Fire Spirits

Chapter 3

The next morning the girls awoke to Ms. Walston yelling at the two boys across the hall. "If I wake up to that God-awful noise again, I'll give you both zeroes!" she yelled.

"We weren't making any noise, though, we slept all night and never did anything!" one of the boys said. When the girls opened the door Ms. Walston whipped around.

"Was it you two?!" she hissed. The teacher had dark circles under her eyes and she kept shifting and twitching.

"No mam, we didn't hear anything either." Charlie said in a calm voice. Mabel was freaking out. She would never understand how Charlie kept calm in situations like these. Ms. Walston just screamed at them to be ready and on the bus in ten minutes after that.

"Something's seriously wrong with her." one of the boys, Justin, said. Justin was one of the most troublesome kids in the school. At least he wasn't as troublesome as his friend. James Jones, also known as JJ, was the worst kid any teacher could ever have. He pulled pranks on the school, and one of the best was when he didn't talk for an entire day. Everyone was worried, only for him to come back the next day and laugh at anyone who asked him about it. He was sometimes annoying, but he was also funny, so the girls could tolerate him.

"Y'all just want to skip the boring old E-Z Mart and go check out that dark overhang?" JJ asked. Both Charlie and Justin said yes, while Mabel just face palmed. They were going to get in trouble anyway, but now with added chaos.

"Great" Mabel thought, "the more trouble, the stupider the outcome." She chuckled under her breath at the great saying. She would text it to her friends later. The kids got ready and got on the bus and, of course, went to the E-Z Mart.

They were gonna start walking to the overhang after the teacher, or as the boys called her, Ms. Crazy, left. When they thought she was gone they started walking. When they got to the edge of the darkness of the overhang, they noticed something. "Look, it's Ms. Walston!" Mabel whisper-shouted. "We're in trouble for sure!"

"Keep watching!" said Justin. They watched as Ms. Walston walked up to the small white car and touched the hood. As she did, she suddenly disappeared.

"Woah, now we definitely need to follow her!" JJ said. Everyone agreed, accept for the nervous Mabel. Even though she didn't want to, she reluctantly followed the others.

They walked through the ever growing darkness. "It's way darker than it looks" said Charlie.

"Yeah, I can barely see and Justin's flashlight isn't working," said JJ. They all had their phones out with the flashlights on, though it seemed as if the darkness swallowed the light.

"It's also quite a longer walk than I anticipated," said Mabel. The walking distance looked no more than a few meters, but it seemed to get longer and longer with every step. It was almost completely pitch black when the kids reached the car.

Justin looked behind them and saw a light floating way above in the blackness. "Look guys!" he said. Just as everyone did, it disappeared.

"What is it?" JJ asked.

"Nothing, I guess," Justin said, surprised.

"So...who's gonna touch it first?" JJ said. Everyone knew he was too chicken to do it first, so Charlie suggested they all do it at the same time. They all agreed and on the count of three, they did. Nothing happened at first, but then everything went black. Mabel and Charlie knew this feeling all too well. The feeling of traveling between dimensions.

Fire. It was everywhere. Mabel and Charlie looked at each other worriedly. The Fire Dimension was said to be completely inaccessible. That's why they were so scared of the woman on the bench. The kids were on a platform again. Justin and James started freaking out, not knowing what was going on. Behind them was a small slit in reality. That was a doorway to their dimension, Mabel and Charlie explained. The two boys instantly went back through and likely ran away.

"Such cowards." Charlie said.

"We should probably do the same, Charlie. I don't think this is a good idea." Mabel said.

"Really, when is it that you ever get to explore a dimension thought to be inaccessible?" Charlie said, "We should take advantage of this!" Mabel didn't want to admit it, but she also wanted to explore a bit. She agreed to at least try and find the teacher.

They walked along the stretched out platform and noticed it went a long way. They walked for about fifteen minutes. "How long is this path?" complained Charlie.

"I know, it's so hot too." Mabel said. They finally encountered giant double doors with intricate designs etched into it. Swirls and circles were the main patterns.

"Should we go in?" Charlie asked.

"We've gotten this far, might as well get in even more trouble." Mabel said sarcastically.

"Alright, let's do this!" Charlie said and started pushing on the doors. Mabel face palmed for the umpteenth time, but went ahead and joined her. The doors were a whole lot bigger and heavier than the girls, and even with all their strength, they still couldn't move the doors.

"Maybe the doors are locked." Mabel suggested. Charlie started casting a strength spell on them.

"Okay, let's try it now." Charlie said.

"Of course, You're almost as stubborn as me!" Mabel said, exasperated. The only strength spell kids usually ever learn only doubled their strength. Charlie, though, got a hold of a spellbook, so they learned how to quadruple their strength. The spell lasted for only ten minutes, though. They finally got the doors open with the help of the spell. There were cultists performing a ritual when the girls opened the doors. The girls didn't notice them yet, though. "Well, now what are we gonna do with the strength of ten really ripped horses that were trained by Hercules himself?" Mabel asked.

"Oh calm down, it only lasts for ten minutes. Plus, if something or someone attacks us, we'll be strong enough to take 'em !" Charlie said. "Hopefully" she added. That's when they turned and looked straight at the cultists, who were in mid-chant. "Well, sorry to burst in all of a sudden. Whatcha doing?" Charlie asked.

"Are you actually stupid." Mabel deadpanned.

"I guess" Charlie said, shrugging.

The cultists started trying to wipe the large circle with symbols all inside it off the ground and blow out the candles. The girls also noticed a dead body on the ground. Oh my god, Mabel thought, they killed someone. She looked over to see if Charlie noticed. She did and her face was serious. Mabel knew, they weren't gonna get away with killing an innocent person.

"Who are you people?" Charlie said. They all stopped what they were doing and looked at her. They had cloaks with hoods that covered their faces. One of them was mid-step and as his cloak settled, it revealed a hoofed foot.