Chapter Twelve
Panic rose in my chest. I churned my legs and arms, no longer certain what I was doing, only that I had to get away.
Something slimy slid over my ankle. I jerked my leg back, pitching myself forward. My cheek grazed cold, sharp rock, and pain seared my skull. I gripped the wall with one hand and wrenched my body forward, just as the creature reached out another slimy hand to touch my foot.
Get away from me!
Heat flared in my hands, burning down my arms like lava flowing through my veins. In the darkness, a shape seemed to glow from the other end of the tunnel – a burning ring of fire.
The sigil.
I only registered its shape for the briefest of moments. The heat in my hands exploded, rolling along my skin like a wave. I slipped on the rocks, my arms useless as the fire danced along my skin, burning up bone and flesh and sinew. I was my mother, then Dante, burning in a pyre of my own making, while the god raged inside my head.
Light flared through the tunnel, blinding me. The familiar roar and crackle of flames tore at my eardrums. Something screamed – it took me a moment to realize it was me. Fire consumed my body. I was a ball of radiant flame, burning bright and long and hot, so hot.
The heat rolled off me, crawling over the walls and floor of the tunnel, seeking out its prey. I rolled on my back, throwing my hands up to protect my face, trying to see through the fierce light. Through the roar of the flames and the screech of the god’s screams, I made out the faintest howl as the creature slunk back into the darkness, its wet body sliding back down the tunnel to escape the heat.
And another sound. Footsteps squelching. Someone beating at my body with something soft. A harsh female voice calling through the flames.
“Stop, stop, you’ll kill us both.” A shadow dropped down over me, waving its hands in my face.
“Stop what?” I yelled.
“Stop the fire!”
I didn’t know what she was talking about, but she sounded afraid. Heat burned across my cheeks. I raised my hands to my cheeks.Please, don’t let anyone else die in a fire. Not again.
A coolness rolled down my arms. The cold settled over my stomach, creeping to my legs and my face. The light faded, and I could begin to make out the shape of a woman, a few years older than me, with long dark hair and eyes like black diamonds, covering my body with a large jacket.
I sat up, my eyes adjusting to the dimmer light cast from small pockets of flame dancing across the rocks, sending off showers of sparks that sizzled when they hit the damp surfaces.
Where did the fire come from? How can there even be a fire in a cave? There’s nothing to burn.
Except me. I could burn. Iwasburning. So why do I feel fine?
The woman rolled away from me. She wore skintight black leggings with hiking boots. One of her legs was on fire, the flames licking the edge of her wool socks. She shrieked as she thrust her leg into the stream of brackish water running along the middle of the tunnel. Her face twisted in relief as the flames sizzled out. She withdrew her dripping leg and peeled back the fabric. Unlike my calf, hers was unharmed.
“Praise Allah for small miracles,” she muttered under her breath as she crawled back over to me. She looked familiar, but I was positive I’d never seen her before in my life. “Are you injured? Can you stand by yourself?”
“Who are you?” I demanded, ignoring her question. “Are you a teacher at the school?”
She snorted. “That’s unlikely.”
“Then what are you doing here? Why’d you set the cave on fire?”
She rolled her eyes. “You hit your head when you went down or something? That’s just what I need – if you’ve got amnesia than Allah is truly cruel. Look, I didn’t set the cave on fire,youdid.”
“I didn’t make the fire!” My palms blazed with heat. Every part of my glowed with residual warmth. I shuddered at the sensation I’d felt only a few times before in my life.It can’t be true. Not again. Please.“That creature attacked me. The fire must’ve—”
“Nope,” she shoved a hand under my shoulder and tried to yank me upright. All she managed to do was scrape my burned leg over the rock. I yelled, and she dropped me. “It was you. Now get up.”
“I can’t justmakefire…” I gasped as a fresh wave of pain ravaged my body.
“Fine. Believe it was me if that’ll make you move faster. You’ve got to get up. We’re leaving. That creature has a family who’ll be none-too-happy when they see what you’ve done to it.”
“How do I know you’re not a friend of Courtney’s, leading me into a trap?”
The woman rolled her eyes toward the stalactites, losing patience. “Because I just put out the fire that was about to burn you up? If all I get for my trouble is the third degree, I’ll just leave you here and you can try your luck with the creature’s mother.”
