Total pages in book: 193
Estimated words: 184001 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 920(@200wpm)___ 736(@250wpm)___ 613(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 184001 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 920(@200wpm)___ 736(@250wpm)___ 613(@300wpm)
Everything ugly inside the deputy tries to spill out of him like toothpaste in the tube when you squeeze it hard enough but change your mind at the last minute.
Wrong angle, I guess. That’s disappointing. No necklace for me.
“For someone who’s supposed to be undying, he sure looks dead as fuck to me.” Khalil stands and spits on Daniel’s twitching body and then lifts his gaze, which softens when it finds me. “You okay, Seth?”
“No,” I answer as I steal the deputy’s gun from his holster. “We need to go. Sunshine’s in trouble.”
“The fuck are you talking about?”
“Isaac has her.” I don’t bother handing them the binoculars so that they can see the fire since that would waste time. I just start running for the ATVs and feel them hot on my heels as I pray we get there in time.
AURELIA
You’re going to have to do a lot better than that, asshole!” Coughing immediately proceeds my shout with my voice barely rising above the roar of the fire. It doesn’t matter. Anyone else would have run from the cabin when they had the chance, which means Isaac is already learning how badly he’d overestimated my will to live.
If living means giving up Zeke and Seth, and even Bane to that monster, consider me one deader than dead bitch. He can’t have them. I won’t let him.
After shoving on my boots and tying my wet shirt around my nose and mouth, I crawl in sports bra and shorts underneath the flames licking the walls and ceiling and head toward the basement stairs. I tell myself not to look back at the destruction, but I don’t listen. My gaze, like my heart, is drawn to the dining table where we shared all of our meals—some rife with tension but most of them pleasant and filled with laughter.
The worn books that I never got to finish reading.
The loft and the first piece of this cabin that I claimed for myself.
And then there’s the view of the wilds that I never came to fully appreciate but hoped one day I would—in time.
Now there is no time left. It’s all gone. Or will be soon.
The fire has nearly engulfed the cabin, and even though I can’t see them anymore, I know that they’re still out there.
So I crawl toward my doom rather than run for safety.
The fire hasn’t reached the basement yet, but I only have minutes until it does, if I’m lucky. Strategically, it’s the worst place to be in a fire, but it’s also my only way out of the cabin undetected.
The front wall of the cabin is engulfed, so I’m forced to crawl down the stairs, ignoring the way the hard edges dig into my hands and knees, bruising them as I go. Finally, I reach the bottom where I stand and look around, but my relief at seeing the den unharmed is short-lived.
Wood groans and debris from the ceiling rains down on my head. Something explodes above me, and I hear more glass shatter before a plume of fire sets the top half of the stairs aflame, barring my only way back. I feel the heat rising even faster down here as the smoke quickly builds inside the enclosed space, burning my eyes and limiting visibility.
I quickly locate one of the battery-powered lamps and start for the cellar door when I stop after a few steps, my gaze catching on Khalil’s open door and the bed of twisted branches. Flames have already made their way inside the room through the shattered window overlooking the cliff, and while my head screams no, the plea in my heart is relentless.
“Fuck.” I divert from the cellar and dash into Khalil’s room.
One of the four posters holding up the canopy is already on fire, and my heart breaks a little for the inevitable destruction of the beautiful bed, but it’s not what drove me in here. It’s not what I risk precious seconds to save. Falling to my knees, I shove my hand under the mattress and blindly feel for the reason. The fire is getting closer, and when I nervously glance over my shoulder, I can see it curling around the doorframe. Less than a foot from my face, I scream when a piece of the canopy falls onto the bed and the burned bark singes the comforter.
“Come on, come on…”
Finally, my fingers touch the smooth film of the photo, and I free the picture of Khalil’s parents from under the mattress. Rising to my feet, I fold and tuck it into my shorts and then head for the door. As soon as I run out, the ceiling of the den collapses, and I feel the heat of the flames that burst through the hole it created. I watch with my heart in my throat as the fire spreads across the ceiling. More of it spills from upstairs, completely engulfing the basement stairs.