Katherine hurtled back to consciousness, awakening to a world that had changed in seconds.
She’d snapped.
She opened her eyes and took in the scene around her. Sunspot’s once-familiar dining room was now unrecognizable, a mess of fallen beams, broken glass, and smoke.
She did this. She made this happen.
She heard someone calling her name—Silas.
Katherine forced herself to her feet, wiping sweat off her forehead as she whipped her head back and forth, searching. She tried to clear her throat enough to call out for him, but she felt like she’d swallowed glass. She had to keep searching. She had to find Silas so they could—
She tripped over a body.
She slammed to the ground, the breath getting knocked out of her. She heard a soft whine and turned her head to see Sylvia, lying still beside her, a beam lying heavy over her chest.
Miraculously, Katherine’s former mentor was still alive, her eyes fluttering open and shut as she struggled to remain conscious. Sylvia let out a small laugh. “I fucked up, huh?”
Katherine blinked. “Yup.”
Sylvia nodded, and then her eyes shut. Katherine stared at her. At the face of her salvation, and her damnation.
Until she felt a hand on her shoulder. Silas. His mouth was forming words, but she couldn’t focus on them. Her head was going fuzzy again, her vision stuck on Sylvia’s face.
Finally, she heard him: “Katherine, we need to get out of here. We need to go. Please.”
The air had gotten so hot that the few support beams left standing were literally burning, collapsing as they were charred away. Pieces of the roof and ceiling collapsed with them, bricks and wood and glass slamming to the ground. The building was lit aflame by magic, coming apart at the very seams.
Silas was right. They needed to go.
And Sylvia needed to stay.
Katherine looked at her one last time. Took it in, committed the face to her memory. And then she stood.
She saw it coming before Silas did.
The beam was thick, heavy—one of the rafters that had supported the slanted roof, swinging at them like a horrific pendulum of death. Katherine pushed Silas aside just in time for it to slam into her chest, her already broken ribs getting smashed to bits as she was thrown to the ground.
She lay there, staring at the sky through the holes in the ceiling. It was sunny.
The world faded to black.
CHAPTER FORTY-FIVE
Katherine woke to sandpaper on her cheek.
No, not sandpaper—Cheez-It’s tongue, grooming her in a way that was both extremely adorable and incredibly painful. She shifted, gathering Cheez-It in her arms, stopping the scratch of his tongue but at the cost of setting her ribs on fire.
The door opened, and Fiona walked into the room. “You’re alive!” Fiona exclaimed, running to the bed and wrapping her arms around Katherine. Katherine grunted in pain, but she couldn’t help but smile.
“I’m alive?” she said. “You’re alive, Fi! Thank fucking god.”
“Thank fucking Tess.” Fiona perched herself on the edge of the bed, taking over petting Cheez-It’s back while Katherine petted his head. “She pulled me out of the parking lot, dragged your unconscious body all the way back here, and then played sexy nursemaid as I recovered from my embarrassingly quick exit from the battle with the big bad. Speaking of, could we come up with a cooler story to tell people about how I wound up getting my ass handed to me?”
Katherine laughed, the motion reverberating through every one of her aching muscles. “If you want, but I don’t think you need to. You were remarkably brave, Fiona. You saved me. You’re a hero.”
Fiona blushed. “Well. For reference, then, I would like a medalanda cookie.”
“You got it.”
