They were sitting around the fire pit, Penny across from Zoe and Ronan across from Katie. The wands lay atop the book in an open chest at the roots of the big ash tree.
Katie stared into the dead fire pit, seemed to search for something there. Whatever it was seemed to elude her, and after a minute of expectant silence, she sighed and looked up at all of them in turn. Her eyes finally settled on Penny.
“You’re kind of a firebug, aren’t you.”
Penny’s first impulse was to deny this—this wasn’t supposed to be about her!—but the expression on Katie’s face stopped the denial before it left her mouth. Her words may have sounded like a question, but they had been a statement of fact. Her expression said so. Her unblinking eyes, the defiant set of her jaw allowed no doubt.
Penny gulped,
