I jumped onto the other side of the chasm even as the bridge fell into the lava below, and gripped the door knob so I wouldn’t fall back down. There was a small flare, and the bridge was no more.
In my anger, I kicked down the door leading back to outside. And then I stared, unable to process what I was seeing.
All my friends- I’ll include Riley in this group for now- were lying on the ground. Their guards had disappeared. I made my way over to Ella who was coughing. In other words, she was the only one showing any signs of life.
“What happened?” I asked.
“I don’t really know,” she replied honestly. “There was an explosion. . . . . ” she broke off to cough again, “and the guards just kind of. . . . . dissolved. I don’t know how. But all of us got knocked down.” I blinked. So it had worked. I had. . . . . well exterminated (I didn’t just want to say killed) all the Fireshapers. I glanced around, and then reconstructed my sentence. All the Fireshapers except Riley.
Dakota sat up next, muttering something about bad cheese, and crawled over to me. Jen woke up next, shook her head, and claimed she had a headache and that she wanted to have a tea party. I figured she would be okay.
I focused on Flame’s body. Most of the others were awake now. I was waiting for him to get up, cough a few times, and then tell me I was absolutely mad. But he didn’t move. He looked oddly still.
And then I realized why.
Flame wasn’t breathing.
