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Wait . . . I sniffed. Beneath the smell of gas, it almost smelled like⁠—

I took a right turn and skidded to a stop in front of a raging wall of flame.

Not a hypothetical fire then.

Uhm . . . Glancing around revealed no red arrow, just a layer of thick smoke gradually sinking lower and lower. It was fine, I just had to backtrack.

Hidden sprinklers burst on, but the mist did nothing to douse the raging inferno that was fast consuming the corridor, and coming right for me.

Okay. This was . . . slightly alarming. Victor had said he was going to destroy the building, but I’d sort of hoped he’d do it without us still in it.

I backed away, retracing my steps. I must have missed a fire-exit sign somewhere. There hadn’t been all that many wrong turns to take. I’d just mosey on back and take the next right. There was time. Right? The gas wouldn’t be flammable. That would have been ludicrous.

I quickened my pace, turned right, and hurried away from the flames.

Victor and Zee had to be around here somewhere.

Blistering heat warmed my back. Glass smashed in my wake.

Finally, ahead, I spotted Victor trying to wrestle a floppy Zee through a stairwell fire door, which was proving tricky as he still had his wings out.

“Adam.” Victor propped Zee against the wall. “Zodiac is only partially conscious, but not enough to understand he needs to make himself smaller or translocate into the stairwell just through that doorway.”

“Uhm, Victor. So . . . there’s a small fire, and I was wondering if the gas was maybe flammable? Probably not, right, because that would be insane.”

He puffed his disheveled hair from his face. “It’s highly flammable. In fact, my plan is unfolding perfectly. The gas will ignite, destroying this floor and the subsequent floors below, reducing Reynard Technologies to rubble.”

“Oh. Okay. But later, right? After we’re out?”

He nodded at Zee slumped against the wall, mumbling about frogs. “We were never supposed to be here. I was going to trigger the virus remotely. So please, persuade Zodiac to go through the door, Adam. Our survival increasingly depends upon it.”

“Zee.” I grasped his face in both hands and patted his cheeks. “Zee, hey?”

Purple eyes rolled. “Frog legs are tasty.”

“Uh-huh, yup. Zee, we need to go through that door. See it?” I turned his head, making him see.

“There’s a door?”

“Yes. Can you make your wings go away so we can go through?”

“I like it here.” He slid down the wall, wings flopped around him. “So sleepy. Sleep with me, Adam.” He flung an arm around my neck and dragged me against his chest. “Adam sounds like dragon. Ha.”

I peeled his arm off and frowned up at Victor. “Help me carry him. Let’s try to shove him through.”

“I’ve tried. It’s like trying to get an angry feline into an ill-sized carrier.”

“You had a cat?”

“I’m very old. There are few creatures I’ve not had as pets.”

That wasn’t sexual right? He meant pets as in animals, not people pets . . . probably. “Wait, I have an idea. Zee?” I patted his face again. His beautiful eyes fluttered open. “Hey there.”

“Hey, Kitten. Ish morning?”

“Nope. But we’re going to play a game. You like games. You see that door right there? If you go through the door, Victor will say testicles.”

Zee shifted his gaze up, and a glance over my shoulder revealed Victor frowning at us both. “Is true? You say it?”