Page 24 - Folio Only

But no, it was too late. The flames in the bird bath were several hands
high now, completely filling the basin. Even if she were to put the flames out
with dirt or water or snow, the salamander would not survive. The blaze was to
intense she could feel the heat from it all the way over in the garden.

It occurred to Amelia that she had not seen an actual blaze in days.
Maybe.... She didn’t dare to think. She broke off a small but thick branch from
a cypress tree in the garden and plunged it into the fire. It was blindingly
bright. It had lit! She could see the salamander in the flames, long past
resisting and shriveling, curled up in the nest of burning moss, a round ball of
flames.

A round ball. Bright with red fire. Round like an egg of fire.

*

When Amelia returned home at last, her father couldn’t believe what he
saw in his daughter’s hands: a crooked stick, glowing with fire.

“D-don’t be angry with me, Father,” she said with a grin. “I didn’t bring
any charcloth like you wanted. Instead I brought you...fire itself.”

She touched the flaming end of her stick onto the nest which Father had
built in the hearth, and instantly it burst into flames. And...it stayed lit.

That night, Amelia and her father were visited first by Signore Vendiri
who brought a torch stick, then the neighbors, and even Mayor Avido himself.

24