Chapter XII

"NO!" JOEY STRUGGLED AGAINST Michelle's strong grip, but she held her in place. Joey glanced back, and yelled in anger, "What are you doing? They could die!"

"Do you want to die too?" Michelle asked, surprisingly calm.

Gritting her teeth, Joey looked back at David but continued to try and break free from Michelle's death grip.

"David?" Like blowing out a candle, Alex's fire extinguished, and he returned to his original tan color as he knelt beside David, placing a hand on his back. He threw out his hands to the side, acting like he had done this several times before, and the smoke parted giving David and Timothy clean air to breathe. "I'm sorry!" He cringed. "I really thought you were with Agcorp. The ability threw me off."

"Let me go!" In one strong yank, Joey freed her arm and took off towards the boys.

David chuckled through a few hard pants and coughed. "Well...I always knew you were a hot head." He continued hacking for several more seconds before trying to catch his breath. "He on the other hand." His head swiveled towards Timothy who was also struggling to breath. "Might actually be the one to worry about."

Timothy shot him a glare.

"Alex!" Joey pulled up beside David. "The fire! Can you put it out?"

Alex glanced around and his lips dipped in a frown. Almost like he was seeing the chaos he'd created for the first time. "Uh—"

Michelle stepped in between David and Timothy and screamed in his face, "Get this fire out now before we lose all the fruit trees!"

Alex took a step back and arched a brow. "And who are you to boss me around?"

"Alex!" David yelled hoarsely. He let out a puff of air as he stood up straight, his ice form reappearing. "Can you put this fire out or not?"

Slowly taking his eyes off Michelle, he glanced around at all the trees and his brow drew together. He raised a hand, and Joey held her breath. After a good few seconds, Alex huffed and his hand slapped his thigh. "No," he said softly.

Michelle roughly shoved him, and Alex had to be quick to regain his balance. "If that fire reaches our fruit trees then you've doomed us all!" Alex's eyes narrowed and his skin tone quickly turned a bright orange.

"Whoa, everybody just calm down!" Timothy extended his hands placing them between Alex and Michelle. "Let's not start killing each other."

"I'm going to go check the trees," Michelle said, tossing a thumb over her shoulder. "You!" She jabbed a finger into Alex's chest so rough that Joey was sure it'd leave a mark.

"Get the fire out," Alex sighed with a roll of his eyes. "I know."

Michelle narrowed her eyes and took off running past their little group, throwing up a hand to protect herself as she sprinted through the burning trees, fiery leaves drifting towards her skin.

"Let me give it a try," David suggested. His arms shook as the fire drifted closer. After what he'd said early, Joey was sure the heat was making him weak. Still, he pressed on. Closing his eyes, a misty rain flowed from his palms and filled the heavy plume of smoke that threatened to suffocate them. It felt cool against Joey's burning skin, and almost felt like the shower she desperately needed.

"Whoa!" Alex eyed David's hands as he dropped them to his knees, bent forward, and panted. "Dude, you kinda remind me of a mutant on X-Men right now." David laughed through his uneven breaths, but Joey arched a brow unable to understand the reference.

"Chase?" Joey jumped as Timothy cupped his hand over his lips and shouted once again. "Chase?"

Her brow furrowed as she swept her gaze through the thinning haze. "Who is—"

"Aargh!"

Joey lurched backwards as Alex almost slammed into her, but Timothy wasn't as lucky. The two hit the ashy ground, limbs sprawling in every direction. Joey jerked her head to find Michelle now in Alex's spot, her face reddened, teeth gritted, and fists clenched at her sides. Joey really couldn't help noticing the tight grip Michelle had on her bow.

"They're gone!" In one quick motion, Michelle whipped out an arrow from its quiver against her back.

"Hey, hey!" Joey stepped in front of Alex to protect him from Michelle's rash thinking. "You're not killing my friend!"

"Chase, where are you?" Timothy continued to shout as he pulled hims leg free from Alex's heavy body.

"And what if he killed one of mine?" Michelle asked flatly, her blue eyes zeroed in on Joey.

