She leans back to look at me, and just seeing her tear-streaked face makes me angry again—frustrated I couldn’t do more.
“When we came here… My parents paid him all of our savings—all ofmysavings. Could we…?” Her voice is uncertain as she asks but I immediately nod.Anythingfor her.
“Where is it?”
“His office, I think. There.” She points to the end of the hallway.
“All right. We have to move fast though. The fire will spread quickly.”
“T-thank you.”
We enter the office, and without putting her down, I go through all the drawers of the study, though I don’t find anything.
“Are you sure it was here?”
“I think he put them in a safe,” she adds as she points to the bookcase.
Nodding, I walk around the wall-high bookcase, feeling my way around it. With one hand I hold her in my arms, and with the other, I try to concentrate the energy within my body to probe for any secret space. After a few moments, I feel something. Pulling the bookcase aside, I find a metal safe nestled within that’s powered by runes.
“I… Forget it. We should just leave,” she says when she sees we have no way to open it.
“No. We’re opening it.”
Taking a few steps back, I focus all of my power on the metal safe, pulling the door open and breaking the runes protecting it.It takes a lot of energy for me to do so. Though the runes are not the highest quality, they still exert a lot of force on the locking mechanism.
With a loud pop, the safe door becomes dislodged, and due to the force, its hinges fail and it falls to the ground.
My eyes widen when I see what’s inside.
Rows upon rows of vials containing a blueish substance.
Zantrax.
Damn! That’s quite the surprise.
On the bottom part of the safe, there is a pouch with money.
“That’s it,” Miss Moe says.
Grabbing it, I also stuff all the vials inside it before securing the pouch to my waist.
The fire is raging on the second floor, quickly consuming everything in its path. The wooden staircase that connects the floor is a dark color as the flames engulf it.
Holding tightly onto Miss Moe, I activate the speed and take us out of that burning hell.
19
The clouds gather on the horizon. Droplets of rain fall out of the sky, soon inundating the roads.
We arrive at my home and enter the living room. Still holding her in my arms, I find it hard to let her go. But considering how scared and traumatized she is, I don’t want to add to her worries.
As carefully as possible, I lay her on the sofa and deposit the pouch on a table. With a movement of my finger, I separate her money from the Zantrax vials and store the latter in a dry and cold cupboard in the kitchen.
Though she is in a foreign place, she doesn’t even glance around. She stares at me, her lower lip trembling slightly.
Kneeling in front of her, I take her hands in mine. I swallow down uneasily as I ask, “Miss Moe… Are you alright? Did he do anything to you?”
My coat is still draped over her shoulders, but through the slit at the front I can see her tattered dress. The material had been torn all around her chest area, though luckily her lower half seems to be mostly intact. Still, I cannot help but think of the worst even as my stomach twists and turns.
