Human

Chapter 3

    All of her senses were assaulted by the smell of ethanol.  Trees, bushes, and ferns were drenched in the clear chemical.  Her brown eyes turned glassy, and stung.  Around her the few werewolves in the newbie group were holding their faces, desperately trying to gasp in some fresh air. 
    Everyone stood like stone soldiers as Aurabelle explained the rules to the initiation ceremony.
    "The rules are simple.  Extinguish the fire, or die trying," her eyes glistened.  She enjoyed watching us struggle. 
   Lilith's eyes widened, as large as two saucers, as the woman held out a lighter to a nearby tree.  The flames started small, and quickly grew taller, wider,and climbed desperately up the trees; consuming their leaves.  
   "Start," Aurabelle exclaimed as she fluttered her golden wings and flew herself quickly back toward the camp. 
   Everything Lilith was; is burning.  She drew in several short breaths, and coughed.  The smoke filled her being, and she dropped to her knees.  
    The werewolves were howling, and Lilith imagined that they probably hadn't had to deal with something this dangerous before.  Vampires stood in the center, as far away from the walls of flames as they could.  One lone mermaid was drawing in water from the ground, and shooting it toward the flames.  An image of an old school fire fighter came to mind.  She knew the flames were too wild for water to tame them, but it didn't stop the small group of witches from summoning rain clouds above them. 
    An elbow came quickly to her temple, and a young man tripped over her, straight into the flames.  His screams echoed in the woods, and made everyone pause for just a split second.  The smell of burnt skin brought bile up from her stomach, and she clutched the ground to steady herself. 
   A memory came to her.  When she had first came to the Varndell home, no one had talked to her.  At 12 years old, she hadn't learned to cook.  Her parents, who she knew she must have had, left her in the custody of another vampire family at birth.   She had been so hungry, and so she had put a stalk of corn into the kitchen fire.   Knowing nothing about fire, she had brought the corn out, in flames.  She threw it on the counter, and one of the maids came in, alerted from a fire alarm she had been too surprised to hear.  They had suffocated the small flame by putting a metal bowl over it.  She had been confined to her room with no food that night, but if she could figure out a way take away the air the flames breathed, she could put the fire out. 

  Everyone was running around like a chicken  with it's head cut off.  Several more people had been pushed into the flames, and the mermaid had suffered burns on the small fins on her back.  She focused her attention on the group of witches. 
    They were sitting criss-cross near the center of the fire circle.   They were deep in meditation, chanting some language that Lilith had never heard before.  She realized they were all wearing the same dark blue robes.   Shaking the distractions from her brain, she went up to the Witch on the end. 
    It took three rough shakes to get her attention, and the look of loathing almost made her back away, but she was determined.
  "Can you make a force field around the fire? If there isn't any oxygen, the flames will die out," she asked in a hurry. Noticing that the flames were closing in on them.  Dancing and flickering a branch came crashing down between them.  The witch jumped back, and so did she.  Alarmed by the falling debris, Lilith looked at the young Witches face with desperation. Despite the Witches initial hesitation, she whispered to the other women in her group.
    They shook their heads at her.
   "We can't do one just over the fire, we would have to suffocate us all," the original witch explained.
    "Well I guess it was nice knowing everyone," said a deep voice coming from beside her.   Jackson was next to her, glaring daggers at the Witches who were so concerned for themselves that they refused to even try to put the fire out. 
    "Or did you forget this whole activity was to put this out, or DIE trying," he said louder, where everyone in the circle could hear.  Quickly everyone was ganging up on the Witches. No one wanted to die today. 
    Jackson was sweating everywhere, everyone was sweating.  Being cooked alive, was more of how Lilith viewed it.  Sweat beaded on his eyebrow, and his fists clenched. She could see the tension he held in his hands.  He didn't like Witches. 
    The group of witches gave up when everyone was back to back, closer than ever to flames creeping forward.  Close enough to take a lick at any of the young adults in the group.   A scream emitted from behind Lilith .  Lynn's small hand had caught fire, and Lilith shoved her way through witch and werewolf to get to her. She dropped her to the ground, and patted out the flames consuming the skin on her hands.   

The scars were going to be horrendous.

    Then she couldn't breathe.  Everyone clutched their necks, unable to move their lungs.  Despite the flames dying down, they were all dependent on the oxygen around them. Just like the flames, they were lifeless without the life-giving properties of the air.  Several people passed out from the lack of oxygen, and Lilith held Lynn's other hand while the young girl had gone limp, every muscle giving out at once. 
    Then there was ash.  The trees were blackened, and cooked into black powder.  The Orange, and reds disappeared into smoke, and everyone took a big breath of oxygen.  
They had done it.
She was alive.
Five people were dead. 

But she was alive. 

Lynn's hand was ruined, and already bubbling and blistering.  Each finger blackened from what she desperately hoped was the ash.

What in hell's fury had she gotten herself into, where "Trial by fire" was taken literally.

She grimaced when Aurabelle came from the nearby trees. A triumphant grin lit up her features. 
    "Welcome to Camp Ouachita," She said.