Page 83

My mind flashes back to earlier today, when Jin wore an almost apologetic expression as he snapped it on and promised he would return soon. I was disappointed that he was still cuffing me, though I assumed it would be fine. He would come back in an hour or two. Then we could spend the day together.

I never imagined… this.

He removed anything in the apartment that I could possibly use to free myself. No bobby pins, paperclips, needles, or anything else thin enough to fit into the lock.

I drag myself from the couch toward the front door anyway, hoping like hell it’ll magically slip off. The metal bites into the soft flesh and lets me know that’s not happening. I tug at it uselessly, trying to angle my foot at the right position to slide it out, but there’s no way it’ll work. The cuff is on snugly.

There’s no wiggling free from it.

I’m trapped like this.

A deep, hoarse cough attacks me. The air’s thickened with more smoke even in the last sixty seconds since I woke up. I lower myself to the floor, half-crouching, and then scan the room for anything.

Anything at all that I can use to smash the cuff open.

I scurry over to the bookshelf and grab the decades-old Korean encyclopedia Jin owns and slam it against the cuff, battering my own ankle in the process. Pain ripples through me as I grunt and cough and choke on the smoke.

Then I do it again. And again, trying to batter the cuff open.

“No,” I cry, eyes watering. “No… please… just…”

The smoke rushes inside the apartment until it’s overtaking the kitchenette. The crackle and hiss from the flames on theother side of the apartment door grow louder, more aggressive as they lick away, soon to burn through.

This building will probably collapse in on itself any second.

I peer out the balcony glass and notice the assortment of firetrucks and police cars five stories below. Emergency responders are on the scene, but even as the firemen prepare their big hose to spray the flames, they’ll be too late.

There’s no way they’ll make it to me in time.

I grab the chain, wrapping it around my hand, and start yanking at it with all my strength. Trying to force it loose form where it’s tethered to the radiator bar. My muscles burn from how hard I rip at the chain, pulling and pulling as hard as I’ve ever pulled anything in my life.

“Please!” I sob, my hands sweaty and my grip slipping.

It’s become so hot in the apartment, sweat pours down my back and soaks through my clothes.

I tug at the chain until I can no longer even hold on. The palm of my hand is slashed open and they’re so sweaty that it slides right out of my grasp.

Another coughing fit hits me, making me double over until I’m on all fours on the ground. The smoke has spread, a giant wall of dark gray that floats toward me.

This is how I’m going to die.

I’m going to burn up in this apartment, chained to the radiator. I’ll never breathe fresh air again. I’ll never get a proper goodbye to Mom.

Jin will return to find everything burned to the ground.

Exhaustion starts to set in. I’m gasping to breathe, fighting to keep my eyes open, and crawl toward the bedroom, where the smoke hasn’t spread as far yet.

But I can’t even move anymore. I feel like I weigh a thousand pounds as I cough and the smoke starts to swallow me up.

And then glass shatters all around me.

I flinch, heart lurching. It takes another second before I register what’s happening as crushed pieces of glass rain down around me. Delirious and dripping sweat, I lift my head to find the balcony door has been smashed in.

Jin leaps through, moving as fast and agilely as I’ve come to expect. His face is streaked black with soot, his sharp eyes wild and determined as he scans the smoke-filled area for me.

He rushes straight toward me, quickly grabbing at my ankle to unlock the cuff and then looping an arm around my waist to pull me up.

“We’re out of time. We have to move fast,” he says over the spitting flames and blaring alarm.