My heart stops.
Then the shape coughs.
Moving fast, I crawl to her and check for immediate injuries.
I find nothing.
Livy coughs again, weak and ragged, and the sound slices straight through me.
“I’ve got you, sweetheart.”
She doesn’t answer.
I lift her into my arms and take one second to map out a plan.
Something below us crashes hard enough to shake the floor.
I freeze.
Please don’t be the stairs.
The window is out.
For half a second, instinct pulls my gaze toward it. Fresh air. A way out. A desperate option.
No.
Not with a fire this angry.
If I break that glass, I could give the fire exactly what it wants. Air. A path. A reason to pull heat and smoke straight through this room.
Flow path kills.
I look back at the door.
That’s the way I came in.
That’s the way we leave.
Livy coughs again, and everything in me wants to rip my mask off and put it over her face.
But I don’t.
If I go down, she dies with me.
Instead, I pull her close, tuck her face against my coat, and angle my body around hers as much as I can.
“Stay with me, Livy.”
No answer, but she does wrap her legs around my waist.
Good. She’s still with me.
Plan made, I open the door and drop low into the hall with her held tight against me.
The heat hits like a wall.
Worse than before.
