She was burning alive in her sleep.
My body moved before I could think.
I dropped the sheet.
And pressed my bare hands flat against her.
Heat slammed into me—wild, bright, violent—
—and then her magic poured into my body like liquid fire.
I absorbed it all. Every drop. It burned under my skin like molten metal.
Jess jerked awake, screaming. She grabbed my arms, nails digging into my flesh.
“Kyra I’m coming!” she yelled.
I held her shoulders down until her eyes finally cleared. “You’re okay! Everything’s okay!”
“Seph?” she breathed, fully waking. “What the fuck are you doing?”
I let her go and stumbled back, forcing the power thrashing inside me to stay buried. “I heard you screaming. I was trying to help—you were going to burn the whole place down.”
Jess stared at her scorched sheets. “Did I do that?”
I nodded. My stomach twisted violently.
I needed air. I needed out.
“You’re good now, okay? I’ll—I'll just—”
“You woke me when I was on fire?” she whispered.
I forced a watery smile. “Just trying to save both our lives.”
Jess looked at me like she wasn’t sure whether to thank me or fear me.
“I’m— I’m sorry.”
“It’s all good. I’m gonna—”
I bolted.
I sprinted out of the room, down the hall, through the corridor that led outside. I didn’t stop, didn’t breathe, just kept running—past hedges, past old garden beds, toward the lake I’d seen earlier through a window.
I hit the shoreline and dropped to my knees.
Shoved my hands into the water—
—and released all the fire I’d stolen.
It hissed beneath the surface, the lake boiling violently for a heartbeat before going still.
And then the nausea hit.
I doubled over and vomited.
Afterwards, my body trembling and aching, I lay back on the soft earth next to the lake and I looked up.
