Page 112 of Ghosts of the Dead

There. Coordinates are scrawled in the margins. A location. A scientist’s name.

There’s a crash behind me when a beam slams down and embers spark across the floor. The fire leaps higher, cutting off my path back to the stairs, and that’s when it hits me.

The crackling. The roar. The heat so close it feels like it’s crawling into my skin.

The shed. The car. The flames swallowing everything and everyone I’ve ever cared about. The screaming. The fear-stricken hazel eyes.

I freeze. My chest locks and my vision tunnels. My foster father is trapped behind the burning beams. His face twists in pain while he burns. I try to get to him, but Eugene holds me in place, leaving behind purple bruises in the shape of fingers.

The fire presses in, licking at the edges of my vision. The smoke thickens and I can’t breathe. It’s too late. I missed my chance to get out. My knees hit the floor.

“Jace?” Autumn’s voice cuts through the smoke. Thedesperation in it is heart-wrenching. I snap my head up. I cough hard, and my eyes burn, but I keep searching through the smoke. When did it get this bad?

The heat spikes and licks at my skin. The crackle of burning wood echoes through my skull. The smoke thickens, but I keep searching for her. She should be safe with the others. She shouldn’t still fucking be here. “Autumn.”

She’s by my side in an instant with her arms thrown up over her mouth, hacking through the smoke and reaching for me. “We need to go.”

“The papers,” I say, but the flames reach them and they fall apart in my hands, turning to ash in front of me. “The answers.”

Autumn falls to her knees beside me. “Jace, we need to go. The answers aren’t more important than your life. Please, come with me.” Her hands cradle my face and she kisses me, hard, hungry, devouring. “I love you, you idiot. Please, don’t make me lose you, too.”

Her words are slow to register, but when they do, every ounce of restraint I’ve forced myself to have with her snaps. I’ve never been loved before.

My arms wrap around her, the most important thing in my life. “I love you, Autumn. I’m sorry I couldn’t give you what you need.”

“What I need is you. Alive, that is.”

My heart slams against my ribs, and I crush her against my chest while getting to my feet. I drag her back through the smoke, shielding her with my body as best I can as the flames snap up behind us. The heat bites into my skin, but I don’t care. This time, I choose, and I choose her.

We crash through the end of the corridor and the smoke billows behind us, spilling into the main area of the basement. The cages are empty now. Mars is halfway up the stairs, dragging two of the women with him and yellingorders back at Caspian, who’s clearing the path ahead from the rotters stumbling around.

Autumn coughs hard and doubles over with one hand pressed to her chest. I drop to my knees with her. My hands burn and the skin blisters raw where I fought through the flames, but I don’t care. What I care about is how her breath comes in sharp gasps. I recognize the signs. It’s not only smoke inhalation, but the start of one of her panic attacks. One she wouldn’t be having if she didn’t have to come back to rescue me from my own mind. I need to get her out of here before it takes full hold.

I scoop her into my arms, refusing to let the fire take one more person I love. Not again. Never again.

“Hold on,” I whisper against her hair as I scoop her up again. “I got you, fire demon. Just hold on.”

42

AUTUMN

Ican’t catch my breath. I’m bent over, my chest seizing, air scraping at my throat like glass. Too much. This is too much.

The smoke is too thick now. It curls around me and coils into my lungs. I try to cough it out, but it keeps coming heavier and harder.

My eyes squeeze shut and my hands press to the cold floor. The heat pressing down from behind. The fire is still raging. The women are running up the stairs to freedom, but I can’t move. I can’t breathe.

This isn’t from the smoke. Not entirely. I know this feeling. The tightening in my chest, the world narrowing to a pinpoint, the rising panic that feeds on itself. Not now. Please, not now.

“Autumn.” Jace’s voice cracks next to me. It’s rough and strained, but I can barely hear it over the pounding in my head. I gasp for air that isn’t there. My throat closes tighter and my lungs clench like they’re shrinking inside me. My hands shake and I claw at the ground.

Jace’s arms wind around me and he picks me up off the floor again and runs. The faster he runs, the harder it gets tobreathe. Everything becomes a blur. We fly up the stairs and collapse on the first floor of the building. Smoke still surrounds us, but at least we’re out of the basement.

“Need help here!” Jace yells, but his voice sounds distant through the roaring in my ears.

I shut my eyes and try to focus on my breathing, but it’s no use. The panic has its claws in me now, squeezing my chest, convincing my body I’m dying. My vision tunnels, and all I can hear is my own heartbeat, too fast, too hard.

A gentle hand lands on my shoulder. “Autumn. Look at me.”

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