I knew better than to think I had
won. Carl had been doing his thing with fire for years, maybe decades. I only
had a few years under my belt. Still, the bands were working, so I prepared
some more to send out as well as some lightning that would flow along the bands
like an electric fence.
Heat erupted out of Carl as he
became the Human Freaking Torch in front of my eyes. The air in my bands
superheated and exploded like a popped balloon. As quickly as the fire had
come, it disappeared.
“Wow,” I said. It was all I could
say. I hadn’t seen anything like it except in comic books.
“Next round,” Carl said.