Flames were licking off the roof in several places when we pulled up to the school. There was a large crowd outside the front entrance watching the building burn.

Darius pulled off the lane and parked on the grass. Wuller and Miller came over as the four of us jumped out of the car.

“You’ve called the fire department,” Vasil said.

“I had to!” Wuller said.

Miller added, “They’re on their way.”

“Where’s Mr. Bauer?” Darius asked.

“He’s been helping evacuate the building.”

“Is everyone out safe?”

“We’ve asked the boys to check on their bunkmates, but it may take a while to confirm. The students are allowed to leave on Sundays, so we have to call the ones that aren’t here.”

“Most of the students have been accounted for,” Wuller said.

“Emerra,” Darius said, “call Conrad. Find out if he’s already hiding.”

I pulled out my phone and swiped over to my speed dials. I held it to one ear while trying to keep the other one focused on the conversation beside me. Wes and Eric came up to my side.

“Do you know where the fire started?” Darius asked.

Wuller raised both hands and both shoulders. “We can’t figure it out!”

“Why not?”

“Multiple reports came in at the same time,” Miller explained. “The fire alarms all triggered at once.”

“All of them?”

“It’s like the fire was hiding in the walls.”

Darius turned his head to speak to Wes. “Mr. Osborn, perhaps you should go into that crowd over there and check for your roommate.”

“Yeah.” Wes was already moving. “That’s a good idea.”

Eric followed him. They ran toward the group of boys.

Conrad answered. The noise in the background made it hard to hear.

“Mera—”

“Conrad, are you already hiding?”

A rattling whisper filled the silence.

“I take it you know about the fire,” he said.

“Yes!”

“Welcome back. How’s Scott?”

“Conrad, are you in the building?”

“At the moment. If my luck holds out, I have maybe ten more minutes.”

There was a distant crashing sound over the connection.

“Maybe five,” Conrad said. “Tell Darius we got the boys out before it got bad.”

“If all of the boys are out, why are you still in there?”

Darius, Wuller, and Miller were all staring at me. I turned away so I could concentrate on what Conrad was saying.

“This wasn’t a normal fire, Emerra. I think Dustin caused this. He didn’t come out with the others.”

I could hear Wes screaming Dustin’s name.

My chest went cold. “You think he’s still in there.”

“Force and focus. There was a lot of force, but no focus. He can’t be far away.”

Wes and Eric came running back to us. They both looked sick with fear.

“Can you smell anything in that smoke?” I asked.

“I couldn’t smell him before,” Conrad said, “so that doesn’t really matter.”

I looked up at Darius, waiting for some kind of instruction.

He turned to Wuller and Miller. “It seems that Dustin Walman is still unaccounted for.”

“I thought he went with you,” Wuller said.

“We couldn’t find him before we left. Can you get some of the teachers to check around the grounds on the other side of the building? If any of the boys went out another door, they might have gathered there.”

“Yes. Yes, of course,” Wuller said.

He and Miller left.

“Wuller doesn’t know about Dustin?” Eric asked.

“Mr. Walman wanted to keep his powers a secret. The Torr respects that.” Darius turned to Wes. “Mr. Osborn—”

“He didn’t do it on purpose!” Wes said.

Darius paused. “How do you know?”

“It’s burning too slow. When you do it on purpose it goes fast and high. It burns slow when you’re trying to stop it.”

“But you think it’s him?”

Wes hesitated, then nodded.

“It’s not anger,” Wes had said. “It smolders. It’s like a low ache that you carry around with you. Sometimes it flares.”

It was too easy to picture Dustin hiding somewhere, trying to control everything, trying to hold back all that pain. And when he failed, he hadn’t bothered to come out.

My mouth went suddenly dry.

“What floor are you on, Conrad?” I asked.

I heard a loud crack over my phone—probably a door being forcibly opened. “Second floor.”

Darius took off his suit jacket and sunglasses. He squinted, even in the hazy light, and pulled off his tie. “Tell Conrad I’ll take the third floor. Firetrucks and a Torr team are on their way.”

Before I could say anything, Conrad said, “Understood.”

Right. Conrad’s ears weren’t affected by the smoke.

I hung up and tucked my phone in my pocket. “So I get the first floor?”

I caught a glimpse of Darius’s frown as he rolled up his sleeves.

“You stay outside,” he said at last.

Wes, Eric, and I ran after him as he started toward the side of the building. He was trying to move only as fast as a human, but it was hard to keep up.

“I’ll take the first floor, Darius!” I shouted.

“You only heal as fast as a human.”

