board, arms crossed as she rose and fell with the gentle waves.
“As in?”
“As in a bamboo grove miraculously appears from the floor of my shack a fraction of a second before we’re crushed by the flaming roof. Two burning trees explode, and, with a great stroke of luck, they fall backwards, away from the shack. The fire goes out with another convenient explosion. Irix says a handful of words and gets by the blockade — those same innocuous words practically cause me to orgasm. And then the second fire goes out in a puff before it consumes the Mallone’s house.”
“That last one wasn’t me. Or Irix.”
She pursed her lips and nodded. “But the rest was. I’ve seen some weird stuff before, but never like this, and never all at once. What is going on?”
My question exactly. “I don’t know if the fire last night was related or not, but there was something supernatural about the fire today. There was something sentient driving it — a fire-being of some sort. I don’t know how it got here, why it left, or if it will come back.”
There. That was it in a nutshell. Hopefully she’d forget about the rest, because I didn’t want to get into the whole ‘Irix is a demon and I’m half-demon” conversation.
“A fire-being?” Kai shook her head slowly. “So what do we do, just hang out and see if it returns? We’ve never had two fires back-to-back like this. What makes you think it’s going to stop at two?”
“I don’t.” I gripped the board tight as a larger swell hit, struggling to balance and stay on. “I left a message for a friend who might know something, but it’s two o’clock there and she’s at work.”
Kai looked at the horizon. “And your Super Botanist routine? The explosions? Irix’s ecstasy-on-two-legs trick?”
Great. Here comes the end of my friendship. Here comes the screaming and running away, or paddling away, as the case may be. No doubt tomorrow morning I’d come down to find Aaron was now teaching me to paddleboard. “The explosions were from Irix, trying to put out the fire before it consumed the shack, or killed us. He’s a demon, an incubus — which is a sex demon. So, like you said, he’s ecstasy-on-two-legs. He has other skills, though.” Like blowing shit up, changing form, and stealing things without getting caught.
“And you?” She was purposely not meeting my eyes. Heck, she was clearly refusing to look anywhere near my face.
“I’m only half demon — succubus, a sex demon, like Irix. The other half is elf, which is what gives me the Super Botanist abilities.”
Silence. The waves made a smacking sound against the side of our boards. A bird cried in the distance.
“So, the little prank you played on me yesterday where you dumped me into the water, was that part of your elf/demon thing? Super Botanist and Water Wizard?”
I tried to cut off the laugh before it escaped, and I wound up sounding like a goat. “I wish I was Water Wizard, maybe then I could stay on this fucking paddleboard more than two seconds.”
There was a moment of shocked silence, and then Kai burst into laughter. I joined her, and just like that, everything was back to normal.
“Well, you can work on your water-magic later. We only have another hour to get you proficient on that board. So get your cute butt up there and start paddling.”
I wiggled my ‘cute butt’ at her as I slid onto the board, scooting my knees under to carefully rise and stand. She was right; I did need to work on my skills with water. My less-than-successful lessons clearly pointed that out. Dipping my paddle into the water, I moved forward, trying to feel the rhythm of the ocean. The waves came in at odd angles with varying strength, but as I watched, I noticed a pattern. It was as complex as a symphony, but there was still a pattern.
Kai remained quiet during our lesson other than basic instructions and reminders, but I caught her watching me with an odd smile on her face. Had my revelations
“As in?”
“As in a bamboo grove miraculously appears from the floor of my shack a fraction of a second before we’re crushed by the flaming roof. Two burning trees explode, and, with a great stroke of luck, they fall backwards, away from the shack. The fire goes out with another convenient explosion. Irix says a handful of words and gets by the blockade — those same innocuous words practically cause me to orgasm. And then the second fire goes out in a puff before it consumes the Mallone’s house.”
“That last one wasn’t me. Or Irix.”
She pursed her lips and nodded. “But the rest was. I’ve seen some weird stuff before, but never like this, and never all at once. What is going on?”
My question exactly. “I don’t know if the fire last night was related or not, but there was something supernatural about the fire today. There was something sentient driving it — a fire-being of some sort. I don’t know how it got here, why it left, or if it will come back.”
There. That was it in a nutshell. Hopefully she’d forget about the rest, because I didn’t want to get into the whole ‘Irix is a demon and I’m half-demon” conversation.
“A fire-being?” Kai shook her head slowly. “So what do we do, just hang out and see if it returns? We’ve never had two fires back-to-back like this. What makes you think it’s going to stop at two?”
“I don’t.” I gripped the board tight as a larger swell hit, struggling to balance and stay on. “I left a message for a friend who might know something, but it’s two o’clock there and she’s at work.”
Kai looked at the horizon. “And your Super Botanist routine? The explosions? Irix’s ecstasy-on-two-legs trick?”
Great. Here comes the end of my friendship. Here comes the screaming and running away, or paddling away, as the case may be. No doubt tomorrow morning I’d come down to find Aaron was now teaching me to paddleboard. “The explosions were from Irix, trying to put out the fire before it consumed the shack, or killed us. He’s a demon, an incubus — which is a sex demon. So, like you said, he’s ecstasy-on-two-legs. He has other skills, though.” Like blowing shit up, changing form, and stealing things without getting caught.
“And you?” She was purposely not meeting my eyes. Heck, she was clearly refusing to look anywhere near my face.
“I’m only half demon — succubus, a sex demon, like Irix. The other half is elf, which is what gives me the Super Botanist abilities.”
Silence. The waves made a smacking sound against the side of our boards. A bird cried in the distance.
“So, the little prank you played on me yesterday where you dumped me into the water, was that part of your elf/demon thing? Super Botanist and Water Wizard?”
I tried to cut off the laugh before it escaped, and I wound up sounding like a goat. “I wish I was Water Wizard, maybe then I could stay on this fucking paddleboard more than two seconds.”
There was a moment of shocked silence, and then Kai burst into laughter. I joined her, and just like that, everything was back to normal.
“Well, you can work on your water-magic later. We only have another hour to get you proficient on that board. So get your cute butt up there and start paddling.”
I wiggled my ‘cute butt’ at her as I slid onto the board, scooting my knees under to carefully rise and stand. She was right; I did need to work on my skills with water. My less-than-successful lessons clearly pointed that out. Dipping my paddle into the water, I moved forward, trying to feel the rhythm of the ocean. The waves came in at odd angles with varying strength, but as I watched, I noticed a pattern. It was as complex as a symphony, but there was still a pattern.
Kai remained quiet during our lesson other than basic instructions and reminders, but I caught her watching me with an odd smile on her face. Had my revelations
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