Minutes later, Liz came out, dressed all in black. She hurried down her driveway to the sidewalk. I didn’t move. I wanted to give her a head start. Not so far that I would lose her if she ducked off the road, but just far enough that she wouldn’t be able to sense me following behind her. She crossed the street, getting a little closer to my hiding spot than I would have liked, then turned toward town.

I waited, every muscle tense. Once she was far enough ahead, I hurried out to the sidewalk and—

—someone grabbed my arm.

It took everything in me not to scream, but when I turned and saw who was there, the shock was so great, I don’t think I could have mustered the breath to yell even if I wanted to. “Gideon?”

“Fire,” he gasped.

He was clearly winded. He must have run all the way here.

“What?”

“Fire,” he said, shaking my arm as though that would clear up the confusion.

I looked around. “Fire? What fire?”

“You. Spell.”

“Where? At the B&B?!”

“No,” he gasped, putting all of his weight on the staff he had gripped in his hand. He then pointed a finger in the direction of Liz’s house. “There!”

A tiny fire sprung up on the front lawn of the small bungalow. It was only the size of a pear, but it glowed an unnaturally bright shade of orange.

“What? I don’t understand. What’s happened?”

“You. Spell. Fires.”

“Fires?”

“Yes. They’re—”

The small fire on the lawn suddenly jumped in size.

“—everywhere.”

Chapter 35

Oh no. Oh no. Oh no.”

I ran across the street and stamped on the little fire. Thankfully it went out almost immediately.

But then it popped up again a few feet away!

I ran over and stomped it out too.

I waited almost a full minute to see if it would spring back to life, but nothing happened.

“Okay,” I shout-whispered back to Gideon. “I think we’re good.”

Suddenly the tiny fire sprouted up again not far from my feet, and, I swear, something about the way the flames were dancing, that little fire was laughing at me!

“I have to go,” Gideon called out. “There’s more on the other side of town. You stay on that one. It’s the ringleader.”

“What’s happening? I don’t understand.”

“Your spell touched everyone,” he said, waving his hands out. “Lots of guilt.”

My eyes widened as I looked around the darkened streets. “But I did it just on the Graves family.”

“Too much power built up inside of you.” My uncle took a deep, deep breath. “I’m really out of shape.”

“Gideon, I’m so sorry. I was upset after the police came, and—”

He pointed at the little fire growing at my feet with his staff. I stomped it out. Only to have it, once again, pop up a little distance away. “Don’t let that one get out of control. I’ll put out the rest, and then it will be easier to stop it. We’ll meet at the town square.”