"Jak—" I warned.
"Okay," he said, the amusement on his lips becoming an all-out grin. "There have been several weird fire-related reports popping up on the scanner over the last half hour."
"This is the scanner you haven't got because they're illegal?"
"Do you want to hear the news, or not?"
I smiled. "I'm listening."
"There's been reports of fires breaking out on freeway verges near Strathmore, Keilor East, Calder Park Raceway, and another of a grass fire near Diggers Rest."
"And?" I said, hoping there was more to the reports than just that. Spot fires weren't unusual, especially along freeway verges. Cigarettes being thrown out of car windows started too many fires in the summer and autumn months.
"And," he said, "all reports mention a figure seen fleeing the scene."
I closed my eyes. Here it comes, I thought. "Was there any description?"
"Just one," he said. "They all said the man was made of fire."
Chapter 6
Damn, damn, damn!
Of course, there was always a chance it wasn't Tao, but deep in my heart I knew it was a very remote one. While he wasn't the only fire starter in Victoria, they all had one thing in common—even though they could make their entire body flame, they never appeared to be made of flames. Their features were always visible underneath them. If the figure seen fleeing the string of fires did appear that way, then there could be only two reasons why: Either a witch had conjured a fresh elemental, or Tao's elemental was now in control of his body.
I rubbed my suddenly stinging eyes. "How long ago was the last report?"
"The Diggers Rest report came in about ten minutes ago." Jak paused. "Ris, what's going on?"
"Nothing that I can tell you about." I swung around, walked over to the light screen, and quickly brought up Google Maps. I typed "Diggers Rest" in the search area and waited for the screen to respond. "When did the first report come in?"