"Get down." William's voice is sharp from the driver's seat. "All the way down. Don't look up."
"William, tell me what's—"
"Down!"
I drop to the floor, my dress tangling around my legs. The space is cramped and dark. I can smell leather and cologne.
The SUV turns sharply. I brace myself against the seat. We're not going toward the front drive.
We're going in the opposite direction.
I risk lifting my head slightly. Through the tinted windows, I can see we're crossing the back lawn. Manicured grass. Ornamental trees. The gardens that looked so beautiful from my window.
"Stay down," William growls.
"Where are we going? Why are we leaving everyone—"
Another turn. Faster now. The SUV bounces over uneven ground. We're off the lawn now, on some kind of service road I didn't know existed.
Through the windows, I can see the back of the estate. All those lights. All those people. Fireworks explode into the sky in rapid succession now. Gold and silver and red.
So many fireworks.
Something cold slides down my spine.
"William," I whisper. "William, what's—"
Light.
Blinding, white, impossibly bright light that turns the interior of the SUV into daylight for one frozen second.
I look up without thinking.
And I see it.
The Murphy house erupts.
Not fireworks. Not a celebration.
Explosion.
The entire east wing lifts into the air in a ball of fire and debris. Windows shatter outward in a spray of glass that glitters like diamonds. The sound reaches us a heartbeat later, a roar so loud it feels like it's inside my chest, crushing my ribs, stopping my heart.
The fireworks weren't fireworks.
They were bombs.
And I watched them launch. Watched them arc through the sky. Watched them land on the house where everyone I know is gathered.
Where my brother is.
"REILAN!" The scream tears out of my throat. "REILAN!"
I'm scrambling up, clawing at the window, trying to see. Another explosion rocks the house, this one from the west wing. Fire blooms like a flower, orange and red and hungry.
"STAY DOWN!" William roars.
But I can't. Can't breathe. Can't think. Can't do anything but scream my brother's name over and over while the Murphy house burns.
