The Hellhound's Un-Christmas Miracle - Zoe Chant Page 0,13

that could be pinched out. In her more generous moments, Sheena thought it was no wonder everyone in her family treated her like a porcelain doll. Most of the time, she was just annoyed, and kept fences up around her mind so that people couldn’t see just how snuffable her flame looked and would have less reason to coo over her.

She gritted her teeth and tried not to think about that. If Fiona and Rena were around, she would be able to see them. She strained her mental eyes, hunting for any sight-feel of either of them—Fiona’s wooly bonfire, Rena’s warbling flutteriness. Anything.

There was nothing. Sheena sighed with relief and was busy reeling in her mind again when something moved at the far reaches of her psychic senses. She gasped. It wasn’t a member of her flock, but it was someone. Not a light, but a presence.

Vaguely aware that the fuzzy non-psychic world was moving around her, she tried to focus her mental vision. The light pulsed gently, then flickered out.

For once, Sheena was glad to refocus on the real world and find she’d wandered off. Especially since she hadn’t wandered into the fire. She was halfway around the tree line, arcing towards her aunts’ house—exactly where she’d sensed the strange presence.

As soon as she came out of her mind’s-eye blur and saw where she was, she stumbled and caught her knee on a rock, but that was par for the course.

She righted herself and ran.

Grass whipped against her shins. She half-slid, half-stumbled down onto the driveway in front of Fiona and Rena’s place. She couldn’t sense the mystery shifter now, but she could smell—something. Something more than the choking smoke. Something… alive.

She turned away. The fire that was consuming the rest of the township hadn’t reached the homestead. Yet. Staying here a few minutes and trying to save whoever was stuck here wasn’t stupid. Was it?

Or is my brain as stunted as the rest of me? Some of her cousins would probably think so. Aroha for one. Sheena swallowed.

*Hello?* she called, sending her telepathic voice out like a fishing line again as she reached the front door. This time, something caught it. *Hello—whoever you are, there’s a fire—*

Did her aunts have a house guest? They tended to adopt anyone who crossed their path. What if they’d left their visitor here while they went to pick her up? And she’d missed them, somehow, but their guest was still here. That must have been what happened.

Break the door down! her sheep suggested.

I’m not strong enough to do that! A dozen images flashed through her mind, each less likely than the last. Or any of those things! I can’t FLY, how am I meant to get in the skylight? If there even is a skylight!

She pounded on the door again and shouted out loud as well as telepathically. A quick glance over her shoulder. The fire hadn’t leaped to the nearest cluster of houses yet, but it couldn’t be long. “Hey! Hello?! Is anyone in there?”

Her sense of the strange shifter kept flickering in and out of focus. At last she swore and pulled out her phone. By some miracle, she had signal again. And a few percent of battery left; enough? Maybe?

She found her Aunt Fiona’s contact and called her. The phone rang for long enough to get her worried, then she heard her aunt’s voice.

“Sheena? How are you—oh, f—” Fiona let off a string of curses. “You were meant to arrive today. With everything else going on—shit. Tell me you’re not—”

“I’m at the house.” Sheena almost shouted down the phone, not sure whether Fiona’s garbled speech was a result of a bad connection or her just not listening properly.

“No, don’t be at the house! Shit! Fuck, fuck, fuck this whole piece of shit—”

Sheena didn’t have time for her aunt’s favorite rhetorical devices. “Auntie Fi, I’m here, everything is on fire—”

“He really did it?” That wasn’t Fiona’s voice; Rena must have been close enough to the phone to hear, or Fiona had her on loudspeaker. “Get out of there, girl, fast as you can.”

“I wasn’t planning on sticking around,” Sheena grumbled, one eye still on the fire behind her. “I just need to get your houseguest to wake the hell up first and come with me!”

“Houseguest?”

“Whoever it is you’ve got staying. If you could call them, or tell me where you keep the spare key and I’ll let myself in and get them up—I keep trying to contact them but there’s