“The fire is low right now!”

“How long do you think that will last?”

“My point exactly! And no matter what, I’ll be able to see him.”

The count stopped and turned. “We don’t know if that’s true.”

“I’ve got a better chance than you do!”

Since he didn’t have an answer for that one, he attacked me on my weakest flank.

“If Conrad and I are on the upper floors, we can’t protect you.”

“I can,” Wes said.

Darius looked at him.

“I’m a first-class pyro,” he said. “Wuller’s favorite freak.”

“You’re a minor,” Darius said.

“And that’s bullshit. You’re asking me to stand out here and watch my friend get caught in a fire when I’m a pyrokinetic?”

I could see the conflicted thoughts warring behind the vampire’s eyes.

“Darius,” I said, “you’re talking to a bunch of delinquents and troublemakers. Do you really think he’s going to listen if you tell him to wait out here?”

That decided it.

“Mr. Reed, you will remain outside,” the count said.

Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.

“That’s not happening,” Eric said.

“No matter how heroic your intentions, you do not have the skills needed to cope with this. If you make me choose between the boy I know I can save and the boy I’m not even sure I can find, I will leave Dustin to die. Emerra and Wes go in without you, or no one goes in.”

That time, Darius didn’t need his vampiric powers to inspire obedience. The resolve in his voice and the look in his eye was enough.

Eric’s face filled with angry grief, but he folded his arms and stepped back.

The vampire went on, “Emerra, Wes, try to explore as much of the ground floor as you can before the fire gets too big. Stay along the outside halls. Don’t go into any room without a window, close any door you open, and if it becomes too dangerous or if you discover you can’t control the fire, you leave.”

“Yes, sir,” Wes said.

Darius turned and continued toward the building. His gait evolved from a fast walk, to a run, to a pace no human could match. He was at the building before any of us could move. He jumped up into the corner between one of the out-jutting towers and the main wall and launched himself up the crevice, moving from one impossibly small hold to another. When he reached the third floor, he kicked in the window and threw himself inside. The whole process had taken, maybe, two seconds.

“What the hell was that?” Eric asked.

“Evidence of a really compelling reason to listen to that particular authority figure.” I turned. “Eric, when the firemen get here, tell them we’re on the first floor.”

“What about Vasil and the wolfman?”

“No! Don’t…don’t tell them about that. When the other team gets here, tell them.”

“How will I know them?”

“Ask them if they’re from the Torr.”

He nodded. Mission received.

“Come on, Wes,” I said.

We ran around the corner to the nearest door. I wrapped the edge of my hoodie around my hand and grabbed the door handle. It didn’t feel hot. I opened the door and stepped inside. I only managed one more step before I had to cover my nose and mouth with my arm.

The air was scorching. Hotter than the hottest summer day I’d ever known. The smoke was thick enough, it made my eyes water. I had to squint to see. The flames rolled up the walls on either side of me, but the hallway was clear—at least, as far as I could see in the haze. Wes closed the door behind us and came up to my side. As he got closer, the air around me cooled.

“Wes, which way?” I said over the noise of the fire.

“South. Toward the tower.”

“The one we were at last night? You think he might be there?”

“It’s one of his hiding spots, but I think I should warn you Emerra, when Dustin wants to hide, nobody can find him.”

I decided to ignore that bit of information on the sound basis that I didn’t like it.

“That tower is across the school,” I said. “Can you get us there?”

“I think so.”

He stepped ahead of me. The flames curled away from him as he walked. Every once in a while, he’d raise a hand, and a nearby fire would shrink back.

The deeper we got, the more uneasy I became. Around us, the fire seemed tame. The air was awful but breathable. But when I looked behind us, the flames were already creeping up to the ceiling, getting louder as they grew. Whole rooms were being eaten by them. When we reached the front hall off the main entrance, the blaze in front of us was big enough to make Wes pause.

“It’s getting pretty bad, Emerra,” Wes shouted.

“Are you getting tired?”

“No, but the flames are getting big. It’s harder to control them.”

I glanced at the windows surrounding the double doors. There were shapes moving around outside. I could hear shouting and the faint sound of sirens. The firemen had arrived.

“This is probably when Mr. Vasil would tell you to get out,” Wes said.

I couldn’t help noticing that he’d said “you” and not “us.”

“You’re pretty dumb, aren’t you, Wes?”

He took a half second to think about it. “Yeah.”

“Me too. Let’s keep going.”

Wes held up his hands. For a second, nothing happened, then, slowly, the fire retreated, parting to both sides and flattening against the walls, creating a passage where none had existed before.

