It sounded like some monstrous beast growling. Everything I could see was charred and colored all wrong, but I'd heard him, and I was pretty sure I was heading the right way. Crouching low, I tried to blink through the fumes and soot. Burning embers turned dark when they hit Aspen's bubble, so I just kept going.
That was the stairs to the upper deck where the training dummies were, but why would he be back here? With every step, the flames got brighter until the wood around us had them licking off it. The stack of mats was melting into some toxic ooze at the side. The windows, however, hadn't shattered. Granted, that was probably a good thing, because I knew more air meant faster burning.
"Zez?!" I begged.
"Rain, go!" Bracken yelled back.
But that was close. Turning, I dropped to my knees, trying to peer through the haze that was quickly getting thicker and lower as smoke filled this part of the building. Aspen reached up, placing her hand on my back so she wouldn't lose me. Together, we moved a little more - and I saw something.
It was just darkness in a scene that was so chaotic it shouldn't matter, but that one speck was too dark. Black, even. It also moved.
"Zez!" I gasped. "Aspen, I need more room!"
I heard her grunt and then the smoke was forced back for one single second. It was enough, though. I caught a glimpse of my zez sprawled on the floor with his leg angled back toward the flames. The thing I'd seen? His other boot. The one he was trying to use to drag himself toward us and away from all the burning.
"No!" Aspen yelled, jerking back and letting go of me in the process. "Rain, I feel iron!"
"I'm pinned," Bracken said.
"I can't go closer," Aspen yelled. "If I try, we'll lose the bubble!"
But Ihadto. This was my father. He was half of my family, and I would not simply leave him in this fire when I was so fucking close. So, taking a deep breath, I dropped my head and pushed myself toward him, braced for the pain I knew was about to come.
It didn't.
The moment I crossed the edge of Aspen's shield, another bloomed around me. It turned everything green, making the burning building look sick in a way I hadn't expected, but it allowed me to see. And there, my zez had his hands up, trying to hold back the fire with his own magic, but it was sputtering and failing.
I moved even faster. Sadly, the bubble didn't move with me, but when I left the green one, a white one formed, then an iridescent one after that, and it surrounded all of us. I noticed, but I didn't slow down, rushing over to grab my father and try to drag him.
"I'm pinned to the floor," Bracken told me.
And I saw it. Pinned was the wrong word. It made me think something had fallen on him. No, this was a U-shaped band of metal that was nailed into the wooden boards. I didn't know if it was steel, iron, or something else, but from the way my zez's leg was singeing against it, I knew why he hadn't freed himself.
"Oh, fuck this," I growled, grabbing the metal with both hands.
It was hot. My skin should've burned, but ice formed as soon as I touched it. Not having time to think about any of this, I pulled once. The nails shifted. Using all of my body weight, I heaved even harder. I could feel it loosening, and fear was driving me now. Leaning far in, I paused for one second, then threw every ounce of muscle I'd built this year against the metal, trying to make it just let go.
And I tumbled back onto my ass, holding the frozen bracket in my hands.
"No!" Aspen screamed, reminding me she was too close.
I flung the metal away, and both of us rushed in to grab Bracken on either side. "Can you walk?" I asked.
"I will," he replied, making it clear he had no other option.
"We got you," Aspen said, hooking her arm around his waist on one side.
I took the other, and this time we didn't move slowly. Even better, the smoke swirled out of our way like someone had pointed a fan at it, letting us move even faster. The floorboards here were crisping quickly. Over there, the handrail was burning. None of that mattered because Bracken's office was just ahead.
And that was when I heard Torian screaming his sister's name. Keir, Wilder, Hawke, and more voices were yelling at us as well, but their words were all jumbled. Torian's cut through clearly.
"Aspen Fox!" he cried. "Aspen! Aspen Fox!"
"We need a slide!" Aspen yelled back. "Healing." She paused to cough. "We've got Bracken. I'll need help getting him out."
But instead of a slide, arms thrust through the window. "Pass him to us!" That was Hawke.
Aspen and I shoved Bracken forward. Hawke and someone else grabbed him, hauling my zez out by force. The moment they were out of the way, Wilder was leaning in, so I shoved Aspen at him. He pulled, she climbed, but the heat was increasing quickly now that I was away from her.
