Through the disappearing door.
I land on my hands and knees in the room that used to be a man cave but is now a Roman atrium with a pool in the floor, a hole in the ceiling, and short lounge couches along the wall. Two young girls are in the room, tidying and cleaning.
“Luc!” I holler, managing one painful, deep breath. I want to slip into the pool in the floor—douse the heat in my bones and lungs. But even now in my agony I know it’s all a dreamscape. It will do nothing to help me.
“He’ll be here any minute,” Crixus says anxiously. He flourishes a hand at the girls, and they scuttle from the room. “Keep holding on.”
“I’m burning to death!” I rasp in panic. “On the other side. I entered the Nightmare in flames. You have to wake me up.”
“That’s impossible.”
“If the Spores can do it . . . there must be . . . a way.” I heave scratchy inhales between words. Already, I can tell I’ll be too late. My voice drops.
“I deserve this . . . after what . . . I’ve done.”
For a moment Crixus stands there, statuesque with a stony expression. Perhaps remorse is foreign to him. After all, he sees people die nearly every day. He’s practically their executioner. But then he settles to one knee beside me.
“There’s always redemption, noxior.”
I shake my head. “Not . . . for me.”
A thunderous swoop of wings precedes a body falling through the hole in the ceiling and landing in the pool with a splash. Luc wears a black tunic that looks like it was made of woven shadow. He sees me and crosses the pool in three strokes. Climbing up the edge of the pool seems to take extra effort. His arm slips once, twice. Crixus comes to the edge and helps Luc out of the water.
“Cain’s burning on the other side,” he informs Luc.
“Help me,” I croak. “I’ll join you, Luc. I’ll save your father. Just . . . save me.”
Luc sits on the edge of the pool, breathing hard from the exertion of climbing out of the water. But a look passes between us. He knows I’m not making an empty promise—if he saves me, I will be his to command.
“Crixus, go to the lararium. There’s a sealed box on the center pillar. Bring it back to me.”
“It’s too far—”
“Go!”
Crixus bolts from the room. I fall to my knees, sucking in a breath but finding my lungs won’t cooperate. Roaring fills my ears. Wet fills my lungs.
“Hold on, Cain,” Luc says quietly.
To what? Life? What little hope I have in Luc being able to save me dissipates.
“I . . .”
“Hold on,” Luc repeats. “No matter what, don’t lose consciousness. If you do . . . all is lost.” I hear desperation in his voice. But it’s not for me, it’s for Galilei. For the cure. I’m our world’s only hope.
I try to hold on. I really do. My vision flashes, and my arms buckle, drawing another hacking cough from my chest.
“Crixus!” Luc bellows toward the doorway.
My arms give out, and I collapse fully to the cool ground. Whatever Luc sent Crixus after, he’s not going to get back in time.
“Just fight it, Cain,” Luc begs, looking more like a young helpless boy than ever before.
“I . . .” My vision turns black. “I . . . can’t.”
The world spins out of reach and ends.
There’s a girl asleep in my tiny house. I barely make her out through the dark shadows of a sun that set hours ago.
The girl is on my couch with a fire extinguisher in one hand and a damp cloth in the other. An oversize hoodie engulfs her head, cinched tight around her face. What would be the exposed part of her face is tucked under her arm and facing the cushioned back of the sofa.
I woke minutes ago, face up on the kitchen floor—almost in the same place I’d fallen trying to turn off the burner. The windows are open, and it’s raining outside. My breaths come in raspy wheezes, and my throat feels filled with cotton. My brain wants to assemble the puzzle pieces of what happened, but I’m forced to take a moment and focus on breathing.
I woke up . . . that’s a positive sign. But how? Luc’s secret box?
A note rests on my table in front of the girl, soaked through with the foamy mess of what must have been the fire extinguisher’s contents.
Sorry about your little house. It was either this or let you burn to death. Also, I had to restart your heart so if you’re sore, I’m sorry about that too. It took only a few chest compressions, so I didn’t have to kiss you or anything. Please don’t be a creeper and kill me while I’m asleep. You don’t have to let me stay here, but if you dump my body, please do so in a safe location.
Stranna
This girl saved me. She fought a fire and restarted my heart. Who is she? And why save a stranger?
I briefly pat her hoodie pocket for her Infection Time Card, careful not to move any other part of her. It seems invasive. I don’t want her to wake and think I’ve done anything to her. But her pockets seem empty. No card to show how many Sleeps she has left.
I take in her resting form. What was she doing here in an abandoned neighborhood? She just happened to see my burning tiny house and decided to save me?
