The paramedics said apart from An unrelated fever he was alright, Not even a burn. The paramedic had said that someone up there really loved him. Who was that person? His mother? God? As he and Mrs Floyd drove away in her sedan one thought kept on occuring to him ,Not even one burn. 

The fire department spokeswoman had said the fire had started probably from a faulty wire. There was no suspicion of arson. Luckily the building was almost empty and there were no casualties.

The Brentwood High School resumed classes after two weeks. The principal, a small man with mouselike features hadn't missed this chance to throw a fundraiser.

He had stood at the dias in his woolen suit (The principal only wore suits, he had a collection of them and nobody had ever seen him dress in anything different) and had rubbed his hands together like a housefly. He spoke about how education was important, and how it was a terrible tragedy that the labs had burned down (at this he pulled out a handkerchief and dabbed at his dry eyes) But he was eternally grateful to God for the fact that there were no casualties. The ministry of education had already commisioned a new lab but knowing how busy the ministry was it  would most probably take a very long time to build and during that time they would have to close Brentwood High which so happened to be the only high school in Brentwood.

The principal spoke at length about patriotism and "Boosting" the local economy and how he hated it but would have to intrude on their generosity and ask them to kindly donate to the building of new labs.

Jason was in his room sitting down and going through his sketchpad, it had been singed a little but all in all it was alright. There was a knock on the door and Tim poked his head in.

"There's someone on the phone for you". And like that the head was gone.

He walked down to the corridor, picked up the receiver and hoped it wasn't trouble.

"Hello, Jason speaking".

"Yo it's Kevin". It took Jason a moment to remember who Kevin was.

"Oh. What's up".

"We need to talk".

"About?".

"You'll find out when you get there".

"And where's there?".

"Down at Christopher's No 77. I'll be waiting for you".

"Wait now?".

"Do you have anything important to do now?". Jason thought about it for a moment.

"No not really. I'll see You there".

Jason rushed upstairs grabbed his coat and ran out.

Christopher's Avenue was full of abandoned buildings. He recognized one as an old  train station probably from the sixties. Trains coming to Brentwood had once docked here but ever since urban renewal they had moved the train station further downtown. He guessed one too many people had complained about the noise, though there was no one here now to complain. 

They were also abandoned warehouses, and boarded up shops. Jason could see how it all fit. The shops and warehouses here had probably fed off the train station, since here was a wood shipping area there must have been plenty of trains and plenty of business, but the city had moved on and left Christopher's Avenue behind.

He saw Kevin sitting on the sidewalk outside an abandoned dojo. Compared to the other buildings the dojo was "fairly" new. Why a dojo would be here he had no idea.

"Take a seat". Jason took sat down next to him on the pavement. Kevin had two cups of coffee in his hands but he made no move to give Jason any.They both sat there a while, Kevin staring out into space and Jason just there watching him. Kevin finally passed him the cup.

"Sorry I don't drink coffee". Jason said meekly

"Me neither. It's not coffee just hot chocolate". 

" Well that's fine by me". Kevin extended the cup towards Jason. Jason made a move to collect it but Kevin must have been distracted because he let the cup fall. Warm chocolate splashed over Jason's legs. Kevin looked at him dully, like he barely noticed what had happened. Jason turned angry. Why did Kevin call him here? If he had something to tell him why hadn't he told him already? Was Kevin on dope?

He was about to say something when Kevin passed him a bandana. It was an old thing, the lines partly faded but it was clean. Jason took it and dried his jeans. Kevin gave him the other cup. Jason didn't want to take it but he insisted.

"Do you have weird dreams sometimes?". Kevin asked. No, Jason thought he didn't have dreams he had nightmares. No not even nightmares just one nightmare playing over and over again like his head was a broken tape, but despite this he answered Kevin normally.

"No. Just plain old normal dreams". Kevin looked at him like he new more. Kevin noticed that he made a mistake. Kevin's eyes weren't blue they were Brown. 

"And you've never done something that you couldn't explain. Well at least not normally".

"Nope never". Kevin chuckled a bit.

"So you have a perfect explanation for why you burnt my face? ". Jason didn't answer so he went on.

