Chapter 14: The Fires Without

It was beginning of September, but the heat was still immense during the day. We'd had almost no rain in August and anything not irrigated was turning brown and black. The news was talking about the danger of fires and possible drought.

Despite the continuing heat we celebrated Labor Day, the unofficial end of summer. It was immediately followed by the beginning of the school year.

Ah, the first day of school. I had never looked forward to it before, marking it the start of fall drudgery. Now, however, I had a renewed interest in school. I had a number of standardized tests scheduled, the first in only a couple of weeks. I had several advanced courses to take.

Most importantly, I had an objective – get into a college that my straight-A overachieving girlfriend would consider. I wasn't sure if I'd get advanced to twelfth grade this year, but my research had confirmed that it wasn't a requirement for college entrance.

Pamela and I were a solid pair this September. So were Linda and Antonio. Cathy ate lunch with us; nobody thought it odd that a sophomore was at the table with her sister and her sister's boyfriend. I was fairly certain that sooner or later people would comment on our affection, but we didn't push it in school.

We had a conversation about it when nobody was within hearing distance.

"So, Cathy, what are you going to say if somebody asks you about Martin?" Pamela asked.

"I am going to say that I really like my sister's boyfriend, and I would want somebody exactly like him to be mine," Cathy answered, smilingly.

"And if they see you hugging and hanging on his arm?"

"I'd say that I was practicing flirting with a really cute guy!"

Sitting between the two of them, my head was rotating as at a tennis match.

"And if they catch you making out and stuffing your tongue in his mouth?" Pamela was grinning. That was unusually crude language for her, but I was really interested in Cathy's answer.

"Well, I could say I was making a play for snagging Martin when my big sister leaves for college."

"Hmm, that's an interesting line. By the way, Martin, I have an idea how to tackle next year. I think we should sit down with the list of schools I plan to apply to and a list of schools that appeal to you, and make a special effort to get a good intersection. I am more than willing to go to my second choice if you go there as well." Pamela looked at me hopefully, and I just had to hug and kiss her.

We were interrupted by a heavy sigh. "I will be so sad when my ploy fails. Instead of inheriting your boyfriend, I will be all alone when he follows you to college." She said that with theatrical exaggeration, but I could see she was really not looking forward to that. Pamela did as well, as she hugged her sister tightly. "Cheer up, sis. Who knows what will happen in a year. I don't even know if our joint college plan will work. One thing you taught me is to not lose hope. And grasp happiness now, regardless of fears for the future."

"Yeah," Cathy said, visibly cheering. "Maybe your boyfriend will want to spend another year at school with his friends and his junior girlfriend!"

"Brat!" Pamela said, and swiped at her sister. Cathy ducked, with great exaggeration, Pamela's hand came nowhere near hitting her.

Turning to me, Pamela asked "And what about you, Martin? Will your guy friends be mad at you for two-timing your girlfriend with her sister? Or will they congratulate you on being the stud to get a matched set?"

I saw she was still smiling, so I chose to joke back. "Nah. I'll stick to the story that you are my girlfriend, and that anything they see with Cathy is my being too kind to reject her childish crush."

"Childish crush!" This time Cathy swiped at me, and I did the exaggerated ducking and cringing.

Cathy had started trying to control her dreams. She reported being able to sleep deeper and to wake up earlier being fully refreshed.

"Okay, Cathy, you are doing well. I think you need a goal to motivate you. For your first spell, I would like you to construct a dream shield. It will take a lot of work, you need to get used to going into a spell trance, reach out to the world of spirits and magic, and then learn how to gather and direct the magic flows.

"Only then can you cast a specific spell and power it using the gathered energy. Then you have to carefully dismiss residual energy, shift back to the real world, and dismiss the trance."

"Yay! A real spell. How long do you think it will take?"

"Different people take different amounts of time. Let's take it one step at a time. I will just say that you are making good progress."

Cathy was impatient for some results, but was also focused on her exercise. I didn't want to set expectations, but I felt she should be able to achieve the trance in a week or two.

