My Wish at the End of the World

Tomorrow Night

CW Fire, Mention of death

The flame flickers, growing brighter and I feel a growing sense of sick unease.  Dozens of possibilities fly through my mind, all of them worst case scenarios.

This was the only way to test my idea, but it's irreversible. If I'm wrong, then townspeople will notice tomorrow morning, and they might figure out it was me.  If the fire gets out of control, the city might burn down.  If somebody sees now, they will know it was me.  If I'm right, but I underestimated what the hut is, then that may be more dangerous.

Water shoots over my shoulder and splashes against the flame, putting it out.  I startle out of my panicked imaginings and feel a strong hand pull back on my shoulder.

"What are you doing!" Ether yells. I tumble backwards from my crouch, sprawled on the ground and look up to see Ether stand above me, her face contorted in anger, an empty water flask in her hand. "Why were you burning the hut?" Her voice is loud, and I look around frantically, hoping nobody hears her, thankful yet again for the heavy blanket of sound from the crickets. "What, can you not hear me?" she asks and leans down, grabbing my shoulder and shouts into my ear. "What are you doing?"

I jerk away, my mind racing, panicked. My gaze darts around to the black scorch mark on the hut. It is by the entrance and in full view, plainly obvious to anybody who sees the hut. Why did I do it there? My gaze darts to my flint and steel lying on the ground, proof that I was the one who set the fire to Ether, if there was ever somehow doubt. My eyes dart down the road, legs tensing as if telling me to run, but Ether could likely catch up easily, and she was surprisingly strong. Even if I had been prepared I think she would still have me sprawled just like now. Besides, the flow of the water did not seem normal. Can she use magic?

"I... I thought-" I say and close my eyes.

"You thought what?" she asks, still shouting. She looks around and curses under her breath, then at the hut. "Gather your things, we're going back to the library and not telling anybody."

I nod and pick up the flint and steel, and she nods, then pushes me ahead of her. I stumble a bit and continue forwards, feeling her burning gaze on my back. Every so often I turn around to look at her and she simply pushes me forwards again. We reach the library quickly.

The library is flooded with moonlight, casting a gentle glow on the benches and shelves, the color of the wood barely coming through. John's desk is empty, his book resting quietly on it. Somehow the library seems accusatory. I suppose it would be right to be hostile towards me, since I almost caused a fire which may have burned it down.

"John is asleep," Ether says. "Be quiet. You can still get away with whatever that was." I nod in gratefulness, and step inside. Once inside Ether grabs my arm, her grip tight at first but quickly loosening. "So, are you going to tell me what that was, or am I just going to get no thanks for stopping a fire?" I nod and sit down.

"Thanks," I say, my voice slightly shaking. I close my eyes and breathe deeply, my leg starting to shake.

"Calm down," Ether says, standing over me, and I open my eyes. She's holding a water flask by her side, staring at me. Her tone and command do not match, sounding enraged, and I only start holding my breath. She grunts and purses her lips. "Just tell me what you were trying to do."

I cast around for some sort of lie, but nothing plausible comes to mind that doesn't make me seem dangerous. I take a deep breath and press a palm to my forehead.

"I thought that the hut was a shard of a wish and would repair itself," I say quickly, just wanting to be done with it.  I look up at her and she grimaces.