AN: This one's a little short. Sorry about the cliffhanger, but I should have the rest of it up this weekend.

I felt the fire before I saw it. Something was burning off to the west, something big. I turned my head and looked out the car window.

"Oh my God," Kara said. "Do you see that column of smoke? What do you think it is?"

"A fire," I said smugly.

Kara swatted my arm. "No shit, smart ass."

"Watch your mouth," Mrs. Davis said from the front seat, her tone resigned. I wondered vaguely how often she said that to Kara and how often Kara just ignored her. That wouldn't fly with my dad.

After the whole "seance" business, the other girls had avoided me for a week at school, but Kara had forgiven me immediately, probably because she knew that I knew about supernatural stuff and that what I had been doing was real and not some trick like Dean had told them. Once she'd figured that out, she was thrilled and told the other girls how cool it was and how much fun it had been and basically convinced them that it had been awesome. Kara could do things like that.

They'd started talking to me again after that. By that point, I didn't care anymore. They hadn't actually ever been my friends and they certainly weren't now, not after what I'd heard Samara say when Dean had swatted me on the way out the door.

Kara, though, I loved her a little more.

"Hmmm, looks like one of the houses over in the new subdivision is on fire," Mrs. Davis said. She pointed out the windshield at the firetrucks and ambulances that were passing in front of us headed toward the fire. "I should go see if they need any help. Text your dad and tell him you'll be late." Mrs. Davis was a registered nurse.

I obeyed, quickly typing out a message that we were on our way home from the mall but Mrs. Davis wanted to stop to see if the emergency people needed help at a house fire. Then I stuck my phone into my back pocket and scooted forward in my seat to watch out the windshield.

The closer we got to the fire, the more it called to me, and I could tell it was huge. Adrenaline lit up inside me and excitement was making my brain ping happily. I wanted to connect to that fire, feel the power, let it wash through me and out of me over and over, but I knew that wasn't a good idea. So instead, I concentrated on not letting the fire get to me, on not following my instincts.

"Whoa," Kara said when we turned the corner and I sucked in a breath.

The two-story white house was burning so hard fire was coming out of all the windows facing us. It wasn't just a fire, it was an inferno. Firefighters were spraying water on it, but it didn't seem to help much by the feel of it, at least not yet. A woman in a sundress was sitting in the back of an ambulance being examined, a dog at her feet. A little boy sat on the lawn holding a cat and a larger girl stood next to him, both of them watching their house burn to ash. Neighbors had gathered across the street from the house, watching the action with mouths agape.

My stomach started to hurt despite the thrill of the fire. It was too close to what happened to my parents, trapped in the house and burning to death. Guilt flared and tears filled my eyes. If I hadn't been pyrokinetic, Gabija would never have ripped open my furnace early and my parents wouldn't have died. Sam and Dean always said it wasn't my fault, and maybe it wasn't, but I sure as hell was a factor even if my actions hadn't caused it. Passive culpability, Sam would have called it, but he also would have said that I was in no way responsible, even though I felt responsible.

Mrs. Davis pulled the car over against the curb and we all got out. She was so focused on helping that it took her a second to realize we were following her. She turned and shook her finger at us.

"Uh uh," she said. "If you're not going to stay in the car, join the crowd over there, a safe distance from the fire."

"Aw, Mom," Kara complained.

Mrs. Davis shook her head. "You wanna complain, you can get back in the car."

I kicked Kara's shoe lightly and she relented. "Ok, we'll stay with the crowd."

Mrs. Davis nodded once and went over to talk to EMTs. Kara and I went and stood in the crowd that had gathered. Some of them were murmuring about the fire and speculating about how it started. One of the men said he thought that the woman who was being treated at the back of the ambulance had smoke inhalation from rescuing the two kids from their room.

Mrs. Davis came back over to us. "They don't need help, not yet, so I need to hang around here in case they need me." She moved closer and put her arm around Kara. Kara looked like she might object, but then her mom added. "The mom and two of the kids made it out, but the dad is trapped in the upstairs bathroom with the other two kids, and the firefighters are worried about how structurally sound the house is. The mom is on the phone with him now, but they're not sure how to get him and the kids out."

