I followed Reese up the stairs to the attic and flopped down on my bed, which was rolled out on the floor.

“So pretty, Finny.” He brushed his hand over one of the braids.

“Shut up!” I jumped at him, but Reese was a lot bigger and slammed me onto my back.

“Boys!” yelled Mr. Haywood from downstairs. “That’s enough.”

Reese jolted me against the ground. “You’re lucky their room is underneath us,” he laughed as he rolled onto his bed.

“It’s not funny.” I ripped off the little bands and messed up my hair until the braids fell out.

He groaned something I couldn’t make out and pulled a blanket up to his shoulder.

“Hey, Reese?” I pulled my knees to my chest.

“What?” he muttered.

“Have you ever seen someone burn?”

He peeked over at me. “Twice, why?”

“Mrs. Haywood and I went to town today, and they burned a woman. Mrs. Haywood said she was a monster, a shapeshifter.”

“Yep.” He moved around until he was comfortable. “That’s what you do with shifters.”

“She said the gods sent them to test us.”

Letting out a deep breath, he turned onto his back. “Look, Fin. The gods are immortal bastards who are bored out of their minds. I don’t even think they’re actually gods, just really powerful shapeshifters.”

“Don’t let Mrs. Haywood hear you,” I whispered. “She’ll be mad.”

“The Haywoods are superstitious idiots. This whole town is. There is no such thing as a god. Wouldn’t we have seen one or heard more about them than just some made-up legends? I mean, they are gods.” He dropped his head onto his pillow. “It’s just a bunch of shifters. If the guardians ever catch one, they’d burn them just like the others. No shapeshifter can escape fire.”

We fell silent for a moment, while I picked at the stitching on my blanket. “I like fire.”

“Well, good for you,” he shot back. “Just don’t be burning anything down, or the governor will have you hanged.”

I rubbed my neck. “I wouldn’t.” My head fell to the side as I straightened out the blankets. “Have you ever touched fire?”

Reese sat up and gave me a weird look. “What? Why would anyone touch fire? Did you forget what fire even is?” Flopping back down, he yanked the blanket to his neck. “I think watching that woman burn has messed with your head. Either that or they pulled those braids too tight.”

“It was just a question.” I rubbed my head.

“Just go to sleep, Fin. I have work tomorrow, and so do you.”

Clenching my jaw, I laid down and turned away from him. I just wanted to know what would happen if someone actually did play with fire. It didn’t seem like that weird of a question to me.

***

Clearing a spot on the dirt-crusted window, I peeked into the cluttered shop. Different-shaped jars lined the shelves and weird plants grew from planters that dangled under the skylights in the room. I slowly opened the door and poked my head inside. It smelled musty, like moldy old people, like the widow Mrs. Haywood always made me visit with her. Her house was just as cluttered, too.

“Mr. Hobbs? It’s me Fin. Mr. Haywood sent me.” I stepped into the room, but there was still no sign of him. “Hello?”

I wove through the stacks of papers and jars to the door at the back. Pushing it open, I scanned the area. “Mr. Hobbs?”

No reply. Maybe he’d died. He always looked like he would keel over at any time. Shuffling through, I folded my arms to keep from knocking anything over. This was a waste of time. The man wasn’t even here.

Someone moved above my head as dust filtered down from the floorboards.

“Mr. Hobbs?” I maneuvered around the mounds of what I considered to be garbage to the small set of stairs that turned around a corner. My foot caught on something and I stumbled forward. Somehow I managed not to crush anything as I hit the floor.

“Filthy old man.” What he really needed was a maid. I placed my hand on a box to move it out of the way but stopped. An incredible heat was coming from it. It flowed through my whole body. Whatever was inside, I wanted it. It ignited a new kind of excitement inside of me.

I popped the first latched open, and a wave of heat escaped through the small crack. It felt amazing. A pleasure I had never experienced before. Swallowing hard, I undid the other. A foot slammed down on the lid before the fire could escape.

Frozen, I stared at the boot. This didn’t belong to an old man. I slowly peered up at the hooded figure.

“Little boys should know better than to play with things that don’t belong to them.”

Even though I couldn’t see his face, I still felt the anger of his gaze.

“Close it,” the stranger ordered.

I quickly flipped the latches back into place.

“Hand it to me.”

Picking up the black box, I stood and gave it to him. “I’m sorry,” I whispered.

“What are you doing here?” He examined the casing before balancing it on his hand.

My eyes grew wide as the dull markings on the outside started to glow a bright red. “I’m here to see Mr. Hobbs.” I swallowed—my mouth felt really dry—and tried to get a look at the man’s face. “I’m supposed to start working for him today, gathering herbs and things like that.” I wrung my hands together and shifted my weight from foot to foot.

“A useless little thing like yourself?”

I glared at him. “I’m not useless.”

“You nearly got yourself killed.” He tucked the box under his arm and the marks grew cold.

Killed? By some stupid box? I doubted that was possible. “What’s in there?” I nodded toward the case.

He held it out in front of me and examined it. “Nothing that concerns you.”

I could feel the heat exuding from it. “I want it,” I breathed without thinking, overwhelmed by the warmth.

The man tucked it away. “Why?” He placed a finger under my chin and lifted my head. “What would a little boy like you want with my box?”

A weird sensation traveled through my body. I closed my eyes and melted into his touch. The heat began to build. It felt so good. My mind started to get lost in it.

“Zoran?” called a shaky voice.

The hand was withdrawn and I dropped to my knees. The sharper coldness returned and I felt like crying. Clasping my forehead, I tried to recover from whatever had just happened. Something was wrong with me.

Mr. Hobbs wobbled down the stairs as fast as he could. He helped me to my feet. “Oh, Fin. Go outside and wait for me while I see to this customer.”

I nodded and slipped past the stranger. I felt so strange. My balance wasn’t right, and I was worried I might topple into something. I sunk to the ground outside and breathed deeply. An emptiness was settling in my chest. “What’s happening to me?” I whispered.

I covered my face. I didn’t understand what I was becoming. The sight of the woman burning must have cursed me. The gods were punishing me for some reason. The door opened and I spun around. The men stepped out and let the door fall back, nearly hitting Mr. Hobbs in the face. He stood in front of it for a moment so Hobbs couldn’t come out.

Taking a step forward, the man held out his hand to me. “This is what you want.” A black flame flickered from his palm.

My breath caught. He was one of them, a shifter. But a shifter of fire? That didn’t seem right, and I really wanted the warmth only he could offer. Shifters were bad people, but this man couldn’t possibly be bad. Rising to my feet, I stared at it, before sticking out a finger to touch it. I waited for the pain as it wrapped around my hand, but it never came. He snatched my wrist and yanked me forward. I gasped and stared into his glowing red eyes.

“Never play with fire,” he said with a smirk. “Something like that will get you into trouble. Understood?”

I nodded. “Yes, Sir.”

With a smile, he turned and walked away, taking his fire with him.