Page 3 of Flames

I can’t even see my own body. I run my hands over my arms. They still exist. I still exist.

“Is this death?” My voice echoes in the darkness, bouncing back louder and sharper than when it left my mouth.

Someone coughs. It isn’t me. I spin around but the sensation is disorienting. “Sam?” My brother’s voice quivers in the darkness.

“Nico?” I call out. Am I imagining him? Without meaning to, I shift. In wolf form, my eyes are stronger, and a shape reveals itself to me. It’s Nico. He’s lying on the ground—if there is a ground here—clutching his stomach. I pad over to him and nuzzle his hand. He strokes my nose then my head.

“Are you really here?” he asks.

I shift back and crouch down beside him. “I’m here.”

“How?” Nico groans and I take hold of his arm.

“Stay still,” I tell him. “Don’t move.”

“How are you here?” Nico asks again, coughing at the end of the question. “I saved you.” Tears fill his eyes. “I wanted to save you.”

“You did,” I tell him. “You tried. But your mother… she pushed me in.”

Nico sucks in a sharp breath, and I can’t tell whether it’s because he’s shocked or in pain. Blood is seeping through the fabric of his clothes, making his fingers slick and red. “I’m sorry.” He grabs my hand and squeezes it, leaving my palm bloodied too. “I’m so sorry.” His speech is staccato’d now, and his face deathly pale.

“It’s going to be alright,” I tell him, pulling off my shirt and starting to rip the fabric into strips. “We just need to stop the bleeding.”

Nico doesn’t reply. His eyes roll back, and his body goes limp, but he’s still breathing; I can see his chest moving slowly up and down.

Quickly, but not quickly enough, I tie several strips of fabric together. I lift Nico’s shirt gently, exposing a deep wound in the center of his torso—right above his belly button. “Tanner can fix you,” I say gently, scrunching up a ball of fabric and pressing it to the wound.

The pressure makes Nico cry out. He turns his head sharply to the side and groans loudly, but I grab his hands. “Press this here.” I push his palms down on the ball of fabric. “Press while I position the bandage.”

Nico does as I say while I stretch my makeshift bandage over the tops of his hands. When it’s in place, I tell him he can stop. “Okay, now hold the bandage while I lift you up.”

With a breathy groan, Nico shakily holds the bandage in place. I hook my arms under his and pull until he’s sitting up, then lean him into my chest, take hold of the bandage, and yank it tight around his middle.

He cries out as I fasten it, but I pull as tight as I can, squeezing the ball of fabric against the knife wound. When the bandage is fixed, I tear off several more strips from my shirt and repeat the process. This time, all Nico has to do is hang limp in my arms. When I’m done, I ease him back to the ground. Already, the bandages are damp with his blood. I might have slowed his death, but I haven’t prevented it. Not yet. And I won’t unless I can get us out of here.

I’m kneeling on the ground next to Nico, trying to slow the frantic thoughts in my head, when the blackness around us slowly turns into something else. Shadows appear. I can make out the shape of The Hollow, the wood, and the fountain. But they are empty. No one is there.

I stand up and turn around. Like I’m looking through a thick, grey gauze, I see it all. It’s there, but I can’t touch it or move through it. “Where are we?” I ask, lifting my arms and watching the thick air swirl around them like liquid smoke. “What is this place?”

Nico’s eyes flutter open. He takes in our surroundings, then he says, “I think we’re in hell.”

3

LUTHER

We’re at the treeline when Kole grabs Nova by the waist and throws her onto Snow’s back. Without hesitating, Snow charges into the forest and disappears into the darkness.

Kole and I stop and turn around. We’re in the shadow of the trees but Tanner is just outside. He’s staring at the swarm of flies heading in our direction. I lunge for him and tug his arm, but he won’t budge. His arms are rigid at his sides. I step in front of him and shake his shoulders. “Tan, we gotta go, dude.”

His eyes are black. He starts to tremble.

“Kole, help me,” I yell.

As Kole tries to force Tanner to move, I turn around and send a ball of fire from my palm into the encroaching swarm of flies. They dissipate for a second then reform, coming for us as if they’re one being. Some kind of monster made of a million parts.

The noise is deafening. It makes my skin crawl and my brain itch. I try again. Another ball of fire, same thing. I cast a wall of flame like Nova’s, but it’s smaller. Too small, and the swam simply rises above it. I have no idea what will happen if it reaches us, but I sure as hell don’t want to find out.

“It’s no use. Grab him.” I gesture for Kole to take hold of Tanner.