Scorched Ice (Fire and Ice #3)(69)

“In the vision I had out on the field,” she whispered, “I saw the mines and I saw this door. I think there may be another explosion tied to this.”

“Wonderful,” Quinn murmured.

“It’s not as thick as the first one,” Julian said. “I can get through it on my own. Tell everyone else to move back.”





CHAPTER 25


Gripping the handle, Julian braced himself to pull the door open. Glancing behind him, he saw most of the others hiding within one of the rooms off the hall. Quinn stood behind him, unwilling to take safety with the others.

“Stay behind me,” he said for the tenth time.

She rolled her eyes, but her foot tapped anxiously against the floor. “I know.”

Straightening his shoulders, he braced his other hand against the wall as he pulled back on the handle. The hinges of the door creaked as they bent, the metal of the door twisting to give way to his grasp.

The handle broke off suddenly, causing him to take a stumbling step back before he caught his balance. He tossed the metal handle aside. It clattered against the concrete before rolling to settle against the wall as he stepped up to the door again. Feeling over the cool metal, he wrapped one hand around the twisted frame and slid his other hand up by the hinges. The hinges had given away enough to allow room for his fingers to slip through.

He used all of his strength to wrench backward, tearing the door free of the wall. Jumping back, he slammed the metal door down in front of him to use it as a shield while he pinned Quinn against the wall behind him. A concussive boom caused the floor beneath his feet to lurch as a wave of fire erupted from the doorway. He almost could have believed a fire-breathing dragon had been unleashed on them as the flames continued to roll outward, snapping at the air before him and nearly reaching the room where the others were.

The strength of the explosion and the wall of fire pounding against him, pushed him more firmly into Quinn as he labored to keep the door between them and the flames. The metal heated beneath his palm, causing the door to glow a vibrant orange color. His skin blistered and peeled away from his muscles until all that remained were the bones of his fingertips. His arms shook as his muscles strained from the force.

The tentacles of her power slithered over his skin, an influx of life strengthened him. The skin on his hands began to heal as rapidly as it peeled away.

“Keep that life for you,” he managed to grate out between his teeth.

“It’s for us,” she replied before her head dropped against his back.

“Quinn—”

“You know it didn’t all go back to them. I always keep some life, whether it’s intentional or not, there is more in me than I need right now!”

She shouted the words at him, but he barely heard her over the crackling wave of fire battering them. He had no idea what The Commission had used to fuel this fire, but they’d certainly never intended for anyone to walk away from it.

“We have to move back,” he yelled at her, his voice dry and cracking from the heat of the flames.

She started to edge her way down the hall toward the first room. “Almost—” Her words abruptly cut off as a twisting, wrenching sound filled the air. The floor beneath his feet shook and heaved before the ground plunged out from under him.

***

Quinn’s head spun. The buzzing in her ears was an incessant noise that nearly drowned out the agony of her battered body. She tried to recall what had happened, tried to understand where she was, but everything around her was too chaotic. Blood filled her nostrils, smoke clogged her throat, and the lump on the side of her head throbbed as if it were a living thing.

She had to remember what had happened and where she was; if she didn’t, she would die.

She had no idea how she knew that, she just knew it. Screams resonated in her ears, somehow piercing through the horrible buzzing. If she found that beehive, she’d smash it with her bare hands.

Julian!

He was with her somewhere amongst the buzzing and pain and smoke. Fire!

Her eyes flew open as bits and pieces of the events that had transpired filtered over her. There had been explosions and a fire. Julian had stood before her with a door, and then…

She blinked against the smoke, trying to clear her vision of the cloying substance as the crackling of flames briefly drowned out the buzzing. Heat beat against her skin, causing sweat to plaster her clothes to her. The smoke was acrid on her tongue and debris coated her lashes when she tried to blink her watering eyes in an attempt to clear her vision.

Something shifted above her. Whatever it was pressed down more firmly on her chest and caused a startled cry to escape her. She realized she couldn’t see, not because of the smoke, but because she was buried beneath something. Lifting her hands, her fingers fumbled over the rough surface of whatever lay on top of her. Cool and rigid to the touch, it took her a minute to realize she lay beneath a pile of concrete.

The floor gave way.

The final rush of memory was a relief that didn’t last long. Julian was down here with her, as vulnerable as she was. The others could also be here, or had it only been their section of floor that collapsed?

Adrenaline flooded her body at the thought of those she loved trapped in this hell with her. She shoved harder against the rubble weighing her down but jerked her hand back when a piece of metal rebar sticking through the concrete sliced across her hand. Blood welled forth and spilled down her palm. Taking hold of the slab again, she shoved it angrily off of her and blinked as she tried to take in what she could of her surroundings.