Page 56 of Zenith
I guided Grace away from Edward, pushing away my own feelings of anger at her actions. Laying blame while the house still burned was premature and would serve no one. The heat was unbearable even at this distance, and it only added to our combined fear.
“You didn’t tell him…” she whispered, her shoulders heaving with hysterical sobs.
I shook my head as I transferred her into the arms of the groundskeeper. “Calm yourself, Grace. What’s done is done.”
“The fire engines are coming from the village,” Alice said, holding her mobile phone. “And an ambulance.”
“Is everyone accounted for?” I asked Edward as he appeared at my side.
“All but Bertha.” His hand grasped mine.
I stared up at Thornfield and could hardly grasp what I saw before me. The fire had taken hold of the structure, and it was turning into a raging inferno. The flames licked greedily at the ancient building, devouring it whole. Smoke billowed up into the sky, obscuring the stars above.
The fire trucks would take at least twenty minutes to get here if they were going full speed, and by that time, it would be too late to save much of anything. Thornfield would be destroyed.
The thought of being trapped inside while we slept soundly in our beds horrified me completely. To think if I had not woken when I did! Bertha must have been running about the halls, lighting everything in her path and leaving nothing untouched. The fire was so well established…there was no telling how long it had burned before I’d gotten up to investigate.
“It’s all gone,” Edward murmured. “Everything… It’s…”
“Shh,” I soothed him. “We’re still here, Edward. We have our lives. Houses can be rebuilt.”
“You don’t understand,” he began but was silenced as a commotion erupted back toward Thornfield.
“There! On the battlements!” Alice cried, pointing skyward.
We looked, all of us gasping in shock, for against the flames stood the silhouette of Bertha Mason, for it could be no other. Her long hair streamed behind her in the updraft, her cotton shift billowing around her legs, and her arms were outstretched as if she was begging the sky to take her. It was a picture of pure madness!
“She intends to jump!” Bessie exclaimed, clutching onto Alice’s arm. “God, help her!”
Edward’s grip on my hand tightened, and all at once, he let go, rushing toward the hotel, which was well ablaze.
“Edward!” I yelled, my heart leaping into my chest. “Edward!”
But he wasn’t listening. I went to rush forward, but strong arms grasped my arms, holding me in place.
“No, you must stay, Miss Jane,” said the groundskeeper. “Sir knows what he’s doing.”
I watched in horror as Edward raced through the front entrance and into the manor beyond, straight into the flaming maw of the devil.
A loudcracksplit the air as part of the structure collapsed somewhere inside the building, and I almost fell to my knees. Edward was in there! Why did he have to go back… Even as I thought it, I understood he had made a promise to Bertha despite the despair she’d wrought on him and his family. He’d vowed to protect her even as she burned down the house around him.
“Edward!” I shrieked, tears streaming unchecked down my face. “Edward!”
“There!” Bessie cried. “On the roof!”
I stared up at the battlements and sobbed again at the sight of Edward against the glowing sky.Please, don’t let this be the last time I see him!
He was shouting at Bertha, but the inferno tore the words from his lips, making it impossible to hear what was happening. She turned and stared at him, still as a statue. She neither flung herself over the edge nor did she approach Edward’s outstretched arms.
He continued to beckon to her while we all watched on. I wasn’t sure what outcome I wished for Bertha at that moment. All I wanted was Edward back in my arms, safe and whole. We deserved to be happy, to be safe and calm after such turbulent seas.We deserved it!
Abruptly, Bertha let out an unearthly wail that split through the roar of the blaze and the sounds of the approaching fire engines from the village. It unsettled me to my core, the sound reminding me of the night when she’d attacked her own brother. Madness. Complete and utter madness.
Then she leapt into the sky and fell. Down, down,down…
