Chapter 1: Flames

Danielle's POV

All I could see around me was fire and the word "danger" kept flashing through my head. All I knew was that I had to get out and I had to go to safety. But there was no safe place for me to go anymore. My sisters Naomi and Gracie was clinging onto the sides of the window screaming for help. I knew they must be getting all the fresh air, that why I'd had them go instead of me. My sisters would be okay...The flames were hungrily licking up everything in sight. I felt my head getting lighter and my vision getting blurrier. I moved towards the window I wouldn't die if I could help it. I didn't want Naomi or Gracie to be left alone, my parents weren't dead they just didn't seem to care about anything other than my career. I did commercials for a living and I hated it soon I'd be moving into movies and TV shows the very idea made me sick to my stomach.
"Danielle come get some fresh air" Naomi yelled as she turned to me "You can't breathe in too much smoke"
"I know" I choked out before I broke into a coughing fit black
I wanted to move but my legs felt heavy and all of a sudden I felt a searing pain in my arm.
"DANNI YOUR ON FIRE!" Gracie screamed
"Help!" Naomi cried
"Goodbye" I whispered before I felt my eyes fall and my entire body went numb, I fell to the floor the last thought I had was
This is a really horrible way to die

My eyes opened and I absorbed the much needed fresh air. I was sitting in a hospital bed, my arm was covered in bandages and sun peaked through the window.
I'm alive? Well that's a wonderful surprise.
I try to get up but my body won't listen to me. Am I hurt more than I thought.
"Naomi?" I call out weakly "Gracie?"
A doctor walks into the room "Good Morning Miss. Mendez, we were afraid you were never going to wake up"
"Where am I?" I ask "Where are my sisters?"
"Your parents are talking to Dr. Truex right now I suppose you'll want to speak to them" the doctor said in a nervous tone
"Where are my sisters!?" I almost screamed
The doctor glances away "The 9 year old, Grace, is going to be in a wheelchair for a long time, possibly the rest of her life, she fell trying to get help, the 10 year old, Naomi, was in our hospital when she disappeared her location is currently unknown"
Gracie. Innocent little Gracie...In a wheelchair for the rest of her life...The day before the fire Gracie was dancing around the living room singing...Would she ever be the same again...
Naomi. She had always been reckless...But would she leave a hospital? Would I ever see my sister again?
So many thoughts ran through my head, I felt my arm burn even more than it already did.
I felt tears forming in my eyes but I blinked them away Everything will be fine, Gracie is going to be okay, Naomi is going to be okay, I'm going to be okay

2 Hours Later

Gracie is sitting in front of me smiling weakly, her legs are in casts and she's hooked up to many machines. I choke back a sob knowing I just got burns on my right arm and left shoulder. They weren't even that horrible considering the conditions Gracie was in. I shivered thinking about how much worse I could have ended up. I'd been asleep for about a week and they were beginning to think that I was never going to wake up. My parents just sat there looking heartbroken probably because they knew it was going to be hard to force Gracie into commercials now.
"Danni are they gonna find Naomi?" Gracie asked softly
"I promise they will" I whisper
I promise. I shouldn't have promised because I didn't know if Naomi would be coming back at all.

Later that night I was curled up in the hospital bed. They had but some kind of weird gel on my burns and new bandages. I looked at the skin on my arm for the first time and I almost cried. It was scabby in a little bloody looking and I knew my arm would never be exactly the same again. I didn't want to look like a baby so I just looked away but I would never forget the image as long as I live. I was picturing it in my head now, I kept trying to shake the thought but it refused to go away. I decided to suck it up and just think about it for a while maybe then the thought would go away. It did because I had a more important thought.
How did the fire start in the first place?

Day of the Fire 7:00 AM

As usual I had woken up before my siblings I was the early bird and I was definitely getting the worm. I began to creep down the stairs of my 3 story home careful not to make the boards creak in fear of waking someone. When I finally get downstairs I grab the remote and walk back upstairs. My family always fought over the remote so we decided whoever gets it the earliest in the morning got to pick the channel for the morning. I almost always won. I passed Naomi on the stairs a satisfied smirk on my face.
"No fair" Naomi protested quietly
"All's fair in TV and War" I grin
Naomi and I walk back upstairs and we sit in my room and talk like usual so we don't wake up Gracie. That's when I hear a crash. Naomi's eyes widen and she shoots over to the window. I follow her and there right outside our house is a blue truck that's crashed into a mailbox. Nobody is in it.
"What the?" Naomi questions
"I'll get Mom and or dad" I sprint downstairs
I wake up my parents and explain the situation and we all walk outside. There's no ID or licence plate anywhere so we call the police and they tow the car away leaving behind the endless questions.

Day of Fire 1:05 PM

"Be good" my mom said as she walked out the door, she and my father were going out to go see to some new commercial job thing and I was left home alone with Gracie and Naomi.
"So what do you want to do?" I ask
"I don't know" Gracie skips to the stairs "Why don't we go play upstairs"
"Okay" Naomi and I agree in unison

Day of Fire 4:32 PM

"Go Fish" says Naomi
I groan "Does nobody have the 8 of Hearts"
"Nope I gue-" Gracie's words were cut off by a shrieking noise
Smoke Alarms.
My eyes widen as I see the flame leaping in the hall.
"Open the window and close the door" I command hoping to hold off the flames
My family commands once they're done they look at me and I realize I'm holding their lives as well as my own in my hands. I drop the deck of cards and the 8 of Hearts slides under my bed never to be seen again.

Present Day

I clutch my hands into fists all I want is to know what happened but apparently nothing was going to come to me.
I sigh "At least I'm okay now..."
But what happened?

Drake's POV

I'm grinning at myself like an idiot in my mirror. My brother Raymond is also acting like a complete idiot in the background. For once in my life I don't exactly care. I was angry at my little sister Rosalie though, she could be a real pain, we couldn't go anywhere until she learned to control her powers. She was the most powerful little kid I'd met in my life. Of course she'd managed to start a few fires in the process of learning how to use her powers but it wasn't a big deal, sure a couple of houses burned down there were a few disasters, so what?
"Rosie you did it again!" Raymond was singing to the tune of Oops I did it again "You burnt another house got lost in this game of Rooooosalie"
"Shut up and stop singing girly songs" I snapped
"Thanks Drake" Rose shot me a thankful smile "I think I wanted to kill him"
Raymond pales but he says "Well you'd have had some problems with that Rosie" without any fear
"So, when are we going to go for Half-Blood Hill?" Rose asks
"Soon" I reply as I watch the grin on my face grow bigger "Soon we'll have our revenge on father and we can relax"
"Can't wait" Rose says without excitement
"Revenge" Raymond mutters hungirly "I can't wait"
"Soon" I bite my lip to keep from laughing "Half-Blood Hill will be ours and Olympus will fall" I pause because Rose's face has drained of color "And nobody will be powerful enough to stop us"
I pretend not to watch Rose put her hand to her arm, she flinches as though touching it hurts.
"Something wrong?" I ask
"No" Rose replies "Just thinking about someone I burned"
"Don't" I say "We will show no mercy"
"No mercy" Rose and Raymond echo in unison
No Mercy