“Well,” I pursed my lips, “I tried lighting the fires this morning … but … nothing happened.” I finished lamely.
Jack raised an eyebrow at me, “Let’s get this straight. You’re temperature is normal, which means that it isn’t normal … for you.”
“Strangely enough I understood that.”
“You’ve been feeling cold, and this morning you couldn’t use your power at all?” He asked.
“Correct. What’s the verdict?”
Jack shrugged, “Beats me. I’ve never heard of people losing their powers. Maybe you just need to give it a few days. Don’t worry about it too much. I’ll help you with the fires until its back to normal.”
“Would you believe that I have no idea how to light a fire manually?” I laughed nervously.
Jack chortled, “Typical.”
I folded my arms, “Well I’ve never had to know how up until now!” I said defensively.
“It’s okay.” Jack smirked as we reached the back entrance, “Everything will be fine in a few days.”
But everything was not fine within a few days. A week passed and I still could not produce any fire. I was feeling sick with worry and fretted that Charles might fire me at any moment. Though I had a plan if he did. I would simply grab my things and ride Hawthorne out of Frost Arch. Perhaps I would go home. My plan ended the moment I would be air borne with him.
Jack continued to help me with the fires seeing as it took twice as long to get them all lit with the two of us. I had gotten the hang of lighting them manually after Jack had showed me a few times, but it was a slow process. Not only that but I fully appreciated the cold nature of the manor for the first time. The halls were chilly, and I was constantly shivering. I felt bad for dumping a load of my chores onto Jack. I could see the extra responsibilities were not agreeing with his schedule, but he didn’t complain once, and I gave him my thanks every day.
By the time the second week had passed I was really starting to panic. I didn’t know what was wrong with me. What if it never came back?
There had been a time when I would have gladly given up my hazardous Power, in exchange for anything less destructive. But now that I had gotten my wish and it had vanished completely, I wondered how I had ever lived without it. I found it highly ironic that I was never really content with myself or my life. Perhaps I was selfish, and I deserved this.
I voiced my feelings and fears to Jack, but he assured me that I was just being paranoid, and low self esteem was just getting the better of me. Even after being reassured every day I couldn’t help but feel fear bubbling away inside me.
“Avalon, I’m afraid it’s time for a trip into the city for me and you.” Charles said to me on the third week of my Power’s strike.
“The city?” I repeated anxiously.
“Yes. We need to give Lester Elwood a visit regarding these Power issues. You seem fit as a fiddle to me, so we’ll get him to have a look at you.”
I nodded, swallowing hard, “Sir, can Jack come too?”
Charles stared at me for a moment before rolling his eyes and agreeing half heartedly. I didn’t want to go to the Power-Seer alone with Charles. The trip would be most uncomfortable. Perhaps Lester would be able to give me some answers though. I don’t know why I hadn’t thought to see him sooner; he was the expert on Power.
“When will we be going?”
“Tomorrow morning. Don’t worry about the fires. You and Jack will meet me in my office at seven.”
I heaved an internal sigh of relief. No manually lighting fires for me tomorrow morning.
The next morning Jack and I were arguing as we walked slowly to Charles’ office.
“I don’t want to say goodbye to him.” I huffed.
“We can’t keep him forever, Redding.”
“We can’t just let him loose, you know he won’t leave.”
“He can fly now; he can go where ever he wants.” Jack hissed under his breath.
“In case you don’t remember, Greenwood-” I snarled his last name, “He can’t fly anywhere without me.”
Jack muttered something under his breath, but fell silent. I was rather sure I had won this argument. After all, our plans on saying goodbye to Hawthorne once he could fly had been thrown out of the window seeing as he needed me riding with him in order to become air born.
I noticed that Jack had a bag slung over his shoulder, and it looked quite heavy.
“Anyway, what’s in the bag?” I wondered.
“Ah, just something I need to take care of once we’re finished at the Power Seer.”
We knocked upon Charles’ office door and it was wrenched open immediately. Charles stood before us, quite rugged up in several layers of clothes.
“Uh.” I frowned and looked the squat man up and down once before decided that I had best keep my mouth shut.