Smoke came through the cracks around the door in waves. Fuck! Remembering to put her hand on it first, she checked for heat. It was warm but not enough to burn her. There was something she remembered from school safety lessons, in those long-ago days about backdrafts and being careful about opening doors.
It didn’t matter. Geneva was on the other side of the door.
Why hadn’t the smoke detector outside her room woken her? Was she okay? Where had the fire started?
An image of Geneva’s glue gun jumped to the front of her head. She’d been working on her fantasy figurines tonight. How many times had Siena told her to be careful about forgetting to unplug it when she was finished?
Oh GOD, had it started in Geneva’s room? OH GOD OH GOD.
Not caring about backdrafts or anything but finding her sister, Siena ripped her bedroom door open. And yes, a great gust of hot wind blew her hair back, but there wasn’t fire right there.
The fire was at the end of the hall. The firelight was so bright it looked like the whole main area—kitchen, dining, living—was burning away.
But there was no fire yet in the hallway. Only a lot of smoke. Needing to move faster than she could on her hands and knees, Siena rolled to her feet and crab-ran to Geneva’s room.
ohgodohgodohgodohgodohgodohgodohgod
The smoke detectors were so loud! Why wasn’t Geneva awake? Had the smoke already ...
No. Couldn’t think that. She put her hand on the door. It was hot, but it felt like the heat was mainly on her side. She turned the knob and opened the door. It stuck for a moment, but gave way when Siena put her shoulder to it.
Geneva’s room was closer to the main part of the house. This time, the backdraft brought fire into the hallway. Three thin rivers of it sped around the corner. Siena leapt into her sister’s room and slammed the door.
When she got in, she saw that Geneva had pulled the footlocker in front of the door. Siena had pushed it out of the way with hardly any resistance.
The footlocker seemed to have blocked the smoke. This room was starting to fill up now, but it had been almost clear.
And Geneva slept quietly, the sleep mask-headphone combo that had been her favorite Christmas present snug around her head.
Dropping back to her knees, Siena hurried to the bed, yanked that stupid thing off her sister’s head and shook her hard.
“GENEVA!! WAKE UP!”
She did, right away, throwing both arms out defensively and cracking Siena’s nose so hard she saw stars.
“What? Stop!”
Siena grabbed her arms and shook her again. “The house is burning! We’ve got to go. Right NOW!” The screaming made her cough harder. God, it was so hard tobreathe.
“Oh no!” Geneva jumped from the bed and cowered at Siena’s side. “We have to stay low. Smoke rises.” She was shaking her hands like they were covered in ants, but that was a thing she did when she was stressed.
“I know, I know. The main part of the house is burning. I don’t think we can get to either door. I think the fire’s outside my windows, too. We have to go out your windows.”
“You’re coughing a lot, Siena. Are you going to die?”
“No, honey. And you’re not, either. We’re gonna get out of here and get safe.”
Geneva nodded frantically—and then dived in to wrap her arms around her. “Don’t die! Don’t leave me!”
They didn’t have the time, smoke was filling the room fast, and she could see licks of orange light around the hinges, but Siena took a second to hold her sister and squeeze her tight. “I love you. You’re my reason for living, so I’m not going anywhere. Except to safety right now.” She pushed her back. “Let’s grab the blankets off your bed, okay? In case we need them.”
“Okay.”
The hug had strengthened Geneva. Now she got to work gathering up her blankets while Siena stood and yanked the curtains off the rod and tossed them away, then unlocked the window. Thinking again of backdrafts, she didn’t open it yet.
“When I open this window, the air might pull the fire in. So get right up close here. As soon as it’s open, I’m going to help you climb through. I might push you, so be ready to fall. Right?”
Wide-eyed and ruddy-cheeked, Geneva did that frantic nod again. “Right.” She climbed onto her nightstand.