Caloric
Chapter 15

Phoenyx crossed her legs and tried to get comfortable. But, really, how comfortable can one get just after learning someone was killed because of them and in three days or so they will be next? Okay, focus. All you have to do is…start this piece of paper on fire with your mind. How hard can it be?

She stared at the paper and tried to put everything else out of her mind. Maybe she just had to visualize it. Like Sebastian’s ability, maybe she just had to picture the paper starting on fire. She imagined it once, then again more vividly. Nothing happened.

Hmm. Okay, maybe it was something more like Peter Pan, think happy thoughts. Happiness was a positive and powerful thing, right? She thought about how much she would love to have a full course meal right now. Oh, even better, how great a buffet would be. She could eat and eat and eat and make the hunger pains wish they never existed. Nope, that only made her stomach growl loudly.

That’s not going to work. All right, don’t think about superficial happiness, think about what would make you truly happy. To see Mom again. She thought of coming home to her mom, giving her a huge, very long hug and telling her all the things she never said, like what a great mom she was and how she did a great job raising her on her own for the past six years.

That made her think of her dad. Now to see him alive would make her extremely happy. She imagined him coming back into her life with open arms, telling her the one thing she would love to hear: that he forgave her.

Crap; that just brought the aching fear and guilt back.

She sighed, then looked around the room to see how the others were doing.

Lily sat in the corner staring at her last apple, probably quarreling with herself over whether to sate her hunger now or save it for when she really needed it. Skylar stared, no, scowled at the bars in front of him, looking like his eyes were about to pop out of his head. Sebastian was perched in a hover over the toilet, staring apathetically into the water.

He was so cute. He had his white button-down shirt just hanging on his shoulders, the buttons all unbuttoned so his shirt was open to reveal just a bit of his bare chest. He definitely had a swimmer’s chest. He looked like one of those surfer gods one sees running down a beach in slow motion on a TV show.

A new, warm feeling replaced the guilt and fear in her stomach, and she remembered something that should have been obvious right from the start. Her compulsion ability, it stemmed from sensuality. Whenever she made someone do something, she would feel the sensation of being turned on. If lust was what fueled that power, it only made sense that it would fuel her fire power, too!

“Duh,” she whispered.

“What?” Sebastian asked.

“Oh, uh, nothing,” she said.

While their gazes were on each other, he smiled at her.

Maybe it was time she stopped pushing away the thoughts that lay in wait all this time. She had so many reasons for fighting them off before—they just met, their lives were in danger, there were more important things to worry about, there were bars between them so there was no point in torturing herself with something she couldn’t have, etc. However, this might be her key to unlocking the Fire within her.

When he went back to concentrating on the water, she concentrated on him. God, he had such perfect lips—so pink and full and seemingly soft. She wanted to kiss them since the night they first talked. He was probably a great kisser. He was probably great at a lot of things. She let her eyes wander down his neck and to his open shirt. Now that she wasn’t fighting it, she could really enjoy his chest—just the right amount of muscles, not too buff and not too scrawny. He shifted his position where he sat and his shirt moved just enough to reveal one very perky, hard nipple. For the first time, she appreciated that it was cold in here. Yet, she was getting very warm.

Oh, to hell with it! She let herself fall into a fevered fantasy of what would happen if these bars didn’t separate them and Lily and Skylar weren’t here. She imagined crawling over to him and surprising him with a teasing kiss, only enough to let him know what she wanted, so that he would pull her against him and open his mouth to let his tongue do the talking. Oh, how amazing it would feel to kiss him passionately and hungrily!

She would pull his shirt all the way off and let her hands roam eagerly all over his naked back. He would pull hers up over her head, then snap her bra off with one flick of his fingers and toss it to the side. Then he would pull her up and cover one of her breasts with his hungry mouth while his hand playfully covered the other. She would run her fingers through his thick black hair, holding him against her. They would wrestle each other down to the floor and let their hands replace what they really wanted—the buttons to each other’s pants. Oh, she blushed at the thought of what waited under that black polyester for her.

Suddenly, Skylar cleared his throat awkwardly and loudly. Oh, right, Skylar’s a mind reader. Oops. How awkward for him.

