Chapter 4

“Claire!” I exclaimed as Liam closed his strong fingers around my wrist and another arm around my stomach.

I protested and screamed, but Liam still held me in his rock grasp.

“Liam! I have to get in there! Claire is still there and I need to find her! Please!” I pleaded with Liam, who still hadn’t moved.

“Elana, the firemen will get her. It’s their job. Leave it. Maybe she’s already out, but you just haven’t seen her yet.”

“No! You don’t get it! If I don’t help her, she’s going to die! I had a dream about this!”

I turned back to face Liam and I saw his face twist in confusion until it turned into understanding.

He seemed uncertain now and glanced anxiously from the school to me. After what seemed like forever, he made up his mind. “Okay, but I’m going with you. I don’t want you to get hurt in there. If anything goes wrong, we will leave, okay?”

I nodded and he let me from his grasp.

I knew that something was going to go wrong. Heck, everything is going to go wrong. I couldn’t leave when it happened, either, and there was no way I was going to let Liam go in there and get himself hurt.

There was only one solution.

“Sorry”. Liam’s face flashed in confusion until I brought my fist to his temple, striking a pressure point.

I whispered another apology and ran over to where the blazing school was.

I sprinted into the on-going traffic and hazardously dodged cars and people on the way. I could hear the fire sirens in the background and picked up my pace to beat them into the building.

I knew there was no way they would let me in if they had a chance.

I reached the front doors as fire exploded through them. The heat smashed into my face and I stumbled back to catch my concentration.

I caught my train of thought and barged through the holes in the doors circled with black from the fire.

I felt the flames licking my legs and feet as I stumbled down the hallway and black, thick, oily smoke invaded my lungs, scratching them and making me choke. The distance to the cafeteria seemed much larger with flames reaching out to me from everywhere.

I found it ironic that I wished many times for the school to burn down, and now it was happening, all I wanted was for it to stop.

Claire was where she was in my dream, so I didn’t have to search too hard to find her. She was still smack in the middle of the cafeteria, unmoving. I tried to reach her as some building terrain smashed in front of me to block my path.

This did not happen in my dream until later.

I tried screaming her name, but she was still in shock. I knew any second the firemen would come in and get me, but if they wouldn’t get to Claire in time, she would be gone.

I took a step towards the cafeteria where Claire was when a board from the wall collapsed.

I moved quickly to try to dodge it, but while lunging out of the board’s way, it landed on my calf and knocked me down to the ground. I felt what fire was on it burn through my jeans, but the flames never reached my leg.

I tried to squirm from under the board, but it just seemed to get heavier. I tried to draw in a breath so I could try to push the board, but I just inhaled smoke and ended up in a coughing fit.

“Help! Please, help!” I struggled to scream, but there was nobody around. Mustering all the strength I had left, I twisted my body uncomfortably to push the board off my leg.

Strangely, when I saw the board, it was still flaming uncontrollably.

The flames never even heated my leg.

While I tried to comprehend the phenomenon, a man appeared. I let out a sigh of relief at seeing my brother come to help me, but then a shot of fear trickled down my spine at the realization that Liam had come after me somehow.

“Hold on!” He yelled at me in a deep voice.

That's not Liam...

He appeared to me in the matter of a few minutes and immediately went to work on the board over me. His eyes urgently searched for a spot that wasn't covered in flames, and when he discovered it, his hands shot out to lift it.

It’s either I was really weak or I was hallucinating, but he lifted it off of me in the matter of seconds and threw it to the side with ease.

“Can you walk?” He asked me.

I tried not to gawk at what happened too much and attempted to get to my feet.

I put weight on my leg, but between the feeling of somebody squeezing my muscle and a thousand needles in my calf, I resented and gave up. I sat back down and glanced up at muscle man in panic.

Before I could say anything, he was carrying me effortlessly through the burning building. Debris smashed down in front of us several times, but it was as though the man knew it was going to happen and always dodged it.

We were almost out the side door of the school when I remembered why I was there in the first place.

I started to squirm in the man’s grasp, but his arms on my back and legs were like stone. He shot me a stern look and after my shock faded off, I returned one as well.

“Claire’s in there! That’s why I came back in! We have to go find her!”

He was still glaring at me when he replied, “We already have the other girl.”

I gave him a quizzical glare before resting in his arms again and he opened the door. I felt a cool breeze splash across my face as the air settled in around us.

The fresh air sent me into another coughing fit that I couldn’t control. Still firmly in his grasp, the man darted towards the woods where, I assumed, Claire was.

I heard the wailing of the sirens and yelling coming from other men around it. I didn’t try to turn around. The only thing on my mind right now was whether my best friend was alright or not.

We entered the forest’s line and I felt at ease, the fire far behind us.

The young man ran with me in his arms for a long time, until we made it to a dead patch in the forest.

He slowed his pace as we made it to the center of the clearing. I glanced around, expecting to see Claire there, but I couldn’t find her. The young man strolled over to a log in the center and propped me up against it.

I glanced up at him and, for the first time, got a good look at my rescuer. He had a large, heavy build surrounded in tight muscles. He had deep brown eyes that almost looked black and dark brown hair.

He was very virile—at least 6 feet 5 inches tall. His whole appearance screamed intimidating.

Yet, something about him seemed so familiar. His gorgeous face hiding that mystery.

I snapped out of my trance when somebody shook my shoulder. I focused my attention on the guy shaking me. It was another young man—probably a year older than the one that carried me here. He had a medium build with sky blue eyes and sandy blonde hair.

Embarrassed that I was caught gawking at my rescuer, I felt my cheeks heat up and I looked at my leg instead.

The blonde guy followed my gaze to my leg and scoot down to inspect it. He looked at it for a minute before placing both hands on my wound and I winced in pain from his contact. He sat there with both hands on my leg for a second before looking at me in wonder.

“She’s a foreseer,” he whispered.