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I pressed my palm over my head and leaned my face against the hot glass. “I can’t open it!” I yelled over and over.
Daniel had heightened sight. I hoped he could read my lips. He finally nodded and yelled at another man, who turned and ran away.
Emily and her mom appeared, holding each other. She stared up at me with a horrified expression. I stared down at Gavin, wishing I could tell him I loved him one more time.
An explosion sounded, and I turned to see the wall of my room that separated it from the hall was now engulfed in flames.
No! I pounded on the window. “Fire!” I screamed it over and over. Someone, please help me!
The sirens were louder, but they could be seconds or minutes away. I wasn’t sure how much longer my barrier could protect me.
The man Daniel ordered returned with a ladder. Together, they leaned it against the wall below me, and as I pressed my face to the glass, I could see it was several yards too short.
I started coughing and looked around. The shimmer was fading. Was my barrier unable to handle this or was it me? Was I dying?
I covered my mouth with my shirt and watched Gavin run to the ladder and start climbing. He reached the top and held his arm up, but it was no use. There was no way he could reach me.
Daniel was yelling below him, and then the rest of my guys appeared. They were all screaming as their parents ran up behind them. Tessa pointed to me, and I watched the horror appear on each of their faces. I pounded on the glass. I needed them. I just needed to get to them, and everything would be fine.
The heat was getting worse. I glanced over my shoulder. The bed was on fire. It was only ten or fifteen feet away and moving faster than it should.
Tears streamed out of my eyes.
I faced the window and pounded again.
Vince was shouting and pointing. He could break through the glass, but he couldn’t reach it. None of them, even with their abilities, could help me. None of us could fly or jump or stretch.
Lights flashed behind them, and the crowd parted as two fire trucks pulled into my driveway. Daniel ran to them and pointed up to my windows. The firefighters moved quickly, and soon a ladder slid out toward me. Then, a figure climbed on it and took careful steps up each rung.
I was choking. My barrier was gone, and the smoke was too thick for my shirt to filter. I looked down at my boys one more time before my legs collapsed under me, and I slid down the glass and onto the floor.
* * *
“I shouldn’t have lefther. I should have stayed.” Sky’s voice sounded so far away.
My throat throbbed. I tried to swallow, but the pain was unbearable.
“I shouldn’t have hesitated. I sat there for at least three minutes before I called nine-one-one because I couldn’t believe what I saw.” Noah’s sounded wrong. His voice was gravelly.
“I should have gone in. I should have gone through the front door and gotten to her.” Gavin was so broken.
“Stop it,” Luca barked. “Sky, your dads needed help. You couldn’t have known something was going to happen. Noah, you had no way of knowing what you saw was happening now or in a year. You can’t blame yourself for taking a few minutes to figure it out. If you ignored it and went back to sleep, she might not have made it. You trusted your instincts and saved her life. Gavin, if you ran in, you would have died. You saw the fire in her room. There’s no way you could have made it down the hall.” Luca was yelling at them. Why did he sound angry? And sad?
They were all sad. Why?
“He’s right. We all got there as soon as we could. They got her out. That’s all that matters.” Vince? He was here too?
“She should be awake by now. The nurse said she should have come out of it a few hours ago. Why isn’t she awake?” Noah’s voice was suddenly closer.
Why couldn’t I open my eyes? I tried, but my body wasn’t listening.
A flicker of a memory surfaced.
Heat.
Smoke.
Did something happen? This felt familiar. Like the time I woke up after Davey tried to kill me.
