Keeper(74)

We stared at each other, a silent showdown of wills, until a new wave of screams—this one from a different direction—filled the air.

The vendor and game booths nearest to the maze were starting to catch fire. The flames licked through the cheap fabrics covering the wooden structures and ignited them like kindling. The fire was spreading through the fairgrounds, and in minutes the entire place would be a maelstrom of flames.

Including . . .

“Oh my God! Maggie!”

I was running again, willing my feet to fly as I shoved back through the crowd of people trying to exit the grounds. The Ferris wheel operator was doing his best to move and unload the pods as quickly as possible, but the other attendants had abandoned their posts, and the flames danced along the metal piping, scorching the polished metal black. Maggie’s pod was still high in the air.

“Maggie!” I screamed her name and ran faster.

“Lainey!” Her face appeared over the side of her pod, her eyes wide. “We’re not moving fast enough.”

“Don’t worry!” I shouted over the noise. “We’re gonna get you down.”

Ty had already run over to the Ferris wheel operator. They were arguing, and Ty’s hands were clenched into fists.

“It’s too hot,” the man was saying, his face dripping with sweat. “The controls are overheated. We’ll never get them down before the flames spread.” He wiped a hand over his ash-streaked face.

Ty looked like he wanted to punch the man. “In minutes, this whole place is going to be nothing but ashes. You need to get them down now. The wheel could tip.”

As if in response to his words, the Ferris wheel began to groan and creak, the metal protesting the heat of the flames.

“Ty!” I shouted. “We’re running out of time!”

Embers were falling from the sky like snow. I hissed as one landed on the back of my neck. The Ferris wheel operator took advantage of the distraction and shoved past Ty, running toward the exit like a dog with its tail tucked between its legs. Ty swore and started to run after the man, but then dashed over to the operating box and stared at the controls.

“I’m not sure how to work it,” he said, when I ran over, coughing on the smoke.

“We don’t have any more time!” I shouted. The sound of sirens was louder now, but as I stared at the empty corner of the fairgrounds where we were, I knew they’d never get to us in time. The remaining people on the Ferris wheel were wailing for help, but it wouldn’t come.

“Lainey! Help us!” The sound of Maggie screaming my name tore at my heart.

Sweat dripped down my neck as I moved to where I could see her leaning over the side of the pod, panic written all over her face. “We’re coming, Mags. We’re gonna get you down, I promise.”

The Ferris wheel groaned louder this time, the creaks and pops making me jump.

I looked at Maggie’s face for a second longer before making up my mind. I held out my hands in front of me, the green lighting already growing. “Ty!” He turned to look at me. “I have to! We don’t have any other options. I have to save Maggie!”

Ty’s face was conflicted, but he nodded to me and pulled me over behind the tall metal operator’s booth. “No one can see you,” he said, peering around the small building. “Okay, if you’re gonna do this, now’s the time.”

I nodded and pushed up my sleeves. I had no idea what to do; I hoped some sort of instinct would kick in.

The nerves must have been showing on my face because Ty grabbed me by the shoulders, looking deep into my eyes. “You can do this, Lainey.”

“I know.”

Stepping around Ty, I faced the blazing cornfield and closed my eyes, holding my hands out in front of me. I had no real idea how to go about summoning my powers, but this seemed right, so I went with it.

I have to do something. I have to help those people. I have to save Maggie.

A deep warmth was beginning to spread throughout my body, and a strange tingling sensation—like a thousand tiny pinpricks—licked across my skin. An electric flow of energy began to course through my veins, enveloping my senses and taking over my self-control.

The heat from the fire burned my face and skin, and glowing embers fell from the sky, singeing tiny holes into my sweater. Sweat poured down my back, and glistening beads of perspiration fell down the sides of my cheeks.

I have to do this. I have to help them.

Over and over, I said the words carefully and with purpose in my mind. My hands ached as the lightning between my fingers grew brighter.

I’m going to do something. I will help those people. I will save Maggie.

Overhead, the sky erupted with an explosion of light. Lightning streaked across the darkness, its silver fingers reaching and stretching to every corner of the night sky. Deafening peals of thunder boomed across the valley, accompanying the streaks of light, and a strange wind began to blow.

I raised my shaking hands in the air. A force unlike anything I’d ever known took hold of my conscience and dominated my every thought and action.

My hands began to glow, the light as bright as the flames themselves. My whole body convulsed, and I heard Ty yelling my name, but I couldn’t stop.

I cried out in a mix of exhilaration, terror, pain, and pure adrenaline as a huge pulse of energy shot through my entire body and out through the palms of my hands.