Chapter 3

CHAPTER THREE

FLAME

“Why are we here, again?” George mutters as we take our seats toward the back. We have to sit near the back because even though we arrived fifteen minutes early, the lecture hall is already nearly full. Apparently there are a lot of people who care about sea life epidemics.

Which is great; really, it is. That’s the goal: for ordinary people to care enough about the environment that they influence the corporations and policymakers that cause issues and can implement change. I just don’t understand why so many of them are interested in water and fish. Water’s so… wet.

“We’re being supportive,” I remind George. “Shit, where did Zeph go?” It’s always a mistake to bring him to things like this. With so many people and so many voices, he gets distracted and wanders off in search of the source of whatever stray thing the air tells him.

George looks around, then elbows Perry, who’s on his other side. “Where’s Zephyr?”

“Fuck.” Perry pops up like a meerkat and cranes his head around. “Aether, help.”

Aether, who’s studying the leaflet that was being passed out at the door even though he knows more about today’s talk than anyone other than River and Aqua, waves in a vaguely left direction. “Over there.”

The three of us look, searching for Zephyr’s distinctive floaty white-blond?—

“Shit!” I drop back into my seat and slump down.

“What?” Perry demands in alarm. “Do I need to… ohhhhh. Isn’t that your fireman?”

“What’s he doing here?” I hiss. “And why is Zephyr talking to him?”

“That’s the part that concerns me more,” George admits, still blatantly staring in that direction. “Zeph’s not exactly the king of discretion.”

Perry, being slightly less obvious than George, is back in his seat but has his head angled to look. “There’s a teenager with them. Maybe he’s just bringing his kid to the talk? And Zeph just happened to… nah. I’m gonna go get him before he says something and Flame gets accused of arson again.”

“Is it arson if you’re the embodiment of fire?” Aether wonders aloud. “We never really answered that question.”

“It’s not at the top of my priority list right now,” I grit out as Perry steps on my foot trying to get out of the row. “Has anyone got a hat I can borrow?”

Both George and Aether turn to look at me as though I’ve asked a stupid question. “ You want to cover your hair? You?” George reaches out to pinch me. “You feel real enough.”

“Ow.” I smack his hand away. “That’s for when you think you’re dreaming, and you’re supposed to pinch yourself .”

He shrugs. “That sounds a whole lot less fun. But to answer your question, no, we don’t have any fucking hats.”

It was a long shot. None of us consider it necessary to hide our hair—especially in this incarnation. Nobody thinks it’s unusual in SoCal for people to have “dyed” hair in vivid colors.

So I stay slumped down in my seat, hoping not to be spotted—even though I’m not actually doing anything wrong. There’s no reason why I shouldn’t be here, right? It might even be a good thing for him to see me somewhere that’s not a fire.

Perry comes back with a firm grip on Zephyr’s arm, and I get both feet stepped on this time. I’m really tempted to set them both on fire. I mean, come on… how hard is it to not step on me?

“Your fireman’s name is Bran,” Zeph tells me happily, even though his gaze is distant, as though he’s not really paying attention. I seriously don’t know how he manages to keep two streams of consciousness running at the same time. “His brother is Cody. I like them.”

“He’s not my anything,” I insist. “What were you talking about, anyway?”

Zephyr shrugs. “I’m not really sure. Cody came up to me and asked if I knew River. He was talking about River and Aqua’s research for a while, and then he asked if all our friends were marine biologists, and that’s when Perry came.”

George and I exchange glances. “That sounds like a fishing expedition,” he mutters.

Zephyr shakes his head. “No, he didn’t mention fishing, only fish.”

“Sweet baby Jesus,” Perry moans.

“There’s a typo on this leaflet,” Aether adds, just as River steps up to the lectern at the front of the room. I can see Aqua sitting in the front row—probably beaming because all these people are here to listen to his River. It’s kind of sickening… and sweet.

I’m not sure where the fire—sorry, Bran , and damn Zeph for telling me his name—and his brother have sat, but I don’t look around. Instead, I listen intently to every word of River’s presentation, even though I’ve heard it several times before. I even try to look like water fascinates and delights me. Not sure if I’m successful there.

The applause when he wraps up is heartening, though, and the Q and A that follows is lively and intelligent. There are the expected marine biology undergrad and grad students here, since this presentation was designed for them, but River insisted on making it open to the general populace as well, and I’m pleasantly surprised by the number of community members who’ve come along. Several of the questions come from people who identify themselves as owners of dive schools or independent fishing companies, and there are a fair number of high schoolers too. River might have been right when he said we were underestimating who would care and want to get involved.

Finally, he says, “I’m sorry, everyone, but this room is booked for another group later and the staff need time to prepare, so we’re going to have to clear out. But if you have more questions, there’s an email address on the leaflet that was handed out at the door, or you can reach me through the Institute. We’ll be publishing further findings over the next year, so definitely subscribe to the newsletter and keep an eye on our socials.” He smiles when everyone claps again, and then the noise level in the room increases as people begin talking to each other and making their way toward the exits.

We stay put. For one, we don’t want to risk losing Zephyr in the crush—Perry’s already had to pull him back into his seat three times—but also, once this lot clears out, we can leave through the back door with River and Aqua.

