"Monster!" the girl shouts and, for a moment, his bright orange flame flickers before extinguishing completely.
She has already run off.
He stands, hovering a little, swallows before disappearing into the lone stone-walled house again.
He startles as his fire pops up again, closes his eyes and hunches ever so slightly away.
It never comes again.
Wrinkled hands cup his own and the boy turns wide eyes to crinkled ones.
His mother smiles, warm.
"Special," she says.
Neither notices the burns on her calloused hands, layers peeled away, nor the hint of teeth and the maddened gleam in her eyes.