“You are doing everything you should be doing. Stay there and don’t move until I come and get you.”
“I’m going to mute the phone and be quiet. I don’t want to risk her hearing me,” she whispers.
“Good girl. I won’t be long.”
“Okay,” she tells me, and I hear a button pressed on the other line.
I turn to Landon, who seems more angry than worried. “I’m surprised you didn’t run there.”
He shrugs. “Hayden’s there.”
“This woman might be the person who killed Scott.”
“Hayden isn’t an angel. And she’s not stupid. She’ll either piss whoever it is off so much they direct their anger to her, or she’ll attack them.”
“And you’re okay with that?” I grit out. This is his sister. His triplet.
“Fuck no. But if anyone can take care of things, it’s Hayden. She’s a fighter. Had to be. Charlotte doesn’t have the heart to kill spiders and she’s petrified of them. She makes someone come and carry them outside—then checks to make sure it doesn’t have family close by. She won’t fight back.”
Now that sounds like Charlotte.
I scrub a hand down my face as I weave through of traffic, not caring if the police are called. Speaking of. “Have you called the police?”
“I’ve messaged our family group chat and told them to. And if the library has been doused with petrol, they’ll need a fire engine too. My family will sort it. I didn’t want to speak over you and risk missing something your sister said or being heard over the other end.”
“Who is doing this?” I ask.
His jaw clenches, the first sign of the Landon I have come to know. “We’re about to find out.”
Yeah, we are.
*** *** ***
I slam the breaks on outside the library, or as close to the library as I can get. Police cars and fire engines block most of the road.
I jump out, leaving the ignition on and don’t bother to shut the door as I run to where Myles, his wife, and a few other members of her family are. Jaxon is pulling Lily away from the building, her grief echoing over the sirens.
My dad should be here any moment. Landon called him in the car and Dad was frantic and livid.
Kayla drops her head onto her husband’s chest, tears streaming down her cheeks as her body shakes with her cries.
“What’s happening?” I ask, motioning to all the police standing and chatting. “Why aren’t they going in there?”
“The doors are blocked. No one can get in. At the moment, they are trying to call the library but it’s ringing out,” Myles answers.
“We can’t hear the phone,” Kayla chokes out.
“I’m going in,” I tell them, moving toward the alleyway. It’s where she keeps the bins but there has to be a way, some old door or window we can climb through.
“I’m coming,” Landon declares.
“There’s no way in,” Myles interrupts, stopping us. “And the police won’t let us get near it.”
“They threatened to arrest us,” Kayla bites out.
Max scoffs. “There’s always a way in.”
Yes, there is.
We jog toward the alley and two policemen step in front of us. “You can’t go down there.”
Screams that are more like pleas echo from inside, right before flames engulf the heavy duty curtains she has for show on the window near to us. We step back, the heat hitting us in the face as the glass shatters. “Fuck!” I hiss, my stomach bottoming out.
We stare at the flames, all of us knowing what it means. Police rush past with a yellow battering ram. It will be fruitless for them to even try. I have seen the bolts she has on the inside of the doors. They aren’t getting in that way unless one of them manages to unlock it.
“Let us past,” I grit out.
“Now,” Landon demands.
“Sir, step back,” the tall, lanky officer demands, placing his hands up.
“No,” Max screams and the police officer’s attention goes straight to him. “I need my book.”
“It’s my book,” Myles yells.
“Charlotte,” Kayla screams, Lake’s following with her own daughter’s name flowing from her lips.
Harlow, a woman I have only met a few times, collapses to her knees as she takes in the blazing fire. “No, Madison, no.” Her husband lifts her to her feet, clutching her to his chest. Her face is pale, gaunt, and his looks no better.
They have so much to lose in that building.
But my future is in there.
My world.
I glance to the left in time to witness Myles shove Max away. Max hisses. “You can’t even read a cereal box.”
“You can’t even read that,” Myles fires back.
“Don’t make me use big words.”
“Do you even know any?”
“No,” Max barks. “Because my fucking dictionary is in that building.”
“It’s not yours,” Myles yells.
“I’m going in after it. I can’t let it burn to ashes. Not my dictionary. Not today,” he wails.
When he goes to make a move, the police officers blocking our way intervene. They have been so riveted by the act they are playing, they haven’t even remembered us, and we manage to slip by without any other officer bumping into us.
We reach the place where she has the bins tucked against a wall, and Maddox jumps out from behind, scaring the fuck out of us. I’m glad Landon made a noise too. I’d never have lived it down if they thought they could get one up on me. Not that it matters right now.
“When did you get here?” Landon hisses, glancing up at the building.
“I’ve had a bad feeling in my chest for a while—”
“Probably heartburn again,” Landon mutters, scanning the wall. There’s one window, but even with the added height of the bin to stand on, it’s too high—even for me.
“No, it’s Madison. She messaged me saying she was on her way back earlier and was going to head to Charlotte’s. After that, I had this feeling that wouldn’t go away. So when she wouldn’t answer, I started making my way over here. I received your message not long before I arrived. I’ve been trying to get in ever since.”
Landon just stares, dumfounded for a moment. “Your twin thing freaks me out.”
Maddox rolls his eyes. “Yes, because you, Liam and Hayden are so much better.”
“Drag the bin to that window,” I order. We don’t have time to chit chat.
I watch as Landon does the calculations in his head. “It’s still too high.”
“Not with a little boost.”
I quickly send a message to Nora, asking her if she can get to that window. She doesn’t reply and that sinking feeling, that gut churning I have ignored since the fire began, erupts. What if she’s hurt? What if the person has found her? What if she’s caught in that fire?
Moments later, the window above smashes, glass raining down on all of us. “Help!” she screams.
All of us move at once, dragging the bin below. I jump up, the other two following. Landon grips his fingers together and I press my foot into his hands, and reach up, grabbing the pipe sticking out to hoist myself up. Glass keeps shattering above before Nora sticks her head out, placing her jacket over the edge of the window, covering the glass.