Jack imagined a tiny, black-haired toddler running around with fire in his hands, closely followed by a small Healer girl. The thought made him smile.
‘Perhaps one day,’ he said. ‘I can imagine the trouble they’d cause already. I’d have to make everything fire-proof. Lord knows, they’d be trouble makers like Ava.’
Ethel stared at Jack as though he’d just admitted something horrific.
‘I thought you said Ada was a Healer like you?’
Suddenly, Jack realised what he’d said. He’d been so consumed with the heart-to-heart he and Ethel had been having, that he’d forgotten his girlfriend ‘Ada’ was a Healer. He wasn’t sure how he was going to talk his way out of this one.
‘Yeah, um, we have distant Fire-Mage relatives. I didn’t mean … I just meant they’d be clumsy like me and adventurous like Ada. Things are bound to catch on fire.’ He said it all very fast and laughed in an attempt to shake off the awkwardness.
Ethel crossed her arms and stared at Jack. She didn’t seem impressed with his excuse. ‘You’re hiding something,’ she said.
‘I’m not hiding anything,’ said Jack quickly.
Ethel approached Jack until she stood only a few inches from his face. For the first time, he noticed how tall she was.
Unlike Avalon, whose head barely reached Jack’s chin, Ethel’s eyes were level with his mouth. He found it very hard to make eye contact with her, so he looked at her forehead instead. Ethel’s black eyes studied Jack’s face, and for a moment, he feared that she might kiss him. He couldn’t help but think how soft her chocolate skin looked. They’d been staring at each other far too long to be considered polite.
Coming to his senses, Jack looked away. He turned to the gate and paced. Ethel watched his every step, unmoving.
Jack heard the crunching of gravel behind him. Coming towards the gate was a guard with whom Jack was not familiar.
‘Miss Jenson?’ said the guard.
Ethel turned to face the man, her eyebrows raised. ‘Yes?’
‘You’re wanted back at the living quarters. There’s a new female recruit, and they want you to show her around and inform her of her duties.’
Ethel exhaled, visibly annoyed. ‘Why me?’ she asked.
The guard was about to answer when he noticed Jack standing there. He leaned in and whispered to Ethel so Jack could not hear. Annoyed, Jack turned his back on the whispering pair and pretended to be somewhere else.
‘All right,’ said Ethel. ‘Who will take over my position here?’
‘I will relieve you of your guard duty, ma’am,’ said the nameless guard.
Ethel nodded and stepped through the gate. Jack turned to watch her leave. Their eyes met for the briefest moment before Ethel turned away and strode up the lawn, leaving Jack with the guard.
At that moment, realisation dawned on Jack. ‘Wait a minute,’ he said, pointing at the guard. ‘Did you call her Miss Jenson?’
The guard, slightly confused, nodded.
‘But that’s Sergeant Jenson’s name!’ said Jack.
‘Yeah. That’s because she’s his daughter.’ It seemed the unknown guard thought Jack was slow.
‘But … he’s not a green grocer!’
‘You’re not the brightest flame, are you?’ asked the guard.
Jack ignored him. Ethel had lied to him about her father, but he wasn’t sure why. Was she ashamed?
You don’t know who I am. Perhaps it’s better I don’t tell you, otherwise you won’t want to be my friend either. Those were the words Ethel had spoken the night before. Did the other women really dislike Ethel because of her father's rank? Jack couldn’t understand why it would be a problem. Perhaps they were scared of her. Sergeant Jenson had struck Jack as a very strict man, though Ethel did not appear to take after him in that respect.
‘Why would she lie to me?’ Jack wondered aloud.
‘Will you stop asking stupid questions, and pay attention to your job, please?’ asked the guard. ‘There’s a mob heading this way.’
Confused, Jack looked around until he spotted a rather large group of people heading towards the Headquarter's gates. There was at least thirty people, each of which had an expression of utter contempt upon their face. Jack kind of wished Ethel was here; her shield would really come in handy right about now.
‘Don’t worry,’ said Jack. ‘I’m sure we can sort this without resorting to violence.’
The guard scoffed as he pulled out his baton. ‘Your first mob, eh? What’s your Power then, newbie?’
‘I’m a healer,’ said Jack, gulping loudly.
‘Fantastic.’ The guard pinched the bridge of his nose and scrunched up his eyes. ‘They put a healer on guard duty at the front gate. You’re going to be as useful as a trap-door on a lifeboat.’
‘I’m not completely useless,’ said Jack. ‘Perhaps I can help them, rather than clubbing them with my bat.’
The guard twirled his baton. ‘Let me know how that goes, kid. Did they even train you in crowd control?’
‘I got a short briefing,’ Jack replied. ‘I only joined a week ago.’