Page 35 of Vistaria Has Fallen

Chapter Seven

“Calli! Calli, come on now, wake up.”

Something tapped her face. Calli wished it would go away.

She tried to turn away from it. Pain ripped through her at the small motion. She groaned.

“That’s it. Wake up, Calli. I need you to wake up.”

Nick’s voice. His low caressing voice. He was here.

She remembered. “What happened?” Her voice was a croak.

Someone spoke nearby. RapidSpanish. Something about a telephone.

Nick answered. He spoke rapidly, precisely.

The man answered. A single word.

Nick said more, his voice sharp. Calli heard Duardo’s name. “Calli, open your eyes. I need to see your eyes. Quickly, Calli. Look at me.” The snap of command in his voice made her obey without hesitation. She opened her eyes. Snapped them shut as flickering light hurt them.

“No,Calli. Come on.”

A woman screamed. “Someone help me! Help! Please!”

Minnie. Calli opened her eyes and tried to sit at the same time. She cried out as pain exploded in her head.

“Slowly,” Nick said. His hand on her shoulder steadied her. He had a cut over his cheek, just under the eye. Blood ran down his face. His shirt was ripped, the torn edge blackened.Burned.

“Where’s Minnie?” Calli cried,twisting around. She had been lying on the ground tiles. Nick crouched over her.

Details snapped into place, her senses pulling it together. The house that should have been behind them stood no longer. In its place, a ball of flames reached high into the early evening sky, crackling and roaring. Screams and moans came from all around her. A babble of Spanish.

“Somebody help me!” Minnie screamedher plea.

Calli tried to get to her feet. Nick’s hand kept her down. “Take it easy.”

“Screw that. I need to help Minnie.” Calli pushed at his arm and got to her feet, the dancing shoes crunching in pebbles, dust and debris. She swayed for a second, the ground dipping, then steadied. She looked around. “Oh my God,” she breathed. There was little left of the courtyard. The walls no longer stood.

Brushed away by a giant, she thought. “Minnie!” she screamed.

“Here! Over here!” Minnie yelled back. “Oh hurry! God, hurry!” Her voice came from the jagged, broken tiles at the end. Calli headed in that direction, crunching through the debris.

“Señor! Señor!”

“Calli, wait!” Nick called.

She turned back. One man from the party limped to Nick, his face dirty and scraped.

“You go. I’ll takecare of this,” she told Nick. She moved to the edge of the tiles, testing with each step if the tiles would take her weight. They sagged under her step and the broken ends sloped down sharply. An image of people moving on thin ice came to her. She got down on her hands and knees, then stretched out across the tiles and wriggled toward the end.

The stately old tree that had provided most of theshade over the patio had taken a mortal blow. It had been pushed over the edge of the cliff by the blast. The tree’s roots were ripped from the ground, destabilizing the surrounding earth. As it fell, it had had destroyed that corner of the courtyard. The weakened ground gave way beneath the tiles. Only, with such an extensive root system, the tree was not completely torn from the earth. It leanedover the cliff like a monster’s railway crossing boom, close to horizontal.

As Calli peered over the edge, little rocks and pebbles cascading from her movements, the tree gave another deep groan and shuddered. The immense weight of the trunk and branches strained the injured root system. Soon, it would give away.

Another small gasping cry, below her, echoed the shudder of the tree. She lookeddown.

Minnie crouched on a tiny shelf, her arms outspread against the cliff for balance, her head turned into the cliff.