The Heart of the Phoenix by Brian Knight

harmless at least until Penny decided to make them burn. The fire obeyed Penny’s will, burning only what she wanted it to burn, and though the man had come to their place and attacked them, Penny just couldn’t bring herself to do it.
    Far from panicking, Erasmus stilled, then removed his dark glasses. He looked at Penny, and she found herself gaping open mouthed at the strange eyes those glasses had concealed.
    For what seemed like an eternity Penny knew only restful blackness, and then she found herself facing Katie and Ellen with her wand raised.
    “Penny!” Katie screamed. “What are you doing?”
    “What?” Penny was frozen in shock and could offer no resistance when Ellen magically disarmed her.
    “You attacked us!” Katie looked on the edge of fury. Ellen just looked stunned.
    “Don’t be angry with her,” Erasmus said, reminding Penny that they had been in something of a close fight with the strange little man before she had apparently lost her mind and switched sides. “She was out of her mind for a moment, so I just slipped in and took it over.”
    They all turned to face him, and Penny saw that her Phoenix Fire had gone out. Rocky stood nearby, seemly as stunned and surprised as she was. He shook his over-large stone head and looked around in confusion.
    Erasmus was now suspended several feet off the ground, firmly cocooned in a hundred hanging willow limbs. Zoe stood not far away, her open palm pressed against one of the trees.
    Controlling trees was one of Zoe’s special gifts, though it took all of her concentration to do it, which left her vulnerable. She relaxed her concentration then and joined the others, leaving Erasmus to dangle harmlessly.
    Penny noticed his glasses were back in place.
    “You told me she didn’t come,” Erasmus said in a comical offence.
    “I lied,” Penny said.
    “Never trust a Red,” the strange man grumbled.
    “She’s not a Red,” came a familiar voice from the mouth of Ronan’s cave. A second later Ronan emerged and surveyed the scene.
    “You’re right, Ronan,” came a second familiar voice, this from thin air close to Ronan.
    “Bowen?” Penny said.
    “Who?” the other girls said.
    Rocky, still dazed, prodded the invisible man beside Ronan with a finger, then backed off a step.
    Penny didn’t see Erasmus draw yet another wand from inside his jacket until the tentacle-like dreadlock brandished it in the direction of the invisible man, and the form of Bowen, the owner of Golden Arts, appeared.
    “Can you see me now?” Bowen looked at each of the girls in turn and smiled at the surprise on Zoe’s face. “Ah, very good!”
    Katie trained her wand on Bowen, then Erasmus, and then Bowen again. She seemed unsure of who she should attack next. “Would someone please tell us what’s going on?”
    “Point that thing somewhere else, would you,” Bowen said, inching surreptitiously to the side.
    “Relax girls,” Ronan said. “My friend up there just wanted to see what you’re made of, and Bowen has been curious for a long time.”
    Katie lowered her wand, and Penny and Ellen followed suit. Zoe kept one hand pressed to the tree from which Erasmus dangled. “You know this guy?”
    “Indeed,” Ronan said. “Girls, I’d like you to meet my old friend, Erasmus.”
    The girls remained silent, glaring at Ronan.
    “Yes, yes, it’s excellent to meet you all,” Erasmus snarled. “Now would you kindly let me down?”
     
    * * *
     
    An uncomfortable silence followed as Erasmus, Bowen, and Ronan seated themselves on one side of the guttering fire and surveyed the girls, Ronan with pride and humor, Bowen with frank amazement, and Erasmus with a grimace.
    Penny, Zoe, Katie, and Ellen stood facing them with varying expressions of exasperation, waiting for an explanation.
    “Well?” Penny asked, and the others stepped away from her as flames erupted from her hands and began to snake up her arms. She shook them out distractedly.
    “Does she do that a