Chapter 18
Dylan scowled. “What did you say you wanted me to do?”
Gabriel smirked. “Light your cigarette. I know you can do it. I mean, you barbecued that thing back at your mom’s, though you might not want to go full on like you did then.” He took a large drag from the cigarette and puffed out a smoke ring. He chuckled. “Huh. Didn’t know I could still do that.”
Dylan glared at him. He sighed, knowing Gabriel was right. “Do you think this will work?”
Gabriel shrugged. “Who knows? But you need to learn sooner or later, and it’s not like we’re going anywhere just yet.”
Dylan nodded. He stared at the end of the cigarette, visualizing a lighter’s flame touching it.
Nothing happened.
He clenched his teeth and felt his chest tighten. “This isn’t going to work.”
Gabriel’s smile tightened and looked as if he was fighting laughter. “Maybe try holding your hand under it. Last time the flames came out of your palm.”
Dylan huffed and refocused his attention on the tip of the cigarette dangling from his lips. He raised his right palm under it. “I bet I look like an idiot,” he mumbled.
Gabriel shrugged, but his face contorted more as if the laugh he was stifling was almost too much to hold in.
After what felt like an eternity in what he felt was the most ridiculous pose he’d ever held in his life, Dylan’s shoulders dropped. “This isn’t working. I suck.”
Gabriel walked over and rubbed his shoulder. “I wouldn’t know, but what I do know is that you never just give up without trying. You know you can do this, you just don’t know how. Does that journal say anything about it?”
Dylan raised his eyebrows. “I didn’t think to look.”
He pulled out the journal, skimming the pages for any reference to fire, and didn’t see anything specific. His second time shifting into a puppy hadn’t been as difficult.
He was ready to give up when he saw a line that gave him pause. All magic is rooted in intent and focus. The power is inside you, you just have to want it bad enough.
Dylan smirked, thinking that sounded like something Homer probably saw in a fortune cookie, when he remembered the letter. Homer had said his son could control an existing flame. He grinned. “Gabe. Let’s try something a little different. Maybe fire from nothing is harder.”
Gabriel smiled. “That’s the never give up attitude. You stay right there.” He walked over and stood just outside of Dylan’s reach. He took another couple of steps back and held up the lighter and flicked it to life.
Dylan stared at the flame, focusing on it. In his mind, it grew larger. I envisioned it stretching toward him and flittering against the tip of his cigarette. He drew in a breath, and acrid smoke filled his mouth.
Gabriel’s eyes were wide when Dylan glanced at him. He had lowered the lighter, but a coiling serpent of fire was still hanging from where it had been, moving toward Dylan.
“Gabe. I don’t know what’s about to happen. You might want to take cover. I’m going to try something.”
Gabriel nodded slowly and ducked into the adjoining room.
Dylan focused on the flame, his eyes closed, but he could still see it. He imagined it turning into a ring, spinning through the air. When he opened his eyes, a burning ring of fire encircled him. “Gabe! Peek out if you can,” he yelled, but didn’t turn to see if Gabriel did. His control was tenuous at best. He reached out and touched the flames, but they didn’t burn him.
“Holy fucking shit!” Gabriel’s voice rang from behind him. “How much control do you think you have over that?”
“I’m not sure. Get back and we’ll see. Let me know when you’re clear.”
A few moments passed before he heard Gabriel yell, “Clear!”
Dylan held out his hand, calling the flame to his palm. He was envisioning a ball of fire floating above his hand.
Instead, flames engulfed him. His shirt was burning. He ripped it free and tossed it across the room.
“Ok Gabe. It’s safe now.”
He heard the flashlight click on, and saw the beam point toward his smoldering shirt, and then focus on him.
“What happened?”
Dylan shrugged. “I don’t know. I tried to bring it to my hand, and I thought it was working, but it must’ve caught on my shirt.”
Gabriel smiled at him with a wide, slack-jawed grin. “I take it you didn’t account for the fact that it was behind you?”
Dylan shook his head and sighed. “I guess that’s why I need practice.”
Gabriel grinned wider. “Like I said, I’ll help you. Let me go check the door, though. I think that was good enough for some practice.”
Dylan sat down on the cold stone as Gabriel’s footsteps echoed through the room. He hoped the door would open. He closed his eyes and tried to sense anything in the room the way he’d done in Gabriel’s yard, but there was nothing.
Footsteps approached behind him, and he felt a hand on his shoulder.
“Nothing.”
Dylan screamed, “Fuck!” It echoed through the room, followed by silence.
“That didn’t help, did it?”
Dylan shook his head. “You’re awfully calm.”
Gabriel put a hand on his other shoulder and started rubbing, massaging the tension out of his neck.
“What are you doing?”
“You’re never going to accomplish anything as wound up as you are. Relax Dylan.”
“What if we die down here and it’s all my fault?”
Gabriel walked around to face him, squatting down to his eye level. “Then we die, I guess. But if that’s really something that might happen, there’s something I need to do first.”
Dylan raised an eyebrow. “What’s that?”
Gabriel smiled and took Dylan’s hand, pulling him to his feet. He looked into Dylan’s eyes, his face flushed red.
Dylan’s brow furrowed. “What’s wrong, Gabe?”
Without warning, Gabriel kissed him, and the room went dark.