“We all need to pack a few things,” Jared said. “We’re going to be gone for a couple of days. I want to be in the car and ready to go in five minutes.”

Jared's and Bex's forms turned obscure as they raced around the room at impossible speed, and I immediately pulled on a hooded sweatshirt and jeans, and then shoved my bare feet into sneakers. Jared held the door open for me as I pulled my hair back into a ponytail. The iron steps knocked and echoed with my footsteps alone, although Bex was in front of me, with Jared following behind.

Bex threw our bags into the back of the Escalade, and then froze. He looked into the air, waiting for something.

“Are they coming?” I whispered.

Jared paused, and then took a step toward the loft. “No,” he whispered.

Bex shook his head. “They’re here.”

Jared left me, then. My eyes barely kept up with his blurry form sprinting into the loft.

“What…?” I said. Bex moved in front of me in a protective stance, and then gasped.

The building exploded. Multiple balls of fire rolled into the sky. Debris shot toward Bex and me, and he turned his back to the explosion, shielding my body from the blast. I crawled out from under him, seeing the bright orange glow of heat and smoke that used to be our home.

“No!” I wailed, reaching over Bex. I knew trying to escape from him grip was futile, but the explosion had happened less than a second after Jared had reached the stairs, and I was desperate to get to him.

I looked up to Jared’s little brother. His eyes were wide. He clearly didn’t know what to think. We waited there, and even though the fire roared before us, everything was silent.

I waited for Jared to emerge from the rubble. Every second that passed seemed like an eternity, and panic began to overwhelm any rational thought I tried to have.

“Come on, Jared,” Bex said, his grip on my arms a bit tighter.

“Go get him,” I demanded, my voice broken and shaking.

“I have to stay here with you,” Bex said. He seemed confused and in shock.

I pushed at Bex. “He’s in there somewhere! Go get him!” I screamed.

Bex grabbed each side of my face, looking deep into my eyes. “They are here, Nina. They’re all around us. I can’t leave you.”

“Good kid,” Jared said from behind us. His hair and clothes were singed, his face covered in soot, and the skin on his cheek bone was scraped and bleeding, but he was alive.

He held up two dusty picture frames; one with the black and white picture of me he took the day he fell in love with me, the other of us playing at the beach in Little Corn.