The Hirt

Chapter Seventeen

17

Fire.  Giant falcon.  Dead bodies.  Flying basketballs.  Ivy with a sword.  There was so much to take in; Heather just stood in the doorway, frazzled.  She slowly blinked and tried to absorb the scene again.

The first thing she saw was the biggest falcon she had ever seen in her life.  It took up half the gym!  When it spread its wings to full length, one wing tip touched the basketball hoop on the far side and the other reached the mid-court line.  Its dark yellow beak was the size of Heather.  But its most terrifying attribute was its eyes.  They weren’t animal eyes, black and beady.  They were human eyes, with blue irises and small black pupils.  It made the raptor look angry, powerful and vengeful.

The next thing she saw was the fire.  All the bleachers, or what was left of them, were blazing.  The basketball hoop closest to Heather was quickly going up in flames.  Random basketballs were on fire, being flung through the air like flaming cannonballs. 

To this day, that is one thing Heather never figured out.  Who was throwing the flaming basketballs.  All she knew was that they were there.

Then there was the most gruesome part:  the bodies.  Half of them were writhing in pain, and the other half looked as if they had been ripped to death by the falcon’s sharp talons.  All of them were wearing navy blue basketball shorts and T-shirts saying “Sacramento High School Physical Education.”  Heather cringed, trying to ignore them and the horrible stench of burning flesh.

And then there was Ivy.  Standing in the middle of the pandemonium.  She was wielding a sword, trying to defend herself from the tank-sized bird.

The falcon opened its beak and let out a deafening squawk, followed by a wall of fire aimed at Ivy, who was somehow able to scramble away.  Well, at least that explained the fire.

Suddenly, something rammed into Heather from behind and she stumbled forward, barely stopping herself from falling.  Heather whipped around, nerves on edge, and was shocked when she saw Belle standing there, mouth dropped open.

“Holy—“ Another giant squawk drowned out Belle’s next word.  Heather could feel the intense heat of another blast of fire burning into her back.

“Belle, what are you doing here?!” Heather shouted over the noise.

Belle looked at her with wide eyes.  “What . . . I mean, who . . . This . . .”

“You need to get out of here before you get hurt!” Or killed, she thought but decided not to say this out loud.

Bewildered, Belle stammered out, “That’s a big bird.”

Heather nodded. “Yeah, I know.  And it breathes fire.  But seriously, you need to—“ Heather faltered.  “Wait, you can see all this?”

A flaming ball flew by Heather’s head and Belle yelped and jumped to the side as it zoomed past her.  “Um, yeah.”

Confused, Heather stood there for a second.  Belle should not have been able to see this.

“Hey!” A voice shouted behind Heather.  She jumped, and turned around.  Ivy was standing there, her sword in striking position and her face smeared with soot.  The edges of her white tank top were burned and her perfect makeup was smeared with sweat.  This was the first time Heather had ever seen Ivy look like less than a super model.  “Are you just gonna stand there uselessly, or help?”

Heather thought this was pretty rude considering that Ivy hadn’t even let Heather connect with her, but she didn’t have time to digest it.  Another wave of fire was rapidly approaching them.