The Crimson Brand (5 page)

It still seemed weird to her that her mom and Katie’s aunt used to be friends, but she was getting used to the idea.  That old connection had raised other questions in her mind and a suspicion she hadn’t dared to bring up with Ronan yet.  She knew what his answer would be: more infuriating silence.

She patted her pants pocket.  “Right here.  We all carry them.”

She expected more words of caution from him, and he surprised her again.

“Good,” he said and actually nodded approval before resuming his trot.  “Keep them with you at all times.  It’s important for us to stay in contact, especially with Kat in trouble.”

Penny jogged to catch up.  “Have you got them all now?”

She knew he’d been snooping around Dogwood since last fall, trying to track down all of Tovar’s missing mirrors. 

“It’s impossible to know without another look in the Conjuring Glass.”

“You know where it is,” Penny said, catching up to him.  She could see the top boughs of Aurora Hollow’s willows ahead.  As always she looked for the crown of the big tree, the strange one growing at the edge of the creek that ran through the hollow, but she didn’t see it.  After some botanical research Zoe had identified it as a
Fraxinus excelsior
, a type of ash common in Europe but certainly not in Washington State.  She had no idea how a European ash had ended up in Dogwood.  From inside the hollow, that tree seemed colossal, reaching into the green canopy toward the sky.

“Tonight maybe.  I would like to be sure.”

“It’ll be like a slumber party,” Penny said, and laughed when Ronan turned back to her and rolled his eyes.

A few seconds later they were at the downward path into the narrow canyon that hid Aurora Hollow from the rest of the world, and Penny followed Ronan.

*   *   *

Zoe and Katie already had their wands out and pointed into the fire pit when Penny joined them.

“You’re too tense,” Zoe said, grabbing Katie’s wand arm and giving it a little shake.  “You gotta relax a bit.”

“And what,” Katie asked sourly, “let The Force flow through me?”

“What’s
The Force
?” Ronan asked, pausing at the creek’s edge.

“I’ll tell you what The Force is,” Penny said, “if you tell us what we’re preparing for.”

Ronan didn’t respond to Penny’s bait.  He leapt across the creek to the stone ledge on the other side and vanished into his cave.

“Way to go, Little Red,” Katie said, wrenching her arm free of Zoe’s grip with a look of irritation.  “You pissed him off.”

“
You’re not relaxing
,” Zoe snapped. 

“He’ll be back,” Penny said, unconcerned. 

She kind of hoped he was annoyed though, at least a little.  Ronan was still keeping stuff from her, stuff
about
her, and she was beyond annoyed about that.

“Why do I need to relax?”  Katie asked, turning her irritation back on Zoe.

“Because it’ll help you face your fears,” Ronan answered from the mouth of his cave.

All three girls turned to face him, startled by his sudden reappearance. 

“I’ve let you fight this alone for too long, Kat,” he said, and he sounded almost mournful.  “I didn’t want it to happen like this.”

“Didn’t want what to happen?”  Definitely exasperated now.  Definitely not relaxing. 

“I hoped you would be able to conquer your fears alone,” Ronan said.  “But you haven’t, and you won’t ask for help.  I didn’t want to be the one to drag them into the light.”

It was a long moment before Katie could speak.  She regarded him with something like horror.

Penny met Zoe’s eyes and saw her own confusion mirrored in them.

“Don’t,” Katie whispered.  “Please.”

“What is he talking about, Kat?”  Zoe tucked the black wand into her pocket and walked to Katie’s side.

Katie flinched when Zoe put a hand on her shoulder, but her eyes never left Ronan.  “How can you know?”

“I know,” Ronan said, and he sounded regretful, ashamed of himself.  “But I don’t know
what
.”

Katie watched him, her cheeks glowing in embarrassment.  Penny saw the wand rise in her shaking hand, and for a moment she though Katie was about to attack Ronan.  Instead she held it over her shoulder and Zoe took it from her.

