Page 112
Story: Ghosts of the Dead
There. Coordinates are scrawled in the margins. A location. A scientist’s name.
There’s a crash behind me when a beam slams down and embers spark across the floor. The fire leaps higher, cutting off my path back to the stairs, and that’s when it hits me.
The crackling. The roar. The heat so close it feels like it’s crawling into my skin.
The shed. The car. The flames swallowing everything and everyone I’ve ever cared about. The screaming. The fear-stricken hazel eyes.
I freeze. My chest locks and my vision tunnels. My foster father is trapped behind the burning beams. His face twists in pain while he burns. I try to get to him, but Eugene holds me in place, leaving behind purple bruises in the shape of fingers.
The fire presses in, licking at the edges of my vision. The smoke thickens and I can’t breathe. It’s too late. I missed my chance to get out. My knees hit the floor.
“Jace?” Autumn’s voice cuts through the smoke. Thedesperation in it is heart-wrenching. I snap my head up. I cough hard, and my eyes burn, but I keep searching through the smoke. When did it get this bad?
The heat spikes and licks at my skin. The crackle of burning wood echoes through my skull. The smoke thickens, but I keep searching for her. She should be safe with the others. She shouldn’t still fucking be here. “Autumn.”
She’s by my side in an instant with her arms thrown up over her mouth, hacking through the smoke and reaching for me. “We need to go.”
“The papers,” I say, but the flames reach them and they fall apart in my hands, turning to ash in front of me. “The answers.”
Autumn falls to her knees beside me. “Jace, we need to go. The answers aren’t more important than your life. Please, come with me.” Her hands cradle my face and she kisses me, hard, hungry, devouring. “I love you, you idiot. Please, don’t make me lose you, too.”
Her words are slow to register, but when they do, every ounce of restraint I’ve forced myself to have with her snaps. I’ve never been loved before.
My arms wrap around her, the most important thing in my life. “I love you, Autumn. I’m sorry I couldn’t give you what you need.”
“What I need is you. Alive, that is.”
My heart slams against my ribs, and I crush her against my chest while getting to my feet. I drag her back through the smoke, shielding her with my body as best I can as the flames snap up behind us. The heat bites into my skin, but I don’t care. This time, I choose, and I choose her.
We crash through the end of the corridor and the smoke billows behind us, spilling into the main area of the basement. The cages are empty now. Mars is halfway up the stairs, dragging two of the women with him and yellingorders back at Caspian, who’s clearing the path ahead from the rotters stumbling around.
Autumn coughs hard and doubles over with one hand pressed to her chest. I drop to my knees with her. My hands burn and the skin blisters raw where I fought through the flames, but I don’t care. What I care about is how her breath comes in sharp gasps. I recognize the signs. It’s not only smoke inhalation, but the start of one of her panic attacks. One she wouldn’t be having if she didn’t have to come back to rescue me from my own mind. I need to get her out of here before it takes full hold.
I scoop her into my arms, refusing to let the fire take one more person I love. Not again. Never again.
“Hold on,” I whisper against her hair as I scoop her up again. “I got you, fire demon. Just hold on.”
42
AUTUMN
Ican’t catch my breath. I’m bent over, my chest seizing, air scraping at my throat like glass. Too much. This is too much.
The smoke is too thick now. It curls around me and coils into my lungs. I try to cough it out, but it keeps coming heavier and harder.
My eyes squeeze shut and my hands press to the cold floor. The heat pressing down from behind. The fire is still raging. The women are running up the stairs to freedom, but I can’t move. I can’t breathe.
This isn’t from the smoke. Not entirely. I know this feeling. The tightening in my chest, the world narrowing to a pinpoint, the rising panic that feeds on itself. Not now. Please, not now.
“Autumn.” Jace’s voice cracks next to me. It’s rough and strained, but I can barely hear it over the pounding in my head. I gasp for air that isn’t there. My throat closes tighter and my lungs clench like they’re shrinking inside me. My hands shake and I claw at the ground.
Jace’s arms wind around me and he picks me up off the floor again and runs. The faster he runs, the harder it gets tobreathe. Everything becomes a blur. We fly up the stairs and collapse on the first floor of the building. Smoke still surrounds us, but at least we’re out of the basement.
“Need help here!” Jace yells, but his voice sounds distant through the roaring in my ears.
I shut my eyes and try to focus on my breathing, but it’s no use. The panic has its claws in me now, squeezing my chest, convincing my body I’m dying. My vision tunnels, and all I can hear is my own heartbeat, too fast, too hard.
A gentle hand lands on my shoulder. “Autumn. Look at me.”
Table of Contents
- Page 1
- Page 2
- Page 3
- Page 4
- Page 5
- Page 6
- Page 7
- Page 8
- Page 9
- Page 10
- Page 11
- Page 12
- Page 13
- Page 14
- Page 15
- Page 16
- Page 17
- Page 18
- Page 19
- Page 20
- Page 21
- Page 22
- Page 23
- Page 24
- Page 25
- Page 26
- Page 27
- Page 28
- Page 29
- Page 30
- Page 31
- Page 32
- Page 33
- Page 34
- Page 35
- Page 36
- Page 37
- Page 38
- Page 39
- Page 40
- Page 41
- Page 42
- Page 43
- Page 44
- Page 45
- Page 46
- Page 47
- Page 48
- Page 49
- Page 50
- Page 51
- Page 52
- Page 53
- Page 54
- Page 55
- Page 56
- Page 57
- Page 58
- Page 59
- Page 60
- Page 61
- Page 62
- Page 63
- Page 64
- Page 65
- Page 66
- Page 67
- Page 68
- Page 69
- Page 70
- Page 71
- Page 72
- Page 73
- Page 74
- Page 75
- Page 76
- Page 77
- Page 78
- Page 79
- Page 80
- Page 81
- Page 82
- Page 83
- Page 84
- Page 85
- Page 86
- Page 87
- Page 88
- Page 89
- Page 90
- Page 91
- Page 92
- Page 93
- Page 94
- Page 95
- Page 96
- Page 97
- Page 98
- Page 99
- Page 100
- Page 101
- Page 102
- Page 103
- Page 104
- Page 105
- Page 106
- Page 107
- Page 108
- Page 109
- Page 110
- Page 111
- Page 112 (Reading here)
- Page 113
- Page 114
- Page 115
- Page 116
- Page 117
- Page 118
- Page 119
- Page 120