Kara's eyes filled with tears and she moved closer to her mom, wrapping her arms around her mom's waist for comfort.

My fear spiked. I couldn't let them die in there, not like my parents had. I couldn't leave the two kids and their mom without the rest of their family. And if I didn't do something this time, didn't that make me even more responsible than I had been for my parents' death? And it would be active culpability if I could do something and I didn't.

The fire was huge, but it might fit in my furnace. Maybe. Even if it didn't, maybe I could just pull in enough to make it smaller so the firefighters could put it out or rescue the dad and the other kids. I wasn't in a good position to connect to it though. First off, it was really far away from me, and second, there were too many people moving between me and the house. I couldn't be sure someone wouldn't run into my tendril and break it, which would cause the fire to spread.

"Mrs. Davis," I said and she slid her eyes so that she was watching both me and the house.

"What is it, Jessie?"

"Can I move down the street a little, so I can see a little better? I want to take a picture and send it to Dad, but there's all these people in the way."

"Yes, but don't leave the sidewalk," she warned. "I don't want you in their way, or God forbid, getting hurt."

"Yes, ma'am," I told her so she'd know I was serious. She went back to watching the flames and hugging her daughter.

Kara looked at me curiously and I gave her a thumbs up, like everything was okay.

As I walked down the sidewalk a little way, I remembered what Dean had said about being impulsive. Was I being impulsive here? Was this a good idea? Could anyone get hurt? Could I get hurt?

I could get hurt, maybe, but it wouldn't kill me. No one else would be hurt though, and I'd be saving three lives that probably wouldn't be saved otherwise. I thought the fire was probably too big for me, so pulling in only the fire on the top floor seemed like the best idea because maybe then the dad and kids could be rescued. I thought I could probably handle that. I'd just suck that into me and then go home and pour it into the firepit until I was empty. My furnace was hardly ever full now with all the practice I'd been doing at home almost every day.

I stopped when I had a good view of the house where no one was blocking. I glanced over at Mrs. Davis, who was watching me and waved at her. She waved back and I pointed to where I was and gave her a thumbs up. She nodded. Okay then, no trouble there.

I regarded the house. I was across the street from it, there was a sidewalk, and the house had a decent front lawn. I was a hundred feet away, probably more. I'd never reached a tendril that far from me, and I needed to hurry because someone could walk over here at any second or a car could drive down the street and block me while I was in the middle of this. That could be bad.

I checked the street both ways, placed my feet shoulder-width apart, braced myself, and reached out a tendril. It was hard and I had to push. I could feel the tendril thinning as it got further and further from me. That was interesting and something I would think about later. I concentrated now on getting the tendril to the house.

As it got closer, though, it widened and it seemed to be pulled toward the house, because my furnace wanted to be connected to it. I didn't fight it. Time was short and holding the tendril was hard. I could already feel a headache starting at the back of my head from the effort. And then I was connected to the top floor.

And I realized my mistake. Normally, I dealt with much smaller fires and this one was huge. Also, it was all connected. The fire on the top floor and the fire on the bottom floor were not separate. Normally I'd be able to control what I pulled into me, but I was too far away and there was too much.

To save the kids and the dad, I was going to have to pull all of it in. I didn't have a choice. I couldn't even disconnect now, my control shaky with distance. I didn't know if I would lose the tendril and spread the fire if I even tried.

Maybe this had been impulsive, but it was too late.

I braced myself and pulled. The fire flowed into me, filling and filling. My furnace was deep but not deep enough. It bulged and pulsed and my head started hurting the way it had when Zachariah had blocked my powers. I felt sick to my stomach, but still I pulled until I had the whole thing inside me.

There was a gasp from the crowd when the fire suddenly disappeared from the house. I fought from screaming from the pain, holding the furnace shut with sheer willpower.

And then I ran.