Free The Rift by J.T. Stoll

Watching for us,” Neil
said.
    “ Yeah,” Pieter said. “We kinda
figured that out.”
    Pieter pulled his car off to face the ocean.
Amid the sound of crashing waves, the boys stacked the wood from
the trunk into a log cabin and doused the structure in lighter
fluid. Vero and Gloria watched them from seats in the fine-grained
sand, which still held the sun’s heat. Gloria, in a sweater,
crossed her arms and looked out at the surf. Vero scooted over to
her.
    “ Cold?” Vero asked.
    “ Just thinking.”
    Pieter ducked and held a lighter to the logs.
The fuel caught, and a wave of heat washed over Vero. Above, the
first stars appeared. Everything seemed like four friends having an
ordinary bonfire on a Saturday night.
    Vero held her hand toward the fire’s warmth.
“I’ve been wanting to try something.”
    “ What?” asked Gloria.
    Vero stood up and focused on her soul armor.
Inside Pieter’s trunk, the axe was close enough that the armor
didn’t whine of incompletion like it had at Carlos’s apartment.
Heat danced inside. Heat was her friend. But how much of a friend?
She held a hand over the dancing flames.
    “ Careful, pretty girl,” Pieter
said.
    Her inner fire connected with the bonfire. She
reached into the flames. No pain, no burns, only strength. Even the
smoke didn’t send her eyes watering, though the smell was
strong.
    “ That doesn’t hurt?” Pieter
asked.
    “ No, feels great,” she replied. She
knelt and lay on her stomach on top of the logs. Sparks popped and
burst out as the fire readjusted itself. “I’m Diotein, the fire,
right?”
    Something wet hit her back. She craned her
neck; Pieter held the lighter fluid. He opened his mouth in feigned
surprise. “Oops.”
    She laughed, the added flames giving strength.
“Cut… cut that out!” She waved her hand playfully, which sprayed
flaming droplets in his direction. Pieter dove into the
sand.
    “ Remarkably, your clothing isn’t
catching either,” Neil said. “It’s also protected. As I suspected,
we have a lot to learn about these things.”
    “ I could sit here all night,” Vero
replied.
    She felt a little pulse—not a physical feeling,
more of something inside. The belt around Neil’s waist glowed
silvery. He reached his hand over the flames. “Uncomfortably warm
for me. Better than third-degree burns, but not the sort of thing
I’d like to take a nap in, like Vero there.”
    She closed her eyes and soaked in the wonderful
heat, like a hot bath after a day playing in the snow.
    Neil droned on. “But anyways, this goes to show
that there’s more to these artifacts than hacking and slashing and
jumping really high. For example, when James pulled them out of the
bag, they were collapsed on themselves or folded up somehow. Not
sure about you guys, but I haven’t been able to replicate that:
Reitach is completely solid, no hint of a joint or telescoping
parts. Seems like it was some part of the magic we haven’t figured
out. Also, James said something about sight. I think we’re getting
the beginnings of that, right now. Check this out.”
    Vero opened her eyes. Neil stepped outside the
firelight. “I have activated my soul armor, so you see light
emanating from it, right? However, look at the sand around me. Does
it appear illuminated?”
    “ No…” Pieter said.
    “ The light from my armor isn’t
reflecting off the sand. It’s not light. You’re seeing something
else, perhaps something from elsewhere in the electromagnetic
spectrum…”
    Vero lost track of Neil’s words. Pieter’s voice
broke her out of the daze. “Vero, you’re smothering the
fire.”
    Vero pulled herself away from the flames and
sat next to Pieter. “Not so close,” he said, squirming
away.
    Her heart dropped. “What, why?”
    He pulled a marshmallow out of their bag and
held it next to Vero’s cheek. It began to turn a golden brown.
“Because I can make s’mores on you.”
    “ You always said she’s the hottest
girl in school,” Neil