Hailey hurried on. She didn’t have a choice. She wanted to find Esmerelda. Despite everything that she had done to Hailey lately, Esmerelda had once been her friend. She didn’t deserve to be stuck in here like the princess was. She had come with Hailey, had tugged her along when she wanted to stop for Bruce.

A boy ran through the crowd, pushing and shoving as he went. He was faster than everyone else here. “It’s coming, it’s coming!” He kept shouting, adding to the panic. Finally, the crowd made it closer to the doorway. Hailey fought to keep an eye on Margaret and Lavina, but the crowd spread out once it hit the doorway, everyone flowed down the hill, spreading out like a river who had broken free of its bed. A man ran past her, sprinting forward. He was the one Esmerelda was with earlier. Where was Esmerelda? She thought it over and over again as she scanned the crowd. Esmerelda was older and stronger than Hailey was. Surely she could make it out faster. She was probably ahead.

She glanced back, afraid that she might trip now that the hill was adding speed to her steps. She could see the spell growing. A young mother clutched at a small boy. She ran, the boy bouncing and squirming in her arms.

The woman tripped and twisted, landing hard on her side. The little boy ran away from her, chasing something, Hailey could not see what. Hailey ran to her, not wanting to see anyone else trampled. The little boy was running back to his mom now, but he was so small someone might not see him until it was too late.

Distracted by the scene before her, Hailey didn’t see the young man coming her way until he tripped over her, his long limbs colliding with her own. “Watch out!” He shouted, but Hailey was already moving away from him.

“Aaron!” She shouted, but the little boy was running the opposite way. The woman limped after him, moving against the crowd.

Hailey made it to the little boy before his mother did. She scooped him up in her arms and made her way towards her.

The woman held her arms out but she was limping. “I can carry him. Stay with me.” Hailey said.

The little boy’s mother nodded and limped along with her. Ahead of her, a man beckoned, but he could not move forward past a line of soldiers. They would not let him through no matter how much he screamed at him. Inside the line of soldiers was a few mages. The stood, hands spread out to each other, as if they were trying to reach each other. Most of them had their eyes closed.

Hailey shook her head. She finally made it to the young mother and grabbed the boy. Without the extra weight, the woman could move faster. She limped as fast as she could go. Hailey stayed beside her, the young boy screaming that he didn’t want to leave. His sweaty little body was heavy in her arms and he kept trying to get away.

Something was in his tiny fist. He looked around in fright. Hailey doubted that anyone could explain to him exactly what was going on. He was getting heavy in her arms now. She shifted to the opposite hip. The other woman watched her carefully, making sure her child remained in sight. She would get them out of here. She glanced back at the line of soldiers. They were in the way of people trying to get out as they tried to keep people from going back.

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The run was silent, and it felt like it was happening in slow motion. The crowd on the other side of the soldiers were all shouting and crying, asking after people. The mages were concentrating hard now. Someone ran into one of them and fell to the ground, trembling.

She glanced back. The spell had somehow picked up speed. They weren’t going to make it. People behind her were falling. She could hear them thumping to the ground. “We have to hurry!” She yelled to the woman next to her. “It’s almost on top of us!”

“How…do…you know?” The woman gasped every word out one at a time.

Hailey didn’t have time to answer. If the woman couldn’t see it, she would just have to trust her. She moved the little boy to her other hip again. He was so heavy! He was screaming now. “They’re falling, Mama!”

“Dont’ look back,” Hailey said, feeling the hair on the top of her head start to stand on end. They were almost there. The number of people who were making it past the line had slowed. The young mother ran ahead of her, making it out just in time.

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Aaron’s mama fell. “Mama,” he shouted, watching the ground rise up, but he did not get hurt. At the last minute, his mama twisted. He had worried that he would smack into the ground. His had loosened its hold on Froggy and Froggy jumped, hopping away from him. People were running all over. They were going to step on Froggy and squish him flat.

“Aaron!” His mother yelled at him.

“Be right back, mama!” He shouted back.

He didn’t want Froggy to die. People were shouting at him. One man almost stepped right on him, but he jumped out of the way. That was a good trick he learned from Froggy. He saw the frog. He looked scared. He should be. No one was paying any attention to anyone else. People were tripping on each other. He did not have time to watch them. He needed to hurry.

Froggy was completely still and Aaron snatched him right up. “Don’t do that again,” he scolded him. He hurried back to his Mama who was shouting and running after him. Something was wrong with one of her legs. She walked like it hurt her.

Out of nowhere a crazy looking girl ran right at him. She was pretty but she had black stuff swiped right across her cheek. Maybe she was playing in the ashes. Mama always said that was dangerous.

The girl carried him to his mama but didn’t give him to her. Instead, she held on tight. He squirmed. He did not know this girl. People began falling down and the girl was running. His mom was running too. He bounced and bounced. Why didn’t she put him down? He could go real fast. His papa told him he was fast. He was even faster than his papa. They had done a race and Aaron won. That meant he was faster. Maybe he was faster than this crazy girl.

He held his frog, but not too tight. If Froggy got out now, the girl would probably not let him down. She had white hair. Maybe that meant that she was old, but she didn’t look very old. The girl was littler than his mama.

He looked back. People were falling down all over the place, like they were all tripping over something. He started to feel really scared. He didn’t want to fall down like all those people. He shouted at the girl. “They’re falling down!”

The girl ran faster and his mama ran faster too, even with the hurt leg. His mama kept smiling at him but it was one of those sad kind of smiles that she gave him when his lizard died.

The girl shouted the same thing that he said and they hurried even faster. People kept falling. He turned. There were a bunch of people trying to hold hands but they were too far apart. They couldn’t reach They looked like they were taking a nap with their hands out like that. Outside of that circle was a bunch of other people. They were all watching the other people fall down.

All of the sudden Froggy jumped again. Aaron reached out to catch Froggy, but the frog fell like all the people and didn’t move. Something was happening to Aaron’s hand. He screamed. He couldn’t make his fingers work.