Who: Charlie McGee What: Waking up without a fire raging in her bedroom, Charlie assumes that her power has simply disappeared. It seems that. instead of that, she's simply traded one ability for another. Where: Charlie's apartment When: Late morning, present day
It wasn’t unusual for Charlie to withdraw. She’d done it her whole life, though it was mostly part of a survival instinct. The lower the profile she kept the less likely it was that The Shop would find her and bring her in to test and experiment on. Being open around the apartment complex was a lot easier than being open in her home universe. It was the status quo for someone to have a supernatural power around here. She practically fit right in.
A late riser unless she was burdened with an early morning appointment, Charlie sat up in her bed pushing the covers away. Sleeping through the night and waking without her quilt having caught fire was a sort of victory for her. She gave a smile and turned so that her feet were on the floor and sleepily stretched her arms out in front of her.
Acting on impulse, Charlie held her palm upwards and tried to feed a flame into existence using only her mind. She put forth the proper amount of thought and mental energy to create at least a small fire, but couldn’t even manage a spark. Her first emotion was confusion mixed with a bit of frustration. She’d never had to focus so much on such a small feat. When she finally gave up, Charlie found herself smiling.
Was it really gone? That power that had claimed so many lives? Her heart swelled with happiness. This awful ability to control and fuel fires, the ability that the Shop had indirectly given her through her parents, had seemingly vanished overnight. This had to be a dream, she thought, because only a dream could be this wonderful.
John Rainbird once said that if Charlie’s abilities grew stronger as she aged she might have been able to trigger a reaction similar to and equal in destructive power to a nuclear blast. How relieving it was to suddenly be free of it! If she could have gone home, this is the way she would have returned - As a normal human being with her only talents being of the mainstream variety.
Charlie set her sights on a can of soda clear across the room. She began to stand up, ready to get a quick refreshment, but before she was even on her feet the can seemed to fly in her direction. Her hand raised, ready to smack the can away if it came close to hitting her, but in the blink of an eye she found herself holding the can of soda in her hand. The pleasant smile that had quickly been replaced by a look of disappointment. It seemed that she had only traded her fire powers for something else. She hoped that this was a significantly less destructive ability that she had acquired. At least fate could grant her that one thing, she thought. With a resigned sigh, she sat back down on her mattress.