The Devil's Mountain - The Only Way

Chapter 2

Mari woke up to the smell of burning wood.

"Ughh..." She groaned. Slowly she opened her eyes.

To her utter horror, she was tied to a long pole, a large fire raging all around her. Behind the fire, a large crowd stood with pitchforks and torches, chanting. Whatever they were chanting, Mari's ears rang too much to make sense of it. This looked like something straight out of a 1500's witch burning. . . Witch. . . She was the witch they were burning! 

Frantically she scanned the crowd, looking desperately for her grandad, her bestfriend, anyone who would care enough to look miserable!

Then she spotted her. "RELLA!!" She yelled over the chanting of the crowd. 

Rella turned momentarily. She was standing next to the boys from the creek. Rella's boyfriend looked sympathetic but Conner and his gang had on irritating smirks. In Rella's eyes were hopeless grief, like she had already come to terms with the fact that Mari was dead. She looked as if she had cried for several hours.

"Sorry..." She muttered before turning away. Mari's heart shattered into a billion pieces.

She surveyed the crowd again for her grandad. Way in the back, she spotted him. He was screaming and crying. People pushed and kicked him, leaving him a pile of sobbing mess on the ground. Someone spat at him and said something.

Mari felt rage. She felt anger like she had never felt before. Her body began to heat up, but not from the burning flames that lapped around her.

'Stupid people.' A voice in her head said. 'They tried to burn a daughter of fire.'
Suddenly fire erupted around her, scorching the closest people to her. The ropes around her crumbled to ashes and she fell to the ground. The crowd fell silent. Then she opened her eyes and glared right at them. Without wasting any time, she ventured into the crowd. People screamed and scattered. Others threw thier torches or pitchforks at her, all of them narrowly missing her. She continued to move through, avoiding the people running around so she wouldn't burn them.  In thier panic, people continued to hit and kick her grandpa, who had covered his head to protect it.

Once she got to him, Mari knelt beside him. "Pa!" She called out. "Pa, it's me! Mari!"

Pa raised his head. His face was bruised and covered in spit.
His eyes were swollen and he looked absolutely terrible.
"Why didn't you tell me you were a fire witch?" His voice was hoarse and tinged with disappointment.

"I didn't know." Mari wanted to touch his face. To hug him. But she was afraid of hurting him. "Pa...?"

"Yes, Dee?" She choked at that pet name. She hadn't been called that since her mother died when she was nine. It felt like a tease at her current situation .

"Are you disappointed in me?"
Silence. The noise from people screaming, dialing the guards, slamming doors and barricading windows only added to her fear.

"I'm dying, Dee." Pa told her.

"No you are not!" She replied. "I won't let you! I'll carry you to the clinic—" She attempted to pick him up, resulting in his yelp in pain.

Her body shook. Tears filled her eyes. "Pa.." was all she could muster.

"I love you, Dee. Never forget that." His speech was slurred and slow. He smiled at her, before his eyes rolled up his head. One by one, saline fell unto her skin, burning her with a sizzling sound. She picked her Pa up. His body was slowly loosing heat. Then he caught fire. He burned until nothing but ashes remained, and away those ashes flew, letting the wind guide them. Her body shook as more tears burned her skin.

Just then, a deep gruff voice spoke. "That's the witch! FIRE!"
Adrenaline coursed through her body as she bolted immediately, not daring to look back.