Page 111 of The Spark that Ignites
Blood cascaded down the girl’s leg. Her dazed expression unfocused as she stared at the crimson blemishing the white powder.
Emmery blanched at the steady stream. “Can I look? I promise I won’t hurt you.”
A nod.
Emmery lifted her hem and swore under her breath. A glass shard must have sliced her leg when she crawled through a window.
Shit. It was deep, but there was no time to heal her now.
Not with the debris raining down. Emmery rifled through her bag until she found a scrap of cloth. Blood quickly soaked the bandage.
“My momma’s in there,” the girl wailed, her voice more panicked with each word. “She’s in there. She’s still in there!”
Emmery blinked at the burning building ready to collapse and the injured man leaning heavily on Vesper’s shoulder hobbling toward her. The man’s leg was horribly twisted.
Ash coated Vesper’s hair, charcoal and sweat smearing his face. “What’s going on?”
“Her mother is in there,” Emmery spluttered, her breath catching. “I need to get her out.”
“Leave me. I’m fine,” the man groaned. “I can walk.”
Vesper nodded, releasing him and doubled over, coughing. His entire body heaved—a rag wrung dry.
“I’ll go,” Emmery said, wheezing as the smoke clouded her lungs. She glanced between the girl’s glassy eyes and the injured man. Blood soaked the girl’s leg.
“No,” Vesper croaked. She stepped forward but he caught her arm. “No, you take them. Get—” A wet rattling gasp “Get them out.” With a limp gesture behind them, he righted himself andsprinted into the burning building, filtering the smoke through his sleeve.
Emmery scooped the girl into her arms, and her world blurred to a red-orange smoky haze as she sprinted. The girl sobbed as she jostled in Emmery’s arms but as debris crashed in their path and the flames grew, she couldn’t slow.
When they reached the outskirts, Emmery’s breaths rasping and face slick with sweat, she set the girl down. Eyes unfocussed and vision blurring, Emmery knelt in the snow. “I’m going to take the pain away. Ready?”
The girl nodded, sniffing back tears. Whether it was the practice with Vesper, or the desperate situation, her magic leapt to attention as Emmery laid her hand on the wound, blood warming her fingers.
She braced herself for the pain.
She should have been prepared.
But it struck like lightning. Stars burst behind her eyes, and a wave of agony slashed her leg, but her silver threads expertly mended the girl’s flesh. Her lip quivered but no more tears spilled. Emmery panted, not only from running but from the spent magic. Stripping off her cloak, she wrapped the girl in it. Her vision swayed, head heavy, as she braced herself against the frozen ground, her hands red with blood and burning cold.
But she could do this. She had to.
Slinging off her heavy pack, Emmery passed it to the girl. “Hold on to this for me?”
The girl wiped her snotty nose and squeaked, “Okay.” Behind her, the hobbling man Vesper had saved collapsed with a heavy grunt.
Emmery crashed to her knees as the man’s confused blue eyes met hers. He sucked air as she laid a hand on his injured leg. Her head snapped back, the twisting of her bones almost real as his pain bled into her. Unable to contain it, Emmery cried out,her voice breaking. But the man’s bone snapped, warping under her touch as it righted itself.
Time blurred. The world tilted. And when the pain finally ebbed after an eternity, she stumbled to her feet, her legs trembling.
“Look after her,” she ordered, jerking her chin at the girl.
He gave a shocked nod.
There was no time for niceties. She was too damn tired anyway.
Disoriented, Emmery barrelled into the smoke, ears ringing in her heavy head as if it were waterlogged. “Vesper!” she yelled, searching the flames. He was nowhere to be seen.
She whipped her head; her curses lost into the night. Maybe they had unknowingly passed each other. Worse, maybe he collapsed somewhere.
