Free Flames in the Midst (The Jade Hale Series) by Sarah Reckenwald Page B

mother’s lifeless body lay and moved to the source of the heat.
    As I closed the door to the office behind me, I could hear Evan calling for my aunt and heading towards Amy and Justin.  I felt remorse at having left them, but what else could I do?  Jade was my priority now, and there was no reason to keep her attempts focused in the fireplace.
    I found her kneeling in front of the fireplace where a pile of books lay on the metal grate.  She was concentrating all of her effort on those books and did not notice a s I entered the room.  A thin wisp of smoke rose up from the books, but the pile looked insurmountable when burning just one book with a contract had wiped her out earlier in the evening.  I felt the same tide of hopelessness rushing over me again.  I moved across the room and placed my hand on Jade’s shoulder.
    Immediately, a wave of heat surged through my body towards Jade.  The books and contracts in the fireplace lit in a small explosion with blue flames licking the pages until the fireplace was filled with blue light and then only ashes. 
    Jade let out a gleeful scream. 
    “That was easy!” she exclaimed.  “If you help me, it won’t take us long to finish, and then we can tell Cameron we helped him!”  She had no idea her world had just been torn apart tonight, but it wasn’t me who would tell her.  I didn’t even remember how I had started such a large fire.  As we watched the fire burning the place down, it was Aunt Lynn who told me my mother had not made it.  She told me so many times my mother was already gone when I started the fire.  She told me I had done a good thing by starting the fire, but I had never believed her until now.  Even though I knew what we were about to do was going to cause me pain and anguish throughout my childhood, I also knew it had to be done.
    “Can you help me?” she asked me with eagerness in her eyes.  “Let’s get more books for the fireplace.”
    I squeezed her shoulder gently and stopped her from moving towards the shelves.  I had just seen my mother—her mother—our mother—murdered.  I would now have to help her burn all of these books and contracts as the only act I could think of to hurt my mother’s murderer.  Tears and smoke burned my eyes. 
    “What’s wrong?” Jade asked, staring at me.  I had to snap out of my shock and get to work.
    “Jade, honey,” I started as gently as possible.  I would have to tell another half-truth.  If she knew what had happened already, she would not be able to start this fire, and I could not do it without her.  Now, instead of feeling like protecting her was self-serving, I felt I was choosing a sacrifice for her.  I was willing to go the next fifteen years of my life—her life—in pain and self-loathing in order to accomplish this act of destruction against a murderer.  Perhaps if all of the contracts were destroyed, Evan would burn in this fire, as I believed he had. 
    “Tonight is not going well.  Cameron said we don’t have the time to burn the books in the fireplace.  We’ll have to burn the books and the shelves,” I explained.
    “Does my mommy know?” She was asking for permission. 
    “Yes, your mother knows, but she couldn’t come with me.”  Even if my mother didn’t figure out the plan of this journey for me, she knew who I was and that I was here to protect myself.  She knew, in a sense.  “Are you ready?” I asked myself.
    Little Jade shook her head solemnly.  I glanced around the room one last time. 
    “Wait here,” I instructed her as I crossed back towards the door.  The backpack with our family book still sat on the floor where I had left it.  This could not burn.  I put the backpack on my shoulders and returned to Jade’s side.
    “Okay,” I told her, placing one hand on each shoulder.  At first, nothing happened.  I looked down and saw her staring at the bookcase to the left of the fireplace.  I felt the heat building between us like an