Choices

A high-pitched shriek splits the sweltering summer air: "Help! Oh, help, help!"

Your youngest sister Clara skids to a stop in front of you. "Francisco and I were playing in the barn!" she sobs. "He was showing me spells, and he set the hay on fire, and now–"

A breath of wind springs up, and the acrid scent of smoke reaches your nostrils.

The barn is some ways away from your parents' villa and the vineyards–there's that. But it is full of hay for feeding the horses, and hay catches fire so fast–it would be so easy for the wooden barn to burn to the ground–

The smell of smoke grows stronger the closer you get. By the time you reach the barnyard, your throat and eyes are stinging. You can't see flames from the yard, but as you approach the door, you can feel their heat. Out of the corner of your eye, you see the grooms running towards you. Then you reach the barn door and look inside. Your seven-year-old brother Francisco, face white with terror, is backed up against the barn's far wall, surrounded by leaping flames.