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Now he was close enough that she could make out his babbling. “There used to be sand. Right by the door.”
Sand?Smoke had already addled him. “Come, son. We must leave now.”
But Gio twisted his arm out of her grip and bolted toward the stairs to the children’s section before she caught him again. “But—” he broke off, coughing, and she wanted to shout at him to stop breathing in the smoke—“we can’t leave the books.”
Right then, Martina knew that Louise should not have worried, warning her not to put a love of reading before family. Nothing, nothing was more important than making sure Giowas safe. She’d torch a hundred books, a thousand, before risking her son.
All the fierceness of an Italian mother went into her firm “Youwillcome with me. Now.”
But it met the stubbornness her son had inherited from a father used to getting his own way, and in one smooth motion, he’d broken her grip on his wrist and lunged toward the nearest box, struggling to heft it into his arms. “I’m not leaving without them.”
It was one of the crates he’d packed for the soldiers, she realized. LabeledAdventure books.
Dizziness spun at her. Too much smoke. She reached for the box, trying to pull it from Gio’s arms, but couldn’t find the strength, her vision blurring around the edges.Have mercy.
“Gio!”
A new voice. Freddy. Easy to identify from the eyepatch, even with a bandanna wrapped around his mouth. A second miracle. Without a word, he seemed to take in the situation and pulled the box from Gio.
“Follow me.” The forceful way he said it seemed to break Gio out of his haze. The path to the front door seemed to be relatively clear. None of the flames had spread past the checkout desk.
Cinders fell on them, and she swatted them away, where they fell on the wood floors, the wood shelves, all those books....
It was a fire that endedJane Eyretoo. Only in that case, Thornfield’s burning and Mr. Rochester’s blinding had somehow been a good thing, the start of a happy ending.
Martina shoved out the sound of crackling flames and the burn of hot air, and focused on holding Gio’s hand, pulling them toward the front door, still clear. She could hear the sirens. Finally, her hand was on the door’s handle, letting in a whoosh of night air, clean and breathable. She took it in in gasps, tuggingGio farther along, toward the fire engine, the dew-soaked grass, the sidewalk.
Then she collapsed, exhausted, wanting to tuck her head onto her knees and close her eyes. Instead, she watched others move around her. Freddy set the box down on the grass and joined the other volunteers. The firefighters had connected the hose, baptizing the flames. Avis sat with Rosa in her lap, sound asleep, unaware of their near escape.
The books were burning. But Gio was safe.
He leaned against her, shivering from the sudden chill.
“Never run away from me again.”
“I won’t. I promise.” Then the two of them sat on the sidewalk, watching smoke streak the charcoal gray of the early morning sky, interrupted only when Miss Cavendish herself bustled over.
Of course someone would call her immediately. The library belonged to her family.
Without so much as a greeting, she knelt beside Martina, a bracing arm on her shoulder. “Breathe deeply, please.” At her questioning look, Miss Cavendish added, “I’m a trained nurse. Freddy told me what happened.”
“But don’t you need to—?”
She dismissed the question with a wave of her hand. “This is more important.” She leaned in closer, her ear pressed nearly to Martina’s chest. “Now, breathe in.”
Martina did as instructed, and Miss Cavendish moved on to Gio.
She had them open their mouths wide, inspecting their throats, and then had Avis shine a flashlight to examine their eyes and the color of their skin.
One by one, Louise went through a battery of businesslike questions: Did they feel dizziness when they stood? Any shortness of breath? How deep did the coughs feel when they’d first exited the burning building? Had they sustained any burns?
Finally, her curbside examination complete, Louise rose. “You will both be fine, thank the Almighty.” The relief on her face was genuine, though replaced quickly with a stern frown. “Do not exert yourself, and for goodness’ sake, as soon as this madness has calmed down”—she waved at the firemen showering the roof with their hoses—“find someone to take you home to get some sleep.”
“Thank you,” Martina whispered.
But even when Russell offered to drive them back to their warm bed, she couldn’t seem to look away from the scene. Time passed slowly as dawn began to color the sky. Each moment dragged on, her tired eyes drooping closed in between, ignoring the buzz of activity. Near sunrise, Gio told her what he had seen.
“I fell asleep waiting for him to come back. And he did.”