Phoenyx stopped her fantasy but her entire body was warm and hungry, and not for food, which was a welcome change. She looked back down at the paper she held. Letting her lust flow through her hand, sounds from her fantasy echoing in her mind, she said clearly in her mind, “Burn.”

As she watched, thin smoke wafted and swirled upward.

Holy shit, it worked!

The smoke stopped, its death almost tangible, like she felt it with some unknown sense she couldn’t locate.

“Holy hell, Phoenyx, is that smoke?” Sebastian asked excitedly. “You’re actually doing it!”

“Oh, uh…yeah, I did,” she said, trying to compose her voice. “I had it but it wasn’t strong enough.”

Damn, looking at him now made her ache. Sure, that’s just what she needed, more aches. Maybe giving into her lust and letting herself want him was a bad idea. Not to mention the discomfort of knowing that Skylar saw everything she was thinking about his best friend.

“At least you’re getting started,” Sebastian said. “I am getting nowhere with this water thing. I thought maybe it would be like my illusions, that if I imagined the water moving or something, it would move. All I see happening is an illusion of the water moving, not the water actually moving.”

“Huh, that’s frustrating,” she said. She swallowed and tried to get moisture back in her mouth.

“Anyone have any suggestions?” he asked.

“Nope,” Skylar said. “I’m getting nowhere too. I think that trying to bend the bars right away is the wrong way to go about this. I think I need to start with moving or lifting something lighter, then move my way up. Like Phoenyx said, it’s like working out—you start with the smaller weights first. Right?”

“You can try with me,” Lily said, setting aside the apple she’d been staring at for the past hour. “I don’t have anything to do and, if I don’t replace something to preoccupy myself with soon, I’m going to eat that stupid apple and really regret it after I really enjoy it. So use me as your weight. See if you can lift me.”

“All right; sure. Why not?” Skylar welcomed.

He moved to right in front of the bars and sat in the same position as before, which was apparently his focused position, with his legs crossed, his back hunched forward a bit, and his elbow resting on his knee with his hand holding his chin.

After about two hours of focusing, Skylar managed to levitate Lily about an inch off the ground. The effort of it pretty much knocked him after that. Lily was already falling asleep before that so she was happy to lay down when Skylar called it quits.

Sebastian was still wide awake, looking into the water not like he was concentrating on it but more like he was daydreaming. Unfortunately, Phoenyx was unable to think of anything but him since she let the desire in. She tried sparking the paper a few times but all she got was smoke that didn’t last long.

“So visualizing the water moving doesn’t work, huh?” she asked, moving closer.

“Not even a little bit,” he said. “I assumed that would be the key because it works for the illusions.”

“Hmm,” she hummed, thinking. “I have an idea. When those pipes burst at your foster home, you said you felt it. What exactly did you feel?”

“I wanted to protect Skylar but I was so small and helpless. I wanted to stop Gus from hurting him. I wanted to hurt Gus.”

“If I remember right from what you showed me, the pipes all burst in your direction, didn’t they?” she mused. “I mean, usually when pipes rupture naturally, the fracture is all around the pipe, or at least at random places on the pipe, wherever the weak spots are. Don’t you think it means something that they all burst aimed at you and Gus?”

He thought about it. “Okay. So, what are you saying?”

“I think the way to control the water is by seeing it as an extension of yourself,” she said. “You wanted to do something to stop Gus and then the water around you rushed out toward you, toward Gus. The water acted as your extra limbs. Maybe you should try moving the water as if it were a physical part of you.”

“Hmm. That’s how Skylar says his telekinesis works,” he said. “All right, let’s see if it works.”

He looked into the water. A few minutes passed. Phoenyx lifted herself with her knees to see into the bowl. Suddenly, the center of the water’s surface bubbled up and stretched like a misshapen arm reaching up.

“Oh, my God, I did it!” Sebastian gasped. Then the water deflated and smoothed itself back to a flat surface.

“That was great!” Phoenyx praised. “You’re one step closer to mastering it!”

