“You’re different,” Air notes.

“That’s what happens with us humans. We grow.”

“You still have that smart mouth of yours,” Water muses.

“It’s one of my star features, but my fuse is longer.”

“Is it long enough?” he pushes.

“Light it, and we’ll see,” I challenge.

“Pretty bold from a girl who didn’t bring any help…or pants,” Water implies. “Or were you under the impression this trip would be as safe for you as the last?”

I didn’t want Barry with me the last time. He ruptured the transit barrier and tagged along. As for safety, I’m not safe. I do miss my friends, though. It’s tough making a solo show of strength. They’ve become such an integral part of everything I do, and who I am, it’s a struggle to function without them. Yet, they’re safe. Regardless of what happens in Sheelin, they’re protected from any potential backlash. Even if I can’t save Mom, I saved them.

My fire fuel beats against the tank keeping it prisoner. How much longer will Barry’s gift last? I’ve just about drained it to dregs. Deprived of it, I can’t contain the flame that wants to lash out at the Tribunal. As much as I want that in solidarity, I need to get my mom first. Kiley’s doing her part, as well. They can’t see my objective or how terrified I am, so they can’t use it against me.

And Brody? Geez, that boy’s the little engine that could even when he absolutely couldn’t. Sucker is gripping my leg like nobody’s business. Partners for life, however short that life ends up being.

“I hope you didn’t come here expecting us to lay out new terms,” Water persists.

“I hope she did,” Earth offers, “so we can refuse them.”

Fire Supreme slams his fists down on the table. Everyone flinches, including me. I can’t understand what lit Mom’s fire. He’s hot or cold, no in between. My father’s only the in between.

“You make things so much more difficult than they need to be,” he scolds.

“Are you telling me to cool my jets, Fire Daddy? It’s a smidge late for you to start spewing parental advice.” Fingers crossed, I hit a nerve. Maybe not too big a nerve. I still need to get Mom out of here before I work him up to blowing a fuse.

“No,” he responds calmly. “This is where I tell you a riveting tale of love and tragedy and how it ruined me for all eternity.”

“I’m not interested in your sob story,” I snipe. “Why should I believe it, anyway?”

“As I’ve told you before, I’m indifferent to what you believe,” he reminds me. “I’m also indifferent to your interests.”

“And you don’t care what choice I make,” I fire back.

“You no longer have a choice,” he asserts.

The last time I was in Sheelin, I was offered to take his seat in the Tribunal or have my flame extinguished. I chose neither. Apparently, he didn’t like that. “Oh, I’m sorry,” I tut. “Have I disappointed you, Sir Fire Supreme, Sir?” I lift a brow. “Did you like me calling you Fire Daddy better?”

His eyes darken. Have I pushed him too far? What I’m trying to do is invoke a slight emotional response from him to gain access. That’s the only way I’m breaching his stoic barricade to inject enough affection, or at least enough empathy, for him to let my mother go. Anger is an easier hammer than anything else, and it works faster. I need the faster fix since I’m burning through Barry’s barricade like it’s tissue paper.

He warned me I’d have to transition. He was right about that. He advised me I wouldn’t get killed before I transitioned. He was right about that, too. He might’ve even been right when he informed me I’m not a danger to him, but I don’t doubt I can blow up Sheelin. My volcano is ready to erupt.

“You’re a disgrace to the gift you’ve been given,” he states sourly.

“The gift you gave me,” I report. “Are you not happy with the seed you planted? You should’ve been around to tend it while it was growing.”

Air gasps, Earth growls, and Water leans away from Fire Supreme as he abuses the table with his fists.

“What do you know of the seeds?” Water prompts.

“I told you Matthew knew more than he was letting on,” Earth claims smugly.

“Well, what did you expect?” Air hisses. “All day. Different faces. Different voices. Surely, someone was bound to say something.”

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“It doesn’t matter,” Fire Supreme throws in bitterly. “None of it matters now. We have to start over.”

I want to ask what starting over is, and I would, except he stops me by acknowledging her presence. “Enter,” he demands.

Mom arrives through an opening in the wall. Mercifully, she doesn’t look worse for the wear. I want to sweep her into my arms, but I can’t do that, and what she does makes me wonder whether I should want to in the first place. She crosses the room without once looking me in the eye, placing her hand on Fire Supreme’s shoulder as she stands next to him. My tinder heart sinks to the pit of my stomach. It could burn to nothing in the fiery pool bubbling there.

But then, I look into her eyes and am reminded of the lesson Connor taught me. Don’t make assumptions. Brain on. Not hands on. She isn’t here by choice. She’s protecting me. No, I’m not settling for whatever agreement she made. Hard no from me. I didn’t come all this way just to watch her give up the life I fought so fiercely for her to have. Whatever he’s planned for her, I’m not allowing it. My fire fuel agrees. It’s had enough waiting on the bench and is ready to take the field. I keep it at the ready.

“What exactly are you planning to do?” I ask Fire Supreme directly.

