Reapers - Master of Souls (Reapers Chronicles Book III)

16 - Fire

NP: Carousel by Melanie Martinez

Will I catch up to love? I could never tell, I know,
chasing after you is like a fairytale, but I,
feel like I'm glued on tight to this carousel

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The first few nights were hell. Every time I closed my eyes and it was completely dark, the creatures kept coming to drag me back into their pit. They would claw on me, rip my skin and make me scream.

Vincent looked worried out of his mind whenever I woke up screaming. So I stayed awake. I watched Vincent sleep. I had been doing so for the past three sleeps. It was always night in Halo so it was either wakes or sleeps.

Curling toward him, I closed my eyes feeling the movement of his chest against my hand. His flannel shirt was the only thing preventing me from poisoning him. Not that I was imagining him without it.

A blast from the lower levels made me jump out of bed.

Vincent scooted up and sniffed. "Is that... smoke?"

We didn't have time to slip into our boots. Sad. The only thing Vincent rescued from our room was my Helcium pendant. And me.

Smoke wafted onto our faces the moment Vincent opened the door. Vladimir and the others were already filing down the stairs.

Vincent pulled my sleeve. "We stick together, okay?"

I nodded.

The fire had already spread at the foot of the stairs. Vlad and his familiars jumped over it one by one.

"It's Ethereal pyre, Vince!" Vladimir shouted at us. "Careful!"

Injuries from Ethereal pyre don't heal as quickly as normal burns. Sharifa once lied to me about Cairo acquiring burns from Ethereal pyre. But we all knew he got that from entering a Door.

With one swift motion, Vincent scooped me from the floor. He hurtled down just before a slab of concrete had collapsed over the stairwell. Until he set me down, I made sure not to touch him.

We all draughted down the corridors.

"There!" Amyr pointed at an open window.

It must be at least a forty-foot drop. Nothing too dangerous, but my knees would sure get angry at me once we were down. Mei was first. Archie came next, then Vlad. He rolled on the pavement, clutching his knee.

"Bad landing," Amyr shrugged. "He did say he's got arthritis."

Before he could jump down, we heard a girl scream. I saw someone dart from the other end of the corridor.

"Cairo!" Vincent yelled.

Cairo paused for a second. His shirt had burned up, revealing burn scars from his right shoulder to his waist. Maybe even down to his right thigh. It was the one from his fight with Vincent in Centralia. I was sure.

He ran away before we could even say hello.

I heard another scream. I darted across the hallway towards the girl, skipping over the sputtering cracks in the floor.

"Aramis! Damn it! Get Cairo!" he told Amyr before running after me.

I found the stairs and climbed down two steps at a time. My feet knew exactly where to go. I might be going bonkers but I had never thought more logically until I lost all the excess baggage.

For example: the chicken came before the egg. Don't ask how. I just knew.

I flung open every door on my way. First two rooms were empty. In the third, I found Sharifa. The wall had collapsed over her legs. She had burns starting from her right shoulder down her thighs; similar to Cairo's but worse.