Cairo’s hair would not stay put. Each time he combed it down, it would spring back up against gravity, until finally he gave up as the golden strands in his dark hair caught fire. Alex had managed to walk by the doorframe in time to see his outburst, and routinely threatened to tell their mother.

“If you tell Mom, I’ll tell her how our last house really caught fire.”

She dropped her smile and walked into his room.

“You did it,” she hissed. “Don’t you remember?”

“Actually.” He could feel his blood begin to boil underneath his skin. “I don’t remember being home at all.”

They glared at each other, sparks practically flying through the air.

“Cairo! Walk Alex to school!” Their mother’s voice flew up from the first floor and broke the tension.

They grabbed their backpacks and walked down the stairs, collecting their lunch from the kitchen.

“Alex you’ll have to wait for Cairo to finish detention. Can you hang out in the library until it closes?”

Autumn was in the kitchen, wearing a business suit and scrubbing the counters. She had rolled the sleeves of her blazer up to her elbows and operated three different machines at once; the coffee boiled, the rice cooked in the corner, and the cat food dispenser shot out fish-shaped pieces of kibble. None of them could recall ever buying a cat, or when they began buying cat food; all they knew was that they had to buy cat food because they vaguely recalled having a cat.

“Can’t you stop getting detention?” Alex pouted, leaning against the corner of the table.

Cairo grabbed the sponge from his mother as she packed his lunch into his backpack.

“It wouldn’t take so long,” he said, scrubbing the water-stained counters, “if Farrah didn’t go out of her way to torment me.”

“That reminds me,” their mother said. “We’re having dinner with the Vukovic’s on Friday.”

Her children groaned.

“Why?” Cairo threw the sponge back in the sink.

“Because Mr. Vukovic is my boss, and he invited me; therefore, I have to go. And for some reason he likes you; therefore, you have to come.”

“What about me?” Alex asked, perking up.

“Don’t you want to play with Kara?”

“Mom, I hate Kara. She’s so weird.”

Cairo snorted out a laugh. His mother threw his backpack into his arms and shooed them out of the room. They walked to the broken gate at the front of the house and jumped over it. Once out of sight from the house, they split directions without saying a word. Cairo headed down the street to school, stopping outside of a brown house with a similar style to, but much bigger than, his own. His phone buzzed in his pocket and he pulled it out to read a text from Rowyn.

"Have 2 help mom, meet you at school."

He looked into the first window of the house. Rowyn ran through the rooms, disheveled and carrying his backpack in one arm, while feeding his baby sister in the other. Cairo kicked a rock on the ground and continued down the road to school. He stopped by his locker as quick as he could before hurrying to class, always nervous to be late.

As he sat down at his desk, the second into the room, a blonde head bobbed in front of him and took its seat at the front of the class. A whiff of smoke streamed up his nose and he looked down to see the wooden pencil in his hand catching fire.

“Ah—” He hurried to squash the fire out as more people entered the room. Farrah looked back with the ghost of a smirk on her face.

“Hi, Cairo!” a small voice squeaked from over his shoulder.

“Hi, Sarah,” he responded, dusting ashes off of his desk.

Sarah plopped down on top of the desk next to his, her short hair bobbing vivaciously. Her feet dangled off of the desk, too short to touch the ground.

“Rowyn’s gonna be late again.” She watched the clock, wrapping her hands around the edge of his desk.

Right on cue, Rowyn burst into the room, button-up shirt untucked, sleeves rolled up, and hair almost as messy as Cairo’s. He slung his bag from over his shoulder and dropped it on the floor, falling into the bright blue chair behind Sarah.

“Babysitting again?” Cairo asked, pulling out his homework.

“Sorry, I had—” His eyes rolled over to the paper Cairo was pulling out. “What’s that?”

“What?” Cairo followed Rowyn’s eyes. “Oh, my essay?”

“Essay?” All the blood fell from his face.

“Dominican Republic?” Cairo gave him a look. “What were you doing all week?”

