“You’re beaming, you know that?” Her brother came up to stand beside her near the front of the room.
“If I am, it’s with relief. This is…” She looked around at the smiling, dancing, taco-devouring people she loved. “It’s almost perfect.”
“Would be if Ethan was here, huh?”
She shot him a quick look. “Well, yeah, I guess. He’s the only Brand missing.”
“The only Brand you’re missing, you mean?” Harrison winked, then slid an arm around her shoulders. “Maria has high hopes for the two of you, you know.”
Surrounded by noise, laughter, and music, she arched an eyebrow. “What kind of hopes?”
“I’ll leave you to ask her that for yourself. Meanwhile,” he tapped his knuckles on the front-facing glass, “I’m dying for the big reveal, and you said as soon as it got dark. And if you look out the main entry doors, you can see it’s fully dark now. So?”
Grinning, she grabbed his forearm and pulled the remote from her apron, thumbed buttons, she said, “Lights, water, fire…”
“Fire?”
She nodded, then waved a hand to get the band’s attention. They got her signal and wrapped up the song. Then the band leader said, “I believe our lovely hostess wants us all to turn our attention toward the front. This party’s about to spill outside. Hit it, Larry.”
A drum roll ensued. Lily pushed the button to open the wooden panels so they’d slide open on that gorgeous fire-and-water feature, party lights, outdoor tables, and perfect flagstone patio.
Only, the doors didn’t move.
She could hear their motor humming, but the doors were not budging. “Heck, I knew something would go wrong.” She aimed the remote and thumbed the button again. “I wonder if somebody fastened the storm locks.”
Harrison frowned at her.
“On the corner, there are slide-bolts on the outside to hold the barricade in case of a storm.”
“I’ll go check,” Harrison said, then he told the others, “Patience, everyone. Two seconds.” He walked over to the right side, where the main entrance was, but when he went to go through, the doors were locked.
He turned to send Lily a puzzled frown.
That was when the power went out, plunging them into darkness.
Lily couldn’t believe it. “What in the world?—”
Glass shattered in the dining room as a ball of flames smashed through a window and hit the floor, spreading a pool of liquid fire. Lily ran for the fire extinguisher and was reaching for it just as another fireball came through another window, smashing into the wall of bottles behind the bar. Cat Shaw screamed and covered her head with her arms as glass shattered and alcohol fed the flames. Her sleeve was burning and a wall of fire rose between her and the extinguisher.
Lily ran to her. She smothered Cat’s burning blouse with a towel and saw flames rising up, blocking the kitchen doors, illuminating her father’s terrified face in the portholes. “Go out the back!” she shouted. Then she pulled Cat with her into the addition, shouting, “Smash the entry doors!”
But before Garrett Brand even picked up a chair to do so, another firebomb smashed through those glass doors, and fire again spread like spilled destruction. Harrison grabbed her arm, pulling her away from the flames. “All the exits are blocked. What do we do?”
“Stage door,” she shouted. But she needn’t. The others were already running in that direction, following the band, who’d entered that way.
Harrison had his arm around Maria, Lily realized. It was so dark she didn’t know where they’d picked her up, and the others were only shapes and shadows picked out by the spreading flames, but increasingly blocked by smoke.
She bent low, so did Harrison, and they brought up the rear, she hoped. It was dark and chaotic and noisy and she couldn’t be sure everyone was together. Someone might’ve been in the restroom or checking out the second floor.
When they neared the exit, she saw the uncles up front, smashing at the stage door, which had somehow been blocked from outside. Drew screamed and her father Ben folded her into his arms.
“This was no accident,” Willow said, from somewhere close. “This was that freakin’ Silver.”
“God, I hope Dad got out,” Harrison said. “What if they blocked the kitchen exit too?”
Lily took a breath and choked on smoke. “We have to go upstairs!” she shouted.
“The smoke will be worse up there, won’t it?” Willow asked.