The schoolwork was heavy this year, but between my study skills, excellent memory and less need for sleep, I had no problems keeping up. The added motivation of going with Pamela only added to my determination to do well in school and on the admission tests.

Cathy was doing well, too. She could achieve the trance now, three out of four attempts. She could perceive the magic flows but had a problem controlling them. I told her not to worry – it was more difficult to do than when I first learned it, but I felt sure that with enough practice she'd be able to channel the flows.

One worrisome thing were the fires. The drought continued, and one fire after another erupted in the state. The lack of rain made controlling them difficult, and a new one would start every couple of days.

The news was full of warnings about open fires, smoking, or even accidental sparks starting fires in tinder-dry vegetation. On Thursday Chesney Park was closed due to the risk of fires. There were no gates and fences around Mason Hill, but the hiking trails were full of signs urging extreme caution due to fire hazard.

On Saturday, the other shoe dropped. A dry thunderstorm lit a fire about fifty miles south of the city. The winds accompanying the storm made it hard to control, and it was moving towards the city. I didn't ever recall a wildfire threatening the built up areas, but the city suburbs had grown away from the center.

Worse, as the news announced, some of the most luxurious developments in the last ten or fifteen years left generous tracts of native trees and bush between the houses, providing plentiful fuel. The fire crews were trying to create barriers between the fire and the city, but the high winds carried the sparks, making such attempts ineffective.

Everybody watched and worried for the fire crews. On Sunday the worry turned to apprehension. The sky was hazy, and everybody could smell the smoke. Worse, the Gilmans lived in one of the nice areas in the south of the city, the side closest to the approaching fire.

I arrived at their home to find my girlfriends and their parents running around. I was surprised that they weren't watching the news. I found the reason from Pamela.

"They said we should be ready to evacuate. We are trying to figure out what we can pack into two cars."

"What?! Won't they stop the fire before it gets here?"

"The police were here. They think there is a real risk they won't be able to. The houses here are built on the hill slopes. The initial plan was to cut the vegetation at the bottom and in wide strips on the slopes, leaving only the gardens around the houses, to reduce the fire danger. But nobody wanted to cut the pretty greenery, and for years there was no need with the rains. But now the experts say the fire will climb up the hills faster than you can run, and there is no time to cut anything!"

She was almost in tears. I tried to hug her, but she wanted to go to her room to continue packing, so I helped her carry things. "Isn't your house insured?"

"Yes, it is, and the contents are, too. But aside from the hassle of trying to find a new house – there will be so many others – I've got all my life here! My old toys, photographs, clothes, books with my notes on the margins."

I was just beginning to realize what was facing the Gilmans. When I got to the garage, I found the cars were almost full. "Can you get a truck or a trailer?" I asked.

"I wish. Even the places that are open have all of theirs taken by others in the same situation. I have a reservation for three motel rooms. We can stay there for a while with our things, until either the fire is stopped or we find we need to look for new housing."

"What about my car? Or rather my mother's? We can put some of the stuff there and I can keep it at my place, until you figure out what's happening here? Our house is in the north, and we are surrounded by roads and houses, I don't think the fire will reach there. I can make a few trips."

The Gilmans refused politely, but only for a short time. They were too distressed by the risk of losing all the things they had spent years accumulating and getting used to. The girls in particular embraced the ability to pack more.

Cathy and I teamed up. We stuffed my car to the gills and drove to my house.

"Mother, the Gilmans are preparing to evacuate, and they are running out of space for their things. Can I keep some of them here while things clarify?"

"Of course. Hello, Cathy, how are you holding up? I was watching the news and worried about your neighborhood. It is so nice, I've always loved the houses on the hill slopes, but who could have thought of this? Why don't you start unloading in the garage? I will move out the stuff there now into the laundry room and the backyard. You can put some of Cathy's things into your room, too."

It took longer than I had hoped to unload. By the time Cathy and I had made three trips we were exhausted and it was getting dark. My mother invited Cathy to rest and eat before I dropped her off. Cathy called her father.

"Hi, Dad, I am with the Moores. You decided to stay at the motel tonight? What's the address? Hold on a minute. I will call you in five."