We kept going.

The building crackled around us. Horrible sounds came from every direction. A few feet further down the hall, the fire suddenly slackened, returning to the smaller flames burning around the bottom of the baseboards. The noise level dropped.

Wes let his arms fall to his sides. When his deep breath turned into a loud cough, he bent over to get to the clearer air.

I put my hand on his back. “Tired yet?”

He pushed on his legs to straighten himself. “Getting there.”

“How far is it?”

He pointed. “Halfway down the hall.”

The hall was mostly clear. I turned back the way we’d come. The inferno had closed in behind us, and the benign little flames beside us were starting to grow.

“Come on,” I said.

I grabbed Wes’s arm and pulled him forward, but with every step, my reluctance increased. The eerie emptiness of the hall felt as terrible as the fire we’d left behind.

“Emerra, we have to get out of here,” Wes said.

I looked up. His face was grim.

“It’s dangerous,” he added.

Prickles of confusion and unease strolled across the back of my neck and down my arms. Was this Wes Osborn walking beside me?

“Okay,” I muttered. Louder, I said, “But we can’t go back. What’s at the end of this hall?”

“The south wing, the greenhouse, and some staff rooms.”

“Let’s keep going.”

When we passed the door to the tower, Wes didn’t even glance at it.

I was almost at the end of the hall before I could force myself to stop. A step later, Wes turned, but he stood sideways, edging away from me and the hall behind me.

I wiped the sweat away from my eyes and licked my lips. They tasted like smoke.

“Wes.” It felt like a steel cable tightened around my heart when I said his name. Was this what Darius felt like when he let me walk into danger? “Rest for a second. Then I need you to try to find another way out. If you do find it, stay there as long as it’s safe. The moment it’s not safe, leave.”

I turned to go.

He grabbed my sleeve. “Whoa. What about you?”

“I’m going to get Dustin. Don’t worry, I don’t think there’s any fire.”

He motioned to the door beside us. Needy little flame fingers played around the bottom edge. “Do you see how fast this stuff is spreading?”

“That’s why I need you to find a way out. You’re the only one that can keep it clear. Can you do that?”

He hesitated, then nodded.

“Promise me you’ll leave if it’s not safe,” I said.

“And you?”

I let out a dismal laugh. “Believe me, I don’t want to die in here. No way someone like me gets a third chance.”

“What?”

But I was already plunging back down the hall. The closer I got to the tower door, the more I wanted to turn around and leave.

So that’s your trick, Dustin.

It felt like Darius’s vampiric influence, only, this time, I was walking into the blanket, instead of having it thrown over me. There was a deep mental resistance, real enough it felt like I was slogging through pudding, but since I knew what it was, I could ignore it and slog on.

Dustin didn’t have to stop Conrad’s nose. All he had to do was stop Conrad from coming down the hall.

But why hadn’t Conrad realized what was happening?

That would be a question for a better time. A time with less fire.

I tried to open the tower door. It was locked. I tightened my grip and tried to force it, but it didn’t work for me the way it had worked for Eric. I wondered if it only worked when Dustin was around.

Welp! He had his talents, and I had mine.

I pounded on the door. “Dustin! I know you’re in there. Please open the door!”

No answer.

I left my fist on the door and let my head drop against the wood. “Yeah, that’s what I thought. Look, you probably know there’s a fire out here. I don’t know how you protected this place, but it looks like it’s failing. Now, I don’t want to die, but I’m not going anywhere until you let me in.”

I was trembling all over, but I stood on my toes, in case yelling taller might make it easier for him to hear me.

“Go on! Read my mind! I’m serious! And even if I chicken out, it’ll be too late for me to save myself, because I’m both overconfident and a wuss—it’s a deadly combination!”

A thrum of power pushed through me, making my bones ache. All I wanted to do was run. I gripped the door handle as hard as I could.

“Nice try. That doesn’t work on me,” I lied. “There’s a proper way to pull a tantrum, and if you want me to go away, you’ll have to yell it in my face like any other respectable teenager.”

Still no answer.

I turned around and slid down the door until I was sitting on the floor. The air was slightly cleaner, but I couldn’t yell any more. I was too tired. My throat hurt.

“Here’s the thing,” I said, “I’m not going to let you die alone. I know…I know that’s probably what you want, but no one should have to die alone. Especially not someone as cool as you.”

I folded my arms. My hoodie was hot to the touch.

“I’ll stay here,” I added. “In case you need me.”

A few seconds later, the lock above me clicked. I stood up, opened the door, cautiously stepped inside, and shut the door behind me.

