Liquid Fire by Anthony Francis

Author:Anthony Francis [Francis, Anthony]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781611946451
Publisher: BelleBooks, Inc.
Published: 2015-05-22T07:00:00+00:00

“Black pajamas do not a ninja make,” Devenger said, offended. “Real ninjas use stealth. These gentlemen didn’t. Real ninjas avoid attention. These didn’t. Real ninjas use many small blows as prep for a killing strike; these guys . . . let’s hope that wasn’t what they were doing.”

I stared at him. “I may want to ask you more about what you know about ninjas.”

“Atlanta has a dojo,” Devenger said, seeming to gesture expansively without ever taking his attention off Molokii and the burns on his face. Frowning, Devenger pulled out his laser pointer, adjusting it carefully. “Let’s have a look at you, young man—”

“Molokii is deaf,” Jewel said. “And he’s not great with the lipreading—”

“Nobody is,” Devenger said. “Can you sign for me?”

I started to raise my hands, but Jewel beat me to it. Well, fine. I left them to it; I was pissed at her anyway. Jewel was holding out on me about liquid fire. She’d known what it was, but never let on that she used it—which today might have put my daughter in danger.

While Devenger and Jewel attended to Molokii, Cinnamon and I helped some of the students who’d been burned. The damage was not as bad as it had appeared; the kid who’d been most badly hit had dropped and rolled, and two other victims had been put out by a walrus-mustached visiting parent, who’d run into the Bookstore to get a fire extinguisher.

The worst hit, but least harmed, was Ferguson, Carnes’s errand boy. According to walrus-moustache, the fire ninjas hit him the moment he moved to help. The tough little man had been knocked cold by a gout of fire, but his bike leathers protected him. Now, singed but sound, he was helping bandage another victim. He glanced up when my shadow loomed over him.

“When the Guild gave you those tickets, we expected you might throw them back at us,” Ferguson said. “And we didn’t have this in mind if you did. Scratch that—we thought something nasty might happen, but never planned to do anything to you. You gotta know that.”

“I know that,” I said. “Thanks for helping protect my daughter.”

He paused, glaring off into the distance. Now I could see the side of his face was singed, just like Molokii’s. True to their debated “ninja” nature, the fire warriors had attacked from the side, taking two of the strongest fighters out first without tackling them headlong.

Cinnamon returned with my smartphone, filled with pictures of the mark on the glass. “Got it comin’ and goin’,” she said. “Look fast. It’s not as bright as the others, a little splotchy. It’s almost like they’re running out of the stuff that gives it its kick.”

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