Through the Fire (Daughter of Fire, #1)(70)

Before I even got the words out, before I could warn her that I couldn’t contain the dangerous parts of me, the pressure of the blade increasing against my throat was too much for my self-control.

My whole body tingled and ached. It was only a matter of time before I completely lost control and my body burned—just like it had in the back of the police car the first time they’d caught me. The gas Louise had poured over me only made the situation more uncontrollable.

“You need to leave. Now,” I warned her through gritted teeth, my voice ice and venom as my control began to slip. I was completely unable to repress the sunbird within me for even a moment more. It was the part of me that had no logic, just the need to protect and survive. It was the sunbird who haunted my dreams and sometimes made me worry that Clay’s family was right—that I was nothing more than a monster. Whenever the sunbird would take over, I would become nothing more than a passenger in my own body.

Louise pressed the tip of the knife harder until it bit into my skin, and a small trickle of blood dribbled down my throat. “You don’t scare—”

Her eyes widened at the precise moment a thousand tiny fires burst to life across my body. The ropes fell away almost instantly. Louise dropped the knife quickly as the heat transferring into the handle became unbearable. She brought her fingers to her mouth to try to soothe the burn and stepped away from me.

I stood seconds before the chair I’d been secured to was consumed by flames. The propellant around me fed the inferno; flames quickly ignited the liquid that had surrounded me.

In an instant, the room burned. It was too hot even for me. My body shuddered with pain. Unable to control my actions, I stumbled forward under the control of the sunbird. My entire being was under her control—I was unable to warn Louise to run.

Anything that happens now is her fault.

The thoughts in my head came from the darkest places within me, and I didn’t agree with them. I couldn’t force my voice to form the words that might save her though. I was nothing but a passenger in my own body.

Louise stumbled backward away from me as I took another step toward the door to escape. She fell. The flame that trailed along the carpet followed her path, as if it was alive. After pushing herself up onto her feet, she scrambled for the door. The fire licked at her heels with every step. I thought she might be free when she fell again. The fire was on her in an instant. Her screams echoed loudly around the enclosed space.

I wanted to help her, but I couldn’t. The fire tore over my skin, blistering and bubbling patches as it went. I didn’t know how much longer I could hold onto consciousness.

The pounding in my head, which had never really abated, grew in intensity. Everything around me throbbed in time to my heartbeat. I pushed through the control of the sunbird as the need to escape the apartment grew in intensity. The flames might have originated in my body, but that didn’t mean they couldn’t consume me as surely as they devoured everything else.

I stepped forward as fast as I could. Reaching the door after what felt like an eternity, I pushed against it again and again until it finally gave way.

Without the resistance of the door, I stumbled into a corridor filled with smoke and screams. My relief only lasted a second as the flames reached my legs and the pain sent me back into darkness.





LIGHT FLOODED IN.

Handcuffs secured around my right wrist chained me to a bed.

A hospital bed.

Every part of my body ached. Pins and needles raced over my skin, burning and stinging every inch. From past experience, I understood the sting would linger for a number of days because I’d allowed the sunbird to take full control over me. Despite the effort it took to concentrate on anything solid, I attempted to pushed the pain out of my mind and figure out exactly why I was in the hospital.

I tried to pull myself up into a seated position, but I couldn’t. Every attempt to move caused the pins and needles to twist into daggers and syringes. How much damage had I done to myself? I’d never lost control so absolutely before—even in the back of the police car the sunbird had only broken through to the surface for a few seconds. The gasoline Louise had added to the situation could only have made the damage worse.

Resigning myself to not being able to sit up, I dropped back to the bed and allowed the darkness to swallow me again.





MY MIND swam in and out of consciousness all day.

Each time I woke, the lingering burn on my skin amplified and spread over my body before seeping back into my bones. Each time, the agony intensified. Would it ever abate?

At times, I heard voices, sometimes nearby, sometimes in the distance. The more I tried to focus on the words, the harder they became to hear. Eventually, the one voice I wanted most to hear seeped into my consciousness. His words reached me louder and clearer than any other. It was as if my mind craved the knowledge he was okay so badly, it focused only on his voice.

“What did you do, Evie?” Clay asked.

I tried to answer him. My fingers twitched in response, but I couldn’t rouse any other part of my body.

The soft caress of his fingers on the side of my face gave me something to concentrate on. I focused on the sensation and tried to move my head toward his hand. The tiny attempt at movement was enough to exhaust me, and my mind closed over again until, minutes or hours later, Clay’s voice echoed in my mind again.

“How did this happen? All I know is there was a fire. Did you start it?”