As all the students filed out of the cafeteria, Mirya found herself standing beside a young boy about her own age. He had brown hair that was all messed up in the rush to leave.

Then she heard a whisper.

"Mirya..."

It was... calling her. She tried to focus on getting out of the building, but the moment she entered the hall, it was even louder.

"Mirya... Mirya... Mirya..."

Mirya tried to stop, but her legs carried her away from the group, moving faster and faster with every step.

"Wyatt! Annika! Where's your friend going?" The boy with brown hair asked.

Then she heard Annika's voice. "Mirya! Come back! What're you doing?!" And two pairs of running footsteps behind her.

But she couldn't stop. Even when the smell of smoke started to choke her.

Still, it echoed on. "Mirya..."

"Mirya! Stop!" Wyatt yelled.

She had been blinded the whole time, but now she could see. She was standing on a deck, fire blazing in the forest beyond, and fire to the left and right, farther along the school.

"Wha-" She stopped when a shadow moved, revealing three figures. She couldn't make out who they were through the smoke, but she did see one thing she knew- amber eyes.

"Welcome, Mirya," A louder echoey, whispery voice said.

"What do you want?" Mirya took a step backwards, bumping into the railing that lined the deck. She could still here Annika and Wyatt calling for her, but she didn't want them to get into trouble if she didn't come out.

"You gone," a different voice snarled. Unusual rays of light shot out through the smoke, and sliced right into the railing, cutting one side off.

It cracked against the weight Mirya was putting on it. "Why?" She demanded.

"You won't need to know, where you're going," the raspy voice hissed.

The fire roared below the deck, climbing up the side of the school fast. Through the roar of the flames and the thumping of her own heart, she could still hear her friends calling her name.

She blinked the tears away. She wasn't going to make it out of there. She would burn. And she would never know who was against her- or if they would stop, or why they were doing this.

"But we could let you live," a new voice said, and a small splash of water hit a patch of flame that was nearing, proving their point, "If you-"

Mirya never got to hear the rest of it. A new, louder noise filled her head, and a rumbling crack as the deck collapsed.

Mirya had expected to feel the searing pain of fire as she closed her eyes, but nothing. Nothing happened. She open one eye, then the other.

"Well." the ghostly voice grumbled. "That changes things."

Mirya sat up to see... that she was on the fire. The fire was all around her, and yet... she wasn't buring. She didn't even feel much of the heat.

When she looked up, the figures were gone.

"Mirya!" Annika's voice proved that she and Wyatt were still there. "Mirya!"

Mirya scrambled to her feet and yelled. "I'm here!"

"Mirya!" Wyatt looked over the edge of the broken deck. "What-" he stopped when he saw all the fire. "I guess we know your element now."

"I guess so," Mirya agreed, reaching up to grab Wyatt's and Annika's hands as they help pull her up. "Now let's get out of here before this fire catches you two."

"Good idea."

"What happened?" Haisley greeted them as they exited the school.

"Long story short, Mirya ran off and almost died, but now we're all here, alive and mostly well," Wyatt replied.

Annika rolled her eyes. "We'll tell you everything later," she promised.

"Later as in when?"

"As soon as we're all together and away from all the other Iths," Mirya jumped in.

"Okay," Waylon agreed, though not very happily.

"Are you three okay?" Another voice broke the silence. Lady Kelilah.

Mirya had suspicions about Kelilah's amber eyes, but she was clearly confused and scared, so Mirya pushed that thought back so she could study it more closely later.

"Yes," Annika nodded. "It was just... a misunderstanding."

"Well, Mirya," the teacher coughed. "I hope you learn your way around soon so this never happens again."

"It won't," Mirya stared at her shoes. "I promise."

"Good. Now, I think Lorelei is here to get you."

"That I am," Lorelei said from behind Kelilah. "And It's time to go. You have some explaining to do."

Once the whole group of them had gotten back to Lorelei's house, Mirya saw that there were a few faces she didn't recognize. One male looked like an older version of Wyatt, and the woman standing beside him looked like an older version of Haisley, so obviously their parents.

Then two other Iths- another male and female- came in. They didn't look like anyone she knew though.

"Mirya, please meet Kynlee and Makena Inez," Kaj spoke. "Wyatt and Haisley's parents. And Lorcan and Nadine Zebedee, Annika and Waylon's adoptive parents."

"Hi," Mirya managed a small wave and a shy smile.

All the parents nodded in a silent hello.

"We came to get our kids," Makena said. "Kaj told us to pick them up at Lorelei's house."

"Before you leave," Lorelei broke in. "Mirya would like to share what happened so we know what we're dealing with. Go on." She nodded.

"Well... I heard whispers. Saying my name, and no matter how hard I tried, I had to follow them, and-"

"Fire echoes," Kaj interrupted. "You heard fire echoes. They're very strong, and you can't resist."

"Oh..." Mirya continued the story, even though she wanted to know what Fire echoes were.

"So," Haisley stared at her feet. "You have an element."

"Yes," Lorelei answered for her. "And Avery rare one too. No one has had a fire element for centuries."

"So... I'm the only one?"

"Yes."

"And that explains why the fire called to you," Annika blinked.

"It does."