Pyromancy

Susan had never been out past midnight at the Farm before, but a pyromaniac witch, or maybe wizard, warranted this. All grown ups and teachers were guarding all entryways to the Farm. Tue and Lis were in the adjoining classrooms, sitting in cupboards with small peepholes cut into them. She and Heidi were in the library and had hid themselves behind the parrot's cage, hoping that the blanket thrown over to shut him up would also hide them well enough. She held her wand ready in a nearly frozen hand, and se could feel Heidi shivering from the cold next to her. Then suddenly an orange glow, thin as a razor's edge shone from where Susan was certain the door to the corridor was placed. She carefully poked Heidi, who poked her back. Then everything happened very fast. A scream of anguish pierced the night, the door swung open, letting smoke and flames start to spill into the library nearing the book case next to the door. Susan and Heidi jumped up, pointed at flame after flame with their wands, screaming "Slökkvið" at them, and slowly the inferno died down. They could see Tue, Lis and Knud over the flames, and behind them Thora, Kai, Gilvi, Sandra, Martine and most every teacher from the Farm. A human form lay at the floor, PJs scorched and soaked. Thora helped a wet and bedraggled Kalle from the floor: "What happened?" she asked. "You were supposed to be in your bed in Stockholm."
"I was." Kalle said simply, looking utterly confused.
Thora asked him: "And what then?"
Kalle looked up: "I slept, I dreamt of a big, pearl opal green alligator eating someone, just as we would a taco, then I felt an almighty pull, everything went dark, and I was suddenly here, my PJs on fire."
"This sounds nothing like what we imagined," Martine said. "It is not a predictable way ..."
Sandra looked at them: "Move!" she screamed, Everybody sprang into the library, into abandoned cupboards and door openings. Gilvi grabbed Kalle and half pulled half carried him to the sick room.
A fireball exploded exactly where Kalle had lain.
"This is a staple of the ... " Taavi began.
"Not now!" Tähti interrupted him. "Let's get the fires put out, and bring some order to this chaos. Kai please bring the children down into the Barn."
Not listening to their protests, Kai ordered Lis, Tage, Heidi and Susan to proceed him to the barn, and Gilvi brought up the rear, carrying Kalle.

* * *

Gilvi left again and the others sat for long in the barn. The Nisser brought them cakes and hot tea and cocoa, only succeeding in making them all very sleepy. Kalle fell asleep, wrapped in a blanket, and the others dozed fitfully on the benches. They all dreamt vividly. Susan and Heidi woke up and looked at one another.
"The sprites?" Heidi asked.
"Yes," Susan replied, and with this they were off to the adjoining stables.
Kai woke with a start: "Hey Heidi .. and Susan! Stay here, Gilvi said ..." But before he could draw his wand or do anything else to prevent it the two girls had slipped into the stable.
Heidi almost fell up the three steps to the stables, where strange animals and food for all and sundry were being kept. They raced to where they had placed the big glass cage a few days earlier.
The roomy and beautiful glass cage was where they'd left it, but empty, except for a small fire flickering in a dull grey ring in the middle of the cage. The asbestos lattice covering it sat askew.
"They escaped!" Susan exclaimed.
"They sure did," Heidi replied. "Let's go find the twins, quick!"
With this Susan and Heidi ran each in a separate direction, Heidi ran into the Barn, waking up the others, and quickly explained what they had found out before speeding on. Susan took the small staircase leading from the stables to the library. There she met and almost ran into Martine: "It's the flame sprites doing it," she gasped, winded from running up the stairs. "Where's the Kuusisaari's?" "Tähti is in the library," Martine replied, "I think Taavi is downstairs. I'll get him!"
"Please do!" Susan said and ran towards the doors to the library. Smoke was still coming form in there.
"Hello," Tähti gasped through the smoke, "you're not supposed to be here, but please lend me a hand now that you are ... Slökkvid!" she cried as another small fire lit on the carpet.
"It's the fire sprites!" Susan said, "They have escaped." And interrupted by a few extinguishing spells, she quickly told Tähti what they has discovered. "Martine and Heidi are out there looking for Taavi as well."
"I'll find him." Tähti said, "you just stay here and extinguish any and all fires. You're free to use the mundane fire extinguisher on flames not in books - use your head!" And with this she flickered her wand and disappeared.
Sure that now Tähti, Taavi and the other teachers now would take care of the sprites, Susan sat to the task of keeping the books from burning. She soon realized that her magical powers would give out, and grasped the fire extinguisher from the hall. armed with this in her left hand and her wand in her right she kept the flames at bay. She felt more than saw Tue and Heidi coming in to help. Gratefully she concentrated on carpets, curtains and furniture with the extinguisher, leaving the magic to the older two.
Suddenly a keening sound penetrated the building, shaking it and them to their roots. "The Kuusisaari's are calling the Sprites home," Heidi said. "Thank God, I'm exhausted!"
They put out the last of the flames and almost fell into the old sofa. Soon Gilvi's face showed in the doorway: "Good job, all!" he said. "Down to the Barn now, time for a meal and an explanation or two."

* * *

The magicians and apprentices sat around the table in the barn, all singed, smelling of smoke and damp clothing, but all very happy. The reason for the fires had not been a pyromaniac wizard or witch after all, Taavi told a long-winded story of one pyromaniac who ended up as a very good person, but nobody really listened.
Suddenly Tage raised his head and blurted out: "How did Kalle end up here!" He looked at Taavi, who gave him a stink eye. "Oh, sorry Taavi, I did not mean to interrupt," he added, I was just thinking ..."
"Or not," Taavi said. "Excuse accepted. And you pose a relevant question. Let's ask Kalle once again, what happened?"
"Yes ..." Kalle began. "I was asleep, as well I should be, at home in my own bed in Stockholm. Then I remember dreaming of a giant, shimmering opal green crocolisk eating up someone I did not recognize, wrapped up like a giant spring roll or something. I was afraid. I wondered what to do. Then I felt an almighty pulling sensation ... and I awoke in the middle of the corridor, my PJs on fire and Gilvi dousing me with water."
"You were afraid, and wondered what to do with a giant crocolisk!" Jon said slowly "... I think I know what happened." He looked at all the other magicians and apprentices at the table. "Now think. If you saw a humongous, shimmering green crocolisk - and a man-eating one even, what would you do?"
"Run," Tage said.
"Get mum and dad!" Heidi suggested.
"I'd go to ..." Susan began, then gasped, "... to the library!" she ended softly.
"Exactly!" Jon exclaimed, his white teeth showing in a big smile. "And that's what Kalle did. He sleep'ported here! Well done young man. You will probably have no trouble passing the teleportation test this term."
Kalle smiled a huge smile. "Oh I've been so afraid of flunking that test. All my cousins except for Britta who's the youngest, passed the test last term, and they have been teasing Anna and me relentlessly ever since."
"But I'll have to cast a spell on you to prevent repetitions. Just imagine you trying to slep'port to some imaginary place."
Kalle turned white and whispered: "Oh yes, please do. Even some real life places would not be that nice."

* * *