In Vendetta House (The Vendetta Series #1)

Chapter 38

Chapter 38

A fireball, a whirling sphere of molten lava, is hurtling towards us at top speed.

"Holy shit, it's us! It's us!" Jesse calls.

I clutch my heart, panting on the floor. My knees are stinging, being grazed from the carpet, peeling off another layer of skin. That fireball singed my hair and would have taken my face off if I hadn't ducked fast enough. I stare at the burning spot on the wall.

"Oops," Sasha squeaks. "Sorry."

Jesse offers me a hand up while I huff, smoothing down my crispy tuff of hair.

"Thanks," I say. "I needed a new haircut.

"I saw two suspicious figure in the dark," Sasha says. "I had to do something."

"Are we done chit-chatting?" Courtney interrupts. She has isolated herself from the rest of us, idling by the frame of the double doors. "I'd like to know what's happening before we're caught."

"We're going into West Wing," Eric says. "Duh-"

An loud noise booms down below.

"What was that?" I demand, though I doubt anyone would have the answer.

"Gunshot?" Sasha offers.

"It's too high-pitched to be a gunshot," Jesse tells her.

The noise echoes again, this time accompanied by some suspicious tapping. My mind conjures up a horrific image of Dr. Hood regenerating a body from that pile of ash and attacking.

"We're wasting time," Jesse suddenly says. "We'll be discovered any minute. Go, go, go!"

Sasha runs off into the darkness first, her hands immediately lighting up into blooms of fire. I nudge Courtney along, since she seems to be hesitating.

"No one listens when I say we're going to be seen," she is muttering, pissed off. "But everyone jumps into action when he says so."

I keep shoving Courtney lightly along despite her protests until all five of us are running in a tight pack with her cornered in the middle.

"There are stairs here," I call to Sasha, who is leading with her hands. "Watch the debris."

Eric doesn't seem to listen very well. On the first step down, the rubbery tip of his sneakers get caught on a jagged piece of wood.

Before he can fall, Jesse grabs his upper arm, tugging him back upright.

"Careful," he mutters.

We step down onto the second floor. Or is it the negative first floor?

"Are we above or underground right now?" I ask, the narrow hallways making me nervous. They didn't seem this small last time, or it may have been because there weren't so many of us.

"Above," Courtney answers, distractedly. "The entrance was on the second floor if you compare it to the other stories in the house itself. We must be on something equal to the first floor right now."

"Then the next floor is situated underground, right?"

"I guess," Courtney replies, strangely calm.

The staircase that leads us down to the next floor is the one with the creepily boarded windows.

"Hey," Jesse says, stopping. "Wait." He pauses to inspect the wooden boards, jabbing two fingers into the little hole by the side. Last time, there was sunlight barely poking through. The moonlight tonight isn't strong enough to give any light at all.