Eventually, the crowd thins enough that we get up and start making our way toward the front of the room. It’s not until we’re halfway there that Perry says, “Uh-oh,” and I look up instead of glaring at the slowpokes around me.

“Fuck,” I hiss. “What are they doing?”

My f— Bran and his brother are down the front, talking to River and Aqua, who are both smiling and nodding.

“Maybe they have questions,” Aether says. “We should join them.”

I grab his elbow and haul him back when he takes a step forward. “We should not ! I was at a fire the other day. If he recognizes me, what are we supposed to say?”

“I didn’t start the fire?” George suggests, smirking. “Wait and see if he says anything before you freak out.”

“That’s not helpful.”

“We can’t just stand here, or they’ll notice us anyway,” Perry insists. “Come on. You haven’t done anything wrong, so even if he does recognize you, it’s going to be fine.”

I highly doubt that, but I seem to have been outvoted—much like on soup night—so with one last longing look toward the exit behind me, I follow them to the front of the room.

Aqua looks over at us and his face brightens. “Wasn’t River amazing? The guys will tell you how awesome you were, River.”

“You really were,” Perry says, “but I don’t think you need us to tell you that.”

“It’s appreciated all the same,” River says dryly, then adds to the newcomers, “Aqua has recently decided that affirmation from friends and family is important.”

“That’s sweet,” m— Bran says. Honestly, I don’t know why my brain keeps trying to refer to him as “my fireman.” It must be George’s fault. “You’re lucky to have a supportive partner.”

“I am.” River smiles adoringly at Aqua, then adds, “Our friends are pretty great too. Let me introduce you.”

“They met Zeph earlier.” Perry gives River and Aqua a meaningful look, but while River immediately clues in that something’s going on, Aqua seems just as clue less as usual. “I’m Perry. It was Cody and Bran, right?”

“Yes,” Bran replies. His gaze is glued to Perry’s face. Am I just imagining how obvious he’s being about not looking at me? And what’s with the brother? He’s staring at us all like we’re celebrities. “I’m Brandon Fennick, and this is Cody, my brother.”

“This is my boyfriend, Aether,” Perry says, “and our friends, George, Flame, and Zephyr.”

Bran blinks at the names but pastes on a smile and says, “It’s nice to?—”

“Fuck,” Cody blurts, getting all our attention.

“Cody,” Bran chides. “That’s?—”

“Oh my god. It’s you! You’re real . It really is… oh my god !”

Okay, I might have been worried about Bran for no reason, but Cody is giving me new things to worry about. His gaze is darting between us all, mouth agape.

“Cody, you’re being rude. And weird. What are you talking about?” his brother asks with a hint of laughter in his voice. That’s nice. I like that he’s not snapping at Cody.

“It’s them, Bran. I thought it was a legend, but look at them.” He gestures to Aqua. “He’s water.”

My gut freezes, and beside me, I feel George go still. The kid can’t mean…

“And he’s air. I don’t know how I didn’t realize before—he’s got the floaty hair and everything.” He looks between George and Aether even as my gaze meets Perry’s suddenly panicked one. “Green hair… you’re like the life essence, right? Which would make you earth, because obviously”—his eyes come to me—“you’ve gotta be fire.”

“What?” I croak, trying to sound like I have no fucking clue what he’s talking about.

“It all checks out.” He turns to his brother. “Of course he’s always at wildfires; it’s his job to keep them from getting out of control. And oh my god, water has hooked up with a marine biologist—that’s like a match made in heaven.”

Shit. Shit, fuck, motherfucking shit ! How does this kid know so much about us?

Luckily, Bran is looking at his little brother like maybe he’s had too much sun. “Cody, let’s talk about this later. We’ve taken up too much?—”

“You don’t believe me. Yeah, that’s cool. I didn’t think it was real. But these guys are actually superheroes. Let me show you.” He whips out his phone and starts tapping and swiping while we all look at each other and wonder what the fuck we should be doing right now. “I found it like, two years ago, when I first started looking for your fire guy.”

To a man, even Zephyr, my friends all glare at me. I give an aborted half-shrug; how was I supposed to know a firefighter would suspect me and tell his little brother to hunt me down?

“Here, this is the best site. It was set up by this guy who inherited journals and stuff from his great-something grandfather, and he’s put photos of the pages online along with the transcripts. His family has spent, like, the last eight hundred years searching out stories about these guys and putting them together. It started when the earth guy—George, right?—stopped a boulder from falling on this one guy, saving his life. After that, he tried to find out everything he could about the stranger who rescued him, and it kind of snowballed.” He’s showing Bran his phone, and I take the opportunity to narrow my eyes at George.

He makes a sheepish face.

Bran is reading the information on the screen, frown lines between his brows, but when he looks up, he shakes his head. “Cody, it’s just as likely that these nice people have seen the same site as you and thought it would be fun—given their own interest in conservation—to dye their hair and use some cool nicknames.” He aims a smile around the group, inviting us to join in on the joke, and I smile back. This is our out, thankfu?—

“Actually, Cody’s right,” Aether says, and Perry makes a strangled noise. “You should come back to our house to talk. They need this room.”