" Look I'm going to show you something and your going to tell me what you think". Out of his jacket pocket he brought out an old bulb and held it out for Jason to see. Jason and looked at it, apart from a few scrapes and scratches it was an ordinary light bulb. He passed it back to Kevin. Kevin held the bulb as far away from his body as it would go. Jason watched Kevin's face screw up as he concentrated. The bulb flickered and went out, it came back on this time and started to pulsate, each time coming back brighter until it blew up into little shards of glass.

"What did you think about that?".

"That that was hell of a good trick". Kevin smiled and rolled his sleeves back, and pulled off his watch. He showed Jason his hand.

"See anything out of his place?" Jason looked at his calloused hand. Unlike Jason's nails which were rough from being bitten, Kevin's own were neat and trimmed.

"No nothing". 

"Grab my hand or a finger". Jason grabbed his index finger. Immediately he held it a terrible shock went through his body. His jaws clamped of their own Accord and bit his tongue, he wanted to cry out but his brain was blank. The shock went as instantly as it had came. 

"That was an even better magic trick, right?". Kevin was still smiling. Jason didn't know what to say, he was still fazed by whatever Kevin had done to him. His mouth was full of the coppery taste of his own blood.

"What you felt there was electricity. I don't know how many volts but it's enough To blow apart a light bulb". Their eyes turned to the shards of glass left by The bulb.

"So what's your take on that? Another magic trick?". Jason didn't know what to say. He stole a glance at Kevin and he could see he was enjoying himself. Kevin stood up and dusted his pants.

"Follow me". And just like that Kevin walked  into the dojo, apparently it had been left open or maybe it was always open.

Jason spent a moment musing whether he should follow or not before he stood up and jogged into the dojo. Inside the dojo was different from he expected. Mats and other equipment from it's former glory days were arranged in a corner. The other things that couldn't be lifted was clean and strangely dust free. Kevin stood leaning on a counter sipping something from a coffee cup with his spare hand in his pocket looking for all the world like he was advertising A coffee brand.it's not just coffee it's Starbucks. Where did he even get another cup from?

"Took you long enough". Kevin said and turned towards the elevator.

The elevator had only two buttons, Kevin pressed the second one. The elevator moved down smoothly. Jason had expected a lot of  grinding and creaking. He silently wondered who was still maintaining this building. Whoever the person was the he or she was doing a good job.

They came to a stop at a floor that looked like it was a storage area long time ago. Whoever the mystery cleaner was it was clear his duties didn't extend here. He was so lost in thoughts that he didn't notice had started walking without him. He hurried to catch up to him. Even though Kevin was barely half a head taller than Jason's 5'9 his stride was fast, very fast.

Kevin opened a door and went in. It was a flight of stairs and it seemed to go a long way down.

"How deep is this place?".

"Deep enough". The dim corridors reminded him of the underground lair of the main villain, with him and Kevin as the heroes who were going to stop him. Jason chuckled and covered his mouth to stop Kevin from hearing. What was he thinking? Him, Jason Pierce the orphan, the outcast who could a whole semester in school without anybody noticing him. If this was a story or a movie he would most likely be an extra. He thought of Kevin leading him to be devoured by the beast that lurked there or to be used as a sacrifice by the satanic cult waiting behind those long stairs.

"Ok time to clear things up". Jason was startled out of his thread of thought. He looked up, they had only gone  two flights. It had seemed longer than that. In front of them were two sliding doors the kind that were usually found in front supermarket's except this was no supermarket. This was stories under an old dojo from the 40's when supermarkets hadn't even been invented. 

"First things first-". Kevin continued like the doors were totally normal.

"- You have abilities and you know it. You may keep on lying to yourself but deep down you know the truth." At this point they had already made it past the doors. The corridor behind the door was nothing like the floors above it. The corridor was futuristic looking complete with indirect lighting and air conditioning though he saw no vents.

"Your ability is probably pyrotechnics or something like that, it's not always easy to tell. As you could probably tell mine's electricity". They stood outside a door and Kevin opened it.

Inside was decorated like a lounge with couches and bean bags, Jason even glimpsed a lazy boy.  In a corner Jason saw the the girl he had saved from the fire and the boy she was with before, and the Goth Asian. Also sitting on a cane chair that did not look comfortable was a man wearing a bathrobe. The man had bright red hair.