Tick handed her the scarf and scooted out of the way. “Go for it.”

Kayla wadded up the cloth into a ball, then stepped close to the fireplace. She looked one last time at Tick, as if she thought the opportunity had to be too good to be true. When he just nodded encouragingly, she turned back and threw the scarf into the fire. It took a second to catch, but then smoke billowed up as the flames began to eat away at the material. They both watched as it burned to ashes.

Tick stood up and gave her a hug. “Good job. You’re the best pyro I’ve ever met.”

“What’s a pie-row?”

“Nothing. You better get up to bed or Mom will take that teddy bear away.”

“’Kay. Good night.” She turned and ran out of the room, shuffling along with her tiny footsteps.

Tick watched her go, then thought of the stack of Realitant and science books sitting on his desk upstairs. “I’ve got a lot of work to do,” he said aloud to no one but himself.

He reached down and turned off the fire, then headed for his room.

Epilogue

~

Yellow and Red

Frazier Gunn hadn’t spoken to Mistress Jane for more than two months.

As he stood in the dark stone corridor outside her room, he suddenly wished he had another two months. This summons had been unexpected, and he felt the uncomfortable sweat of fear slicking his palms. Everyone in the castle knew something horrible had happened to Jane; they’d all heard the screams coming from her chambers, often long into the night.

She’d gone through no less than eleven servants—only half of them surviving to tell about it, though it did Frazier little good, since they all had sworn a vow of silence, on penalty of death.

Frazier steeled himself, wiped his hands on his pants, and knocked on the door.

On the third thunk, the door swung open violently, slamming against the stone wall on the other side.

“Enter, Frazier.”

It was a voice he barely recognized. Raw and scratchy—weak, as if Jane had swallowed a glass of lava, scorching her throat and vocal chords.

“Enter,” she repeated.

Frazier couldn’t see where she was in the room.

He stepped across the threshold, then closed the door. The only light in the room was a fire, burning hotly with several fresh logs, spitting and cracking. With a shudder, he remembered back to Jane’s flying cinder display, and he hoped there’d be no repeat tonight.

“You called for me?” Frazier asked the darkness.

A figure stepped out of the shadows behind a deep wardrobe in the corner between the bed and a large open window, where curtains fluttered in the breeze. Though Frazier could not yet see any details, he knew it was his boss. But she appeared to have something draped over her head.