Not as long a wait this time, see. But still, a wait and for that I'm sorry. I was busy working on writing my own novel, which I finished over the weekend at just under 80,000 words. But now I need to take some time off before editing so I decided to finish up this piece over the Easter week-end. Just on chapter and the epilogue left after this. Enjoy and review.

Chapter 14

Inferno

Within a few weeks, things were beginning to work themselves out between the Hoover women. Mrs. Hoover had finally found her voice and filed for divorce. D.A. and Evan decided it was time to move back in and though things weren't running as smooth as they might have liked, it was getting there.

As far as things were going with Ralphie and his baby mommy, they weren't exactly on speaking terms. She'd give him updates every so often but they were strictly baby-related. Her official due date was June 28th but doctors were warning them that because of her age and the fact that she was carrying twins, she risked going into preterm labour. Ralphie wasn't exactly sure what that meant but it had his mother worried and that was enough to worry him too.

The first Saturday evening in March, the group decided to get together and spend some quality time with one another. D.A. could really use the distressing and Evan insisted on having a heart to heart with her mom so Tim was a free man. It took some convincing to pry Keesha away from her new beau – a tall, redhead, Shakespearian connoisseur from her English class named Alec – but they finally managed to convince her to accompany them. Likewise, Wanda had been planning on taking her latest conquest out to dinner, but she had enough admirers that she didn't mind letting the date fall through.

The eight friends took a shuttle bus out to the city and decided the first order of business would be getting something to eat. They decided on a quaint little Greek restaurant with a refreshing atmosphere and reasonable prices. Most of the evening was spent talking and laughing, everyone glad to be normal teenagers for just one night. For desert, they split a plate of baklava and an order of loukoumades.

Of course, because they had the shittiest luck of anyone to ever live, dinner was not the highlight of their evening.

Coming out of the restaurant, they saw three police cars speeding down the street with a fire truck and an ambulance following close behind. Call it heroism, call it insanity, whatever, but without exchanging a word, the eight friends followed the emergency vehicles to their destination.

They lost the cars, but it didn't matter because they were able to follow the smoke in the air from blocks away. When they arrived at the scene, they gasped collectively. There in front of them was a towering inferno, a large apartment complex in flames.

"We have to do something," Phoebe urged, ever the humanitarian.

"Like what?" Keesha questioned. She wanted to help just as badly as Phoebe did, but what could they do.

"It's a fire," Phoebe stammered. "You can get rid of it, Wanda, can't you?"

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, slow down," Wanda ordered. "I can summon fire, sure, but I've never tried to dispel it before."

"You've got to try," Phoebe urged.

"What if I make it worse?" she shrieked.

"Wanda, please!"

"Fine," the black-haired girl snapped. Taking a deep breath, she raised a hand and focused on the building. For a moment, nothing happened but slowly, the flames started to die down.

"You're doing it," Phoebe squealed excitedly.

"Not fast enough," Arnold said regretfully. And it was true. Though Wanda was helping, she wasn't going to be putting the whole fire out any time soon.

"Don't worry, Pheebs," Ralphie said. "Maybe everyone's already evacuated."

"Carlos, get the scoop on what's going on," D.A. suggested. Carlos nodded and pulled aside the closest police officer.

"I'm sorry sir," the officer began. "You'll have to back away. This is very dangerous."

"Tell me what happened here," Carlos ordered.

The officer looked confused but he did as Carlos asked. "The fire originated on the third floor. Firefighters are having a hard time extinguishing the flames."

"Are all the residents safe?" Carlos wondered.

"According to the evacuees, there are still four people left inside," the officer informed him. "There's a little boy on the second floor, and elderly man on the ground floor and a young father and child on the seventh story."

"Is anyone going in to save them?" Carlos wondered, panicked.

"The fire is too aggressive," he answered. "No one's going in and it's not likely anyone will be coming out."

"We've gotta go in, man," Ralphie said, giving Carlos a meaningful look. Tim thought it sounded too dangerous but Phoebe was all for the idea.

