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

with it?  Should I keep it safe?  Hide it someplace else?”
    “No, Cameron asked me to have you burn the books in this room.  I think you might be right about his father, and I think that burning these books might upset Professor Michaels, but Cameron said it was very important.  I know you don’t want to start a fire…”
    “Cameron wants me to?  I’ll do it,” she interrupted me.  You could at least key down the eagerness, I thought .
    “Well, let’s try to do this as safely as we can.  I think it may take a while, but we should be able to burn the books in the fireplace.”  I took the contract from her and the book and walked over to the fireplace.  It would be easier to just burn the contracts, but I didn’t know how many there were or how long it would take to find them.  I pulled the metal mesh covering to the side of the fireplace and checked to make sure the flue was open.  I threw the book and the contract in.  Jade already sat at my side.
    “Can you do this?” I asked, “Can you focus your gift just on the inside of this fireplace?”
    “I think so,” she replied as she knelt on the hearth.  She stared at the book with concentrated intensity, and she no longer looked like a small child.  She transformed into a miniature adult.  Her body was tense with purpose, and her eyes had a glare to them that would frighten the most villainous criminal.
    I looked at the fireplace, wishing I could be the one to do this instead of her.  If this didn’t go well, she would be scarred by this night.  I knew it probably would not go well, but maybe I could alter this night and protect both of us in the process.  A small wisp of smoke rose from the book.  It burst into flames, but the contract resisted the first licks of the flame.
    Glancing back at Jade, I could see she was no longer with me.  She was in another universe, all alone with only the purpose of starting this fire.  I felt the heat radiating off her increase, and suddenly more light emitted from the fireplace.  I watched as the contract dissolved in waves of blue heat.  Jade crumpled next to me, breathing hard.  How can she do this?   There are so many books.  She’s just a child.  I had to think of something else.
    “Jade?  Are you okay?”  I lifted her shoulders gently, and she leaned in against my side.  She couldn’t do this.  It would kill her, and by default, me.
    “I’m…okay,” she forced the words out, but I could tell the eagerness she had only moments ago had escaped her.  I held her by the fireplace while I thought.  If I left her in her hiding spot, I could go back to Cameron.  If I explained what I knew about his father and how we had tried to carry out the task he had given me, maybe he could make an elixir to give me back my abilities and gifts.  Then I would start the fire.  I would get Jade and my mother out, but no one could see Jade the way she was right now.  She looked like the lone survivor of a train wreck—bewildered and beaten down.  If Professor Michaels saw her, he would know immediately what we were up to; I was sure of it.
    “Jade?” I looked down at the weak child next to me, but she seemed to be recovering with the speed of Superman when the kryptonite draining his powers had been thrust out into the emptiness of space.
    “I’m starting to feel better,” she said, with only a hint of the weakness of moments before in her voice.
    “I still think you should rest while I think about this,” I told her.  “Can you stay in your hiding space for a little while longer?  I want to go and talk to Cameron.  Maybe I can get him to help us.”
    She nodded, and I helped her over to the desk.  She crawled underneath, leaned against the inner panel of the desk, and closed her eyes.  I stared at her for just a moment.  She had no idea how this night would shape and change the rest of her life.  Before I left the room, I closed the metal curtain in front of the fireplace.  The