The dark of night was staved off by a crackling fire at the center of a grassy field. Shaun tended to the flames with a lengthy stick, poking at the burning branches. He frowned, looking about, and walked a short distance to grab a large, flattened stone. He then added it to the ring of stones around the fire and placed his hands on his hips, satisfied with the work. To his left, Wade held two hot dogs skewered over the firepit. He pulled them back and sniffed one before scrutinizing it in the firelight. Satisfied, he handed one to Shaun, who immediately bit into his dog. He then flinched back, eyes squeezed in pain, fanning at his mouth.
"Too hot!" Shaun gasped.
Wade took his free hand and dug through his pocket for the device stashed within. He then took a large bite, savoring the flavor as he chewed. "Felt noffin," Wade mumbled through a mouthful of food. His eyes then went wide, lighting up with an idea.
Nearby, Parker and Ronnie sat together on stumps, using a fold-up stool as a makeshift table. Ronnie was tinkering with some exposed wire on a partially-disassembled radio while Parker held a flashlight and a tool kit.
"Pliers, please?" Ronnie asked.
Parker handed a pair of pliers to Ronnie, who handed back a screwdriver to return to the kit.
"Move the light to your left, please?" Ronnie asked. The light adjusted. Ronnie then isolated a small metal piece, and, using the pliers, twisted it several times.
"There. Now that that's tightened, we should be able to pick up police frequencies," he said, wiping at his brow. Without bothering to place all the components back in their plastic shell, he reached down and pressed the power button. The small speaker began to squawk static and garbled sounds, but Ronnie turned a dial and it resolved into intelligible chatter.
Parker, clicking off the flashlight, turned to call the rest of the group, but his jaw dropped at what he saw. There, by the fire, Wade hoisted up a burning branch overhead with his bare hands as though it were some glorious, flaming sword of justice. "I… HAVE… THE POWER!" Wade roared in the deepest heroic voice he could muster. Several laughed as Skinny rose to his feet.
"Gather round, boys, radio's fixed," Skinny said. "That includes you, He-Man."
Wade tossed the branch back into the fire, sending off a rising cascade of orange-red sparks. He dusted his hands off, scraping the soot onto his pants, and shuffled over to the rest of the group.
As they filed around the small fold-up chair, a pair of bored-sounding voices spoke back and forth, largely in code.
"Well what are they saying?" Shaun asked, clearly not understanding much from the exchange.
"Nothing yet. It sounds like… just sounds like patrols reporting in or something," Wade answered.
"Yeah," Skinny affirmed, "it doesn't sound like anything exciting is happening right now. Hopefully that'll change soon. Do we have the costumes?"
"If you mean ski masks, then check!" Parker said, gesturing to a bag near the fire.
"Excellent, sounds like we're all set then."
Six sets of excited eyes stared at the radio, expecting something unexpected to happen. The enthusiasm on their faces slowly dimmed as patrols continued their mundane, coded check-ins.
"Hmm," Skinny began, "I guess maybe hero stuff is a lot of waiting to get a little lucky."
Still, the six sat, eyes glued to the tiny radio. Wide eyes gradually unwidened, hands started fidgeting, feet started tapping, and arms were crossed and uncrossed. The coded check-ins continued unceasingly.
Skinny finally spoke up. "OK, correction: maybe hero stuff can get pretty boring. Why don't you guys all go back to the fire? I'll let you guys know if anything comes up."
Wade, eager to prod more burning objects with his bare hands, bounded back almost immediately. Parker and Shaun followed.
"No need for you to stay listening on your own," Ronnie said.
"Actually, I'd kinda prefer it," Skinny replied. "I have some figuring out I need to do and could use the time to think."
Logan tapped Ronnie on the knee. "Let's go. He'll keep a good guard on the radio," Logan said.
Ronnie shrugged. "If you insist."
The two got up and began to leave, Skinny watching with a torn look. He suddenly changed his mind. "Hey, actually, Logan, could you head back here for a sec? There's something I meant to talk to you about. If you don't mind, Ronnie…"
Ronnie shrugged while walking backwards towards the rest of the group. "Not at all," he said with a bow of the head. He then continued on his way towards the fire while Logan returned to the radio, sitting on the stump next to Skinny.
* * *
Over by the fire, Ronnie picked up a folded chess board and gently tossed it in the air, a move that unfolded it with flourish. He then set it down on the grass near the flame and began setting up the pieces from a small bag near the board. "Anyone care for a match?" Ronnie asked, grey eyes twinkling mischievously in the firelight.
"Unfair advantage!" Wade protested with feigned indignation.
"Says the guy who let me burn my tongue on a hotdog while he went unscathed," Shaun retorted.
"I'll bite," Parker said, squatting near the board.
"I hardly know how to play," Shaun added, sitting in prime spectator position.
"To be honest, I didn't either until last night," Ronnie said.
"Well I've been playing since I was six," Parker said, looking at the board and deciding on his first move.
"In that case, it's the professional versus the novice… care for a wager?" Ronnie asked, summoning his best innocent smile.
