Chapter 3

The last computer had taken longer than expected. Twice as long. Gabriel wasn't so much as upset as disappointed in that he could not concentrate on the task at hand due to his mind being all over the place. But he had finished it finally and was now headed to check out the National Forest to see if there were any good spots for him to work in.

"I really need to work on my concentration. I can't let this daydreaming and distraction become a habit," Gabriel thought to himself. "I wonder what Jennifer is doing. Probably at a friend's house in that housing estate."

As he entered the forest, Gabriel saw two paths; one, a marked tourist walking path, and the other, a rougher, unmarked path. Choosing the rougher path, Gabriel disappeared into the trees. After he walked a short distance, Gabriel started to find burnt branches and trees strewn everywhere. Though no evidence of a fire, the path of the burns followed the trail he was on.

"Probably a bunch of kids playing with fire," Gabriel thought. As he continued to walk further in, he came across a small clearing with the same marks of fire. "Either a large bunch of kids or they come here on a regular basis. Probably not a good spot." As he started across the clearing, he stepped on a branch which broke with a resounding snap. Ahead of him, he saw a figure move from behind a tree and unleash a torrent of fire from their hand. A torrent of fire that headed straight at him.

Struck with fear, Gabriel raised his arms to shield himself, even though it should have been a futile gesture. As the fire neared him, something inside Gabriel came alive and he felt his power boil up with a strength he hadn't felt before. Just as the fire was about to hit him, it was deflected around Gabriel. As the fire started to wane, so did Gabriel's strength but lucky for him, the fire stopped first. With the fire gone, Gabriel collapsed to his knees, exhausted.

"Shit, I have to stop. I could be killing them," Jennifer screamed at herself. She had caught enough of a glimpse before the flames engulfed them to know that she was attacking a person. Focusing, Jennifer slowly got the flames to die down. Tired from her exertions and angry at herself, she looked across the field to see who she had fried. But she was wrong.

Standing there was a guy, wreathed in smoke but otherwise appearing unharmed. She couldn't see his face as it was shielded by his arms. As she watched, he fell to his knees but his arms stayed in place.

"Oh my god. What have I done?" Jennifer wailed silently. She ran across the clearing to check on her victim. Dropping to her knees beside him, she looked him over.

"Come on, drop your arms so I can see if you're hurt," Jennifer said to the guy and slowly guided his arms down. And then her heart stopped. It was Gabriel! "Oh my god. I didn't even feel him approaching I was so distracted. Shit, shit, shit."

For his part, Gabriel was still in a daze. "I'm alive. How am I alive? I should be roast Gabriel right now," Gabriel wondered, thoughts swirling through his head. The person that had held the fire, had crossed the clearing and dropped to their knees somewhere near him.

"Come on, drop your arms so I can see if you're hurt," a voice said to his side and someone was pressing down on his arms. Gabriel realised his arms were still held up as if to shield him and slowly allowed this person to lower his arms. Looking to his side, he slowly gazed over this person. It was in fact a girl, a good looking one at that. But there was something familiar about her. And then his gaze reached her face.

"Oh shit, it's Jennifer. Breathe Gabriel, breathe. Shit, shit, shit," Gabriel practically screamed in his own mind. He looked at her again and saw the worry, fear and confusion that covered her face. "Hey," Gabriel said meekly to break the tension.

"Hey," Jennifer replied, despair creeping into her voice.

"Come here often?" Gabriel tried again.

"Every now and then," Jennifer answered in the same tone.

"Alright, let's cut to the chase. How did you do what you just did?" Gabriel asked bluntly.

"How are you not burned?" Jennifer retorted.

"That I'm not so sure about, though I have a few ideas," Gabriel replied honestly. Slowly the shock of what had happened was wearing off and he fully realised who he was talking too. "Going to tell me how you did what you did?"

"I don't know," Jennifer said slowly. "You would have to promise never to tell anyone about what I say or what happened here."

"Done, as long as I can get the same courtesy," Gabriel said after a moment of hesitation. "I'm not passing up this opportunity to meet someone else that is unique, even if it is Jennifer."

"All right," Jennifer affirmed. "It all started about a month or so ago. My little cousin's birthday party. He was playing with the matches we used to light the cake and was about to burn himself. I thought about the match going out and it did. I thought it must have been a random occurrence that it did but something inside me said that I should try again. So the next day, I went through an entire box of matches, extinguishing them with a thought. Every single one of them went out at the same time I thought about it."

Gabriel was amazed, she had learnt on her own about her ability.

"After that, I figured that if I could put fires out, I could do the reverse, so I tried to make a match burn for longer. At first it was hard, but eventually I learnt that rather then trying to make the match burn for longer, to get the fire to grow in size. Eventually I could do this," Jennifer said. She got out her lighter and flicked it, creating a flame. Holding the lighter in one hand, she stared at the flame until it moved from the lighter to her empty hand and stayed burning there for a moment before she closed her hand, extinguishing the flame.