Rowyn buried his face in Sarah’s back and let out a sound that made everyone in the immediate area uncomfortable.

“It’s alright, Ro.” Sarah said, “I didn’t do it either.”

He looked up at her with a strikingly painful face. “You never do your homework.”

She chuckled gleefully. As she reached out to undoubtedly pat Rowyn on the head, the peculiar sound of metal tinging against wood floated in through the hall. All heads in the room turned as a woman with curves in her hair, body, and step, swayed into view; the scent of flowers flowing from her deep brown hair and into the nose of every underage student.

Rowyn pushed Sarah off of his desk for a better view of Mrs. Xyto as she sat down at the head of the room.

“How are my—” She waited patiently as the harsh sound of the school bell rung, “— favorite students?”

“Hi, Mrs. Xyto,” they all replied in unison (the boys more eagerly than the girls).

“You are all so chipper today!” Her dimples pressed into her cheeks as they lifted and smiled sweetly.

Farrah rolled her eyes from her seat as Mrs. Xyto looked down at her cellphone to finish sending a text.

“Oh,” she said, “before we can start, the Vice Principal has an announcement. He’ll be here in a couple of minutes to go over it.”

Cairo stifled a groan.

“Does anyone have any exciting news while we wait?” Her eyes lit up as she smiled.

Multiple hands shot into the air, but were denied instantly as the classroom door shot open again and a burly man walked menacingly to the front of the room. Mr. Valderamo stared them down, even less tolerable of their bullshit during the morning. His muscles bulked out of his polo shirt, making Cairo feel uncomfortable in his own. He pulled his flannel over his scrawny arms and buttoned it up.

“It has come to the school’s attention that the reform rules in place are no longer effective. As of today, disciplinary actions will be changed to suit the needs of the current students." They shifted in their seats as Valderamo skimmed through the notes on his clipboard. “All extracurriculars will have to pass an inspection before the next quarter, or they will be disbanded.”

“Extracurriculars?” Sarah spoke up from next to Rowyn. “As in… clubs?”

“Yes.” Valderamo didn’t bother masking his annoyment. “Clubs, sports teams--and for some of you it may seem like one, but detention does not count as an extracurricular.”

“Damn, I was really looking forward to detention inspection,” someone said from the back of the room.

“That’s another week’s detention for you, Bryce.” Valderamo wrote up the detention slip with one swipe of the hand. “I’ll be starting at the end of this week by inspecting Miss Xyto’s study club first.”

Half of the students held their breath in panic, while the other half exhibited signs of extreme boredom.

“Sounds fun,” Mrs. Xyto smiled at him. “And it's Misses.”

Valderamo cleared his throat and adjusted his tie as he left.

“Don’t worry about him,” Mrs. Xyto said to the class, once he was gone. “Now, who has their homework?”

----------------------------------------

The only thing keeping Cairo sane with unlimited detentions was the fact club meetings also took place during lunch hour. He rushed out of math class and waited outside room 3-A for Mrs. Xyto to come and unlock the door. As he saw her walk down the hall toward him, he lit up, but tried to keep his cool by leaning against the wall.

"You." A deep and unfortunately familiar voice sounded from next to Cairo.

He looked up to see Valderamo staring down at him, muscles bulging as he pointed a menacing finger his way.

"I didn't do it." Cairo said instantly.

"Come take a walk with me."

"But--" Cairo watched painfully as Mrs. Xyto grew closer in the distance with the keys hanging from her grasp. He groaned as Valderamo began walking in the opposite direction and was forced to follow.

Cairo was about 10 inches shorter than the towering block of flesh that was Valderamo. He struggled to keep up as the man strode dangerously fast through this liesure walk down the hall.

"Did I do something wrong again?" Cairo asked, finally breaking the silence.

"No, Tanaka, you did something right for once.”

Cairo exhaled in relief, realizing he had been holding his breath.

“In fact," Valderamo continued, “I want to extend an invitation to you.”

Cairo gave him a look.

“Track,” he said, simply.

“No,” Cairo said, simply.

