Page 201 of A Curse On Black Lake
I stare at it in shock, blinking a few times to make sure what I’m seeing is real.
But I’m not asleep.
Unless this is all a terrible dream.
I close my eyes, but I can still smell the smoke.
This isreal.
A sob bursts from my lips, and my legs fail me as I fall to the ground. Everything I have — my Grams, my ancestors passed down — was in that house.
The journals!
Maybe they aren’t in ashes yet.
Running towards the house, I go around the side to see if I can get in a window.
“Hey! Get away from there!” someone yells.
I ignore them trying to figure out how to get in a heat singes my face.
“Hey get her out of here!” The voice yells.
Thick arms come around my waist, pulling me back from my house. “You can’t go in there. Whatever it was, is gone now. It’sbeen burning too long,” he says in a muffled voice behind the mask.
“No! Please! Please!” I scream.
His thick arm doesn’t move as we get further back from the house. “You can’t go in. I need you to tell me you understand.”
I nod.
“Good,” he says and lets go.
But I don’t listen and run again.
“Hey!” he says, catching up to me despite all the gear he’s wearing. “It’s not worth it. Nothing in there is worth your life.”
“You have no idea what you’re talking about!” I yell.
One piece of evidence that might have helped Killian is probably shattered — the lavender perfume. Gone. All of it gone. Grams’s thingsgone.I havenothingleft of her now.
It all hits me at once, and my body goes limp. The firefighter manages to keep me upright until he helps me sit on the grass, far enough away from the flames.
I look up at him in a daze, and he pulls his mask off.
“What’s your name?” he asks.
I stare at his green eyes and messy blond hair.
“Mine’s Devereaux,” he pauses. “Do you need medical attention?”
I nod absently.
“I’m assuming this is your house.”
I nod again. I can’t speak. No words will form.
Something explodes, making me wince, and more flames burst out of the windows