While those two prepared for their fireside matchup, over by the radio, a sparring match of a different sort was also in its setup phase. There, Skinny and Logan sat in silence, listening intently to the police chatter. After some hesitation, Skinny spoke up.
"So, uh, that was quite the show this morning, wasn't it?"
Logan was momentarily flustered. "Oh, yeah. Sorry if I kinda went overboard there, I really should'a just explained it. I took the anger out but probably not the hurt. I really should—"
"No, hey, the demo was fine. Got the point across fairly well, I'd say. But that's not what I wanted to talk to you about."
"No?" Logan asked.
"It was something I noticed during the demo that I wanted to bring up." Skinny said.
While Ronnie moved pawns and advanced his bishops, pushing the attack, so, too, did Skinny.
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"Your arm," Skinny said. "The one you hit me with. It was just a flash, but I saw it… It was bruised."
"Oh yeah, I fell out of my bed last night. It doesn't hurt too bad," Logan said, scratching at his neck.
By the fire, Ronnie's bishops and surviving knight chewed through a pathetic defensive line of pawns.
"C'mon, man, you can be honest with me… we're friends, and friends can be open. Like, what about your face?" Skinny asked. "You've got makeup on to cover it, that much I can tell, but you're sporting a shiner on your right eye as well. You fell on that too?"
Logan's face flared with momentary shame, which was quickly swallowed up by indignation. He removed his gadget from his pocket and pressed the bottom's smooth terminal to his leg. With a hiss, the battery in the device's rear turned a fierce, fiery red, which Logan expertly ejected and slipped into his backpack.
"Just cut the crap with me, I know something's up. Just look," Skinny said, removing his device from his pocket and openly placing it in his lap so Logan could see it. "I only wanna help you. Just please let me know what you're hidin'?"
Logan's face twisted and Skinny saw the glimmer of dampness welling up in his eyes. Logan slotted a fresh battery in The Empathizer and prepared to fire it into his leg.
"No, no, c'mon, there's no need for that," Skinny said. "Just let it out. It's healthier that way." He watched his friend fight back tears, Logan's thumb quivering over the button. "You don't even need to say anything," Skinny added. "I can just use this, with your permission, and see for myse—"
"Don't—point that thing at me!" Logan choked out, his voice unexpectedly shrill and desperate. His cry split the night's calm wide open, momentarily stunning even the chirping insects nearby. The boys by the fire turned away from their already-concluding chess match to see what had happened. Skinny's frown only deepened.
"The hell are you all looking at?" he called over. "Go back to what you were doing!" Motion quickly resumed by the chessboard.
Logan looked Skinny squarely in the eye as he removed a battery glowing a faint yellow and shot it into his leg. He then smiled, significantly calmer now. "Just please afford me some privacy with my own thoughts," he said.
"Fair enough, but listen here. I can see all the signs clearly enough, and with or without this thing it's pretty easy to read what's going on here. It's your old man again, isn't it?"
Logan hesitated, thinking. "I don't want to talk about it," he said at last.
Skinny looked him up and down, trying to figure out another way in. Here was someone in need of help, but Skinny was totally and completely shut out.
It was while Skinny was still trying to pick the most diplomatic way to try again that the radio suddenly burst to life. "All units, be advised: this is an APB. Fire in Coffee Street warehouses started under suspicious circumstances. BOLO for caucasian teen, age estimated about 16, seen in close viscinity fleeing the blaze."
Skinny looked torn between the radio bulletin and wanting to continue his line of questioning, but the urgency of the moment won out. "Boys," he called, "we got us an emergency… burning warehouses, maybe an arsonist or two. We ready?"
Skinny tossed the radio and its associated tools into his pack while Wade dumped a small bucket of water over the fire. It sizzled out, leaving the boys with only flashlights to see and the faint, white light of the moon hanging low overhead. As Logan looked up towards that white orb in the sky, he noted the soot-black smudge of smoke rising up in front of it. Excitement hung in the air over the group, and within moments, they were in motion. They ran to the edge of the field where their bikes sat parked against a collapsing wooden fence. Switching on their mounted headlights, they took off into the night, barreling towards the warehouses and smoke trail on the far side of town.
As they drew nearer to the fire, a red glow gradually filled the air and soon dominated the view ahead. Logan was momentarily reminded of the insects flying into the bug zapper on his porch… drawing close didn't end so great for them. They rounded the final corner and finally saw the flames with their own eyes… the grand, blazing inferno looked a genuine terror compared to the romanticized images of heroism they'd each conjured up in their minds. Adding to the crushing arrival of realism, a police perimeter fully surrounded the burning building, making discreet entry to the site seem an impossibility. The gang pulled over in the dark beneath the trees a short distance from the police line.
"Now what?" Logan asked.
Skinny pursed his lips, deep in thought.
"I could go, invisibly," Shaun ventured.
"I think I've got a better idea," Ronnie said, looking towards the police line. "Parker, isn't that your mother's car?"