“You have to tell us, Kat.”  Ronan stepped to the edge of his stone shelf and dropped onto his belly.  “Tell us what happened.”

“It’s nothing,” Katie said.  Her astonishment seemed to have evaporated.  Her voice was brisk now.

But Penny saw that it was something.  It was hurting Katie to even think about it.

“Tell us, Kat.”

“Ronan, why are you doing this?”  Penny marched forward and stopped between them, so Ronan would have to look at her.  “You’re upsetting her!”

“Because I have to,” Ronan said, and stood again.  “Because she shouldn’t have to face her fears alone.  It was wrong of me to let her try for so long.”

Zoe’s stunned expression was slowly hardening, her mouth pulling into a thin line of disapproval.  “Leave her alone.”

“No.  I won’t … I can’t.”  Ronan paced further down his stone ledge, peering around Penny to catch Katie’s eyes again.  “And Kat knows I can’t.”

Penny turned to face Katie and saw her anger slipping away as quickly as her astonishment had.  In the past minute she had run the emotional spectrum from shock to anger and now to embarrassment.

Katie looked skyward.  Penny thought she was struggling not to cry, but when she faced forward again, her eyes were dry.

“He’s right,” Katie said.  “There’s something I need to tell you about.”

*   *   *

They were sitting around the fire pit, Penny across from Zoe and Ronan across from Katie.  The wands lay atop the book in an open chest at the roots of the big ash tree. 

Katie stared into the dead fire pit, seemed to search for something there.  Whatever it was seemed to elude her, and after a minute of expectant silence she sighed and looked up at all of them in turn.  Her eyes finally settled on Penny.

“You’re kind of a firebug aren’t you?”

Penny’s first impulse was to deny this
—
this wasn’t supposed to be about her!
—
but the expression on Katie’s face stopped the denial before it left her mouth.  Her words may have sounded like a question, but they had been a statement of fact.  Her expression said so.  Her unblinking eyes, the defiant set of her jaw allowed no doubt. 

Penny gulped, then nodded.

“I knew a girl like you a long time ago,” Katie said, talking to them all but still watching Penny.  “Her name was Samantha … Sam.  She lived down the street from me, and she had the coolest tree house.  Her dad built it for her, and we used to play in it for hours.  We even spent the night in it a couple times.”

Katie looked down at her hands, folded in her lap.  She seemed to have made herself smaller as she spoke.  Even her voice got smaller.  The others had to lean closer to hear her clearly.

“She was a firebug, like you, Penny.  I used to think it was funny … how she’d just go quiet if someone lit a match or a candle in front of her.  She’d stop doing whatever she was doing and watch the flame.  One night we were in her tree house. She had a candle and a book of matches she stole from her father’s garage.  It didn’t seem quite as funny that night, because it was just us up there and she was lighting matches and watching them burn down to her fingers.”

Penny thought she knew where this was going and, more importantly, why.  It explained a lot, and though Penny really didn’t want to hear the rest, she knew that didn’t matter.  Katie needed her to hear it.  Even if Katie’s comparing her old firebug friend to Penny was unfair
—
Penny was always careful … always
—
it was how she felt.

Zoe had stood up and moved closer to Katie, very slowly, a step at a time. 

“I made her promise to put the matches away and go to bed, but she started again after I fell asleep.”

Now there were tears.

“She fell asleep with the candle burning in her hands and set her sleeping bag on fire.  Her screams woke me … her bag was burning and her hair was burning and her face was mostly gone.”

Tears were falling faster now, words coming in a rush. 

Zoe slipped beside her and wrapped an arm around her shoulders.

Penny couldn’t move. 

Ronan jumped from his rock and trotted over to Katie, climbing onto her lap.  He had once allowed Penny to hold him in a moment of great stress, but she knew he didn’t like it.  When Katie wrapped her arms around him and buried her face in his thick fur, Penny felt a surge of affection for him.

