I nodded, pulling myself from his dream and back into my room.
Smoke filled the space, so thick I couldn’t see through it. I took a breath, then immediately regretted it. My throat, nose, and lungs burned.
Fire. My room was on fire. And I’d been laying here in my bed as it almost consumed me. I stood on my mattress, but flames surrounded me on all sides, growing higher and higher, nearly reaching the ceiling. I gritted my teeth and ripped the sheets off the bed, wrapping them around as much of my body as possible. I took another deep breath, then leaped through the wall of flames and landed hard on the floor.
I was close to the balcony now. I had a clear shot, but then my gaze caught on the wardrobe in the opposite corner. The wardrobe where I kept my brothers’ sweaters.
The hair on the nape of my neck lifted. No.
I reached for the wardrobe right as a shower of sparks blasted toward me, the canopy on the bed collapsing down.
I shielded my face, but sparks flew up in my face, the spots where they landed blistering. This couldn’t be happening. I fell to my knees, watching helplessly as the flames consumed my room, curling around the wardrobe, blackening the wood. Soon the fire would reach those sweaters and all would truly be lost. My brothers were losing more of themselves every day. It had already taken me so long to knit the sweaters I had. Plus, I didn’t know if Kairoth would be able to find more nettle weed.
Tears streamed down my face as I thought about my conversation with Soloman.
He’d been so sad, so distant. He’d been close to giving up. My brothers had always been strong for me. I had to be strong for them. If they saw this, if they knew the sweaters were being destroyed, they’d make me give up. They would give up. I couldn’t allow that.
Gritting my teeth, I got to my feet and clenched my fists. I looked down at the burned sheet, then back at my bed. The fire had reached the posters but not the mattress. An idea took form. A stupid one. But it was the only one I had.
I wrapped myself in the now-cool sheet, then launched myself through the flames and back toward the bed.
My skin burned and blistered, but I ignored the pain. I was used to ignoring pain by this point. I could do this. I would do this. Spots dotted my vision, and I shook them away.
I ripped the bottom sheet off the bed and wrapped it around my hands, then gripped the mattress and pulled with all my might. The feather-filled mattress slid off the bed, and I propped it up on its side.
Flames popped and sparked at my back, catching onto my clothes. I quickly whirled around, letting the mattress act as my shield.
I took a deep breath and pushed the mattress through the flames and toward the wardrobe in the corner. Smoke filled the room, and I squeezed my eyes shut, pushing and pushing through the fire until my mattress hit something solid that I hoped was the wardrobe.
The mattress was bulky and heavy, but I attempted to maneuver it back to its side. It fell over, right into the fire closing in on me. The flames consumed it, but I had no time to think about the loss of my shield. The wardrobe sat in front of me, blackened and breaking apart.
The fire had eaten through the doors, leaving jagged, sharp edges. There inside lay the sweaters. One of them had caught fire, but the rest were okay.
I nearly let out a cry of relief but stopped myself and reached for the sweaters. Heat hit my arm like a wall, and I hissed, hesitating for just a second before pushing through the overwhelming hot air and snatching the sweaters.
I stuffed the sweaters down my nightgown, then grabbed the last one. Embers sparked from it, the fire already burning the arm of the sweater away. My hand blistered the moment it touched the sweater. The heat branded my skin, melting it away, but I couldn’t let this sweater go. I couldn’t let it just burn to ash. I dropped it to the floor and stomped out the fire, then grabbed the burnt remains and stuffed it under my shirt along with the rest.
The fire seeped out toward this last corner of the room. Flames surrounded me, and I had no options at this point. No shield. No escape.
My heart pounded, and despite the heat, an icy cold crept over me. I needed to figure a way out of this. I had to. I backed against the wall, then jumped from it as it seared my back. The entire room was like an oven. The smoke made my eyes water, and I couldn’t stop coughing. I could barely breathe. Barely see.
This had been stupid. I could hear Kairoth’s voice in my head.
“What good are you to your brothers if you’re dead?”
I’d been so determined to get these sweaters, I hadn’t fully thought this through, and now I would suffer the consequences.
I swallowed, bile rising in my gut at the thought that this might actually be my end. I couldn’t see anything at this point, the room completely filled by smoke and red, angry flames.
Suddenly, water blasted into the room. It poured over the flames and doused the heavy smoke with a hiss. I shrank away from it, not wanting to risk getting the sweaters wet and ruining them. The water continued to flow in a steady stream, shooting into the flames and fighting them with a vengeance. As the water slowly edged out the fire, the door to my room crystallized through the smoke. Someone had broken it down.
Leoni stepped through the frame, hands out, commanding the water. Driscoll trailed her, gaze locking on me as he grabbed my arm, pulling me out of the room and into the hallway, which remained untouched by the fire. The only evidence that there had been a fire in my room were the faint burn marks that had bled through the walls, barely visible under the black stone.
“What in the bloody spirits happened?” Driscoll lifted my arm, staring at all the burn marks and blisters in horror. My vision swayed, and I stumbled, but Driscoll kept hold of me.
I shrugged helplessly, tears filling my eyes. I’d been so close to losing my life, so close to losing everything. I reached into my shirt and dug out all the sweaters. Driscoll took them one by one. I gripped the last one tight, staring at the burnt arm. It would have to be replaced, but in the end, I was so incredibly thankful it hadn’t been worse.
“Bellamy,” a voice said. I whirled, and Kairoth stood there, his shadows whirling around him with fury, his eyes flashing red behind them. He strode toward us.
