Fuck.
I suck in a breath, turning to face the house as the night is shattered.
I drop to my knees and throw myself over Ellie just as the earth heaves. A wall of heat slams into my back, almost flattening me.
Ellie muscles free and circles me, barking, growling, her hackles raised.
Sweat stings in my eyes, and horror locks its hands around my throat as I spin in a slow circle to face the wreckage.
I gape at the shimmering orange-red glow through the trees. At the roar of flame and the smoke choking the trees.
"No…"
I can't see the chimneys. I can't see the arch.
A bloodcurdling cry rips through the night behind me.
He barrels past, shoulder clipping mine as he races headlong toward the explosion.
"Florence!" Julian screams. "Florence!"
The sound of her name in his throat—desperate and broken—is worse than the fire. Worse than the destruction. Worse than anything Ambrose could ever do to me.
Because Julian isn't screaming for a ghost.
He's screaming for the woman he loves. The one he's about to lose all over again, for the hundredth time, because his mind won't let him keep her dead.
And I can't save him from it.
I can't save anyone.
Florence asked me to protect them, and I promised her I would.
I've broken every fucking promise that ever mattered.
My heart doesn't have time to break—it just cracks down the middle and keeps beating anyway as I wrench myself from the shock and chase after him.
"Eleven, go back!" I shout the command as forcefully as I need to, to make her listen, hoping Eli's right behind and can grab hold of her.
I sprint after Julian, bulldozing through the overgrown branches in the trail to catch up to him, but I'veneverseen him move so fucking fast.
"Florence!"
I'm almost on him when I see the house, or what's left of it.
A lump swells in my throat, and I choke on it. On the grief and smoke and the bitter taste of failure as Irun.
Flames pour from the front windows, staining the red brick arch black.
"Julian!" I call, throwing an arm out, almost within reach. "Jules,stop!"
A high, keening whistle rises from the burning skeleton of the Ashford estate—the sound of metal warping and something about to give.
It's the fucking push I need to get my hands on him.
"Damn it," I shout through my teeth, getting my hands on him to haul him backward and yank him down.
I throw myself over his body as the second explosion hits me like a wrecking ball.
