The Doctor was looking for the blueprint. Drawer after drawer he lumbered his way around the office, a map of the ribcage in his head. Last night he'd dreamed the wings again and the dream gave him an idea. More of the rib, dismantled, would make the wing frame more flexible."

In "The Arsonist's Song Has Nothing to Do with Fire," Vivian Foster connects with an arsonist and a radical plastic surgeon whose mission is to build human wings.

Allison Titus is the author of a book of poems, "Sum of Every Lost Ship," and the recipient of a fellowship from the NEA. This is her first...