“You were totally right; I had to actively move the water like it was a hand that had fallen asleep,” he said. “I just had to make the neural connection. I never would have figured it out without you. I would have stared into this damn toilet like an idiot for the next two days.” He laughed.

Phoenyx smiled. Then she looked again at the other two slumbering cell mates. They were both asleep now, so nothing she could think, or do, would offend either of them. She should take advantage of this opportunity.

“I’m glad I could help,” Phoenyx said. “Now, maybe you could help me out.”

“Sure, what can I do?” he asked.

“Well, do you remember how it felt when I touched you and compelled you to kiss Skylar?” she asked.

He smiled knowingly and raised an eyebrow in a very sexy expression. “How could I forget?”

She giggled, heart fluttering at what she was about to propose. “I thought, like you did with your illusions, that the thing fueling my first power might be what fuels my element too. I tried it but all I can get is smoke.”

He nodded, a sultry mist glossing over his gorgeous blue eyes. “Interesting.”

“I’d like to try something,” she braved. “If you’d let me.” She reached her hand through the bars, beckoning him.

He scooted closer, taking her hand. She pulled him in as she pressed herself against the bars. With just enough space between two cold bars, their lips met. Oh, his lips were even softer than they looked! Her lust flooded through her and she didn’t bother to stop it from flowing through their connecting parts to pass into him.

He moaned with the rush of it. His mouth opened and his tongue came out to play. Their arms wrapped around each other, grasping and tugging, squashing them against the bars that only barely divided them. They kissed ravenously, lips wrestling, tongues dancing in an endless struggle to satisfy an itch that just could not be scratched.

When her lust was at a peak that was too much to bear, she broke from his oh-so-delicious mouth and picked up the paper bag. “Burn,” she commanded. The bag burst into flames and Sebastian flinched away from the heat of it. Like her lust, the flames were insatiable and devoured the bag in seconds, leaving nothing but ashes in her open palm.

“Wow.” Sebastian panted heavily.

“It worked.” She breathed triumphantly. She rested her forehead against Sebastian’s, both of them gripping the bars to keep themselves up, both trying to catch their breath.

One of his hands found hers and they entwined their fingers around the bar. He rubbed his nose against hers, his lips so close but not touching. The desire was so strong and yet equally repellant, for they both knew that if they started kissing again, they wouldn’t be able to stop. The kissing wouldn’t be enough to placate them but it would be all they could do. Making out would be such sweet torment.

“That was…incredible,” Sebastian said through breaths. He swallowed. “Thank you so much for letting me be your guinea pig.”

She laughed. “I’m just glad that Lily and Skylar went to sleep. I have been thinking about you nonstop for hours. I just had to try the real thing.”

He groaned longingly and bit his lip. Then he cupped one side of her face with his hand. “I wish these bars weren’t between us.”

She nuzzled her face into his hand, wanting more of his touch. “I know; me too.” She kissed the base of his thumb.

He leaned back and it looked like it took every ounce of his strength to do so, jaw clenched and exhaling deeply.

“As much as I would love to keep practicing with you like this,” he said, “I don’t think lust is the answer to unlocking your element. When we go out there, when we have to start fighting, I think that sex will be the last thing on your mind, and you won’t be able to kiss me every time you need to defend yourself.”

“Oh.” She sighed, disappointed.

“The fire that you started in your house happened because you were angry,” he said. “I think anger will be a much more easily accessible emotion in a fight. I think that is the emotion we should be focusing on.”

Anger. Why hadn’t I realized that? Dammit. She really, really wanted a reason to kiss him more. But he was right. Come to think of it, when she started that fire years ago, she wasn’t even touching the place that started on fire. So, it didn’t necessarily have to be like her compulsion ability. She didn’t have to touch what she wanted to burn for it to burn. That would definitely make it more useful if she had to defend herself.

“You’re right,” she said. “I’ll practice with that tomorrow.”

He nodded and took her chin between his thumb and index finger. “Besides, when we’re kissing, I want it to be just because you want to kiss me.”

She smiled, happy for his invitation to continue. “Oh, trust me, I want to.”

She pulled him close and the frenzy started all over again.