Page 120 of Temptation
“I know.” I smirked. “I’m counting on it.”
A frown marred her face as she climbed backward up the stairs. As I emptied the second canister, I dropped it to the side, and moved up toward the other two I left.
“Do you need help?” she asked.
Shaking my head, I opened the third one. “No.” The smell of the gas was already penetrating the air. “I need to do this.”
I went down where the line I made with the second canister of gas stopped, and started pouring again, slowly going up the stairs.
Repeating the same action, I finally managed to reach the top of the stairs, where Aigira stood, waiting for me. Sweat coated my forehead, my hands still red from Rowan’s blood, but elation took over me, and I opened the fifth canister, dropping it to the side, watching the clear liquid trickle down the stairs.
The last one was meant for the walls of City Hall, and as I started splashing it on the old walls, I smiled to myself. This felt right. This was the only right thing tonight.
“Skylar, are you sure?”
“I have never been more sure of anything in my life.”
I threw the last canister to the side and looked at her—at her frail body, her pale, sunken eyes, and I hated that there was nobody to help her when she needed it.
“You need to leave, Aigira.”
“I’m not leaving you. I made a promise.”
“And now you’ve fulfilled it. You helped me. You told me who my mother was. Now you need to leave.”
“Skylar—”
“Now!” I thundered. “I don’t want you here. I don’t want you to see this.”
She stood her ground for a second, and as I pulled out a pack of cigarettes I bought at the gas station, lighting it up with the lighter I carried with me, she finally started moving.
“I never wanted this for you, you know.” She stepped back. “You’ll need to disappear, Skylar.”
“I know,” I murmured, puffing out the smoke. “You need to do the same.”
Seconds ticked, and she finally started walking backward. Her eyes were wavering from me to the building of Winworth’s City Hall, and only when she finally turned around and started running did I relax.
The cigarette lit up in the dark every time I pulled another smoke, and as I held it between my fingers, I finally looked up at this cursed building.
“I love fire, Judah,” I whispered to the air. “I’ve spent half of my life living inside of it.”
I held the butt of the cigarette between my thumb and my forefinger, and holding the back door open, I threw it down the stairs. The staircase illuminated almost immediately, and as the fire started rising, reaching the candles, the darkness of the night shattered from the light. I turned the lighter back on, watching the flame as it danced in the air.
Laughter bubbled from my chest. The sorrow I held onto coating my insides, and with one last look, I threw the lighter into the pool of gas I made, right at the entrance.
“Say hi to Satan for me.”
We often watched those videos on fire safety in our classes, but no one ever told me that gas burned this fast. It spread over the side of the building, reaching all the way to the windows, and as the screams sounded from downstairs, I stepped away, letting it burn.
Firefighters were on the other side of the town, and by the time they would get here, it would be too late. The members of the Order would either suffocate or burn.
Crossing my arms, I walked back toward the parking lot and stopped between the two cars I knew.
Mr. and Mrs. Lacroix were here. So were Kane’s parents.
They deserved this. They deserved worse than this, but this would do.
Sirens sounded in the air from the distance, and I smiled as the fire started engulfing the upper floors of City Hall.
