Phantom stopped at the end of the hall where a metal door separated the offices from the front lobby. He was trembling. Smoke poured from every little gap in the door, like it washolding back a torrent of flames. If I could grab him fast enough, safety was a straight shot back through the rear exit.
My pulse thundered as I came up to the kitten. He had nowhere else to go and all I had to do was scoop him up—but my foot caught on something and I pitched forward.
I threw my hands out to catch myself. They closed around the lever of the metal door.
White-hot pain exploded through my palms.
I wrenched my hands away, but it was already too late. The damage had been done.
My palms throbbed. I stared at them through blurred, watering eyes. They were red and already swelling.
I scrambled backward, lungs aching and head spinning, as I fought the terror and pain. I suddenly couldn’t register where the kitten had gone.
“Phantom!” I choked. “Please—I can’t—I can’t—”
I was back in the dorm hallway.
Back in that heat.
Back in that smoke.
For one endless, horrible second, nothing but silence and heat answered.
“Please,” I whispered, the panic and the past thrashing within me. “Please come to me.”
A small, terrified blur shot out from somewhere to my right. Phantom collided with my knees, claws digging into my jeans as he tried to climb me. Relief shattered me.
I cradled him up against my chest, ignoring the way my palms screamed in protest. I shoved him under my sweater, holding him tight.
The hallway was darker now. Hotter.
I staggered toward the back door, half blind, coughing so hard I thought I might throw up. My legs were weak.
I rushed through the doorway into the freezing morning air.
The cold hit me like a slap.
I stumbled as far away from the fire as I could and collapsed into the snow, Phantom clutched to me.
Cold wetness soaked through my jeans. My burned hands pressed into the snow, making me gasp at the biting contrast of ice and blistering heat.
I rolled onto my side, dragging in greedy lungfuls of clean air.
Phantom wriggled and pressed closer, trembling.
I didn’t realize I was crying until I tasted salt on my lips.
Smoke billowed in a dark plume above the trees, and I stared at it, bleary-eyed and dizzy.
But I was alive.
19
Palmer
Sirenswailedfromsomewhere,but they felt far away, like they belonged to another world entirely. I had no idea how long I’d been laying in the snow. Seconds. Minutes. Time didn’t feel real anymore. Everything was suspended as I watched the cloud of black above and tried to breathe.
“Palmer!”