Stolen novel; please report.

“Competition season is coming up, and we’re down a--”

“No.”

“I’ll clear all your detentions.”

“Are you bribing me into joining your stupid team--”

“It’s that, or detentions start filling up lunch period as well.”

“Fine,” he said, reluctantly.

Cairo grimaced, realizing what he had just agreed to: three extra hours of Valderamo a day--not including weekend practices.

“Good, come to my office and I’ll get you set up to join in on practice tomorrow.”

Cairo looked down at his watch. There was no way he’d have time to go to the club, let alone eat lunch. He followed Valderamo to his office, clenching his fists behind his back to hide the smoke rising from his fingertips.

----------------------------------------

When the day was finally over, and his supposed last-detention served, Cairo followed the setting sun down the street to the entrance of Ashford Middle School. He leaned against the fence and pulled his phone out while waiting for Alex.

“Hey, Cairo, look!”

Alex came running from the yard and shoved her hands in Cairo’s face. He almost jumped back as bubble-shaped flames flew into his face.

Cairo grabbed her hands forcefully and gripped them tightly.

“Don’t do that.” He hissed. “If anyone finds out about this you’ll be put on RD.”

“Even if I was given RD, I wouldn’t take them.” She stuck out her tongue. “Anyway, Derrick showed me at lunch. We’re starting our own study club here.”

“Alex, listen to me.” He grabbed her by the face. She tried to pull away as he said, “You know what happens to people who fail out of reform programs.”

“Don’t worry. I won’t get caught.”

Cairo ignored the feeling of confliction budding inside of him and released her from his grasp.

“Don’t do stuff like that in public anymore.” He started walking down the street toward their neighborhood. Alex walked in tow, massaging her hands.

They walked home in silence, as usual. When they finally reached the gate of their house, Cairo pulled out his pinging phone and read the incoming message.

“Oh, shoot.” He said. Alex looked over his shoulder to read the text.

“Mom wants me to pick up milk,” he continued, shoving Alex’s face away. “You go in.”

Alex groaned and hopped over the fence. Once she was inside with the lights turned on, he turned and headed toward the convenience store.

----------------------------------------

The sun set quickly, and the street lights grew dimly on the streets while the occasional car headlight passed by.

Cairo walked home, head buried in phone and right hand hanging by his side with a bag of groceries dangling from its fingers. He had missed the club meeting two days in a row now, and was beginning to feel jealous of all his friends whom Valderamo did not have a personal vendetta against.

He scrolled through the now inactive group chat for the club. Most of the students were probably eating dinner or doing homework, or maybe even hanging out without him. He turned off the screen and pumped up the volume to his music.

Ashford was an easy town to live in. He had lived there for all of two years, previously moving from six other towns. He met Rowyn while exploring his new neighborhood one day, and they had been friends ever since. He was the first person Cairo had met that shared his affliction--in a way, at least.

He pulled out his phone again to text Rowyn, but dropped it as a shadow pulled his focus to the tunnel ahead of him. The form of two people in a struggle was pressed against the right wall of the tunnel. Cairo took his headphones out to hear a man shouting at what sounded like a young girl. He cautiously approached the entrance of the tunnel to get a better look.

“Use it!” The man’s violent, raspy voice echoed off the walls.

“Let go!” the girl cried.

Cairo vaguely recognized the voice. He rushed forward to see the man restraining the girl against the wall, hand dangerously close to her throat.

“Use it, Undine!”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about!” The girl was in a panic.

Cairo finally recognized the sound of her voice and shape of her face in the shadows. It was Mae.

“Hey!” He ran at the man, pulling him away from his friend.

The man stumbled backward, staring at Cairo with wide eyes.

“You’ve got it also,” he said, a smile growing on his pale face.

“What are you doing harassing girls on the street?” Cairo tried to mask the fear in his voice.

“What’s your name?” the stranger asked.

Mae stayed still with her back pressed against the wall. Cairo checked her condition with a glance before turning back to the stranger. She looked to be in one piece, just frightened.

