Catch Me When I Fall (35 page)

Kayla sobbed almost immediately.

“Hey, we’re going to be fine,” I said. “But I need your help, so you have to calm down.”

She nodded and breathed deeply through her nose, setting her lips in a tight line.

The flames were just a couple feet away. Soon they would lick at her hair if I didn’t get her out. Holding her hand, I closed my eyes, praying that Richard lifted the spell to keep me from evaporating.

But he hadn’t. I swore under my breath and touched her cheek. “Take in as little oxygen as you can. Keep breathing slowly through your nose, all right?”

She nodded.

“Good. I’m going to get this drywall off you. When I lift, roll to your right. Don’t slide back, or you’ll hit the flames.”

When she nodded again, I stood up and wiped sweat from my forehead. With a groan, I lifted the drywall, every muscle in my body aching. The depleting oxygen didn’t help, either.

My arms shook. “Kayla, move!”

“I can’t. My leg’s caught.”

The world around me tilted, and I lost my grip. Kayla cried out when the drywall landed on her again. I fell to one knee, apologizing, and shook my head, trying to put everything back into focus. The flames were inches from her now. My throat tightened.

Standing up, my vision blackened around the edges. I coughed and gripped the edge of the drywall again.
Come on, Daniel
.

A loud
boom
sounded to my right. I crouched low to gain my balance as the room shook. Someone had blown a hole in the debris. The smoke in the room lessened now that there was an opening for it to go through, and a blurred figure came toward us. I prayed he was a Dreamcatcher, but as he ran further into the room, I could tell he wasn’t wearing a weapon belt. Balling my fists, I prepared to fight with every ounce of strength I had left.

Then he called out, his voice familiar. “Kayla!”

“Nolan!” she screeched from underneath the drywall.

Nolan
? My jaw tightened. Not only had he carried her over his shoulder, but he’d been responsible for her botched escape attempt. I swung when he got close enough and clocked him in the jaw.

“Jesus!” Nolan rubbed his face. “I’m rescuing you, and this is what I get? What the hell was that for?”

“That’s for carrying Kayla over your shoulder like a bloody rag doll,” I said.

He smirked. “Oh, she’s definitely not a rag doll.”

I raised my fist again, but Nolan stepped back and held his hand out in front of him. Water shot from his palm, putting out the flames that were now centimeters from catching Kayla’s hair on fire. Then the drywall covering Kayla went flying across the room.

“Can I get a ‘thank you’ now, please?” he said.

With a roll of my eyes, I bent over, scooping Kayla into my arms. She cried out in pain and struggled to get her arms around my neck.

A light film, like a bubble, enveloped Kayla and me.

“What are you doing?” I asked Nolan.

“What do you think? I’m shielding you. It’s either this or put out the rest of the fire, but I can’t tell the firemen I had a squirt gun in my back pocket and used my saliva to fill the tank, can I? Now, hurry up. You can evaporate us from the parking lot.”

I glared at him, unsure if I wanted to trust him, but then Kayla winced in my arms, and I knew it didn’t matter. She needed to be somewhere safe, now. As quickly as I could without hurting her, I ran out of the room then swore when the door opened at the end of the hall. Ten of Giovanni’s Catchers ran in, weapons pointed at us. One pulled the trigger, but Nolan’s bubble worked. The bullet disintegrated in front of my eyes.

“Get out, now!” Nolan yelled. He moved so the light film stood in front of the three of us like a shield. “I’ll hold them off.”

“What about you?” I asked him as the Catchers encroached upon us, firing their weapons.

“What do I look like? A Disney princess? I can take care of myself. On three. Ready? One, two—”

I took off, my body aching everywhere. Despite her small size, Kayla was becoming heavier, and she screamed with every step I took. But I could not stop, no matter how much my body protested—or my heart. True to his word, Nolan parted the group of Catchers like Moses and the Red Sea. Every one of them, as we passed, went up in flames, froze, or was blown into the wall.

When I finally reached the stairwell, I kicked the door open with a grunt and worked my way down the stairs. Footsteps followed and, for a moment, a hot wave of panic seized me. Then, I glanced over my shoulder to see Nolan following close behind.

“Hurry up, slow poke,” he said.

I would’ve sworn at him had my lungs not already felt like they were going to explode. Then I noticed Kayla was silent and looked down at her. Her lips were pale.

No, no, no
. How was this possible? She’d barely been injured. I forced my body to speed up, using every ounce of energy I had left. Finally, we reached the first floor and turned left out the emergency exit. Fire trucks lined the parking lot, and firefighters ran toward us in their gear.

“Somebody call the paramedics!” one of them yelled.

