So I search and search and search with my heart thudding in my ears and the cloying smell of smoke filling my nostrils and singeing my lungs. In my peripheral, the door to the cellar is now a wall of flame as black smoke wafts toward me.
I’ve almost reached the last of the wall when I finally feel it.
A loosened brick that yields too easily at the tug of my fingers. I toss the brick away and hear it shatter as I stare inside the gap in the wall.
Resting inside is a small brass key.
“Yes!” Snatching it, I race back over to the hatch with the key clutched in my palm and waste no time inserting it into the lock. The shackle springs free, and I yank the lock off.
The door is heavy and creaks loudly as dust and dirt fall from the top and disappear inside the hole. I’m still fighting to get it open all the way when the cellar door behind me blows open.
“Fucking shit!” I scream when I see the door flying toward me followed by a wave of fire, wild, angry, and eager to consume me.
There’s no time for me to second-guess dropping into the hole or how far the fall will be. Holding the hatch open with one arm, I throw myself inside the gap and pray that I know my mountain men as well as I think I do.
SETH
Abandoning the ATVs in the foothills, the three of us race toward the cabin, ignoring the trees falling down all around us and adding to the hazard the wildfire already creates. I can feel the heat of the flames, but all it reminds me is that Aurelia might be feeling them too. We’d already glimpsed the cabin on fire once we were high enough. Had she gotten out in time?
We shouldn’t have left her.
Our paranoia over keeping her safe might just be the reason we lose her forever.
A helicopter flies overhead, no doubt alerting the sheriff and emergency services of the fire destroying everything. I expected no less of Isaac than to burn down Zeke’s refuge and any feeling of safety. Rabbits, squirrels, wolves, deer, and even a family of bears forced to leave their homes race by us in the opposite direction, toward the safety of Maia and Little Bear while the three of us head into the thick of the danger.
For her.
Isaac is up there waiting for us, waiting for us to fall into the trap he’s set. But we were already too far away. There will be no time to plan, no time for caution, so we keep running at full speed up the fiery hill toward home, knowing that it might cost us our lives.
Finally, we’re closing in on our clearing, so Khalil, Thorin, and I slow our run to a creep, keeping our footsteps silent. It’s a few more feet before we see them. The robed figures scattered throughout the trees.
Jesus, there’s a fucking lot of them.
A few of the disciples are gathered in the clearing watching the cabin burn, and I search among them for Isaac. It’s not hard to spot him in the crowd of his disciples. The prick always had to be the center of attention. The crown jewel. He stands among them silent and unmoving.
Until someone screams.
The attention of everyone, including Isaac, turns toward the woodshed in time to see the body of one of the hooded disciples drop mysteriously to the ground.
“She’s out of the cabin!” a voice shouts.
“Where is she?”
“Does someone have eyes on her?”
“There she is! Get her!”
The air is thick with more than smoke, and I feel like I can’t breathe until I spot a small figure with golden curls darting away from the woodshed and into the trees on the other side of the clearing.
Aurelia.
She got out.
She must have found our secret tunnel and the key we hid in the walls.
Good girl.My relief is palpable, mingling with Thorin’s and Khalil’s as we watch our girl disappear from sight. It’s all I can do not to rush after her when I see three or four disciples give chase. But that would be foolish and counterproductive since there are about twenty more of them armed and standing in between us and Sunshine, not to mention the ones hiding in the trees with us.
“We need to get over there,” Thorin barks under his breath. “Now.”
