Broad shoulders. Shaved head. Big.
Snod quickly turned around, his pulse beginning to thump dreadfully.
“Obe?” Frankie asked, sensing his fear.
“Ephraim Rosario,” he said, teeth tight. “Another hunter from the Order. This place is no longer safe.”
“What are you talking about?” Frankie demanded, his panic rising to meet Snod’s.
Looking around quickly, Snod jumped up and raced into the kitchen with Frankie right behind him.
Athaliah called out after them, but Snod ignored him.
The kitchen, that’s where Ephraim would have done it.
Kicking open the door, Snod found himself staring at a large bomb that had been hooked up directly
into the gas lines.
“Is that—” Frankie gasped.
“We have to get everyone out of here,” Snod hissed. “Right now, we have—”
The bomb ignited, the force of the explosion sending Snod and Frankie flying back through the open
doorway and into the bar. Fire erupted over every surface of the kitchen, and an oozing flammable
liquid carried the flames all over the floor and right toward them.
People started to scream, panic imploding as they all started rushing toward the front door.
“Are you okay?” Frankie was shouting, pulling Snod up to his feet to get him out of the way of the
flaming liquid.
Snod’s ears were ringing, and he tried to nod his head. His chest hurt, but he was all right. There
wasn’t any shrapnel in the explosion. He knew the bomb wasn’t meant to tear things apart, it was
meant to burn them.
That was always Ephraim’s way.
A second explosion by the front door sent everyone running and crying. Fire crawled all over the
walls and the stage, incinerating the colorful birthday banner in seconds. Smoke was filling the bar,
screams of terror and coughing clogging up the dim.
Snod tried to stay low, covering his mouth and trying to stay focused. The whole building was going
to burn down as fast as the flames were spreading. They had to get out of here.
“The back door!” Frankie yelled, grabbing Snod tight and blinking him outside.
Snod grunted as he was dropped on the ground, panting as he tried to clear his lungs and breathe in
clean air. Lorenzo and Athaliah suddenly popped up beside him, quickly followed by Rees. They all
