Page 74 of Mara
His slurred words bounced in my head.
Boom!
Wellard Asylum erupted in fire behind me.
The blast punched the ground like a beast’s fist, flying up and cracking the pavement. Heat seared the back of my neck, and we were thrown forward into the van. The windows of the vehicle cracked into a perfect spiderweb as flames swallowed the building we had just left.
I lay there on the ground, my ears ringing, palms scalding against the crumbled pavement. Something warm leaked into my eyes, blurring my image in a red haze.
Blood.
The sounds were so loud that they overpowered my ability to hear. My cochlear implants were malfunctioning from the blast. I could hear bits and pieces, a hum so loud it was painful. Alarms wailed for a few seconds before another slam.
More of the ground was swallowed up, and more of the hospital was consumed in the inferno.
The sky turned orange-red.
It was Hell.
The guards got to their feet, coughing and scattering around the area. The radios were squawking nonsense, as smoke poured into the air so thick it looked like the clouds were falling down to devour us whole.
Jinx.
I got to my feet, shaky, and tried my best to navigate through the haze of smoke to find him.
He was there, standing, leaning against the van.
Jinx hadn’t flinched. Bleeding and roughed up as the rest of us, but through the mask that had torn from the impact of the gravel…I could see him smiling.
He was staring at the blaze like he had set it himself.
The flames flickered in the reflection of his eyes, and I gasped.
The van’s back doors were open. For a second, I thought he might run away and steal the car…flee from this chaos.
From me.
But he didn’t.
He just leaned forward in the restraints, lips moving slowly, deliberate against the mesh.
Tried to warn you, Nirvana.
One of the guards shoved Jinx towards the van before I could answer him. I couldn’t hear anything as more vehicles and sirens approached the gravel road. The increase in different frequencies was messing with my cochlear implants.
“Don’t worry,” he mouthed. “This isn’t the end for you. You’ve survived the flames, but can you handle what lies in the ashes? I will see you soon.”
The guards closed Jinx inside the van, ignoring my flailing arms as I tried to reach him. I was screaming at him. Needing answers, but Jinx was too far.
The doors were slammed shut, and the vehicle peeled away down the drive like the devil was following.
I knelt there, shaking, watching the smoke snake into the sky.
Watching the only peace I had felt in so long…burn.
And that was when his words registered.
Can you handle what lies in the ashes?
