Page 113 of The Flame Game

I considered that as some napalm splattered onto my nose and I licked it off. No, the gel was beautiful, but it would destroy all it touched, which made me sad.

I preferred when such beautiful destruction was limited to the works of man rather than nature.

To test if I could light the napalm, I transitioned from a walk to a canter, weaving through the trees until my coat burst into flame. The napalm raining from the sky ignited when it came into contact with me, and pools of fire spread around me.

Perfect.

With nothing else to do, I waited.

No napalm bender equaled no hangover, but no napalm bender also equaled general exhaustion. I made three circuits around Long Lake before I managed to get the fire lit sufficiently for the inferno to gain a life of its own. Playing in the flames amused me, but within an hour, I grew bored, wandered to the barrier closest to my husband and pets, and rolled around in the smoldering ash while complaining over the unfairness of it all.

Quinn approached the shield, chuckling his amusement at my antics. “Problem, my beautiful?”

“Tiny terrors steal my bender,” I whined. “Now it just work, work, work. Work, work, work, work. More work. And more work. Run hard, fire burn. Bored. Not be bored if bendering!”

“I won’t argue with that. You all right?”

“Bored.”

“How terrible for you, to be bored but safe. I grieve for you.”

“Sarcasm in good form today, Queeny. Do more.”

“I’ll think about it. Are you all right?”

“Snow gone, no bender. Hungry.” I flopped and stretched out my neck until my nose touched the barrier. “Why sound pass but not fire or ash?”

“Magic.”

Right. Of course. “Hungry.”

My husband checked his phone. “Even after that much napalm?”

“Run a lot, napalm all gone. No bender. Life not fair.”

According to the sounds coming from Quinn’s phone, he was taking pictures of me. “You will be pleased to find out a standard rabies treatment eradicated the disease in our new pet wolf. However, he’s very ill, so he’s going to a CDC vet to see how they can aid in his recovery. I’m going to end up begging my grandfather to help heal your new pet wolf. After they bring the barrier down, which will be in about thirty minutes judging from the burn rates around the lake, we will both get treated for rabies. Our pets are not being treated, but we’ll be returning the rental in a suspicious shade of pink they’ll eventually get washed off. The CDC has contacted the company so we’re not responsible for damage to the paint, as they’ll repaint the vehicle if needed. They’re saying they claimed our rental for official business. After that, we get to go on our merry way. So, my beautiful, where would you like to go for the rest of our actual vacation?”

“Home. I done with vay-cay-shun! No more vay-cay-shun. Tired.”

“Sure, my beautiful. We can go home.”

I got to my hooves and shook myself off. “Get map. One more task. Chalk, ink, map, paper, and marbles.”

“Ah. Dowry’s uncle.”

“Yes. Find uncle and then go home. Or at least a general location, then go home, sleep for week, and then go to location?”

“You’re so tired.” My husband headed off, returning several minutes later with my box of wayfinding tricks. He sat in the snow near the barrier and put down a towel. Once he had that situated to his liking, he spread out a map of the United States, set a sheet of paper beside it, got out the ink vial and opened it, and pulled out a stick of chalk. “Okay. What do you want me to do with this stuff?”

I pointed a claw at the map. “Crush chalk, dump on map.”

Quinn obeyed, and he crushed it in one hand with little effort before brushing off his hands and leaving a dusty pile all over the map.

“Sexy,” I stated. “Crush with no effort. Much manly. All mine.”

He laughed. “If that’s all it takes to make you think I’m sexy, I’ll crush chalk for you whenever you want.”

I glared at the map and paper. “Where Dowry missing uncle? Be nice, magic, much tired, no games. No games, be nice. Guide me to Dowry missing uncle. Or give add-dress. Add-dress good. Alive or dead also good. No more mean magic. Please.”