“Everyone okay?” I called out. Around them, they all nodded.
One woman pushed forward, and I recognized her as Mrs. Thomson, the librarian. “The room’s going to go up—”
“I know,” I said. “I’ll need to get you all out of the window while I check the last rooms.”
“I—I have a fear of heights,” the teenager mumbled.
Before I could say anything, another woman nudged her. “It’s either get over that in the next two minutes or die.”
At the stark realization, the group fell silent. I could only blink before a crash behind me in the hallway jolted me back into action. “Okay, let’s go!”
I hoisted the child over my shoulder, my heart pounding with adrenaline as smoke poured into the room. The adults were already protecting their noses and mouths, and I’d have the kid out in a second. The teenager was white with fear as she looked towards the window. Whoever the adult had been was right. It was too dangerous for me to carry her out through the building.
Outside, the ladder was waiting for me, with Jackson’s sub-team set up, Jackson leading them. He met my eyes from the ground.
“We’re ready for them!” he called out. “Let’s go, c’mon!”
Holding onto the child, I climbed out of the window. I hovered there, looking at the rest of the adults. “Are you guys all right climbing down alone?”
“Got it,” Mrs. Thomson called. “I’ll oversee everyone makes it out.” Even with the fear in her eyes, she took charge. I glanced at the teenager.
“I’ll come back for you, if that’s easier,” I told her, and she nodded.
Quickly, I had the child set down on the ground, where Nate and Theo were waiting to group everyone and find relatives and friends, anyone they could be around, so nobody was left alone.
I dashed back up the ladder, where the adults had the teenager ready to be lifted through the window. She looked uncomfortable, but it was this or… or nothing. I had her over my shoulder in a second, and she trembled as I carried her down. She immediately went over to Nate and Theo, quaking.
I left Jackson to guide the remaining adults down while I ran back inside for one more careful sweep of the rooms. Something didn’t feel right. I’d always lived for danger; it was part of why I’d taken this job. But the fires in Honeycreek had been increasing lately. There wasn’t just orange flame, as normal, but shoots of green fire. There had been too many incidents this month alone for it to be a freak accident after a freak accident.
No one was left, but I heard a quiet meowing in the corner of the main library that had been half-doused, but the flames were persistent. I stopped dead when I saw a cat curled up on the top of a bookshelf in the far right corner.
“I can’t leave it,” I muttered, shouldering my way through the room, ablaze. The main library was utterly destroyed, but this cat couldn’t be left. It was a black and white tuxedo, and my heart beat faster as I raced through the length of the room to where it was perched.
I’d like to have a kitty one day. In my head, I heard a female voice—a voice I always tried to block out whenever I remembered it—talk about it, and I told myself that I didn’t stopfor that. For a long-ago afternoon where a girl told me her ideal life.Maybe a rag doll or a tuxedo with little white paws. I’d call her Waffles.
Why Waffles? I’d asked.
She’d giggled, something I hadn’t let myself properly think of as beautiful back then, and said,Who’d expect a cat to be called Waffles? I like the unexpected.
And now I was clambering up onto a half-broken chair, braced against the wall and bookshelf, and scooped a mewling, hissing thing into my arms.
“Hey, you,” I said softly. “You want to come with me?”
The cat tensed before looking up at me.
“Yeah, yeah, I imagine you have some reservations,” I laughed, and the sound of something collapsing, and my name being shouted, had me moving. I finished my sweep, tucking the cat into my jacket, and finally declared that we’d gotten all the survivors.
“Mase!” Theo shouted when I broke through the entrance of the library. Half of it was utterly gone, and there was a crowd gathered around, all murmuring, some picking up the survivors. “What the fuck are you playing at?”
“I had another rescue,” I told him, pulling the cat out. She was beautiful and soft, a little coated in ash, but she meowed quietly, looking between Theo and me.
“You—you fucking risked your life overa cat?”
I narrowed my eyes at him. “Yeah, I fuckin’ did, and don’t challenge me again, Theo. I’ve had enough of that for today. I’m not leaving any life behind. This one included.”
“We’re dealing withdemons, here—”
“We don’t know that,” I growled. At the noise, the cat protested noisily. I stroked a thumb over her soft head. “Why demons, Theo? What’s their plan, huh?”
