Another Novel Sample

Excerpt from the nearly-completed first Gifted Saga novel:

The young boy looked curiously at the small flame, his breath steaming a bit in the cold, damp air. It burned in the center of a circle of ash-covered ground, with no sustaining source of fuel. It made an eerie keening sound. The boy found a stick and poked the fire. He dropped the stick and jumped back as it instantly and vigorously caught. The flame moved slowly along the length of the stick, leaving fine ash behind. The sound of the flame changed as it fed on the dry wood, and it momentarily surged in size. Frightened, now, the boy stood and ran for home. The fire remained, crying into the emptiness of the still woods.