治愈者(10)

So, wanting to be useful, I went right over to the ice girl and pulled her hand out of her pocket, against her half-protests. I held it forward, and stuck it through the bars of the cell. It was surprisingly heavy which filled me with new sympathy. It felt like a big cold rock.
Here, I said, shaking it a little, go to it.
The fire girl grasped the ice girl’s hand. I think we weren’t sure it would work, if the magic had worn off in junior high, but it hadn’t; as soon as they touched, the ice melted away and the fire burned out and they were just two girls holding hands through the bars of a jail. I had a hard time recognizing them this way. I looked at their faces and they looked different. It was like seeing a movie star nude, no makeup, eyes small and blinking.

The fire girl started to shiver and she closed her eyes. She held on hard.
It’s so much quieter like this, she murmured.
The other girl winced. Not for me, she said. Her face was beginning to flush a little.
The fire girl opened her eyes. No, she said, nodding, of course. It would be different for you.
I clasped my own hands together. I felt tepid. I felt out of my league.