"I can go in and try to keep the fire away from us," Wanda offered. "Can't guarantee it'll be one hundred percent effective but hey, I can try."

"I should go in too," Phoebe said.

"Well, you're not going in without me," Arnold sighed, knowing there was no way to talk his girlfriend out of this.

"I should go in astral," Tim suggested. "I'll be able to walk through things and get places you guys can't reach."

"That settles it," Ralphie said. "Tim, Wanda, Phoebe, Arnold and I will go in and get those people out. Carlos, you stay out here and run damage control with the authorities. I don't think they'll be too willing to let five teenagers walk into a burning building."

"What should we do?" D.A. asked, gesturing towards Keesha and herself.

"Just sit tight," Ralphie suggested before he and the others headed off in the direction of the burning building.

"Hey, where do you kids think you're going?" He officer asked, trying to stop them. Carlos stepped in.

"Let them pass," he said. "You want them to help."

While the officer ordered all the officials to let the group of crazy teenagers pass, Phoebe ducked behind a dumpster and transformed into an Irish wolfhound. Hopefully the size and strength would help them.

Keesha frowned as the watched her friends make their way inside.

"This is bad," she said.

"They know what they're doing," D.A. replied, but she didn't sound convinced either.

Things from the inside of the building were much worse than they had appeared outside. The exertion to keep the flames at bay was already exhausting Wanda and they were only on the first floor.

"Getting the elderly man out first sounds like our best bet," Arnold said. Wanda and Phoebe nodded in agreement but Ralphie seemed unsure.

"I'll go ahead and find the children," Tim volunteered, knowing the safety of the young father and the two kids were weighing heavily on Ralphie's mind.

That seemed to be an acceptable course of action because the group split up then. Tim took the stairs to the second floor. He could hear the small child screaming for his mother and it broke his heart.

"Don't worry," Tim called. "I'm coming to help you. Can you tell me where you are?"

"I want my Mommy," was called back in response.

Tim followed the sounds the little boy was making and traced them to an apartment with the door open. He walked in hesitantly and looked around, finally finding the child curled up in the bathtub with his hands over his ears. He was no older than five with light brown hair and scared blue eyes.

"Where's my Mommy?" the boy whimpered. Tim's heart clenched painfully.

"Your Mommy's outside looking for you," he said, not entirely sure whether or not that was the truth, but what mother wouldn't be outside looking for their child? "I'll take you to her, alright?"

The little boy nodded. Taking the risk, Tim solidified so he could take the boy's hand.

"My name is Tim," he said. "What's your name?"

"Ben," the scared child mumbled.

"Don't worry Ben, I'll get you out of here."

XxX

"Is that them?" D.A. asked excitedly, pointing towards the building entrance. Two figures were emerging from the burning building. One was a man in his late seventies and the other was a young boy with brown hair. When she saw the other weren't joining them, she frowned.

"They're going to try to get the woman and baby on the seventh floor," Carlos explained, knowing their motivations.

"What?" D.A. shrieked. "Are they crazy?"

"Come on, D.A., do you think Ralphie's going to let a young father and child get hurt?" Carlos asked. "Think about what you're asking."

"They just, they need to be careful," D.A. said, a furrow in her brow.

"What is it, do you see something?" Carlos asked. Keesha and Tim's corporeal-self moved to stand beside her.

"The third stair leading up to the fourth floor is weak," D.A. said. "But I don't know how to warn them."

"Tim, can you pass the message on to the others?" Keesha wondered. Tim nodded and closed his eyes, concentrating. After a few minutes of silence during which Carlos returned to running crowd control, Tim opened his eyes and nodded.

"They got it," he said.

D.A. sighed in relief but just as soon, her eyes went unfocused once more. "That's the least of our problems," she groaned. "News trucks are on the way. Carlos may be influencing the police, but if we end up on live TV, I don't think he'll be able to help."