“You should leave before you get hurt.” He threatened, leveling his voice now. His fingertips began to smoke and hiss.

“That’s it, Salamander.” The stranger stepped closer. Cairo stepped back.

“You’ve got the wrong people,” Mae said, rushing to Cairo’s side. The smell of her perfume calmed the flames eagerly waiting to spread from his hands.

“Get out of here before I call the cops, pervert.” He shoved his hands into his pockets to conceal the smoke.

The stranger laughed. He stepped back. “Next time, then,” he said, turning to walk out of the tunnel.

Cairo turned to Mae.

“Are you alright?” he asked.

“Yes, I’m fine.”

"I'm calling the police," he said, reaching for his phone. As his hands fumbled around for nothing, he realized he had dropped it outside the tunnel before running in. He looked down the way, but pinpointing his phone in the dark of night would have taken too long.

"No, please," she put her hand on his shoulder. "It's not that serious."

His heart skipped a beat as her hand touched his shoulder. He looked into her eyes and was filled with a sudden sense of anger.

"What are you doing walking by yourself at night?" He tore away from her, picking up her things from the ground in an attempt to hide his bright red face. "There're creeps everywhere."

“Sorry…” she said, reaching out for her things. “I was walking home from work--”

“Did he hurt you?” Cairo stood up, handing her the bag.

“I’m alright. He just grabbed me.” She pulled the collar of her shirt up to cover her neck.

"Are you sure?"

"Cairo, I'm fine."

His heart skipped another beat at hearing his name in her voice.

"Okay..." he said, "but if that pervert--"

"He wasn't a pervert."

"What?"

"At least, I don't think he was..." she said. “I thought he was at first. He kept saying he knew me, so I thought he was a stalker. But then he told me he wanted to see my powers. He said the air was dry and he wanted to see it rain.”

Cairo furrowed his brow.

“He could have been from anywhere." She clutched her arms. "I don't know what would have happened if you didn't show up."

“You should really go to the hospital." Cairo frowned at her.

“Don’t worry about me--are those your things?”

“Huh?”

She jogged away from him, toward the entrance to the tunnel.

“Hey!” he called, running after her.

Mae had a slight figure and delicate features, so it was easy to see why someone would try to take advantage of her, but it looked like she had held her own pretty well against a man that was almost twice her size. She bent down at the entrance to the tunnel, finding the phone and grocery bag rather easily.

“Was it already broken?” she asked, picking up his phone.

He looked down at it. The screen had shattered on impact.

“No, but that’s alright…” His voice trailed off as her hand placed the phone gently in his. Her brown eyes were bright and shining, sitting perfectly above her round cheeks. He thought she might have been crying at first, but her skin was just as clear and bright as her eyes.

“I think your milk spilled…”

He followed her eyes down to the disastrous milk explosion that was swimming all over the ground. He picked up the dripping bag and stifled a groaned.

“Uhh… I need to get more milk.”

“Yeah,” she agreed.

“But..." He looked at her, ”I should also walk you home."

“Oh.” She blushed. “I should go with you then.”

----------------------------------------

He had never felt more awkward buying milk in his life. He waited as the cashier scanned the new bottle of milk, while Mae roamed the candy aisle.

He leaned forward and discreetly asked the cashier if he should get something for her.

“What?” the cashier asked, looking at Cairo with a new level of annoyance.

“Should I get something for her?” He indicated over his shoulder at Mae.

“What? -- I don’t… Jesus, dude.”

He looked down at the tray of candy in front of him.

“I feel like chocolate would be trying too hard, but I don’t know if she likes anything sour," he whispered.

“That’ll be 6.50,” the cashier said, loudly, ignoring him.

Cairo looked quickly over his shoulder at Mae, who was now looking at the drinks. He grabbed the first candy bar his hand touched and placed it on the counter. The cashier scanned it.

“That’ll be 7.50,” he said.

Cairo slid a ten across the counter, watching Mae.

