Cole snorted. “Unless you connect to the arsonist. I want Tray out there watching your back, Caden. Do not argue with me on this.”

  He’d started out with a light tone, but the obvious command—and the use of Cade’s full name—had both of us nodding and heading for the back of the house. If we had a formal chain of command, he would be second to Laurie. We didn’t, but it wasn’t worth even attempting to argue when he put his foot down.

  Also, Cole had a good point. A fact I realized when, almost as soon as he touched the door, Cade froze.

  EIGHT

  Brennan

  Jim stuck so close to me once we got back to the station that I wondered if he had gotten orders to keep an eye on me. After about the fifth time I shot him a confused look, he laughed. “Sorry, kid. You worried me a bit out there.”

  I raised an eyebrow. It wasn’t the first time a firefighter had become overheated while at a scene. Probably wouldn’t be the last. Pretty much the only risk I faced at this point was some good-natured ribbing from the others in our truck. If I hadn’t started to feel better—or at least better enough to hide how bad I still felt—I would have faced a trip to medical to be hooked up to IV fluids for a while.

  At my lack of response, Jim shrugged. “I know it happens, but you didn’t see how bad you looked. You know someone has to keep an eye on you to make sure you don’t have any other issues today. You still seem a bit flushed.”

  So much for hiding how bad I still felt. I waved him off. “I’m okay. Just a bit warm yet. Don’t worry.”

  Easy to say to him. Hopefully easy for him to believe. Unfortunately, it wasn’t quite as easy for me to buy into. I couldn’t tell him it felt like my insides were literally burning. Like the fire I’d absorbed was raging, trying to escape again. I had no way to let it. Consciously, at least. I’d never purposefully started a fire with my powers.

  Even the one that had burned my foster father, I hadn’t been aware of. The thought had me rubbing my shoulder absently, phantom pains shooting through it.

  “The other scar,” Jim said softly. “The round one, not the burn. What happened?”

  “Got shot,” I whispered.

  I risked a glance up at his face and huffed out a laugh. His mouth hung open with shock. “You’ve seen bullet wounds before, Jim. It’s not that new. You had to have suspected.”

  His mouth clapped shut. “Right. So, I�
�m supposed to assume that the scar on our twenty-year-old, new recruit was because someone shot him, and not due to any number of other things that could have happened. My mistake.”

  The sharp tone made me wince. “Sorry.”

  He watched me silently for a few minutes as we prepped the truck for the next call. “I didn’t mean to snap,” he finally said. “It’s just… I don’t tend to look for the worst possible explanation for things. I can’t tell you what I thought the scar might have been, only that I hadn’t expected what it was.”

  He was right. Most people probably wouldn’t guess what happened. Of course, until I moved out on my own, I’d been surrounded by people who already knew. Anyone else I’d been around—at least before I started working at the fire station—hadn’t seen my scars. It wasn’t that I tried to hide them, but even just wearing a T-shirt hid them from view.

  Quentin approached and rested his hand on my shoulder. “You alright, Peterson? Saw you having a hard time at the scene. Eat some smoke?”

  “Nope. Just a bit overheated, boss man,” I said lightly. “I’m good.”

  “Davis? That the truth?” The lieutenant squinted at Jim suspiciously.

  To his credit, Jim merely answered. “As far as I can determine, yes. He’s much better than he was on scene.”

  Quentin’s serious expression broke into a wide smile. “Good to hear. By the way, Peterson, your friends are still around. I think they wanted to talk to you again.”

  Right. Oddly, I’d barely given thought to Jade and her friends since leaving the station, but they would probably have more questions for me. Although from what I’d gathered earlier, they were going to wait until we had a bit more privacy before making their inquiries.

  “Where are they?” I asked, looking around. Other than Delgado, I didn’t see anyone else in the garage.

  “Last I saw, they were at a table by the kitchen,” he answered.