Page 40 of Ties of Legacy

“Grandfather!” Her voice came again, and he located it this time.

Lowering his head, he hurried right. Ducking through an open doorway, he reached a section of the house that was a little clearer of smoke. Keeping his arm over his mouth and nose, he looked around, catching a flash of Avery’s dress.

“Avery!” he shouted, and she paused, looking back at him in surprise.

“Elliot?” She sounded pleased. “Quick!” She gestured for him to follow her, and with a growl, he obeyed. As soon as he got close enough, he was throwing her over his shoulder and carrying her out of the fire whether she wanted to come or not.

She reached the closed door ahead of her before he did, reaching out cautiously to touch the metal of the handle with a single finger. He strode the rest of the way to her side, and seized her around the waist with both hands.

But before he could catch her up, she thrust the door open, revealing the room on the other side. It was a vast workroom, the walls lined with shelves and dried herbs hanging from the ceiling.

An old man with long gray hair stood by an open door that led outside. He wasn’t escaping, though. Instead, he was wrestling with a large, complicated object attached to the wall.

He looked up in surprise at sight of them.

“Shut the door!” he barked. “Quickly!”

Elliot’s hands had gone loose in surprise, and Avery darted forward out of his hold. Grabbing his wrist, she pulled him into the room after her and shut the door. They both drew in a deep, relieved breath. The air still reeked of smoke, and he could taste it on his tongue, but neither of them were coughing.

“Hurry!” the man said, gesturing to the item still attached to the wall. “You have to help me!”

They both reacted instinctively, running toward him. Elliot gently bumped the man out of the way and lifted the contraption down. It was heavy, but its odd shape was the bigger hindrance.

Avery came up beside him, helping him balance it and scooping up the strange, flexible hose that hung off one side.

“Bring it to the lake,” the old man said, leading the way out the open external door.

When they came into view of the watchers in the lake, both the girl in the shallows and the woman exclaimed in relief, the girl starting to cry.

Elliot dumped the contraption beside the water, looking toward the man.

“It’s a pump,” he said gruffly.

Avery’s face lit up in understanding, and she seized the end of the hose, dropping it into the lake water. She gestured to the older girl who splashed eagerly over.

“You hold that in the water,” she said. “Don’t let it come out.”

The girl nodded seriously and seized the hose with two determined hands. Avery took the other end, working with quick, deft fingers to untangle it and stretch it out.

“You work the pump,” she commanded Elliot.

He had been staring at the pump, trying to work out how it functioned, but at that, his head snapped up.

“You are not going back near that fire!” he said firmly.

“I won’t go inside,” she promised. “But you’re stronger than me. You need to pump.”

“Hurry, hurry,” the old man cried. “We can’t let the flames reach my workshop.”

Elliot wanted to snap at him, too—to tell him there were more important things than his workshop. But he swallowed his words and began pumping instead.

The old man seized the other end of the pump, and the metal creaked and groaned as it slowly drew up some of the lake water. Elliot’s arms strained as he pumped, using all his muscles. But as the flow of water established itself, the effort required lightened a little, and he was able to look up.

Avery had pulled the hose back toward the fire and was directing it at the workshop, which appeared to be an extension on one side of the house. Once she’d thoroughly soaked the roof, she ventured toward the open workshop door.

Elliot watched her with eagle eyes, ready to drop the pump and run for her if she showed any sign of going inside. But she flashed him a reassuring smile and stood outside, directing the stream of water through the open door.

Elliot expected the man on the other side of the pump to protest at the watery destruction of his workshop, but he seemed relieved.

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