Alicia Vickers Flame 〈Verified〉

She didn't go home. She went to the places fire had already been: forests after wildfires, apartment buildings after electrical faults, barns struck by lightning in the flat Midwest. She wore a firefighter's coat and kept her hair under a hood. She told no one her real name.

"How do you do that?" they'd ask.

He smiled. His teeth were very white. "Because I can see the pilot light behind your eyes." alicia vickers flame

She walked in, and the bell above the door chimed. Elias looked up from a box of nails. His eyes went wide, then wet. She didn't go home

She didn't blame him. She kissed his cheek (warm, always warm now) and left Stillwater on the back of Corin's rust-red motorcycle. apartment buildings after electrical faults