Dance of Fire

Ethan stood outside the home of Phoenix Mountain High’s headmaster, Mr. Wallace, with a small box of matches and a tank of gasoline. There was no moon to give light, but Ethan’s green eyes reflected the porch light, making his eyes appear to glow in the dark. Ethan saw the truth behind his headmaster... 

The cold case was from 15 years ago and was about the Willir family, Tina’s family. Liz and she must have been about two-years-old when it happened. Tina’s older brother, Bonnie wasn’t deaf from birth, he was caught in a bank robbery where a gunfight broke out. Bonnie was shot roughly at the upper side of his right temporal lobe, where his auditory cortex, the part of the temporal lobe that processes auditory information, is located. It is a part of the auditory system, performing basic and higher functions in hearing, such as possible relations to language switching. Bonnie couldn’t be more than three-years-old when he lost his hearing. Mr. Wallace’s daughter was the only shooter, and being 14 her dad paid for the charges to be dropped. Mr. Wallace then covered the whole incident up... 

Ethan couldn’t stand the fact that Tina was being lied to, and that her brother was a victim of a crime that was unpunished. Ethan walked up to the front door, his fist tightens around the gas tank handle. After walking around the whole house to see all the exits, Ethan started to dump the gas onto the wooden porch. He had planned this to the dot in so little time, it’s no wonder that he is top of his class. He had blocked the back door with fallen tree limbs so the only way out was through the flames. Ethan then turned back to his bike to head back home as the lit match fell to the ground. The fire danced like a person, almost like it was under a spell cast by Ethan... 

When Zack and Adaline returned to the others back at the winter cabin with Dan and Maddie, Damian held out a piece of paper with a small paragraph, “ADDIE! ETHAN DID SOMETHING!” he shouted as he rushed to her side. Adaline took the paper, her eyes narrowed as she read, “We got to go. NOW!” Krystal and Katrienna ran out of the door pulling Dan and Maddie with them to find a door out of this world... 

Adaline’s eyes widened when she saw the flames coming out of every window of the house. Dan looked from the others to the burning building, “How are we going to put this out?” Adaline looked down at the piece of paper. Ink started to form words across the blank page-Mr. Wallace was still inside. Zack was reading over her shoulder, “Oh, heck no! YOU ARE NOT GOING IN THERE!” He then looked down at her rubber band cast on her arm. Adaline looked around at the concerned faces of her friends then turned back to see one of the upstairs windows explode with flames of red and yellow, “I will be okay, but he won’t!” and like that she took off. 

The smoke filled her lungs and burned her eyes. Adaline reached into her hoodie pocket and pulled out the pen she got from Daitan; The Pen of The Devil. She looked up in time to see that the ceiling was coming down. She moved out of the way, pen in hand. Without having any paper to write on, her skin was the only option she had. Adaline pulled the cast off and started to use her writing hand again: The fires of Hell can’t burn a demon’s fur nor can Heaven crush the armor of an angel. The words were crooked from Adaline’s shaky hand. Her body then started to shape-shift into a wolf in armor. Her brown fur peeked out from in between the steel plates. The smells of burning meat met her new nose. Adaline ran through the wall of flames in the hallway to the master bedroom. Mr. Wallace was pressed to the floor and covered in second-degree burns. Adaline used her jaw to grab him and throw him onto her back. When she turned to go back the way she came the doorway collapsed in on itself. Adaline looked around to find another way only to find a small window... 

Zack and the others stood watching the roof become a stage for dancing flames. Krystal started to cry, “They’re not gonna come back!” Damian turned around to Dan, “Can’t you do magic?!” Dan’s mouth twitched angrily, “NO! Maddie and I are Slender man’s proxies, not superheroes!” Zack heard the others start to fight about how they are going to put out the fire if Addie didn’t come out, but his eyes never looked away from it. The noise of a window breaking hushed everyone. A big light brown wolf wearing armor jumped through the window carrying a man on its back. “It’s ADDIE!” Zack and Dan took Mr. Wallace off her back before Adaline shapeshifted back face plants into the lawn, “Mmm, I can’t keep doing this.” Before anyone could see her arm, Adaline pulled her hoodie tighter around her body. Adaline then stood up, “Come on,” she put one of Mr. Wallace’s arms over her shoulder as she continued, “We got a dance to crash.”... 

Ethan stood in front of the school’s doors waiting for Tina. He held a calm expression even though his mind couldn’t get over the fact that Tina and her family have been hurting for 15 years. Well, now no one will hurt you because I’m here, he thought as Tina and Liz walked to the stone steps. Ethan wouldn’t have described her as pretty. Tina was more bewitching than any other girl he knew. Liz continued to walk when Tina stopped to admire Ethan. He looked like a dream come true, and there was nothing she could do to stop her reaction: it felt like her heart would burst out of her chest every time he looked at her. When they went through the doors and planned to dance the night away... 

Adaline gathered up everyone on the dance floor, only to find out that Tina had already started to dance with Ethan, “We need to warn her,” she said as she took Kesley’s hand and continued, “Grab a partner and dance towards her.” Adaline twirled past Ethan when the stage lights came on, stopping all bodies. Aaron, the student body president, started to get everyone’s attention, “Hey, sorry about that, guys. But there was a fire at the headmaster's house.” As he continued to talk murmurs began to spread among the crowd, “Don’t worry. Mr. Wallace was pulled out of the fire by an unknown hero!” Ethan’s mouth dropped as he stared at Aaron in utter shock. Kesley took Tina’s hand and pulled her towards the gang... 

Tina’s eyes started to water, “So, Bonnie wasn’t born deaf?!” Every emotion coursed through her body; rage at the fact that her mom had lied to them all those years, sadness because a part of her wanted Ethan to be the misunderstood hero, and a twisted feeling of love. Adaline pasted back and forth, holding on to her left arm, “This is getting pretty bad. I think you guys should go home,” looking at Damian, Zack, Krystal, and Katrienna. “Like heck we are!” Zack looked from the rest of the group to Adaline, “We came too far for you to push us away. Now, I don’t know if you showed your old friends your worlds and they didn’t help you in any way, but I am not letting you do this alone!”…