Flames in the Midst (The Jade Hale Series) by Sarah Reckenwald

electrical circuit.  Suddenly, books began to explode in blue flames.  One on the bottom shelf, one in the middle, one on the top.  The explosions grew into each other, and soon the entire bookcase glowed a deep blue.  Each contract hit by the wave of heat flowing through us emitted a pop as it perished.  Not every book held a contract, but many of them did.  We would have never found them all had we tried one by one to burn only the contracts.
    Jade grabbed my hands and shifted her body to face the next bookcase, to the right of the fireplace.  More blue flames and popping noises followed.  The heat flowed between us in intense and almost unbearable waves.  I hoped I was absorbing the majority of it.  Holding my hands on her shoulders, she turned again.  We worked this way for only a few minutes before the entire room became engulfed in blue flame.  The smoke made our eyes water and stung with each breath we inhaled.   I could feel the air in the room growing dense and choking my lungs with its impurities, but we had finished the job.
    When I lifted my hands from Jade’s shoulders, she collapsed onto the floor.  I bent down and scooped her up into my arms, taking a deep gulp of the air near the floor, which was relatively smoke free for the time being.  I stood back up, the only way I could carry her and the backpack to the door , and plunged into the thickening smoke, finding the door only by memory.  As we burst into the hall, I heard Amy’s screams from the back rooms.  They had not made it out yet, but I couldn’t go back there.  I had to get Jade out of here first, and I had to rescue my aunt.
    Every step was an effort of physical strength and courage.  Jade, passed out in my arms, was dead weight, but at least she was countered by the weight on my back from our family book.  The smoke poured out of the office and into the hall.  I had forgotten to buy us time by closing the door.  I looked back down the hall and saw the smoke creeping its way to Professor Michaels, Amy, Justin, and Madilyn, if any of them were still alive.
    I dragged myself and my younger self back to the black door.  I reached out for the handle when I saw Professor Michaels come around the corner.  He stopped for a moment and stared at us.  It looked as if he would lunge forward—intent on reaching us and ripping Jade from my arms.  Honestly, I was so weak he could probably do it if he tried, but he diverted his eyes to find the source of the smoke.  I knew in that moment I had wounded him.
    “No!” he screamed, and he set a new course for the burning office.  Good.  He would burn in there with his books and his contracts.  “Cameron!” he yelled, “Come here!  We’re leaving!”
    Before I could escape through the portal, Cameron came barreling through it.  His father had already plunged into the office.  Cameron stared at me, his eyes moving from each version of myself to the smoke billowing in the hall.  He was within inches from me, and if he was going to kill me, I would do what I could to protect my younger self.  I set her down on the floor and stood in front of her.
    He pushed me back to the wall, ignoring the limp little body on the floor.  His arm pinned me to the wall at the shoulders.  He glanced quickly down the hall—empty. 
    “You weren’t quick enough.  It wasn’t enough,” he growled, his breath hot against my cheek.  I closed my eyes, sure he intended to kill me.  Someone else must carry little Jade through the portal and out of this burning inferno.  With his other hand, Cameron pressed something into my palm.
    “Come and find us if you really want your revenge,” he hissed at me.
    “Now, Cameron!” came a yell from the burning office.  I stood for a moment as Cameron let me go and ran into the burning room.  I looked down at the paper in my hand.  Salem 1692.   I tucked it in my pocket, not that the place or date would be hard to remember, but I didn’t know what