* * *
Parker and Skinny walked up to the police perimeter. Two officers leaning on their cars stood upright and moved to intercept. "You can't go past here," one of them said. "Not only for fire safety, but forensics will be making a pass once the fire's out. Can't risk scene contamination."
"Oh, no, it's not like that. I'm Parker Campbell."
"Parker, that you? Christ it's hard to see in this damn firelight. Go on ahead, but respect the perimeter, yeah? Wouldn't want you booked for burning the place just because you left a hair where you shouldn't." He and his partner stepped aside, letting Skinny and Parker past. Even from a distance, the two boys could feel the intense heat of the place radiating outwards, giving them the impression of leaning over a hot stovetop. They continued forwards until they arrived at the frontmost squad car, where a woman with a small frame and short hair was silhouetted against the blazing flames beyond. She turned around.
"Officers Hanes and Gutierrez just radioed me, saying they were sending two suspects my way," she said. "Don't suppose that's you two?"
"Hey mom," Parker said.
"Hey Parker," Officer Nora Campbell replied. "And Jackson Trent… haven't seen you over in a while."
"Hey ma'am," Skinny replied. "It's good to see you… present circumstances of the town burnin' down notwithstanding."
"Parker, you told me you and the boys would be out camping tonight over by Hannison's."
"Well, we were—are—but then we saw the smoke and wanted to come investigate."
"You biked halfway across town just to investigate?"
"Just seemed interesting," Parker said lamely. Nora frowned.
"Well, honey, you leave the investigating of dangerous scenes to me. This thing could come down any second, making it not a very safe place to be near."
"Is there anyone inside?" Parker asked, looking over at the building as Ronnie had instructed. His mother followed his gaze, turning her back to Skinny. Skinny took that as his cue to silently point the satellite end of his device towards her and he squeezed the grip of the device.
"You know I'm not supposed to talk work with you," she said. "But I can say that they think some teenager did this… set it to burn. Witness saw at least one kid fleeing this site. You two keep your eyes and ears open for me, okay?"
Parker and Skinny both nodded their heads.
"And if you see anyone suspicious," she continued, "don't approach them, but let me know as soon as you can. I'm in charge of the case personally." Nora then turned to Parker. "Now, with this all burning down, now really isn't the best time to chat… I've got Fire and Rescue coming in any minute now and I have to coordinate with them. I'll save you a plate of dinner tonight… and Jackson, it was good to see you." She walked back to her squad car and grabbed her radio. "Curtis, a handful of boys on bicycles just beat your trucks to the fire… where the hell are you guys?"
Skinny and Parker returned to the rest of the gang beyond the police perimeter. There, they watched wailing firetrucks arrive and squeeze their way through the perimeter towards the burning building, beginning to spray the warehouse blaze into submission.
"Well, it worked," Skinny said, "though peering without permission still feels skeevy."
"And?" Wade asked eagerly. "Do I get to run into a burning building?"
"Nobody's inside," Skinny said.
"Awww," Wade said, deflating a little.
"And that's a good thing," Skinny reminded him. "People not burning to death is a good thing."
"But think of how awesome that could've been!" Wade argued. "Me, running in there to save the day… rescuing the orphans or whoever is trapped in that horrible, burning warehouse…"
"Yeah, and then even though you don't burn your clothing still does, and you run out into a line of police buck naked," Shaun suggested.
"Assuming, that is, that your device doesn't melt or overload in all that heat, leading to you melting in that warehouse," Ronnie added.
"You guys are no fun," grumbled Wade.
"There was this one thing," Skinny said, "about a suspect… apparently some teen was fleeing on foot just after the burn started. They almost got a glimpse. Miss Campbell asked that we keep our eyes open."
"I could go back in time," Parker volunteered, "and we could look for whoever flees the burning building!"
"If you go back in time to right before a burning building catches fire, then you could be the person they saw fleeing," Logan said.
The group sat in silence for a moment, thinking on the implications.
"And with your moms being a cop, we really don't need all that confusion," Skinny said.
"But if we agree I shouldn't go back," Parker began, "then the person wasn't me! So I can!"
"But, paradoxically, using that logic to go back in time, you then thus could be the suspect they're after," Ronnie countered.
Logan made a shooing gesture. "This is all too confusing… how about this: the best part about time travel is we don't need to decide right now. Let's wait and see if this arsonist strikes again, and if we want to, later on, we can send Parker back to tonight to see for himself."
The group nodded in assent.
"Besides, we gotta figure out the limits of what exactly these things can do," added Skinny. "Like, whether Wade's could survive that much heat. Or if Parker's got a limit to how far he can go back."
The boys set off back towards their fire, excitedly buzzing about the different tests they'd run. Ronnie paused just behind the others and looked back, hesitating for a moment. The woods were dark and impenetrable, an unsettling silence cloaking them as thoroughly as the absence of light. Try as he might, Ronnie couldn't shake the feeling that he was being watched by something or someone deep in those woods. With a shiver, he set off behind the others, mounting his bike and riding away into the sleepy Boone streets beyond.