Chapter 12

CHAPTER 12 Oscar had no idea how long he lay in the alley, dead to the world. When the blackness started to lift from his mind, all he could feel was pain. His nose seemed crushed, his brain knocked loose. Where was he? All he knew was that something terrible had happened to him. Had he been kicked by one of the horses? Had he fallen from the roof of the barn? He smelled smoke. Was the prairie on fire again? And where was Mama? But then pictures flashed through his throbbing skull — glittering yellow eyes, the flash of a knife

blade, a little girl with raggedy braids. And then his eyelids shot open. Jennie! Bruno! He sat up and looked around, fighting back tears. They were gone. Otis Webber had taken both of them. Oscar struggled to breathe. And now it was his panic, and not the smoke, that choked his lungs. He struggled to stand up, wobbling as he found his balance. "Jennie!" he cried. "Bruno!" The words came out as a rasping whisper. But he called their names again and again as he staggered down the alley, past the water barrel, and back out into the street. On the street were dozens of people fleeing north, pushing their carts and wheelbarrows and hauling their sacks. The sparks and embers rained down. Nobody noticed the boy with the bloodsmeared face and swollen eyes, frantically searching the crowd.

Part of Oscar wanted to go back into the alley, to curl up. Maybe the wind would sweep him up and carry him back to Castle — to anywhere but here. But even in his dazed and muddled state, he knew he would not do that. He had to get to the Palmer House, to find Mama. And Mr. Morrow. If anyone could find Jennie and Bruno, it was Mr. Morrow. He remembered that Jennie said they were just one block away from the hotel. He ran back into the alley and then cut through a side street one block. He came out on a wide avenue. And there it was, the Palmer House hotel. The massive building was in flames. The roof had caved in, and piles of crumbled marble and wood lay in heaps in the street. The fire must have been burning for hours. Mama and Mr. Morrow couldn't possibly still be here. Fire gushed out of the hotel's windows. Black smoke churned through the roof. But it wasn't the

sight of the burning Palmer House that turned Oscar's insides to jelly. It was what he saw when he turned and looked up the street. It was a gigantic wave of fire. It was wider than the street, with flames towering hundreds of feet into the air. It looked like the sun had burst open, and its fiery blood was gushing onto the city. Oscar understood what was happening, because the same had happened during the Castle fire. Smaller fires joined together into one monstrous blaze. Oscar and Mama had heard the terrifying stories from people who had witnessed the fire up close — and barely escaped with their lives. They described a fire so big that it seemed to stretch forever across the prairie, and so high it seemed to be trying to roast the moon. It raced across the prairie, faster than a horse could gallop. One man swore that a tornado of fire appeared out of nowhere and lifted his house off the ground. These stories haunted Oscar for months. He'd wake up at night soaked in sweat, convinced his house was burning. Walking home from school,

he'd keep eyes peeled and aimed at the sky, convinced that a flaming twister was going to carry him away. And now those nightmares were coming true. The wall of fire roared down the street, devouring everything in its path. The wind gusted, a hot and poisonous blast that almost knocked Oscar off his feet. Oscar watched in horror as a blazing sheet peeled off the fire. It swirled through the air, a flaming twister bigger and more horrifying than anything Oscar could have imagined. It flew down the street, hundreds of yards. BOOM! It exploded into a tall building, igniting it. Now the street was blocked on both sides, with the flames spreading fast. Oscar stood there, frozen in fear. He had no idea what to do, where to go. But then he heard someone calling his name. "Oscar!" It rose up above the fire's lion roar, like a kindly giant calling from his castle in the sky. Oscar whirled around.

A shadow appeared through the cloud of smoke. He saw a familiar face, and he let himself fall into the strong arms that reached out for him. It was Mr. Morrow.