Max threw himself down the stairs so quickly, I was sure he'dlose his balanceand we'd end up breaking ournecks. He didn't, though. But neither did he turn around and startusing that magic of his. The magic that smelt like grass and feltlike sunon my cheeks and soundedlike far-offhorse hooves.
He reached the bottom of the stairs and jumped ontothe first-floorlanding. His boots pounded outwith rattling shakes, sounding like jackhammers that shook thehouse with every blow.
His breath was remarkably regulated, evenif he did waste it every few seconds to turn over his shoulder andswear at our attackers.
So I concentrated on his breath – deep andregular – as it was the only damn thing I could hold ontonow.
I didn't get the chance to ask Max wherewe were going. Though I was totally freaked out, and my body was shaking like a flag in a gale, I stillappreciated that it wouldn't be a good idea to take this fight outonto the city street. Maybe we'd have more of a chance out there,but it would be too public.
I didn't have time to appreciate that thatwas almost a good thought – and certainly not the kind ofsuggestion my twisted morality usually offered.
Nope, I didn't have the time, because Maxreached the lounge room. He skidded in, moving so fast that he hadto shove his shoulder into the door frame witha rattling thump inorder to control hisspeed.
The fire was on, crackling in thehearth.
It was an open fire, a fact I noted as Maxsped towards it.
My mind told me he was aiming for one ofthe heavy boxes on the mantelpiece. That, or he wanted the firepoker.
That's not what he wanted, though.
We reached the fire, and a thrill of pure terror jolted through my heart as hedidn't stop.
Muttering the strangest words under his breath, he let go ofme.
Max the fairy threw me on the fire.
The hearth was wide,the fireplacemore than large enough to takemy crumpled up form.
I didn't even have the chance to scream.Pure, pure terror pulsed through me with such power, it felt like Iwould explode.
Or burn.
I landed on the crackling logs andblistering hot coals.
… But they did not burn me.
Instead, I felt energy charge through me,crackling over my arms and legs and face until it covered me infull.
Behind me, I felt Max plow into the fire,too.
And that's when his magic took hold.
Suddenly, everything changed. Just as myfear exploded and threatened to take the last scraps of my mindwith it, the flame licking over my body disappeared. The burninglogs beneath my hands and legs disappeared, too. As did theblistering hot coals.
In a rush of energy, everything changed.
I landed on something cold, hard, andwet.
It took me several terrifying seconds to realize it was asphalt. It took mybroken mind even longer to jerk my head back and realize I was in adarkened laneway.
… No…. No. This wasn't possible—
I didn't have time to doubt anything. Maxappeared right behind me in a wave of magic and fire. He shoveddown, caught my arm, and pulled me to my feet.
I couldn't stand. My mind was telling me Iwas back in that fire, about to burn to death in the most horribleway possible. My body was telling me I wasn't burning – it wasraining.
Max picked me up once more, the move so easy for him he mightas well have been picking up a kitten.
He proceeded to run through the rain-soakedstreets.
He kept turning his head over his shoulderas if he expected an attack.
I could barely breathe, butfinally, I found the strength and coordination tojerk my lips open to scream.
Max wouldn't let me. He could hardly spare a hand, as he wasusing both to lock me to his chest. He still leaned in, though,made sudden and unmistakable eye contact. “Make no noise – you'lldraw them out of the darkness,” he said, quick breath breakingagainst my cheeks.
I lay still in his arms, immobilized byfear.
I couldn't catch up, just didn't have theskills to figure out what was happening.
Max continued to run through the streets, never strikinga main road. He would stop at the mouth of anylaneways, listening for something before choosing the darkest, mostsecluded path forward.
The pounding drone of his heavy footfallstarted to lull me, started to calm me as the drenching rainfinally convinced my body that I couldn't be burning.
I squeezed my eyes closed and tried tofigure out what the hell could be happening, hell being theoperative word.
Those eyes in the dark, those pitching,inhuman screams. They had to come from monsters.
Monsters.
Max had warned me they'd come, but I'd ignored him, hadn'tI?
Worse… I'd brought this onmyself.
If it were possible, I suddenly froze allthe more, muscles seizing up with such finality it was as if I weregoing into rigor mortis.
Before I'd gone to sleep – though thatmemory was now far off – I'd ignored something, hadn't I? I'dturned away from those sparks, from the future….
The rain started to pound down evenheavier than before. As I squeezed open one eye, I watched it saildown in vertical sheets. I was soaked, and as I darted my gaze tothe side, I appreciated that Max was, too. His cropped hair wasslicked, his face marked by lines of water that drained off hisface and darted off his jaw in splashing waves. His usuallytight grayT-shirt now clung to him,revealing every single line of his body.
As we darted past a flickering streetlightand caught the reflected illumination of a headlight from the endof the street, I saw Max's expression. Appreciated the sheerdetermination crumpling his brow and angling his jawhard.
It… distracted me.
It reminded me that he was saving me,again.
To be honest, I hadn't picked up thesounds of chase since we'd left the house. Somehow – I stillcouldn't reconcile the fact that we were now out here on the citystreets.
That wasn't the point, though. The pointwas, surely it was safe now.
“Ma-” I began.
He crumpled forward, pressing me closer tohis chest, trying to stifle my words. “Shh,” he said under hisbreath, whispering so low that I could only pick it up because Iwas
