I looked for Will, spotting him rushing out from the kitchen with a fire extinguisher.
The heat baked my face,
and I stumbled back as he tried to put out the flames.
Those damn candles must’ve been lit when they knocked them over.
“Will!” I cried.
We had to get out of here. It consumed the foyer, and I tipped my head back as I coughed through the burn in my throat, seeing the flames stretching so much higher than we could reach. There was no stopping this.
“Will!” I called again, but he sprayed the door, extinguishing the fire around the frame.
Alex shot past me, up the stairs.
“What are you doing?” I yelled after her, seeing flames flicker on the edges of the steps.
“My satellite phone!” she yelled. “It’s in the secret passageway! We need it!”
“Alex, no!” Will bellowed.
I shot off to go after her, but then I heard a crash against the front door, and I stopped.
Alex stopped halfway up the stairs, and I turned around to see Will standing still.
Another crash wracked the walls as smoke engulfed the entire room, and I blinked my eyes against the sting, trying to see who was coming through the door.
They had to have security nearby. There was a fire alarm going off somewhere, I’d bet.
Another pound, and then…the door flew open, the smoke gushing out the door, and I spotted black arms and legs coming into the room through the clouds.
“Will!” someone shouted.
I squatted down on the floor, pulling Will with me, so we could breathe, but also…
“Is that security?” I asked him, trying to see through the smoke.
“I don’t think so.”
I’d be glad if it was, but also, they might just transfer us all to another Blackchurch, too.
I wanted my weapon.
“Will!” another voice—this one also male—called. “Where are you?”
Why were they just calling for him and not the others?
“Will Grayson!” a woman shouted next, coughing.
My ear pricked, something familiar about that one, and Will sucked in a breath next to me.
“Oh, my God,” he whispered.
He shot to his feet, pulling me up by the arm. “Here!” he shouted.
Alex came running down the stairs as figures dressed in black moved through the smoke, and I saw three tall men with paracord draped over their chest and carrying duffle bags.
“What the hell did we bring paracord for?” Kai Mori said, looking to Michael Crist. “Thought you told us we were going to have to scale the walls and shit.”