If he can get here fast enough, maybe he can spare her the pain.
The thought nearly breaks me, but I still pull out my phone with shaking hands and hit Maverick’s name.
One ring.
Two.
“Baby?” he answers.
“Fire,” I shout over the roar of the flames. “Please, help me.”
“Where are you?” he asks quickly.
“Sanctuary,” I cry. “Please, help me. I can’t –.”
The screen goes black.
Dead.
A scream tears out of me, and I throw the phone into the dirt.
Then the night explodes.
A boom cracks through the sanctuary so loud the ground jumps beneath me.
I scream and twist around.
For one frozen second, I can’t understand what I’m seeing.
Then I do.
The house.
My house.
Orange light fills the windows as flames lick up the front of the building.
Livy.
Still inside.
My heart tears out of my chest.
“Livy!”
I’m already running before I know I’ve moved.
Behind me, Billie screams.
Ahead of me, my house burns.
And my daughter is inside.
***Maverick***
Smoke stains the sky before we reach the sanctuary.
Thick black clouds roll upward, swallowing the stars, glowing orange from beneath. Sirens cut through the night. Red and blue lights flash across the road, the fences, the trees.