For several seconds Katie wept into Ronan’s fur, still apparently unaware of Zoe’s arm around her shoulder.

This was the memory, the fear that she’d been fighting alone, struggling and failing to overcome.  Though it hurt Penny to see Katie like this, she knew Ronan was right to force it out of her.

Penny joined them, standing on Katie’s other side and adding her embrace.

Some things you shouldn’t have to face alone.

Katie lifted her face from Ronan’s now-damp fur, and, though her eyes were red, the tears had stopped.  She looked at Penny, then Katie.  She hugged Ronan even tighter for a moment, then released him.

He leapt down at once and resumed his perch across from her.

Penny and Zoe stayed at her side.

“I tried to beat the flames out with my sleeping bag, but that only made things worse.  It caught fire too, and then the floor and ceiling were burning, and my clothes caught.”  Her voice was foggy but strong.  “I was so scared I just jumped.  I broke my leg, but I rolled in the grass until my clothes were out.  Then Sam’s dad was there.  He kept trying to climb up to her but the fire was too hot.  When the firemen arrived the whole tree was burning and he was kneeling beside me and screaming her name.  Her mom was outside too, just watching the fire with her mouth hanging open.”

“Was she …?”  Zoe couldn’t finish.

“She died,” Katie said.  “I broke my leg when I fell and I was burned, but she died.”

Then she turned to look up at Penny.  “You scare me sometimes.  I see a look in your eyes when you’re playing with that wand, and I think of Sam.”

Penny felt a blush burning in her cheeks.

“I promise to be more careful,” Penny said, and she meant it.  Katie’s fears and constant cautions were understandable now, reasonable. 

“We’re here with you, Kat,” Zoe said.  “We won’t let anything happen to you.”

“You girls should get back now,” Ronan said, sounding unusually subdued.  “You can practice another day.”

“No, I think I can do this now.”  Katie took hold of Penny and Zoe’s hands.  “If you’ll stay with me.”

Zoe nodded.  “We got your back, Kat.”

“We’ll be right beside you,” Penny said.

Ronan considered them for a moment, then nodded.  “Very well, young ladies.  You’ll stand together … just as it should be.”

*   *   *

Katie held Penny’s wand in her right hand and Penny’s hand in her left.  Zoe stood by her other side, a comforting hand on her shoulder.  Katie raised the wand, pointed it at the fire pit, and closed her eyes.

“Relax, Kat,” Zoe said, lowering her face to hide a small smile.  She held her black wand at her side, ready to respond with water if Katie called for it.

Katie’s answering smile was less restrained.  “I am.”

Penny squeezed her hand, and Katie squeezed back.

Then she opened her eyes, her face hardening with determination and concentration.  “I can do this.”

But for a long time nothing happened.

Penny felt a subtle shift in the air around them, an energizing, and cast a covert look at Katie.

Katie’s focus was on her target and nothing else.  She looked fierce but calm.

Penny turned her attention to the wand’s crystal tip and watched.

It began to glow very dimly, then to smoke.  A short tongue of flame licked from the end, died.

Then it happened.  The wand tip flashed and Penny watched a sliver of bright red light leap from it, striking the cold ashes at the heart of the fire pit.

Flames erupted, dancing high for a second before dying down, then dying out. 

Penny felt like leaping into the air and shouting for joy; the triumph of Katie’s face was the most satisfying thing she’d seen in months.

Zoe finally spoke.

“Excellent, Kat!  I knew you could do it!”

“The book,” Katie said.  Her eyes were still red and puffy, but she grinned at them.  “Do we have time?”

Probably not
, Penny thought.

“Yes,” Penny said, returning Katie’s grin.

They ran to the chest together, Zoe and Katie standing aside with their wands in their hands while Penny bent down and lifted the book.  Beneath it were pieces of broken wands, untouched since the day Penny discovered them almost a year before, and a tarnished brass cup.  Penny stood and carried the book back to the fire pit, laying it on one of the boulders.