From "Fire in the Blood" by Dale Ibitz

On her 17th birthday, Haley is contemplating the life of a boobless loner who owns sucky clothes, when she tumbles to a parallel world, called Eyidora:

Tuggin turned. “Follow me. Do not fall behind.”

“Wait!” I clamped my legs together to stop their shaking.

His gaze slid down his nose and captured mine. “Follow me.”

“But my mom...”

“I would be more concerned with your safety than hers.”

His words weren’t in sync with his lips, which had a woozy effect on me as they spun through my mind. I swayed toward him.

“You must come with me,” Tuggin said. “Now.”

In hazy confusion, I fought the urge to follow Tuggin like a lost toddler, but a desire to obey him welled inside me. I concentrated on blinking to break the mesmerizing connection, and my head cleared. “No.”

Tuggin’s eyes widened slightly, his nostrils flared. With one swift movement, his knife was pointed at my throat, and the cold pinch of steel triggered an avalanche of ice down my spine.

“You will come with me, now,” he said.

My brain made one last attempt to resist. I would not keep gulping in shaky breaths. I would not pick up that backpack. I would not follow him.

Of course, in the end, I did all of those things.

From "Fire Season" by VH Folland

A small group have been cut off by the fire, with the Brooke's Vale strip the nearest rescue base.

“Gotcha.” The other pilot shut the cockpit, and dashed back to his own aircraft. Quickly he began marshalling the remaining passengers into the Robin. Behind Jim, the woman was seated, securing the belt firmly around herself and holding the toddler on her lap sideways, arms and legs tucked in tightly. Mercifully the child was not crying, looking around with wide terrified eyes.

“Ready and belted. I’ve got a good grip on her,” the woman said, quietly. The headset was obviously already on, settled with professional speed.

“Hold her tight,” Jim growled. This did not sit well with him, but he saw no other choice. He increased throttle and turned the aircraft, giving himself as much space as possible to take off. The crop sprayer’s limitations were cabin space rather than weight, but with an unrestrained passenger he wanted a smooth take off and as much space for error as possible. He was breaking every safety rule in the book but he could not, in conscience, leave people to burn.