Ash found herself standing on the beach again, the chunk of burnt out coal in her hands. Eli stood before her, a halo of fire against his back, arms reaching. "Are you okay?" His voice was thick with concern.

She looked around. Everyone was gone. The beach was empty. "What happened? Where did everyone go?"

Eli wasn't listening. His eyes were distant, unfocused and his mouth was spread in a tight, thin line. "I was so worried I'd lost you," he whispered, pulling her against his body, so close she could feel his laboured breath on her neck. She was so shocked, all she could do was stand in his arms, wrapped in his scent, the heat of his skin through his robe like an open furnace.

"They say if you don't pass the initiation, you die," Eli said.

"Would've been nice to have been told that," Ash said, voice muffled against his robe.

"What difference would it have made?" Eli said. "Everyone's got to go through it some time." He took her hand. "Come, let's walk."

Confused, she let him lead her to the water's edge where the beauty of the night relinquished her concerns. The sky was an abyss into which she could fall forever. The moon was clear and the sea glassy, so glassy, she could see her own reflection in it.

Or was it her reflection?

She peered closely at the woman in the mirrored meniscus. It was her and yet, it wasn't. Her eyes were no longer amber, but light brown, and her brown hair so long, it reached her thighs. She was a strange distortion, stretched out, and enhanced. It was like looking at a high resolution version of herself—skin, eyes, hair, darkened and enhanced, more glossy, more beautiful that she could've ever imagined.

Her fiery red robes had been altered to plunge low at the neckline and pull tight at the hips, giving feature to the full crease of her bosom and her smooth, unblemished décolletage. She realised what was happening. She wasn't Ashalia Valesca anymore, but Heather, the shadow that kept following her around.

This must be the second part of the test,Ash thought. This isn't really happening.

The thought was both liberating and terrifying. She tried to run, but her feet weren't quick enough and Eli's arms were around her in an instant. "Eli..." she began to protest, but it was no use. His hands were moving against her skin, his scent playing havoc with her senses.

Then, his lips were on hers and it was all over. She couldn't think, she couldn't see straight, the sensation was fire. His hands pawed at her satin robe, fiddling with the ties. She sighed and let him peel back the fabric so that their bodies could finally touch, skin-to-skin, heat-to-heat. Hot runnels travelled through her like shockwaves, puncturing her heart. It was unlike anything she'd ever experienced—different from kissing Gus in a thousand different ways.

Her robe fell to the sand and Eli pulled back just enough to glance down at her moonlit body. He sighed, "Heather."

And just like that the spell was broken. Just like that—as though someone had flicked off the hot water in a lust-filled shower, leaving her trembling and exposed. She pulled away, gasping as the electric heat of his embrace went cold.

"What's wrong?' Eli said, his unfocussed eyes crinkling with confusion.

"I can't... " she began and tried to step away but he wrapped his arms around her again, pulling her in tight. He whispered in her ear, "So beautiful."

She relented in his arms, went slack as a flower in the sun when she felt a change in his body. His arms thinned against her back, his scent—log fires and candle wax—shifted to the salty brine of the ocean. Long hair tangled in her fingers, silkier, wavier, bright red. She pulled away to find herself staring into the disapproving face of Miki.

"Stay away from Eli," Miki said, rosebud lips pursed tight around her words. And with that, she pushed off Ash like a swimmer pushing off a turn plate, then stormed away, feet making angry dents in the sand.

Ash watched Miki go, her lustful veneer slowly peeling away, leaving her alone, naked and shivering, aching for the loss of Eli's touch.

Understanding came to her in a bolt—clear like a whiff of Hartshorn on her groggy lust-hazed brain. She realised her greatest fear wasn't inevitability. It was love. More specifically, her greatest fear was being in love with Eli.

As she reached this conclusion, the vision dissolved and she found herself back at the bonfire, the cold lump of coal in her hands. This time, Ollie was at her side, the rest of the Wanderers watching on and Eli standing before her, bearing his usual unreadable expression. She looked down at her feet. After what she'd just experienced, she couldn't bring herself to look him in the eye.

Eli took the cold lumps of coal and threw them back in the fire. Ash noticed he was careful not to touch her skin. "Congratulations. You both passed initiation," he said. "How do you feel?"

Ollie closed his eyes. "Different somehow."

Ash reached inside for her force and felt it lap at the fringes of her mind, a slow steady burn like that of compact coal. She had to agree with Ollie. She did feel different, though she couldn't describe how.

Eli stepped away from the fire. "You are now official fire-wielders. From this moment on, you may pass on your knowledge to others." He motioned to Oroton. "I think we're ready for the festivities—"

Before he could finish, there was a squeak from someone in the crowd. All eyes turned to Apple, who was pointing and staring at Ash with eyes round as spoons and mouth like a saucer. "Sprout, you're glowing," she said.

A unison gasp rose from the crowd as others noticed it too. Ash looked down, her own gasp joining the others when she noticed the skin on her arms was glowing a reddish gold and flickering with a feathered pattern.

Eli stepped towards her. "It seems you've undergone a physical transformation," he said.

"A what?"

"It's rare," he said. "Only Gunner and I have been physically changed by initiation. Gunner got his tattoos and I—" He turned to show her his back, where the shifting pattern on his skin she thought she'd imagined before, shone vividly in the firelight. "Got dragon scales," he finished. "Yours look like feathers."

"Phoenix feathers?" she whispered.

For the first time in a long time, Eli smiled, and the expression lifted the shadows from his face and filled the hollows of his eyes. "I believe so," he said. "The Phoenix from the ashes."

Ash studied the shimmering pattern on her arms, lifted and let them fall so that they moved like wings. With each rise and fall, the feathers shone brighter, as though fuelled by the moments. She laughed. "Will they always be visible like this?"

Eli didn't answer. He was staring at her with a new expression on his face, one she'd never seen before. If she didn't know better, she thought it might've been wonder. He cleared his throat. "No. You should only be able to see them when you're close to a fire, when you're using your force, or when... " his voice trailed away.

"When... " she implored.

He rubbed the corner of his mouth, muffling his next words. "Or when you're making love to someone."

Ash immediately stopped flapping her arms. She wished she'd never asked.

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*~*

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