Chapter One ~ Adelaide

I swung my pencil around in a big arc, drawing flames devouring a forest. I had to draw a forest fire awareness poster for my school environmental club. Alice, my best friend, who was also in the club, had helped write the text, but I was in charge of the drawing; being the best one in the group, it had been a unanimous decision.

“Addy? Hello?”

I jerked my head up. I had forgotten I was on FaceTime with Alice. “Sorry, what?”

“I was saying, Evan is cute. And he asked me out. What do I say?”

“Dude, you’re in sixth grade.”

I could almost hear the grin in her voice. “Almost seventh. Plus, he was the one that asked me. How can I just turn down an opportunity like that?”

“I—I mean okay, I guess?” I was little jealous, but I tried not to let it show. I had to agree. Evan was hot—curly blond hair that tumbled over his blue eyes, a perfect jawline, and 5’7, which was tall for our age. Not that I thought about it, but I was pretty sure he had abs, too.

“But, Addy, get this: Jonathan asked Sydney out, and she turned him down. What a brat, am I right?”

Now I was even more jealous. Jonathan was hot too. He was 5’5, part Filipino, with glasses and black hair that sat neatly over his head. His skin was perfectly smooth—not that I looked at him much—and his lips were never chapped, unlike mine, which had to be drenched in chapstick all year round to stay smooth. Not only was Jonathan hot, he was super smart—the smartest in my math class.

“Addy?” Alice repeated.

“Sorry. I zoned out.”

“Every time I talk about a boy, you just stop talking. What is it? Do you like Jonathan?”

I felt blood rush to my cheeks. “Of course not! What were you saying about Sydney?”

“She rejected Jonathan. I can’t believe it, honestly. So many of us would kill to have Jonathan be interested in us.”

“But that’s fine with you, right? I mean, Evan already asked you out.”

“Yeah, over freaking text.”

“I wouldn’t complain if I were you. So many of us would kill to have him like us.”

“Guess that’s true. I can’t believe he asked me, though. Like Sydney, Sydney’s pretty. I get that. But me?”

I smiled. Alice never realized how genuinely pretty she was. She had long, silky auburn hair, way prettier than my black, stringy hair.

The door slammed open as Liam strutted in. I whipped around to face him, pretending that never happened. “Dude, what is it?”

“When did Jade leave last night? Do you know?”

“She was here? Why so late at night?” I scrunched my nose. “Ew!”

“What? ...Adelaide!” he snapped as realization struck him, but I could see the red tinged on his cheeks. He sighed. “Well, the point is, Addy, she’s not answering any of my texts. I know she left sometime after two, but it’s fu—fricking two p.m. and she hasn’t said anything to me.”

I felt a little nervous at the tone in his voice. Jade was Liam’s girlfriend, but she was like an older sister to me and Dennis. She spent more time with us than with her own family, because her parents weren’t exactly the nicest.

“Are you sure maybe she's not just, I don’t know. Maybe she’s just sleeping since she got home so late?” I tried to assure him.

He shook his head. “She never sleeps in, especially not until two p.m. Even when she’s tired, she wakes up at the crack of dawn.”

“Would you two just shut up?!” Dennis’s irritated voice came from the hallway.

Liam turned his head to look over his shoulder. “Sorry that I’m concerned about my girlfriend, Dennis.”

“Sorry that your girlfriend is sleeping in and you’re so worried! Idiot…” Dennis shot back, appearing in my room’s doorway.

Liam rolled his eyes. Before either of them could say anything, I butted in. “Just give it a day or two. She’s probably just busy.”

“Yeah, too busy for her boyfriend,” Liam mumbled

“Oh shut up,” I said as he walked out of the room. Dennis got one good kick at my door frame before walking off.

Despite my reassurance to Liam, I couldn’t shake the worried feeling that maybe Jade wasn’t okay. Jade was like an older sister to me, almost part of the family. But it was probably fine. Twelve hours wasn’t that long.

“Um, should I go?” Alice’s voice came from the FaceTime, making me jump.

“No, it’s fine. Sometimes siblings can be annoying, y’know? Also, don’t worry Liam’s girlfriend sometimes just sleeps in and Liam won’t accept the fact she is fine. Same thing if she just needs a day away.” But as I said that, I knew Jade never went longer than overnight or a few hours without texting Liam, especially if he texted first.

“Anyways…”

I wrapped myself tighter in my blanket. The thunderstorm outside continued to rage on. Rain splattered against the window so violently I thought it might shatter. I squeezed my eyes shut, trying to get to sleep, but I just couldn’t. The rain was too loud.

Silently, I slipped out of bed and went over to turn my light on, but when I flipped the switch, nothing happened. Great, the lightbulb burnt out again. I didn’t want to bug anyone, so I just sighed and went to turn on the hall light, when I saw a tall, dark figure walk down the hallway towards me. I screamed and leapt backwards, only to realize it was Liam.

He chuckled. “Is your power out too?”

“Yeah.”

Dennis’s yell came from his room. “Can you two just shut up?! I’m trying to sleep! You’re—” I didn’t hear the last part, because as he spoke, a gust of wind shook the house, drowning him out.

“I don’t think we’re much louder than the storm,” Liam grumbled. There was no response from Dennis.

He turned back to me. “I’m just worried about Jade. What if she didn’t make it home, and now she has to deal with this awful storm?”

“She definitely made it home. It’s been almost twenty-four hours. If she didn’t, we’d have bigger problems to worry about than her getting a little wet,” I told him. “Anyways, I’m going to turn on the fire so we have some light. I don’t think there’s a chance of getting back to sleep.”

I went downstairs and made my way over to the fireplace. As I flicked on the switch, the fire spluttered to life, burning a bright orange. I had always thought fire was beautiful, even if it could be so dangerous. It was mesmerizing to watch,‌ like a bright, dancing kindle of life.

“Addy?”

I jumped, startled by the noise, and accidentally bumped a shelf next to me. An old book sailed down from the top shelf - straight towards the fire. As quickly as I could, I shot my hand out and seized the book right before it reached the flames. But as I curled my fingers around it, a flame shot up and surrounded my hand for a split second. I shrieked and jerked my hand backward.

“Adelaide!” Liam screamed. Thunder shook the house. His footsteps thrummed behind me. “What the hell do you think you were doing?!”

Shaking, I looked down at my hand and opened it, surprised at how little it hurt. The book was clearly burned, the corners black and curled. The pages were now stiff, and a few were missing. But my hand was unchanged. Not even red. It had been even closer to the fire than the book had been.

Liam stared at my hand. I glanced at him. He looked confused, but then shook his head. “You got lucky. Don’t do something stupid like that again. It’s still two weeks until Mom and Dad are back, I don’t need you getting hurt under my care! You know they would kill me!”

“I didn’t mean to! You were the one who scared me!”

He narrowed his eyes. “I meant when you tried to grab the book.”

I looked down. “Sorry, it was just reflexes.”

“Well learn to control them. Now go back to your room. I’m not letting you do anything with fire on your own for a while,” he said, glaring at me.

I knew there was no arguing with him. He flicked off the switch for the fireplace, and I went back up to my room. As the storm continued to rage on, I buried myself under the covers and tried my best to go to sleep.