“Harvesting,” he tells me.

I scrunch my nose, electrical fire tickling my nostrils.

“That seed wasn’t meant for you,” he seethes. “It was meant for your mother.”

My fire is ready to comply with my wishes, and I’m ready to put it to use. I form a fire needle, which is more like a crochet hook in thickness. It drills a hole in Water’s energy dam. No one’s keeping me from my mother. Never again.

Fire Supreme lets out a frustrated groan, throwing his chair back from the table. It splinters against the wall behind him.

Kindling, Supermom chirps.

I lock eyes with Mom. She half-smiles. She’s forcing her voice through the hole. While these gifts are supposedly not genetically related, she can project like me…or me like her…whatever. Only, her projection is a form of telepathy.

Your father and I were very much in love, Supermom explains, but something was wrong with me. I was transitioning. Losing pieces of time. In two places at once. One of the places was here. Sheelin. I met Shane. I met the Tribunal. He told me what was happening to me, and he wanted to help. How could I not trust him? He said if I submitted to this elaborate ceremony, where he’d breathe new life into me, I could postpone my transition until your father had lived out his human life. I’d age right alongside him.

Shane extracted a portion of his essence. A seed. It was meant to solidify my flickering fire. Eventually, the rooted seed would overtake me. In the meantime, as it grew, I’d have what I wanted. A human life. I had to give up my life for his new one. I was willing to for the chance to stay with your father, however temporary. What we weren’t aware of at the time…I was already pregnant, so when Shane completed the ceremony, it wasn’t me absorbing the seed. It was you.

From Shane’s perspective, it didn’t matter much. He’d just wait it out, but what you’ve become…what you’re becoming…it’s not what he envisioned in an offspring. You can’t convince him to put his faith in you, so you need to get rid of his options. You have to kill me, Sheyla. That’s the only way to stop him from ripping out the fire and funneling it back into me.

My eyes fill. How can she think I’ll choose my life over hers? Saving her is why I came to Sheelin in the first place. It seemed like an acceptable trade at the time. Me for her. It’s still an acceptable trade, but as I look into her pleading eyes, it’s about more than just me or her. It’s about the greater good, which means stopping Fire Supreme. If he takes the power from me, implanting it in her, what will it do to her? What will he force her to do? Can she control it like me? Will she know it inside and out, accepting it for what it is, or will it consume everything we’ve worked for?

My only option is to remove her as an option, but I won’t kill her. That isn’t the death being called for today. It’s my death that’s needed. I’ll give her the last piece of my humanity, and she’ll take it back to where she belongs, back to my father, who needs her.

“I’ll destroy myself and what’s left of your future if you don’t let her go,” I threaten. Chicken. I’m fantastic at this game.

Fire Supreme is contemplative. Is what I’m saying even possible? “I’ll take it before you can,” he counters.

“I’ll extinguish it the second you try.”

“Can she?” Air poses quietly.

“You’ve underestimated me for the last time,” I state boldly. “Now, I’m giving you a choice. Send her back, or I’ll end everything.”

Fire Supreme closes his eyes in concentration as he tries to pull the fire from me, but it won’t budge. It’s content with the decision I’ve made. Also, it’s far too tempted by the free release I’ll allow it the moment my mother is gone. It’s about to get super hot up in here.

“Fine,” he says through gritted teeth.

He tosses four departure stones on the floor. Before they can begin their mighty glow, I work the magic he hasn’t realized I’m capable of. Only, this time, I’m sending what’s left of my humanity to someone near and dear to my heart. And fused to my leg.

I bore that giant fire needle right into Brody, hastily funneling my life into him. Yeah, it’s a sloppy job. He’s getting my humanity leftovers, some of my fire energy, all my love, the entire pantry. Big, fat soup sandwich sew stew. I poke around the stone to pry it free with force. Bright side: it pops off, a mostly intact sack instead of an exploded cyst. That would’ve been horrible…and fascinating…but horrible. So gross.

I did say mostly…sorry.

As Mom catches my tossed pocket rocket, it starts oozing. In her hands. Right down to the floor. I mean, it just keeps on oozing forever. How much Grody ick was in that tiny sack? Not ick. It starts solidifying. It keeps solidifying. An old life. A new life. Reformed life. Standing beside my mom in the rainbow departure arena is a very real, very naked Brody. Not feeling so underdressed in my aquamarine boy shorts now.

As the transport light show bounces around the circular ceiling, they disappear from Sheelin. The fire fuel I tacked on? That’s ensuring they land in the location of my choosing, where I placed those landing stones in Pennsylvania. Mom’s safely away, is fully baked, and has a future with my father. And Brody…well, they’ll all get their happy endings.

When Fire Supreme opens his mouth to say something, the words get caught in his throat. He isn’t prepared for it to all start happening so quickly. He has no clue what I did or how close I was to transitioning this whole time. He tries to stop it. He wants to control my change, but there’s no stopping what I’ve started. My fire is done waiting. The only thing left for any of us to do is to burn right along with it.