Inigo lay on the floor, face pale, eyes wide. He stared at me as though I'd suddenly grown a second head. He'd seen my powers before but not like this. Never like this. They were out of control, and I had a feeling they were going to eat me alive.
"Go," I gasped over the storm of my power." Get Alister."
With a nod he scrambled to his feet and ran for the front door. After one quick glance behind him, he disappeared through the open doorway. I would have to trust he could do what I hadn't been able to: catch Alister Jones.
With Inigo safely out of the way, I let go any pretense of control. I let my powers consume me.
Flames licked at my skin, and heat from the fire sucked out moisture and drew it tight, yet I could see nothing but blackness. My hands and feet were ice. Wind whipped my hair into a rats' nest. I blinked my eyelids rapidly and still nothing. Had I gone blind?
I tried to orient myself, feeling my way along the patio, touching here and there to see where I was. As I crawled away from the burning house toward the back lawn, I tried not to think about the fact that the house that was burning was mine. That everything inside would burn with it. Everything I owned was about to go up in flames, including me.
Hands on my shoulders pulled me to my feet. "Inigo?" I reached out to touch his face as if it would help me see.
"No, it's Jack."
"Jack?" When had he gotten back to the States? Why was he here? How did he know to come?
"I always know when to come," he said as if he could hear my thoughts. "Now come on. We need to get you out of here."
"How are you not burning?" I knew I was still ablaze. I could feel the Fire dancing along my skin. He didn't answer as he hurried me toward what I could only assume was the front yard. I felt a fresh breeze on my face and heard sirens in the distance. My hands and feet were still numb from the cold, but the farther I got from the burning house, the better I felt. At least physically.
"My house," I said.
"Water," Jack said. "You've got to call the Water."
"I did," I told him. "Unfortunately it seems to want to be ice." And that stood a fat lot of good against fire.
"Come on, Morgan," he said. "Focus. You can do this. It's not just you. Other people are in danger. Other houses. You must stop the fire."
I nodded. Closing my eyes, although I still couldn't see anything so I didn't know why I bothered, I took a deep breath and concentrated on my powers. It was time to make them work for me instead of the other way around. Darkness seemed the easiest to control these days, so I used it like a shepherd uses a sheepdog. I sent it after Fire. Darkness curled out and around the Fire, chasing the flames and nipping at its heels, driving it back into the place where it belonged. I ignored the Earth and the Wind. I would deal with them when I had the Fire under control. With a smirk, the Darkness dove into my center, pulling the Fire with it, and I slammed the lid on them both. Now I focused on Water. Great pools of liquid water. My feet and hands began to thaw and all of a sudden the air was filled with steam and mist.
"Good girl," Jack said. "It's working."
"The fire's going out?"
I could almost feel him giving me a funny look. "Yeah. The fire's going out."
"Good, I need to go after Alister." I staggered in what I thought was the right direction. Jack grabbed my arm.
"Don't be stupid, Morgan, you can't see."
He was right. I couldn't. But the Darkness could.
Grabbing onto my power with something akin to a mental vice grip, I ordered it to let me see. With a flash, the world in front of me lit up in shimmering silvers and purples. I saw footsteps stretching across the lawn. One set glowed bright gold and orange—Inigo. The other was so black, it was as though every speck of light nearby was being drowned in a well of infinite darkness—Alister.
I ran, following the tracks, leaving Jack shouting behind me. My powers were still riding me. Not like before, but I could feel them close to the surface, straining to get out.
I must have followed those glowing footprints for a couple of miles before I found myself standing in a forest of trees. I was in the park, high up on Mt. Tabor. How the hell had I gotten here? In front of me were two figures struggling over something. I picked up speed, the Darkness giving me that extra bit of push I needed.
As I ran, a shot split the night air. One of the figures jumped up, a gun in his hand. The other lay unmoving on the ground. The gunman lifted his arm to fire again.
"Stop!" I shouted, throwing one hand out. An icicle shot through the air, barely missing the gunman before burying itself in a nearby tree trunk.
Alister whirled to face me, gun raised. "I think you should stop," he snapped. "Give me the amulet."