‘Uncle!’ Xander cried.
Frederick looked around.
‘Uncle!’ Xander called again, and this time Frederick spotted them. ‘Stop this!’
‘Leave while you can!’ Frederick replied matter-of-factly. ‘The Forest will be flat come morning!’
‘This is our home!’ Bisma cried. ‘We won’t leave!’
‘Uncle, please!’ Xander tried again, his voice cracking. ‘There are children! Don’t do this!’
‘They can leave if they please!’ Frederick replied.
‘Never!’ Bisma snapped.
Frederick addressed only his nephew then. ‘Xander, youmustgo,’ Frederick implored.
‘I won’t!’ Xander said.
Frederick clenched his jaw, and for a moment Bisma saw remorse on his face. She thought he might call it off, do something—but he only shook his head. ‘You’re a fool, Xandy-boy,’ he said. ‘A besotted fool.’
And then he walked away.
Xander made a sound of pain, and she reached for his hand, holding him steady.
‘We need to get down,’ Bisma said. She touched a hand to the trunk, and a branch carried them to the ground. The heat was getting closer, the smoke thicker. Xander’s face was wet with tears.
‘Xander, go,’ she said. ‘Go—I’ll get the girls.’
He shook his head. ‘I’m not leaving you.’
He squeezed her hand, and they ran back to the treehouse. Some of the smoke had begun to reach here; she could smell it in the air.
‘Luna! Azalea! Wake up!’ Bisma called, rushing up to Nori’s room and shaking her.
‘Mei, Deebs!’ Xander called, going to Mei’s room, where she and Deeba slept.
‘Bajiiiii,’ Azalea groaned, but she must have sensed something was wrong because she instantly went quiet.
‘What’s going on?’ Luna asked, her voice high.
They were all gathered on the winding staircase, looking at each other.
‘We need to go, now!’ Bisma cried. ‘The Forest is on fire!’
The treehouse erupted in chaos as the girls grabbed their shoes and sweaters, putting them on. Xander held Deeba in one arm as he helped Mei into her sweater. Bisma fastened the laces of Nori’s shoes while she buttoned up her sweater.
‘But our things!’ Nori said, turning for her favorite stuffed rabbit.
‘There’s no time, honey,’ Bisma said. ‘The fire is spreading fast; we need to go.Now.’
They all ran down the steps, Xander first, then the girls, then Bisma last, ensuring that no one had been left behind.
As she went down the stairs, she looked back at her home, at all their things: the teacups hanging in the kitchen, the ceramic pitcher full of flowers, the knitted blanket on the sofa. Luna’s poetry book, Azalea’s needle and thread, Mei’s favorite mixing bowl, Nori’s dolls, Deeba’s little bonnet.
Tears welled in her eyes.
‘Baji, come on!’ Luna called from below.
