The Brothers Who Let Me Burn
A gas leak started a fire in the house. The flames closed in around me as I fought to make a call to my oldest brother, Stellan Fontaine.
Stellan, the fire chief, arrived with his crew. But the ladder truck stopped at my adopted sister Piper Prescott's window, where there was not even a trace of smoke.
"Piper's been timid since she was a kid. Get her down first!"
Clinging to the window frame, I begged him. "Stellan! The flames are almost on me!"
He did not even look up. "Immediate family gets evacuated last. That's the rule. Otherwise, I'd be using department resources for personal reasons."
As Piper, still wearing her clean nightgown, stepped onto the ladder, the flames swallowed the d