Scout stumbled into the center of the room. “Finn, I can’t—” Seeing Emma, he breathed a curse, and knelt beside me. “What do we do?”
I swallowed through the rage building in my throat and closed my eyes to steady my breathing. “We get her out of here.”
More glass popped, this time a little closer. Maybe the guest room across the hall? I tried to lift her up, shoving my shoulder under her arm, but fear and exhaustion that ran soul-deep swept through me and I dissolved. I couldn’t keep it together.
Scout shook his head. “There’s no way you’re going to make it all the way out of here with her. Hell drained you, man.”
“Then help me!”
“Finn…” Scout hesitated, looking torn. “He’ll know if I touch her. I can’t risk that.”
I knew that. I knew I shouldn’t have even asked. But… damn it! I motioned to the window, trying to gain some kind of control. “Go get help. There’s a kid next door. Do whatever you have to do to get his attention. Get him to look out his window, anything. Just get him over here.”
Scout nodded and took off. A few seconds later, I heard one of Cash’s windows explode.
I turned back to Emma and smoothed the bloody hair from her cheek. “You have to help me, pretty girl,” I pleaded. “I can’t get you out of here by myself, okay?”
Tears leaked from her eyes. “Finn…”
“I’m right here.” I grabbed her hand, feeling like my chest was being torn in two.
“S’okay. Doesn’t hurt anymore.” She blinked, her eyes unfocused. “I love you.” She squeezed my hand and her eyes slid closed.
My lips froze around the words in my mouth. I’d waited a lifetime to hear her say those words, but the way she’d said them… They were a good-bye.
“No.” A breath shuddered on its way out of my lungs. I focused on each part of my body, trying to will my skin into existence, but…nothing. Not even a spark.
Rage like I’d never felt before burned through me. I would not let Maeve take this girl’s life before it was her time. I’d burn for an eternity before I let it happen.
Shaking, I stood up. A violent flash of black curled around me before disappearing into the smoke.
Maeve. And she was on the verge of changing. “Get out here, you coward! I know you’re here, and you have lost whatever is left of your twisted, sadistic mind if you think I’m letting you take her!”
Laughter echoed off the walls, as thick and deadly as the smoke that hid her from me. “What are you going to do, Finn? There’s no way out now. Just face it. I won. You lost. Game over.”
“This isn’t a game. This is somebody’s life you’re playing with.”
“You’re right. It’s my life,” she whispered behind my ear.
I spun around to face her but all I got was a face full of smoke. How could Emma breathe in this?
God knows I hadn’t been able to all those years ago. There were a lot of things that could have killed me in that crash, but the smoke had been the worst. Burning my lungs, my throat, my eyes. Eating up the oxygen until the world went dark.
Hatred coiled in my gut. “I’ll kill you! I’ll freaking kill you the second you’re alive. Do you hear me?” I staggered through the room, head spinning as I searched for Maeve’s shadow, and dissolved through several pieces of unidentified furniture before making my way back to Emma. I reached out and realized there was a body next to her. Her mother.
I stopped, a realization stirring the fear in my gut. It wasn’t the fire I needed to worry about—it was the smoke. Maeve wouldn’t let anything permanently damage the body before she could take it. She couldn’t care less about what happened to the soul inside. But I did. I blinked against the smoke and the heat, refusing to let my fear get in the way. There wasn’t room for that. Not anymore.
“Wake up, pretty girl,” I said to Emma. I managed to push the damp hair away from her face before my fingers fizzled out. Outside, Cash pounded on the locked window. “Help is coming. I swear I won’t let you die like this. I swear it.” My voice faltered as it made promises I wasn’t sure I could keep.
What if this didn’t work? What if she died on the floor of this smoke-filled room? Or, worse, the flames got to her before Cash did?
The silvery outline of Maeve’s shape shimmered in the far corner of the room. “You’re just going to get the boy killed. You do realize that?”
I couldn’t think about that right now. “I meant what I said. The minute her eyes open…” I swallowed. “If those eyes aren’t blue…if it’s you there instead of her, I swear to God I’ll kill you myself. I’ll find the first drunk on the street and use him to rip your freaking throat out. Do you hear me? Are you listening?”
“You wouldn’t dare.” Her voice quivered like water rippling out across a puddle. “They’d send you straight to Hell and you know it.”
“Oh, I would.” The words rumbled, sounding more like a feral growl than my real voice. “See, I just got out of Hell, and I’d go back in a heartbeat if it meant saving her life, but don’t think for a second that I won’t take you with me.”
“Emma!” Cash’s muffled voice shouted from the other side of the door, followed by a round of ragged coughs. He tried to open the door, but Rachel’s unconscious body was in the way.
How was he in the house? I could feel the heat of the flames pouring through the door. He got it open enough to slip through the gap and felt around for what was blocking his way in.
“Shit…Rachel?” He knelt down and touched Emma’s mother’s face, then shoved his arms underneath her and carried her out.
“No! Come back, you idiot!” I shouted, ready to smash my fist into something.
A few minutes later he stumbled back into the room.
“Emma?” he managed to wheeze between the coughs that made him double over every few steps.
Crap. Maeve was right. All I was going to do was get them both killed.
When he found her, he collapsed to the floor and pulled her into his arms. He struggled to stand, gathering her close, and backed out of the room in stumbling steps. I stayed behind them, whispering to Emma as he walked, but the second he made it to the doorway, a black blur darted in front of me and slammed Cash into the wall. He grunted and collapsed, his head slapping the floor with a final-sounding thud. Emma rolled out of his grip.
“No. Get up. You have to get up.” I knelt over Cash, whose face had already faded to an ashy gray color. The red spot under his head grew quickly, sticky and wet. Blood.
Down the hall, flames licked the living room ceiling. At least she’d started the fire on the opposite end of the house. If it had been closer, there would be no way out of this. As it stood, there was only one way out of this. I had to get it together. Find the strength. If I didn’t… If you don’t, she’ll die in this fire. She. Will. Die.
I closed my eyes and took a deep breath, feeling gravity take hold of my body, and pulled Emma up into my arms. Her skin was pale and slick with sweat, little wisps of crimson-stained honey-blond hair stuck to the side of her face. All I could think about was our last moment together. Kissing her until I couldn’t breathe. Telling her I loved her and then disappearing.
My fingers gripped her tighter as the pain overwhelmed me, drowning me in desperate waves of regret. I looked over at Cash, limp and alone. Would he die because of me? Emma would never forgive me for that. Never. From the color on his face and the growing puddle of blood beneath his head, he didn’t have much time. I couldn’t see his chest moving anymore, couldn’t hear the reassuring wheeze of his labored breathing. Death lingered like a stale stench in the air. It was so close, I could taste it.