The room was darker than it should have been, even with all the lights blown out, even with the smoke outside crowding the windows. I could barely make out where Dustin was sitting, knees up to his chest, tucked into the curve of the staircase. The edge of every color was distorted by a wavering, pearlized sheen. The sound was wrong too. Everything was quiet and far away, like we were hearing through water. When I moved, I felt my foot touch the ground twice, and the floor rippled under my sneaker.

“What’s this?” I asked as I made my way toward him.

He didn’t move at first. Then his shoulders twitched up in a small shrug.

“Has it ever happened before?”

Dustin held up two fingers for less than a second.

I eased myself onto the floor next to him, trying to ignore the sight of the hardwood bending like the surface of a pond.

I leaned back on the wall. “Bad times, huh?”

He nodded.

I scooted until our sides were touching and pulled my knees up to my chest. Then I took a deep breath and let it go. My sadness fluttered like a moth disturbed by a breeze.

I didn’t say anything. I wished, hard enough to make my heart hurt, that I had something clever or brilliant I could say—something that would make everything better—but I didn’t. All I could do was sit there and care, so that’s what I was going to do.

After almost a minute, Dustin whispered, “You died alone?”

“Yeah,” I whispered back. “It was the loneliest thing in the world. So lonely, it leaves a hole in you.” I turned my head to look at him. “There’s a reason I’m not going to let it happen to you.”

“But you’re alive again?”

I smiled. “Weird, right?”

Dustin let out a tiny breath of a laugh. “Yeah. Weird.”

Another minute passed. The smoke outside the windows grew thicker.

“Did it hurt?” he asked.

“Death?”

He nodded.

“Dude, I had cancer. Back then, I hurt. Everything hurt. Death seemed like a pretty good alternative, you know?”

There was another weak laugh. “Yeah, I know.”

I put my arm over him. I wondered if he’d object, but he didn’t. I pulled him close and hurt for both of us—for everyone who’d ever been there.

It was a lot of hurt.

He started trembling. I heard the dull sound of his jerky inhales as he cried. I put my hand on his head and pulled it to mine. His hair was silky under my fingers, and despite the scent of smoke caught on my clothes, I could smell his shampoo. It was a tiny, incidental marker of a normal life, interrupted. I gazed into the iridescent darkness and thought about all the millions of normal moments that make up a life, and how beautiful they all were.

When Dustin’s trembling stopped, I pulled away, sniffed, and wiped my tears with my sleeve.

“Hey,” I said, “Scott wants me to tell you that you’re a stinker for not visiting, and you owe him Doritos when his surgery is over.”

He wiped his eyes with his palm. “Is-is that how you’re going to try to talk me into living?”

I leaned in. “You don’t want to die a debtor, do you?”

He shook his head, like he couldn’t believe me, but he was smiling too. “Aren’t you supposed to tell me that things are going to get better?”

“I can do that. I mean, things can’t get any worse, so they’re bound to get better, right?”

“You’re really bad at this, Emerra.”

“I don’t know the future, Dustin. I can’t tell you what’s going to happen. All I know is that there’s going to be changes.”

His eyes dropped. His Adam’s apple bobbed when he tried to swallow.

“And I know that’s not what you wanted,” I said.

“We had another year,” he moaned. “I liked this stupid school. Turner. My stupid house. I had the world’s greatest, dumbest roommate. This was the first time I’ve ever had friends.” He threw his hand up, motioning to the world in general. “I ruined that. Like always.”

“Yeah, the school is pretty much done for,” I agreed, “but you know they’re still your friends.”

He frowned.

I knocked my knuckles against his head. “Read my mind. You’ve got a talent—use it! I’m not lying. And we’re all really selfish. Wes, Eric, Scott, and me—we want you to keep living because it would break our hearts if you died. I’ll tell you whatever you want to hear, but none of that matters because, right now, we just want you to come out safe.”

“I lit the whole damn school on fire! I’ve never lost control like this before. What am I going to do?”

“Don’t worry about it. You’ve got the right hand of death on your side. We’ll take care of it.”

“What? Did…did you mean ‘the right hand of god?’”

“I don’t know. Never met them. But Darius Vasil is plenty scary, and he’s going to kill me if I don’t get out of here soon.” I stood up and put my hand out. “Are you ready, Dustin?”

He took my hand and hauled himself to his feet.

As he rose, the sound settled, the iridescence dwindled, and the darkness faded. We could see the yellow-brown light coming in from the windows. The real world was back.

What a shame it was still on fire.