Chapter 3: Brushfire
The next morning, Felix called us all to the park. We were to present our trees. The earth group was first, and Randy screwed up and burned down the twig right away. “It’s okay, sir, just take your time,” Felix said.
He tried again and decided to leave it as a twig. Felix took some measurements and thanked him for his efforts. The water group was next, and they grew the twig into a sapling. They watered it again, and it didn’t grow. Felix took some measurements, though he didn’t really need to. It was definitely healthier and taller than Randy’s, and clearly in the lead. Our group was next, and George was able to grow it into a tree probably 5 feet tall. The other groups seemed impressed and Felix took some measurements. “This is nice. All that extra effort paid off, didn’t it?”
Lastly was the fire group. Francisco aimed at one of the trees, and suddenly it went ablaze. And it wasn’t just a little fire, either, nor was it simulated like the other fire. It was definitely hot, and Felix seemed really concerned. Quickly thinking, George conjured some water to put it out, but it didn’t work. We all backed away from the blaze. How could this be possible? I didn’t think these types of flames were a possibility with these. Felix seemed obviously concerned and quickly tried to interject. “Now, gentlemen, that’s quite enough.”
They shot some flames at him, and he ducked out of the way. He quickly adjusted his hat and shouted, “I have an idea on how to stop this. Please stay safe!” as he ran off.
“Wait, Felix!” Franklin shouted as he turned to the students who had started this. Once Felix was out of sight, Francisco pointed the wand at everyone. “Nobody’s gonna go anywhere. This here is a force to be reckoned with. I know it is, and just to prove it to you…”
He conjured flames and they hit one of the distant houses. Windows shattered and the family within ran outside and called for help. There was no argument, they had real fire and there was nothing any of us could do about that. Water wouldn’t put it out and a gust couldn’t redirect it. Most people tried to run back away, but Franklin, Nathan, George and I decided it’d be safest and easiest to run to Franklin’s car, which was parked right nearby. We hurried and drove off towards the capitol building. Why did Felix leave us like this? Some flames flew by past the car, and Franklin, fearing the car would catch ablaze, sped up and quickly slid the car into the capitol parking lot. We got out and ran into the capitol.
While I took a moment to catch my breath, Franklin called out for Felix. “Where could he be?” He asked.
“I don’t know. He has a workshop,” Nathan said, “But heck if I know where it is.”
“Oh, it’s none of your concern,” his voice said as he walked into view from the study just to the right of the front desk.
“Felix! Why are you here, not trying to stop this?” Franklin exclaimed.
“Well, the matter of the fact is that I don’t really know how they did this. All those things did was project some hologram-types of things. It was really just a video game, I guess. No clue how they had actual fire. But I think I have a solution. The only problem is that it involves getting you four home safe.”
“Why?”
“Just trust me on this. After all, I invented them.”
“Alright then," I asked", "but could I just ask one question?”
“Go ahead.”
“All this time it seems like you do everything, but our welcome book was signed by many people, not just you. Where are these people?”
“Well,--“
Felix was cut off by flames emanating from the front door of the capitol. Felix rushed up the stairs in the lobby and out to the balcony, and from there he could see a few of the 14 people on the fire group were all standing there, and the capitol was ablaze. Felix looked very concerned. “Oh, I’ll just have to brute force this and hope for the best. I hate doing this. You kids stay safe. Get in the closet in the back. I’ll be back.”
“Wait, Felix? Felix?!”
He quickly returned to the study, but when we made it back there, he was gone. We headed to the back of the building quickly and entered the closet. It was rather large with room for all sorts of equipment. However, the closet itself was barren, save for a few shelves and a broken keypad. We could hear the door smash open, and footsteps inside. Smoke filled the air, and it became hard to breathe. Suddenly, we hear pounding on the door. “Get out here!” A voice cried from the other side.
We remain silent. The sound of a hearty thud reminds us the building is going down around us. The door is smashed open and Francisco points the wand right at me. Right as the end of it lights up, it suddenly stops and nothing happens. “What? WHAT? Twitch, you’re freaking useless!”
“But—but I didn’t—this wasn’t even part of th--“ He began.
“Fine, I have a better solution.”
He reels back for a punch, but then suddenly everything goes dark for a split second and I’m back in my room. 8:06 AM. Could all of this have been a dream? I look outside and find that everything is how it was, and nothing was burned down. Whatever that was is over, I guess. I get ready for the day and as I go to grab breakfast, someone rings the doorbell. I open it and there’s Felix with a canister in one hand. “Hey, Ash. I brought you some hot cider. Is anyone else around?”
“Alex and mom aren’t up yet.”
“Oh, good. Look, I’m really sorry about what happened yesterday. Things went from bad to worse and one thing led to another and well, I hadn’t planned for any of that.”
“So it happened? It wasn’t a dream?”
“No, not really.”
“So how’d you fix everything that fast?”
“Ah, Ash, that’s where the real magic lies!”
He tipped his hat to me, handed me the canister of cider and walked off. I know he was hiding something, and the fact that he seems to be the only one in charge here, on top of the fact that he simply has superhuman efficiency, really bothers me. Whatever, he seems polite enough, but somewhere under that quiet little exterior lies some sort of agenda, and I know it.
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