The cashier handed him the new grocery bag and put an “ON BREAK” sign on the counter. Mae saw Cairo was done and walked out with him.

“Where do you live?--I mean, so I can walk you there,” Cairo asked.

“Fairweather,” she said, trying not to laugh.

“Oh.” Cairo said.

“What?”

“Oh, nothing. I just know someone else who lives there.”

“Do you mean Farrah?” she asked.

“Yeah," he said, annoyed that the girl could snake her way into every conversation. "My mom makes us go to these dinners at her house. Totally sucks.” He instantly regretted saying anything at all, in case Mae and the She-Witch happened to be friends.

"You two are really cute, always bickering.” Mae smiled sadly.

“No, we’re not--” He fumbled over his words in a panic. “I mean, it's not -- I hate Farrah. Like I really hate her.”

Mae laughed. “Is that it?”

“Really, she’s…” he smiled. “She’s not even my type.”

Mae smiled back.

“What’s your type, then?” she asked.

“Well, I like girls for one.” He said, "Farrah's more of a... I don't really know how to explain it."

“Is that the only qualifier?” she teased.

“What? No, I -- I mean..." He stopped himself, not sure of what to say.

He glanced at her to see if she was scrutinizing him. She was.

"Well, I like girls with brown hair.” He shrugged, "I guess."

She cracked another smile.

He took a breath, hurrying to change the subject. “I meant to say earlier that you're pretty strong. I’d be freaked out right now if someone attacked me like that.”

“Oh,” she said, caught off-gaurd by the sudden change of topic.

“Are you sure he didn’t hurt you?”

“I sound okay, don’t I?”

“Yeah, but--”

“Actually, I was scared at first," she admitted. “But I felt safe when you showed up.”

Her hair fell into her face, blocking Cairo’s view of her expression.

They walked the rest of the way in silence. Cairo had a million things he wanted to say, but couldn’t get any of them out of his mouth. Eventually he stopped thinking and just enjoyed the sound of her footsteps falling into place with his.

They made it the rest of the way up the hill to Fairweather Ct, where the nicer houses stood three stories tall. They stopped in front of a soft brown house, right next to the ugly white and stone house he recognized as the Vukovic’s.

“Thanks for walking me home,” she said, unlatching the front gate.

“Uh--” He said, stopping her but not knowing what to say.

“Yes?”

“Do you walk home alone every night?” He could feel his palms sweating.

“Just when I have work,” she said.

“Well, call me," he said, swallowing hard. “It’s not that far, I’ll walk you home.”

“Really?” She perked up. “Okay! Thanks, Cairo.”

She turned toward the house and walked to the front door.

“Wait!” He called. “Do you have my number?”

She hurried back to the fence. “No, I don’t,” she said in a hushed voice, “what is it?”

He listed the string of numbers as she typed it into her phone.

“Okay, I’ll call you.” She smiled at him and said goodbye before walking into the house.

Cairo returned home in a state of hypnotism. He tossed the milk on the kitchen counter, where the cat was eating fish-shaped kibble, and floated to his room with a smile on his face. He laid down in bed, playing the evening back in his mind like a movie. He had almost forgotten about the incident with the strange man earlier.

In fact, Mae seemed to react all too calmly. Cairo’s fear was clouded by his nervousness around her; maybe it was the same for her? Or maybe she was really good at hiding how scared she was. He didn’t know if it would be okay to talk about, or if he should pretend it never happened. She probably didn’t even save his number, but just accepted it because she felt bad for him.

He pressed his pillow over his head in embarrassment. Why did he tell her he liked girls with brown hair?

“Was this for me?”

Cairo screamed, tumbling to the floor in fear as Alex’s voice echoed through his room. He lit the palm of his hand on fire to see her chew a candy bar in the dark of his doorway.

“You should’ve told me you were getting candy, I would have suggested something better.”

“It wasn’t for you, it was someone else, and I forgot.” His whole arm lit on fire as he covered his face in shame.

“Careful,” Alex said. “You’ll burn the house down again.”