“Grab my arm!” I shouted over my shoulder at Nolan, not caring who saw us evaporate.

He wiggled an eyebrow, but did as he was told. As soon as his fingertips touched my shirt, I evaporated to Alaska, where I prayed the others would still be.

My friends jumped to their feet as soon as Kayla, Nolan and I popped into the room.

“Oh my god. Daniel,” Samantha said as she sprinted forward to help me get Kayla on the bed.

I set Kayla down gently and stepped back when I noticed Bartholomew running across the room. I’d have been more shocked to see him if my heart didn’t feel like it would jump out of my chest, or if the room ceased spinning for one blooming minute.

The sensation of falling hit me, and it wasn’t until someone caught me from behind that I realized my knees had buckled.

“Seth, help me,” Ivan said. Seth ran to my other side, and the two of them led me to the other bed.

I passed out before my head hit the pillow.

awoke to whispers and regretted opening my eyes. The light burned, like someone held a flashlight in my face after months of blackness, and I covered my eyes with a groan.

“Sam, get Trishna,” Seth said. “Daniel’s up.”

Someone ran from the room, then there was a hand on my arm.

“Drink this,” Tabbi said.

Without opening my eyes, I held my hand out. Tabbi placed a cold glass into my hand. Sitting up a little, I held the cup to my lips and drank the liquid deep. It tasted like mint chocolate. Was this one of Bartholomew’s concoctions?

“You took in a lot of smoke and lost a lot of blood,” Seth said. “You’ve been out for almost two days.”

Two days?
So much could’ve happened by now. I passed the cup back to Tabbi. “Kayla—how is she?”

The door to the room opened. “She is stable,” Trishna said. “Right now, let’s worry about you. Can you open your eyes and sit up, please?”

I didn’t like the way she dodged my question, but I obeyed. The light still burned my eyes, but not as much as the first time. My body was stiff, but there was no pain. I leaned against the headboard.

“I saw Bartholomew is alive,” I said.

Samantha nodded. “He found us only hours after Richard took you. We were in the midst of making plans to come get you when you evaporated to us.”

I winced when Trishna shone a bright light in my eyes. “And if I can, that means Giovanni can, too. We need to move.”

“No need. I’ve already put up spells around here to ward off any unwanted visitors,” Trishna said. “Only those who don’t intend to harm us can evaporate here. You are all safe. Now, hold still while I make sure you don’t need any more care.”

Bartholomew had said she was powerful, but I wondered if her spells would hold up against Richard. I let her finish her thorough inspection, and when she said I would be fine with a little more rest, I stood up.

“Where’s Kayla? I want to see her.”

Seth’s frown sent my heart hammering.

“Daniel, she’s fine. I am monitoring her closely,” Trishna said.

“‘Monitoring her?’” I knew what those words meant. Kayla was still in critical condition. I stared at Seth. He’d give me the answers I wanted—needed. “Where is she?”

He held his breath, but it didn’t take long for him to break. He spoke so fast, everything blurred together like they were one word. “Next door. Room five-oh-seven.” He covered his face with his hands.

Trishna glared at Seth as I bulldozed passed her and into the hall. The door to room 507 was cracked open, like people didn’t want to bother with having to get in with a key, just in case. My chest tightened. I took a deep breath and opened the door.

Lian sat on the bed next to her, her black hair tied in a bun, holding a towel to Kayla’s forehead. Bartholomew stood with Ivan and Nolan in the far corner of the room, the three of them speaking in hushed voices. Seeing me enter the room, they broke apart.

“Daniel, how do you feel?” Bartholomew asked. Stubble lined his tanned face, and deep circles framed his brown eyes.

“I’m fine.” My voice was stern, and I moved past him, not wanting anyone else to get in my way of seeing Kayla. Lian stood from the bed, eyeing me with sympathy, and I sat in her place. I touched Kayla’s cheek. It was on fire. This time my voice was weak. “What happened?”

“She was hit, Daniel,” Nolan said.

“Yeah, with a piece of drywall. She shouldn’t be like this.”

“He doesn’t mean like that,” Bartholomew said. “Richard tagged her, probably as the ceiling was collapsing on her.”

“English!”

“There was a wound on her left side,” Lian said, her almond eyes sad. “A burn mark, like a brand. From what Trishna said, it was left there by a spell. A dark spell.
Cuīmián
. Hypnosis. She thinks the reason she isn’t waking is because Richard connected himself to her. Right now, he’s in her head. He’ll let her go when he either gets what he wants from her, or when…”

I closed my eyes, tears looming behind my lids for the first time in years. I finished her sentence. “Or when she dies.”