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4Orange blobs of light spluttered in a dotted circle, tendrils of smoke lifted from the forest floor to mix together in a blueish haze of eucalyptus-scented dawn mist. Embers burst upward in mini explosions of heat and light dancing with the night before dropping down to extinguish on the dusty ground. Occasionally one landed on a stray piece of summer-dried grass and sizzle into life. Tiny spot fires were stomped out, their remains ground into the cleared earth even as a low voice beckoned the flames skyward in spirit if not in all their deadly glory. Lael had released Malaik’s body from its crude prison and dragged it through the house, out the back door, and deep into the forest that encroached on the unfenced backyard. She’d climbed as high as she could in the hilly bushland, bent ov