Read Online Unmade (The Lynburn Legacy Book 3) - Free Book Online Page B

Kami fell hard on the floor, knocked down by nothing at all. She absorbed the impact on her hands and knees, and glared over at Ruth’s scarlet head.
    She filled Ruth’s lungs with water, so Ruth gagged and collapsed again.
    â€œEvery one of you can burn and drown, for all I care,” said Kami, and got up on unsteady legs to run after the others. Her legs and her lungs both hurt, she was running so hard, but up ahead she could see Holly and Jared, leaning close together, Holly helping him as much as she could and both of them going as fast as they were able.
    Beyond them, beyond Amber and Rusty, she saw Ash and Angela lunge for the great doors of Aurimere and pull them wide open.
    Kami ran to catch up and arrived a split second after Jared and Holly did, on the threshold of Aurimere.
    â€œEverybody grab hold of Amber,” Kami commanded. “Go now!”
    Everybody did except Kami. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw movement: she whirled back into the hall of Aurimere and saw Rob Lynburn coming down the stairs.
    She thought of the dead boy down in the hole, and turned the grand staircase to dust.
    Rob was lost in the sudden carnage, a dust storm in Aurimere’s great hall, and Kami turned back to see that the others had gone. The fire had leaped up after them with a ferocious snarl and leap of flame, like a tiger robbed of its prey.
    She could see the others behind the fire, as if behind a scarlet veil. She could see Jared.
    She had to go through, or he’d come back for her.
    Kami took a deep breath of smoke: even that burned. She stepped into the fire.
    Pain enveloped her, scorching and flaying: pain and fire blinded her. She crushed the impulse to use her magic to kill the fire. She held on to the shape of herself, whole and unhurt, made her skin impervious to flames, willed her blood to cool. She told herself she was not burning, and she stepped out of the fire iron cold.
    As soon as she was out onto the grass, Angela seized her and shook her hard, though Jared tried to stop her. Angela brushed him off as if he was a fly.
    â€œYou crazy girl,” Angela said. “Other people name their children after their best friends. I am going to name my ulcer after you! I am going to be forced to drink milk and take antacids and abstain from spicy food, and every time I want Indian takeout I will shake my fist at the sky and shout, ‘Damn you, Kami.’ Don’t ever do that again.”
    â€œI promise not to walk through fire ever again, Angela.”
    Angela released her and gave her a sour look. “I know you’re just saying that.”
    â€œCan I go now?” Amber asked, an edge of desperation in her voice.
    Kami turned to look at her. She looked so terrified that she seemed utterly beyond the reach of being brave.
    â€œSure,” Kami said. She had Jared back. She could afford to be generous. “Go. Be safe.”
    She did not say she was sorry for torturing Amber, and Amber did not say she was sorry for cutting Jared, but Amber glanced over to where Jared stood, still leaning on Holly, Ash beside him.
    â€œI’m glad you’re out,” she said. “I wouldn’t have let you go, but I am glad.”
    Jared raised an eyebrow. Out in the sunlight, he looked far worse than he had by darkness: there were more and deeper wounds on his chest than Kami had seen in the priest hole. He looked gaunt and his dark gold hair was dull, tarnished with dirt.
    â€œThat means so much,” he said, his voice flat.
    Amber nodded, her copper curls swaying, then disappeared behind the flames. Kami saw the door slam behind her in the rising smoke.
    She turned away, back to Jared, and blinked for a moment in sheer astonishment.
    Ash had turned to Jared and grabbed him, his arm tight around Jared’s neck, his bright golden head on Jared’s filthy shoulder. “I thought you were dead,” he said in a low voice.
    Jared stood for a moment with his arms spread