Godspeed

Chapter 28

I struggled for air; gasping, halting breaths of atmosphere too thick to be contained by my constricting lungs.

I wanted to scream, to call his name again but it was no use. Even if I'd had the ability now, the sound would have died away in my throat as my heart shattered below. The smoke billowed, black and thick from every brick and crevice of the wounded structure as it writhed and groaned in its death throes.

"GODSPEED!" I cried out at last, fighting to draw breath between sobs as I watched the conflagration consume everything before my eyes — and with it, I was certain, everything that mattered.

"You can't!" Penn struggled to hold me back. My unnatural strength surprised him, as I continued to fight him in my desperation to run to Quinn. I almost managed to wrench myself free when he slipped on the wet, icy ground, but still he held on.

The street was deserted, though it was clear that someone nearby must know something was wrong — I heard the muffled wail of a fire wagon in the distance. I knew it was already over; by the time they reached the house it'd be too late. With all of Quinn's powerful equipment inside, it was only a matter of seconds until the entire thing would be blown apart from within.

"NO!" I repeated, refusing to believe the tragedy even as it unfolded right in front of me.

"There's nothing you can do for him now!" Penn insisted, yanking me back more forcefully so that he could lead me toward Marielle and Lilibet. The pair of sisters huddled, shaking, across the concrete court. "He wanted you so much to live, Abigail, you cannot destroy all that remains of him."

"I can save him!"

"No one could save him," Penn replied, gathering me into his arms protectively. "But you loved him, and he believed it. That was something no one else had ever been able to give him."

The sirens drew closer as snow began to fall anew, sifting down soft, white, and pure above the gathering inferno.

I could not bear it.

My heart thumped in my chest, and I felt zaps and pings of electricity that I was sure signified its own final beats. If I was to die, did it truly matter how? If Quinn was dead, there was no reason left in the world for me to fight to go on.

I buried my face in Penn's shoulder as my knees gave way. Together we collapsed into the snow, and I felt his own tears fall against my skin as he held me tight. We both shook, not only from the unforgiving cold but from the horror we felt at all we had lost — at what the entire world had just lost, without even knowing.

Then, amidst the crack of wood and roar of flame, a voice.

"Penn!"

Penn didn't even stop to look at me, he leapt up from the snow, and he ran.

He rushed off into the smoke, toward the sound of that muffled call that he alone could hear.

I fought the stinging snow and burning tears to try to see, but the smoke was much too thick.

Then at long last, I saw him: badly beaten, covered with ash, his clothing singed by flame.

Quinn Godspeed was alive.

He was dragging something — someone — and I realized that he had hold of Schuyler's arms. Penn grabbed onto the lifeless man's clothing and together they raced away from the house as quickly as they could.

"Run!" Penn shouted at me, though I knew I lacked the ability. An evil hissing sound built from within the withering building, and again he repeated the command. "Abigail! RUN!"