My stomach drops. “Wait … It? It’s like an actual thing?”
Rhyland nods. “You know the story of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde? Well, that’s about what this is.”
Alex shakes his head while opening and flexing his hands. “Fuck you, Rhyland.”
Rhyland’s lips part but his mouth snaps shut as the door swings open and a gust of icy wind howls through the room.
And Blaise is standing in the middle of it.
“We need to go now.” His voice is demanding, and his eyes are edged with a warning. “No questions. I’ll explain later—”
He’s cut off as all hell breaks loose. And I’m in literal hell.
Chapter 10
Hadley
Okay, I’m not positive if what’s occurring right now means I’m in actual hell, but massive air-swallowing orange flames are gusting through the smoky, windy air, and screams are piercing my ears from practically every angle. And when I envision hell, this is pretty much what it looks like.
Rhyland and Alex instantly go into defense mode as the flames swell into the room. They jump to their feet, and Rhyland carefully sets me down, waiting until my feet touch the floor before he lets me go.
“How bad is the fire?” he asks Blaise, whose face is pale.
“The entire main area is ablaze.” The panic in his tone is alarming. He moves back to the doorway, sticks his head out, and peers into the hallway. “I had to come through the back door, and that was a pain in the ass, because an ogre was blocking.”
Rhyland strides up beside him and looks out into the hallway. “Why the hell is an ogre blocking it?”
Blaise swallows hard. “To make sure no one gets out.”
They trade a worried look that makes my stomach churn.
Alex steps beside me, slips his fingers through mine, and gives my hand a squeeze. “We’re going to get you out of here,” he vows, his eyes clear of any darkness.
I nod, too afraid to speak. I hate that I’m this afraid, but I don’t want to burn.
A memory suddenly tugs at my mind, one I didn’t remember until now …
Flames roar around me, eating my bedroom walls and filling the air with smoke,
“Shh … It’s going to be okay,” my mom whispers in my ear as she holds me against her.
I’m young and terrified as I watch my room ignite into scorching orange. I cling to my mother as tears spill down my cheeks.
“It’s okay,” she tells me as she frantically peers around the room billowing with smoke. “I won’t let anything happen to you—”
“Hadley.” Alex snaps his fingers in front of my face, and I wrench back to reality. Worry overflows from him more powerfully than the smoke funneling through the air. “Where’s your head at, baby?”
“I don’t know—”
An explosion bursts through the air with so much force that I’m flung back.
Alex’s fingers slip from mine as I crash against the wall, the impact aching deep into my bones.
The room spins as I scramble to my feet and squint against the smoke now pouring into the room like a waterfall. I frantically try to spot the guys, but I can’t see a damn thing. And the air is scorching to the point I swear my skin is melting.
“Mom, I don’t want to die.”
“You won’t. I promise I won’t let anything happen to you.”
I need to get the hell out of here, so I get down on my knees and begin to crawl in what I hope is the direction of the doorway. I’m not sure where the guys went, if they’re hurt or if they escaped, but I look for them as I inch forward, trying my best to ignore the way the searing marble floor burns my palms and knees.
“Alex!” I call out as my eyes water from the burn of the smoke.
I get no response but the roaring of flames, so I continue moving forward, feeling a bite of panic the longer this goes on. I have no damn clue what direction I’m crawling in or if I’ve even made it out of the room.
Can immortals die if they get burned?
I think so.
The air feels heavy, and my skin is so hot …
I want to lie down …
And go to sleep …
I think I’m going to die—
Arms loop around me, and a chest lines against my back.
“Try to relax, okay?” Blaise’s calm voice is like coldness to my weeping skin.
Although, it’s odd he sounds calm, not just because of the situation, but Blaise isn’t calm, like ever.
“I’m going to get you out of here, but I need you to trust me. Can you do that?” His face is close enough to mine that our cheeks are touching.
I nod, leaning into him. “Yes.”
“Good. Okay, this is what we’re going to do.” He briefly pauses as flames hiss in our direction, his muscles weaving into knots. “We’re going to get up and make a run for it. I want you to keep your head down as much as possible and stay away from the walls, okay?”
I want to ask him how in the hell he knows his way out of here, but he told me to trust him. So, right now, that’s all I can do.
I nod again, and with his arm still secured around my waist, he says, “On the count of three, okay? One … two … three!”
We move, rushing forward with our heads tipped down. He keeps his arm securely around my waist as we swerve around fallen beams and duck underneath low flames. At one point, I hear a loud crack, and a huge section of the roof falls right in front of our feet. But we recover quickly and keep running. Sweat is beading on my skin, and I’m struggling to stay alert; the air is too sweltering.
“Just hang on a little bit longer,” Blaise says as he steers me to the right. “We’re almost there.”
A second later, we slam into a metal door. It swings open, and we stumble out of the smoke and flames, tumbling outside underneath the stars and moonlight. As my eyes adjust, I realize we’re on what appears to be a rooftop that’s currently in a state of collapsing from the fire.
Panic clutches at my chest. “We’re trapped.”
Blaise promptly shakes his head. “We had to go this way to avoid the ogre blocking the door, but we’re going to be okay. I swear to gods.”
I shake my head, gaping at him. “We can’t stay up here. The whole building is about to cave in.”
“I know, but you’re forgetting one thing.” He smiles at me, but it’s an aching smile.
I’m about to ask him what he’s talking about when he yanks me closer to him until our bodies are flushed.
“We can fly, princess.”
Shit, I forgot about that.
I start to loop my arms around him as he pushes to take off when another explosion bursts through the air, and instead of gracefully taking off, Blaise ends up springing upward then soaring to the side, straight off the edge of the balcony. We tumble blindly for a moment, plummeting toward the ground. But right as we’re about to smack into it, Blaise manages to regain some control so we don’t splatter against the cobblestone. He also scoops me up enough that his feet endure most of the impact. The second we land, Blaise and I immediately collapse to the ground. I grapple not to pass out as I lie on my back. The cool night air wraps around my skin as I focus on staying awake. The night sky has never been so damn beautiful as in this moment.