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 something wrong with my telepathy, I can’t reach them.” She thumped her fist on the door again. “Open up!”
The door swung open.
“Sheena, hon, we don’t have anyone staying with us.” Fiona’s voice was eerily flat.
Sheena blinked into the sudden darkness behind the open door. “What do you mean? I can sense that someone’s here. And… and the door’s open now, actually, so I’ll just…”
“Sheena, you need to get out of there. Right now. It’s not—”
Her voice cut off. Sheena frowned and looked at her phone. Dead.
But the door was open. Sheena took a step forward before her aunt’s words settled in. Get out of here? Right now? It’s not—what? What isn’t it?
Safe? She looked over her shoulder. Everything was very, very on fire—no shit it wasn’t safe.
“Hello?” she called out tentatively, pushing the door further open. “My name’s Sheena. I don’t know if you’ve looked outside lately, but…”
There was no one inside but suddenly, Sheena’s skin prickled with a wash of cold sweat. The air flickered and she jerked back, raising her hand to shield herself from… nothing?
“Wh-what?” she muttered to herself. The corridor was empty. There wasn’t even a curtain over the door that could have swung across and frightened her, so why was she so shaken?
It had felt like something was coming straight at her, and then… nothing.
Sheena raised one shaking hand to push her hair off her face. She was trembling so badly her phone fell to the ground.
What’s wrong? her sheep asked, nuzzling against her. Why are you acting so weird?
“I—” Sheena licked her lips. Her breath was coming in short gasps. I don’t know? You don’t feel that?
Feel what?
Feel… She shivered. Afraid?
No, her sheep replied stoutly. I don’t care what you said about being no better than acrylic. I’m not going to let some stupid fire stop us from doing what’s right!
Not afraid of the fire, of… Sheena shook herself. Yes of the fire, she meant. Didn’t she? Because there was nothing else to be afraid of. Just fiery death.
And letting some poor arsehole die because she was too busy freaking out like the helpless munter everyone thought she was to help them.
That scared her. Letting herself down because of her limitations was one thing, but letting down other people? She couldn’t live with that.
And you dropped your phone! Her sheep sounded scandalized. I don’t know where you get off, teasing me about being scatterbrained when you don’t even—look, it’s right there, pick it up before you stand on it or something—
Sheena shook her head. Her sheep wasn’t making any sense. She was shivering like she’d just crashed into a frozen lake, and it was talking about her phone? She didn’t have time for this.
Her sheep was still trying to nudge
