Ember Tolliver's Arc

Chapter 3 of 4

Ember woke to the sound of footsteps on gravel. The bonfire wasn't built yet, but already someone was coming. They pulled on their coat and stepped outside. Corwin Grey stood at the edge of the square, arms crossed, watching Ember with the kind of look that said he'd been waiting. Corwin held up a rolled parchment. "They're calling it a summoning," he said. Ember walked closer and saw the word BEWARE printed across the top in thick letters. Below it, someone had drawn a candle and a bell. "Where did you get that?" Ember asked. Corwin unrolled it further. "There are three more posted in the square. People are saying you're calling something here. Something dangerous." Ember's chest tightened. They'd planned a festival, a bonfire where people could bring their visions and share them. But the word summoning made it sound like magic, like control, like something Ember never intended. "I'm not summoning anything," Ember said. Corwin didn't look convinced. "Then what are you doing?" Ember looked past him toward the empty square where the bonfire would be built. "I'm making space for what's already coming." Corwin rolled up the parchment slowly. "That's what worries me," he said. "You don't even know what it is, and you're still building the fire." He was right. Ember didn't know. But the visions felt real, and the strangers believed them, and the woman with the black flame lantern had seen them too. Corwin tucked the parchment under his arm. "I'll help you build it," he said. "But if this goes wrong, we stop it together." Ember nodded. For the first time since the visions started, someone was staying instead of walking away. The festival was still happening, but now Ember knew what people feared. Not the fire. What the fire might call. By the time the sun cleared the rooftops, a small crowd had gathered at the pine tree in the square. Ember recognized a few faces from the tavern, but most were strangers carrying baskets and bundles. They stood in a loose half-circle, watching. One woman clutched a cloth bag against her chest. A man beside her held firewood wrapped in twine. They didn't come closer. Corwin set down his tools and turned to face the crowd. "You're all here because you've seen something," he said. "Ember's giving you a place to bring it. That's all this is." A voice called out from the back. "That's not what the posters say." Murmurs spread through the group. Ember stepped forward. "I didn't write those," they said. "I'm building a bonfire for people who want to share what they've seen. If you're afraid of what might happen, don't come. But don't stop the people who need this." The crowd went quiet. Then the woman with the cloth bag stepped forward and set it down near the tree. "I brought pine needles," she said. "For dawn." The man with the firewood followed. "Oak," he said. "For midnight." One by one, others moved forward, setting down their offerings without speaking. Corwin watched them, then looked at Ember. "They're not here because they trust you," he said quietly. "They're here because they're desperate." Ember knew he was right. But desperate people still deserved a place to stand. The bonfire would be built by noon, and whether it was called a festival or a summoning, it would burn. Corwin helped Ember stack the wood while the crowd watched from a distance. Some people left their offerings and walked away. Others stayed, waiting to see what would happen next. A tall pole stood near the center of the square, hung with charms and trinkets that caught the morning light. People had been tying things to it all week, little prayers and wishes left for no one in particular. Corwin nodded toward it. "That's where they'll gather when you light it," he said. "Right there, where they can see the fire but stay far enough away to run." Ember looked at the pole, then at the bonfire taking shape. The festival had become something bigger than the candle circle. It wasn't just about sharing secrets anymore. It was about whether Ember could hold something sacred without controlling what it meant to everyone else. Corwin tied off the last bundle of wood and stepped back. "You've got your bonfire," he said. "Now you have to decide when to light it." Ember thought about the three strangers and