Page 21 (1/2)

Firestor wind in her drea noise filled the air, the crackle of dry brush infla her suddenly and co clouds of sed wall of fla heat She grabbed her knapsack and stumbled down the hill away from the fire

Tally had no idea in which direction the river lay Nothing was visible through the dense clouds Her lungs fought for air in the foul brown smoke

Then she spotted a few rays fro the billows, and she oriented herself The river was back toward the flame, on the other side of the hill

Tally retraced her path to the top of the hill and peered down through the sers of it shot up the hill, leaping fro thelih the smoke, but the heat pushed her back

She stu, one thought in her ulfed in flaet to the river The water was the only place safe froo over the hill, o around

She descended the slope at full tilt There were a few spots burning on this side, but nothing like the galloping flaround andlow to the ground to duck under the smoke

Halfway around, she reached a blackened patch where the fire had already passed The brittle ste off the scorched earth stung her eyes

Her footsteps ignited with fla a poker into a slu

Moments later, Tally spotted the river The fire stretched in an unbroken wall across the opposite shore, a roaring wind pressing at its back and sending e billow of s her until it passed

When her eyes could open again, Tally spotted the shiny solar surface of her hoverboard She ran toward it, ignoring the burning flowers in her path

The board seeood luck and the layer of dew it collected every nightfall

She quickly folded the board and stepped onto it, not waiting for the yellow light to turn green The heat had mostly dried it already, and it rose into the air at her command Tally took the board over the river, just above the water, and ski for a break in the wall of fire to her left

Her grippy shoes were ruined, their soles cracked like sunbakedup handfuls of water to soothe her burning face and arms

A noise thundered to life on Tally’s left, unmistakable even above the roar of the fire She and the board were caught in a sudden wind, shoved back toward the other shore Tally leaned hard against it and stuck a foot into the water to slow the board She clung tightly with both hands, desperately fighting being thrown into the river

The smoke suddenly cleared, and a fafire Sparks jumped across the river as the machine’s windstorm stirred the fire to a new intensity

What were theydoing ? she wondered Didn’t they realize they were spreading the fire?

Her question was answered a out of flanite another patch of flowers