"Then we'll just have to make sure the news trucks never get here," Keesha said. D.A. was confused but she watched in interest as Keesha closed her eyes and began breathing deeply. Panic erupted through her chest as the first news truck pulled around the corner and onto the block. However, when the news people stepped out of their vehicles, they stopped, perplexed.

"What's going on?" D.A. wondered as she watched the reporters and camera people walk around the block looking confused and completely ignoring the burning building in front of them.

"I made our problems… disappear for lack of a better word," Keesha said.

"You're doing this?" Carlos asked, once again coming to stand beside the friends.

"I've been playing around with making other things invisible for a while," Keesha explained. "I know people usually thing making things invisible has to do with bending light, but I wanted to see if that was the case. Everyone has a blind spot. I think my ability enlarges the spot to hide the object I want to."

"And that's why we can still see the building but they can't," D.A. realized. "Nice save Keesha."

"Yeah, well, the only save that matters is the one Ralphie and the others are about to make," she said. "Let's hope they pull it off."

XxX

"D.A. says to stay out of the sixth floor's west wing," Tim relayed to the group as they rushed up the stair to the seventh floor. Well, to say they rushed would be an exaggeration. The higher up they went, the more warnings D.A. had for them. It was probably far too dangerous to be going up at all, but they were determined to save the residents still trapped inside.

Once on the seventh floor, the sounds of the screaming father and child led them. They arrived at the apartment and the look of sheer gratitude on the man's face made it all worth it.

"Please, help my baby," he pleaded. "Get my daughter out of here."

He was in bad shape. The smoke in halation must have been getting to him. The little baby girl in his arms didn't look much better.

"We'll get you both out," Ralphie promised. He hauled the man to his feet and Arnold took the baby from him, holding her securely.

"Come on guys," Wanda coughed. They too were beginning to feel the effects of the smoke and the heat. They left the apartment and headed back the way they had come, D.A. stopping them for warnings every now and again. When they reached the ground floor, they found that the fire had caused part of the building to collapse. A large slab of stone blocked their way to the exit.

"Fuck," Ralphie swore. He let the man down and let Phoebe support him as he went over to move the rock. It was heavy, even for him. And even if he did manage to lift it, he had nowhere to put it. He'd have to hold it over his head until everyone could make their escape.

"Arn, can you help me out here?" he pleaded.

Arnold tried his best, but instead of moving the stone, the whole building shook.

"You're on your own, Ralphie," he said regretfully.

The ex-football player sighed. "We're going to have to be quick," he said. "I won't be able to hold this thing for a long time. Even if I can manage the weight, the fire is getting to be too much for Wanda to handle. Are we ready? On three."

Ralphie grunted as he struggled to hold the stone up. To get it high enough for people to pass, he had to push through the ceiling. Drywall rained down around them. Arnold quickly walked through with the baby in his arms. Wanda exhaustedly followed behind him. Tim solidified and tried to help Phoebe drag the man to safety but he was like a deadweight.

"Go on without me," he coughed. "I can't move. I'm slowing you down. Just get my daughter to safety, please."

"No," Ralphie protested. "You have to fight, fight for her!"

"I'm doing her more of a favour by letting her escape than I would be if I made you wait and got us all killed," he argued. "Just go, please."

Reluctantly, Ralphie nodded. Tim and Phoebe set him down, crossing under the stone to the side of safety.

"Are you sure about this?" Ralphie asked. Even as he spoke, the building began coming down in pieces around him. The other hurries ahead while he just stood there, eyes focused on the man he would soon sentence to death.

"Positive," he replied. His voice was already failing him as his breathing became shallow. "My wife just stepped out to get some groceries. Heidi, my daughter, she'll be alright, I know it."

"What's your name?" Ralphie just had to know.

"Wesley Keeping," the dying man replied and with that, Ralphie stepped aside and let the stone drop. As he stepped out of the towering inferno, it began to collapse, to collapse down on a man who'd given his own life to protect his child.