Page 18 of Girl Lost

“Out! Out! Everyone out!” Blade yelled, shoving Luna toward Corbin.

Luna stumbled into the hall and stood there. Wide-eyed. Unmoving. Mesmerized by the blue-white glow zipping along the lines of fuel. It hit the wall beside her in a burst of orange.

“Luna! Let’s go!” Corbin snapped his fingers in her face. She blinked and jerked to attention. For some reason she still wasn’t moving. Something about the fire had her rattled.

He grabbed her arm, tugging her toward the front of the house. The flames racing toward the living room illuminated S-shapedstreaks of wetness all around them. The couch. The curtains. The walls. The carpet.

Everything soaked with ... “Accelerant!” Corbin roared.

In seconds, the entire room was ablaze. Flames devoured the curtains, leaving only pillars of fire licking up the picture window’s frame. Accelerant-soaked, the couch roared into a blazing mass. The ceiling above cracked and gave way. Plaster and wood crashed down in a wave of fire and debris over the front door. Embers scattered across the floor.

Their exit choices shrank.

But the fire set to trap them here was nothing compared to what was cooking in the bathroom.

Luna gasped. A circle of fire bloomed around her feet, biting at her ankles. She slapped at the flames with her palms. He spun her around. Shoved her toward the dining room. Darted to the kitchen. Snatched the towel from the dish pile. Back at her side, he beat the flames down, fast and hard, until they died.

“My back! My legs!” Salas shrieked. “Get it off! Get it off!”

Corbin looked up. Saw Blade beating the flames off Salas with his hands. They had to get out of here.

He grabbed a nearby dining chair and hurled it through the window. Glass shattered. “Blade, get Salas out! We’re right behind you!”

Blade grabbed Salas’s arm and hauled him over his shoulder. They disappeared into the smoke.

He turned to Luna. “Now for—”

The explosion was instantaneous. A deafening roar. A blistering heat. The shock wave lifted him off the floor. He flew backward through the air and slammed into something hard. Pain shot through his shoulder.

Everything went black for a second. He coughed, struggling to clear his vision and the ringing in his ears. His hand touched something smooth and solid. Wood. A table.

The fire. The explosion.

“Luna!”

“Right here,” she said from beside him.

He shoved himself up on his hands and knees, biting back the pain in his shoulder. They’d been thrown into the kitchen. The force of the blast must have flipped the table, shielding them from the worst of it.

“You okay?”

“I think so.” She was shaky, but at least she was conscious.

Thick smoke filled the air, forcing him to fight for each breath. He pushed the table away and scanned Luna. Soot smudged her face, but he didn’t see any other injuries. He hauled her to her feet, his arm tight around her waist.

The dining room ceiling groaned and cracked. A section collapsed in a shower of sparks and burning debris. The window exit was gone.

“The back door!” Luna pointed. “Gordon’s out there!”

He could see Officer Gordon through the small window in the back door, smashing the glass with his baton. He was reaching through the broken pane, fumbling with the lock.

A wall of fire surged toward the mudroom, licking at the shelves above the washer and dryer. The heat intensified.

A fireball erupted from the mudroom in a flash of heat and orange light. Corbin yanked Luna down and shielded her body with his own as fiery shrapnel of plastic and wood sprayed across the room.

The back door was open now, but the mudroom was an inferno. No way was he risking that exit.

“The window!” He gestured to the one above the kitchen sink. “Can you climb?”