Page 98 of Exquisite Things

He’s already out the door. I follow him to Maud’s room. An open window. A cold night breeze blowing through it. The sound of carnage is louder without glass to shield it. She’s stuffed her bed with pillows. Snuck out to live life on her terms.

Oliver leaps out the window. Lands athletically. “Oliver!” He doesn’t answer. Starts running toward Railton Road. “Oliver!” Lily would have barged in by now if she were up. I could wake her. But that’s not what I do. I jump out the window too. Land hard on the pavement. Fall to my side. We may be immortal but we do feel pain. The impact hurts. The fear makes me forget the pain. I chase him. He searches for her.

What I see stuns me.

Our neighborhood is burning.

Police hide behind their vehicles.

Young men and women smash bricks into police cars. Drag cops out of their cars. Fight back. Make the police answer for their crimes. For theirsuspicions.

The George burns. The buildings around it still stand. Maud stands outside the old pub. Oliver finds her. I catch up to them. We stand side by side. Watch the place burn down.

“Old racist pub.” There’s a smile on Maud’s face as she watches it disappear.

“It’s not the pub that was racist. It’s the assholes who worked there.” Oliver takes Maud’s hand in his. They laugh uproariously.

“What’s so funny?” I turn to them. I feel excluded. “Let’s go home.”

“This is our home.” Maud’s eyes can’t glow like ours. But they can light up with fury. “And it’s about time they understood that you don’t come to a person’s home and lock them up for living.”

Maud runs into the road. Raises her fist up in the air. High-fives every brother and sister she sees. Joins the chants. Unleashes her power.

“We have to get her home now.” Oliver turns to me. “She can’t be out here all night.”

I follow Oliver as he chases after Maud. Police wield their weapons against the protesters. Beat them with batons. Point their guns. Young protesters throw petrol bombs at police cars. I watch one burn. Oliver must be looking in a different direction because he suddenly screams—

“MAUD.”

Oliver bolts toward Maud. A petrol bomb flies in the sky. Toward a police car. Maud directly in its path.

“MAUD, MOVE.”

Oliver leaps. Pushes her down to the ground. The petrol bomb misses her. Misses the car too. Hits Oliver. His hair catches fire.

A blaze.

“OLIVER.” Panic on Maud’s face. Her eyes full of regret. Fear. “Bram, help, what do we do?”

I see a woman sleeping on the street. Thick blanket on her feet. Watching the destruction with a resigned lack of surprise on herface. I don’t have time to ask for permission. I snatch the blanket. Leap into the blaze. Wrap Oliver in the blanket. The blaze engulfs me too. We’re both aflame. Maud screams. The agony of her voice. No one else seems to notice us. Too many other burning things to look at. I wrap the blanket around us tight.

Oliver’s voice in my ear. Hopeful. “Bram, maybe this is it? Maybe this fire will burn away our immortality. Do you have the last page with you?”

I always keep it with me. Just in case. I push us down to the ground. Roll around on the pavement until the flames have gone out.

“Bram, tell me if you have it!”

“I do.” Fire made us this way. Will these flames reverse our immortality just as flames once made us immortal?

But nothing happens. We emerge unsinged. Unharmed. Alive. I pull the page out of my pocket. I put out the fire before it could burn. I put it safely back.

Maud stands above us. Shocked. “Are you all right? I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I’m sorry. This would never have happened if I hadn’t snuck out.”

“We’re okay.” I touch Oliver’s skin. Still as smooth as ever. Mine too. Our eyes still glow orange.

Maud leans forward and touches us too. A hand on Oliver’s cheek. A hand on mine. “I don’t understand. You’re not hurt.”

“It’s a miracle.” I look at Maud.