A Beautiful Demon

 

 

As soon as Agnes disappeared into the fire, I ran for the stairs. My lungs burned from inhaling so much smoke, but I pushed my body to its limit. The flames consumed most of the top floor, and the two lower floors were lost in a sea of thick smoke. In the distance, I heard sirens wailing.

 

“Harper! Harper, where are you?” Drake's voice rose above the noise.

 

“Here,” I tried to shout. Instead, my voice came out cracked and dry. I coughed and fell to my knees on the second floor landing.

 

I forced myself up again, grabbing the banister and pulling myself down the stairs. The overhead lights on the first floor cut through some of the smoke. I saw Drake's tall form rushing back and forth, and I reached out to him.

 

“Harper?”

 

My hands circled up around his neck just as my legs gave out again. Drake lifted me into his arms and carried me from the house. Outside, the bonfire was going strong, but no one was dancing or cheering. Everyone was backed up across the street from the cabin, their horror-stricken faces watching as Foster's house burned to the ground.

 

“Agnes,” I said. “Where's Agnes? We have to make sure-”

 

Drake put a hand over my mouth. “It's going to be okay, Harper. Don't talk. Be still.”

 

I struggled, my mind racing. She would come for me. Agnes wasn't going to stop until I was dead. Drake carried my across to the other side of the road and laid me down in the grass. I tried to stand, looking back toward the burning house to see if I could find her.

 

That's when I noticed a flash of bright red on the ground in front of the house. My mouth fell open. Agnes lay in a crumpled heap beneath the third floor balcony, her body broken and still. When the fire department arrived, the paramedics pronounced her dead at the scene. Later, authorities theorized that she must have gone into a panic when flames trapped her up on the third floor. She broke through the locked balcony door and jumped to her death to avoid burning alive.

 

It would be a long time before I told anyone the truth about what really happened to Agnes that night.

 

I was in the back of the ambulance breathing in oxygen from a face mask when Mrs. King came rushing around the corner to see if I was alright. A blanket was wrapped around my body to shield me from the night air.

 

“Thank goodness,” she said, placing her hand over her heart. There were tears in her eyes. “I don't know what we would have done if we'd lost you.” Her emotion touched my heart. I tried to smile, but my entire body ached from exhaustion. She climbed into the back of the ambulance with me and asked the paramedic if she could have a moment alone with me.

 

“You have no idea just how special you are to us.” She stroked my hair gently and put her arm around me.

 

“Agnes-” I said, then began to cough again.

 

Mrs. King pulled the oxygen mask from my hand. Confused, I took in a shallow breath. She placed her palm flat against my chest and closed her eyes. My body began to hum and tingle, and I felt a warm energy flow through me.

 

“Breathe,” she said.

 

I took a deep, cleansing breath and felt no urge to cough. “How...?”

 

She smiled and brushed a strand of hair off my face. “Shhh,” she whispered. “All of your questions will be answered, I promise. But you need to be patient.”

 

Patience is a hard thing when there are so many unanswered questions. I opened my mouth to ask just one, but she placed her palm against my forehead.

 

“Rest,” she said. “I need you at a hundred percent, okay?”

 

I nodded, feeling suddenly very sleepy. My lungs no longer hurt, though, and that was very good.

 

Mrs. King pulled the blanket up to my chin and smiled.

 

“You're going to make a beautiful Demon.”