Splinters In Time

Lydia had been put in charge of building the bonfire. She and Dan had spent the afternoon hauling logs across the lawn to the fire pit, and now it was stacked high, they were attempting to light it.

"Whooo!" Lydia leapt to her feet as the fire caught and flames licked up the side of the woodpile. "Told you I was good!"

"Yes, yes, you're the queen of lighting fires." Dan laughed.

Thanksgiving at the Gray household was an unusual affair. Between them all, they didn't really have enough extended family to make a large dinner worth it, and it didn't make much sense to go through the whole rigmarole only to have to do it all again soon after for Christmas. Instead, they would light a bonfire and do a barbecue on the lawn. Lawrence would cook sausages and turkey burgers— although he was convinced there had to be a way to barbecue a whole bird— and everyone was welcome to drop by for good food and company, as long as they brought something to share.

Nikki was with her family, but was hoping to come by later. Some of her parents friends were here already and were hanging around the barbecue, chatting with cans of drink in hand. Lili... knew the event was happening, they had made sure of it, but whether she would show up was anyone's guess. She tended not to when there was likely to be a crowd.

Putting the thought out of her mind, Lydia spun, doing a little dance around the fire. "Mum's got marshmallows. Says we can make s'mores later."

"Yum." Dan laughed. "The fire's catching really well."

Lydia grinned— then she stopped dancing, face falling as she spied something at the gate. "What's she doing here?"

Jess was standing there, looking awkward, holding a pumpkin pie.

With an irritated huff, Lydia stalked over, Dan following at her heels.

"My mum sent me!" Jess blurted, before Lydia could say anything.  "I brought pie!" She hopefully held up the plate. When Lydia did nothing but scowl, she kept speaking. "I thought... we could talk?"

"Talk about what? You've said your piece."

"Lydia..." Jess pleaded.

"I thought you didn't want anything to do with us. Sure sounded like it to me."

"Lydia, that is not what I meant! Daniel, tell her—"

Dan put up his hands. "I'm staying out of it."

"I'm trying to apologise!" Jess was growing frustrated. "I think things just got out of hand and... and you weren't helping either,  going off on me like that—!"

Lydia's fists clenched. "I don't want your apologies!"

"EVERYONE, LOOK OUT!"

There was a loud crack as something collapsed in the fire and suddenly a burst of flame shot up in the air.

"Shit!" Dan dived at Lydia, dragging the two of them behind the gate to hide with Jess. The fire sputtered again, belching out a few more licks of flame, before returning to normal. Across the front lawn, they could see where some of the adults had hit the ground— Lydia's father was struggling to get back up on his prosthetic leg. One of the other fathers had gone for the hose and quickly doused the flames.

"What did you put on the fire?" Esther yelled at her daughter.

"Wood!"

"Just wood? You didn't leave the oil can in there or something?"

"No! Maybe something got on the wood?"

Shaking her head, Esther went over to help her husband.

A/N: Slightly early again! Oh well, I'm rolling with the inspiration as it comes.

Anyway, Lydia's powers are growing! Think anyone has strung together what's happening yet?

Please leave a like and a comment. All the best. XD