Tide - By Daniela Sacerdoti Page 0,105

seemed as if the Surari were pausing. Hearing Nicholas’s crazed screaming, Sean turned his back on the Merman nearest him and followed the black-eyed man’s gaze. Sarah was unconscious on the floor, and he started running towards her, tracing flailing symbols in the air. Immediately the Surari mobilized. Sean knew that it was the wrong decision to run, and he knew that he couldn’t run fast enough, but he had to try. The nearest Surari reached him in two long strides, took hold of him and sank its teeth into his arm, keeping them there and sucking, savouring the taste. Sean collapsed from the pain of it, unable to reach Sarah.

The pain in his head was so strong that Nicholas could see nothing – but he forced himself to raise his arms, and it worked. He felt the blue sparks flickering from the tops of his fingers again. Relieved, he opened his eyes, and although he was looking at where he knew his hands were, he still saw nothing but darkness.

Panicked, he began spinning, flicking his hands at random, directing the flames at the curtains, the rugs, the tablecloth, until the whole room was ablaze. A terrible cry passed his lips, a cry of pain and rage and despair, and made every creature in the room, human or Surari, stop and listen in horror.

The slight pause was enough, and one by one the Mermen went up in flames – they seemed to burn as fast as kindling, melting and crackling, pouring into liquid fat and disappearing into ashes.

Finally free, Sean limped to Sarah, wading through the puddles of Blackwater mixed with ash, and squatted beside her. With great effort, and despite all his bruises, he gathered her in his arms. She was slowly coming back to her senses.

“Sarah. We need to get out. It’s all on fire!”

“Nicholas?”

A flaming curtain fell from the window in front of Sean’s feet, nearly setting them both alight. Sean jumped back with a scream. “We need to go, Sarah. Now. I’m sorry.”

“No!”

“Sarah! We’ll all die!” Sean took her by the shoulders and looked straight into her eyes. “Look around you! We have to save ourselves.” Blue flames danced around them, enveloping everything they touched.

Sarah nodded miserably.

Nicholas. Forgive me.

Sean and Sarah started their slow progress towards the window, towards safety and fresh air. “Elodie! Niall! Niall! Winter! Out now!” Sean yelled over and over again.

On hearing Sean’s voice over the last of the incinerated Mermen’s screams, Niall shook himself. He took hold of Mike’s body – he wouldn’t let him burn, he wouldn’t leave his friend – and lifted him over his shoulder.

“Winter!” he called. “Elodie!”

He looked behind him, but the smoke was now so thick that he couldn’t breathe, and he could barely see. Suddenly, Elodie appeared in front of him, choking, her body wracked with coughs. To his horror, he saw that the bandages on her arms were on fire. He pushed her roughly through the broken windows before negotiating the jagged shards of glass around the window frames, Mike’s weight throwing him off balance.

Through the smoke billowing into the night sky, he saw Elodie rolling on the grass, trying to put the fires all over her body out. She lay on the grass for a moment, panting, holding her blackened arms.

“Elodie! Help!”

Niall was struggling to push Mike’s heavy body through the jagged holes in the window. He was coughing violently, and his eyes were streaming with tears. She jumped to her feet, taking hold of Mike and helping Niall to lay him on the grass a safe distance from the house.

“Are you OK? Your arms,” croaked Niall, wiping his eyes on his sleeves.

“I’m fine. It didn’t burn the skin. Oh my God.” She knelt by Mike’s body, lowering her ear to his mouth, calling his name.

Niall shook his head. “He isn’t unconscious. He’s dead.”

“It was him. It was him, then,” she murmured. Her eyes met Niall’s, and they mirrored each other’s pain.

But Elodie shook herself. “Winter, Sean and Sarah are still inside, I’m going to get them.” She stood up, facing the inferno that was now the dining room in which they had started their Christmas dinner not long before.

“I’m coming with you.”

With a final look at Mike’s body, they prepared themselves to race inside again, but a wall of toxic smoke and the blast of terrible heat forced them back. Niall and Elodie looked at each other again. There was no way they could return inside.

“They’re gone,” Elodie cried, and clasped her