Chancing being shot, Joey pulled her eyes away from Michelle and glanced at Alex still on the ground. She could see in her peripheral vision that David and Timothy were also staring at him.

Alex glanced from face to face before crossing his arms. "There might have been...someone else when I woke up," he answered softly.

"Where is he?" David asked.

"He hurt him," Timothy stated, glaring towards Alex.

"What?" Michelle growled.

"He was standing directly over me!" Alex yelled trying to defend himself. He climbed to his feet, a cloud of ash stirring into the air as he moved. "What was I supposed to do? I thought he worked for Agcorp! Do you know what I went through right before I woke up here?" He pointed at himself. The skin on his arms unexpectedly separated in thin lines and flowed liked lava.

"That guy was sent by me to protect you!" Michelle's glare was sharp enough to cut through air. "I heard you coming and knew you would need help, but I didn't expect you to have an ability."

Joey's skin crawled seeing his flesh fused back together as he calmed.

Michelle gritted her teeth. "So help me if he's dead..."

Joey yelped, startled as a boy with light brown hair appeared out of thin air beside her. He winced and cradled his arm as he slowly lowered himself to the scorched earth on his knees. "I'm alright, Michelle," he said in one breath with another cringe and he sniffled.

Timothy quickly dropped to his knees beside this other boy and he gently pulled on the boys arm to examine it. After a few seconds, Timothy asked, "He did this to you?" Joey peered past the boys shoulder to find a patch of second degree burns along his forearm.

The boy—who by now she assumed was Chase—nodded. "It wasn't completely his fault." He winced but forced a grin. "I did scare him pretty good when he woke up."

Smoke rose from Alex's shoulders as he clenched his jaw. "I was not scared!" he said through gritted teeth.

"Sure." Chase smirked. "Because the way you attacked made it clear that you've had this ability for more then five minutes."

Alex looked away as his cheeks turned a bright red. "Whatever, but will someone please explain to me what's going on?"

David patted Alex's shoulder, vapor rising from the fire boys shoulder under David's hand with a sizzle. "Come on. I'll fill you in."

Joey turned towards Michelle as the boys walked away, and her brow creased. "You knew what was happening." Michelle didn't speak, so Joey pressed for some answers, "Back in the cave. You jumped into action miles away from the actual scene. How did you know Chase and Timothy were in danger?"

Michelle looked down as Timothy used part of David's ability to create a healing frost for the burn; the same frost that was melting and dripping down Joey's pant leg. "I could sense it," she replied.

Joey squinted and shook her head. "I'm sorry. Sensed it? It had to be a bit more than that."

Michelle's eyes turned up to meet Joey's. "Yeah," she spat in a way that made her appear offended. "It's my ability. I have impeccable hearing. That's how I knew."

"And it's a good thing too." Timothy helped Chase to his feet by the arm, and Chase nodded at Michelle. "That could've ended a lot worse if you hadn't—"

"Screamed like a little girl?" Timothy asked with a smirk. Chase elbowed him in the side.

"You're lucky it wasn't anything more serious," Michelle said, eyeing the boys who were conversing further away. "Newly discovered abilities can be dangerous."

Chase placed his good arm over Michelle's shoulders, and she wrapped an arm around his waist pulling him along.

"We need to get out of sight," Timothy said. "Cameras miles from here could've easily picked up on that smoke."

"But what about the fruit trees?" Joey asked, scanning the forest. She looked with hope that some had survived, but all she could see was crumbling bark.

"None survived," came Chase's cold response, drawing Michelle's gaze. "It was the first thing I went to check on, when the fire broke out, but they roasted pretty quickly."

"Which means this location is no longer safe," Michelle huffed.

"And we have no more packs of food," Timothy added.

Michelle clenched her jaw. "We'll have to move before we starve." Stepping forward, she helped Chase make his way towards the other boys.

As she passed them by, following closely behind the group, Joey felt a cold hand slip into hers and her heart fluttered. She turned to find David smiling at her, and he gestured with his head to follow as he pulled on her hand. Alex trailed behind them as Michelle lead them through the woods back to the waterfall.