She hung up. "There is too much smoke at the house, and my parents were afraid that during the night they might get a knock on the door to wake up and evacuate. So they decided to stay at the motel tonight; Dad called the local precinct to tell them, they have a checklist of residents. I have the address of their hotel."

"Why don't you stay with me tonight, Cathy? You are tired and need to eat and shower. Afterwards it will be late to drive around. We'll check on the situation in the morning, I can drive to school."

My mother started "I will go and clean up the office – it serves as a guest bedroom."

"No need, Mrs. Moore." Cathy grabbed my arm firmly. "I will stay with Martin."

"But..."

"I really don't want to sleep alone tonight, Mrs. Moore. I will be far more comfortable in Martin's arms. I will tell my parents – if they have an objection, they will tell me."

Mother finally capitulated. I could tell she was not really objecting; it was more like she felt responsible for offering Cathy an alternative.

Cathy did call her parents and told them that she'd be sleeping in my room. No bed was mentioned that I could hear, but I am sure the Gilmans did not expect me to sleep on the couch in the living room.

Sleeping with my lover was good. I was glad to hug her, to provide some measure of safety and stability. Her need for comfort was more than a story for Mother. She clung to me as she hadn't in a while. When I heard a sob, I whispered something I've been considering for a while.

"The main problem with this fire is the lack of rain and the south wind. The firemen have a hard time stopping it because it jumps over the lines, and the grass and trees are so dry they catch immediately. I want to try summoning rain. I've never specialized in weather sorcery. It's a complicated area, but I know the basics."

"Really? You can do that? That would be awesome!"

"I don't know. It can be very difficult, or impossible if the conditions are not right. Also, I don't know what the side-effects may be. So if I am successful getting rain here, there may be less somewhere else."

"Still, you have to try! Could I help?"

"I will, in the morning. Now sleep, we'll need our energy."

"I can't!"

"Oh yes you can. Do your dream exercises!"

I could sense that Cathy's depression was now transformed into excitement. Magic was almost like sex to her, and the idea of saving her home made it even better. Still, after a minute or two I could hear her start the slow regular breathing of the drills, and not much time later she dropped off.

I was still awake. I didn't tell Cathy that only the strongest of students were taught weather sorcery. I felt stronger than ever after learning to gather the plentiful if diffuse magic flows of the 21^st century. But I wasn't sure if I was strong enough.

The breathing and dream discipline worked on me, too, and I awoke shortly before four AM, feeling fully rested. Cathy felt me stir and woke up herself. We quickly looked up the status of the fire on the Web. It was still uncontrolled, and expected to reach the southern suburbs by nine or ten in the morning. They were knocking on doors telling people to leave: the Gilmans had made the right decision.

Despite my misgivings I decided to go ahead. The fire was close enough to the city that a successful rain spell might work from here.

"Cathy, get the sheets and the towels."

"Blood again, huh? Do you need the knife?"

"No, it doesn't require blood, but it's a long spell, I could burst a few vessels."

"Oh, no. Maybe you shouldn't. The people are all being evacuated, it's only property. You shouldn't risk yourself!"

If I ever wondered how Cathy valued my life, I knew now. But I was determined.

"Go! It's my decision."

She went, but her enthusiasm was now diluted with fear.

"Okay, hold my hands and feel what I do. Do not, absolutely do not, try your own spell-casting. You can, if you want, go into trance and try to sense the flows, but don't do anything else, okay?"

Her "okay" was subdued.

Going into trance was easy. I gathered a little bit of energy, sensing Cathy enter the trance near me. Scrying the fire was interesting – there were no faces involved, but it was so large that I was able to sense it as a fuzzy wave, slowly moving toward me. A unique experience – I wished I could ask my master, or at least had access to one of the old Sumerian scrolls we used for teaching theory.

Scrying for rain was more difficult. Experienced weather sorcerers could sense any degree of moisture days before the wind brought it near; but they used different divination techniques. I knew how to find the water underground, but that didn't help me find any moisture in the air. Either it wasn't there, or the spell was just too difficult.