Chapter 6

CHAPTWE 6 Oscar threw himself to the ground and rolled in the dirt, frantically beating the flames that were crawling up his arms and reaching out to grab his face. He rolled and pounded until finally the burning stopped. He lay there, coughing and spitting out the ashes that coated his tongue. His heart hammered with fear. But he couldn't just lie there. The sparks were still everywhere. He had to find somewhere to hide. Gritting his teeth in pain, he managed to crawl back to an old chicken coop behind the kids' house. The wood was mostly rotted away, but the roof was just wide enough to protect Oscar. He sat hugging his knees to his chest, swatting away the

sparks that came too close. He breathed deep, trying to slow his hammering heart. He touched his forehead, gently rubbing his fingertips over the blistered skin. His scalp was badly singed, and there were burns up and down his body. But he barely felt the throbbing pain. His attention was focused on the sky. That glow Mama had noticed earlier was brighter now. It looked as though a giant hand had painted the sky bright orange. The fire had gotten bigger.

Much bigger. That's where the sparks and embers were coming from. The powerful wind was scattering them like burning dandelion seeds. The same thing had happened the night of the forest fire near Castle. Sparks and hunks of burning wood and bark had flown for miles, setting off new fires wherever they landed. Mama and Papa and Oscar had almost lost their barn. Some people lost everything — barns, houses, even fields. Ten people were killed. One family survived by diving into their pond and dunking under the water while the flames roared over them. Oscar took a breath, trying to loosen the choking fear that gripped his throat. He thought of what Mr. Morrow had said — that Chicago had one of the best fire departments in America. Maybe that was true, but there was no sign of them here. And once a fire got too big, not even an army of firefighters could put it out. Oscar had learned for himself during the Castle fire how a fire could

grow and grow, how it could become like a ferocious beast that would devour everything in its path. And what a fire was most hungry for was wood — like the thousands of shacks and stores that lined Chicago's streets, the miles of wooden sidewalks, the warehouses filled with coal and oil that would explode at the slightest spark. Oscar remembered how the forest looked, after the fire. He and Papa had ridden up there to see it for themselves. Oscar would never forget the sight of it. The fire had turned thousands of trees into twisted black stubs. The ground was a sea of ash. There was not a bird, not an insect to be seen. Oscar had tried not to look at the blackened bones that were scattered all around, the skeletons of the creatures that hadn't been able to escape. He and Papa had both loved that forest. They'd go up there with Mama, who loved telling them the names of every last tree and flower. Oscar and Papa had both fought back tears as they stood in the burned ruins. But then Papa had pointed to something on the ground — a tiny green shoot pushing up through the ash.

"It will take a long time," Papa had said. "But one day the forest will grow back." Oscar shivered as he thought of what a huge fire like that could do to a city like Chicago. Could such an important city burn to the ground? It didn't seem possible. But hadn't Oscar learned that anything was possible? If a blizzard could kill his papa, couldn't a fire destroy an entire city? Oscar looked up, as though answers might be printed on the orange sky. But instead, his eyes found the two small and terrified faces peering down at him from the upstairs window of the house. Jennie and Bruno. The sight of them, lit up by the glowing sky, jolted him. Right at that second, the wind blew its dragon breath. More sparks and embers appeared, and out of nowhere, a large plank of flaming wood came

soaring through the air. It was like an enormous flaming spear, hurled by an invisible warrior. It was heading right for the house! Boom! The wood smashed through the roof of the house, sending a column of flames high into the air. Oscar opened his mouth, but he was too horrified to even scream.