"So be wise, because the world needs more wisdom. If you cannot be wise, pretend to be someone who is and just do what they would do."- Neil Gaiman

Monday, August 15, 2022

Into the Flames Excerpt 2: The Fire

 I woke up choking.

When I opened my eyes there was smoke everywhere. A set of large hands shot at me through the dark and ripped me from the bed. Without thinking I struck out with my leg, and I fell to the floor.

“Harley! It’s Arthur!”

I could hear the smoke alarm blaring in the background and I continued to cough.

“Use your air magic, pull clean air to your face!” Arthur yelled through the chaos. “When you can breathe, use your fire magic to slow the fire down!”

“Ok,” I croaked as I followed him from the room.

We went into his bedroom and he lifted the rug, once he got the panel open, he had me go down first.

“Why…are we…down…here!” I yelled between coughs. “We will…burn…to death!”

“This room doubles as a bunker,” he replied. “We will be fine down here. I'm going to call your dad and let him know what's going on. Sit down and catch your breath. If you can, do your best to keep the damage to a minimum. I’m sure one of the neighbors has called the fire department.”

I sat down and reached for my fire magic. I coaxed it to slow down. I used every ounce of energy I had to try to contain the fire, but it was massive and I didn’t have enough control. Once Arthur was off the phone, I felt him gather up some air and send it out. I listened for it to come back. The fire department was here.

This excerpt was taken from a lightly edited first draft. All content here may be changed or removed from the final book. 

No comments:

Post a Comment