Between Burning Worlds (System Divine #2) - Jessica Brody Page 0,184

grunt, managed to heave Gabriel over his left shoulder. He stood up, feeling the extra weight immediately.

Out the vast window, Laterre—blanketed in its thick swirl of gray and white clouds—was getting bigger and bigger, closer and closer by the second, and a fresh wave of panic slammed into Marcellus.

“Where is the escape pod?” Alouette asked.

“In the evacuation bay,” Marcellus said. “Lowest deck.”

“This way!” Cerise called out, leading them to the primary stairwell. Marcellus stumbled behind her, with Gabriel feeling like a sac of titan blocs on his shoulder. And the violent shuddering and screaming of the collapsing voyageur did not make it any easier. The alarms continued to carve permanent tunnels through Marcellus’s ear drums.

“Emergency. Primary reactor detached.”

“We get it!” Cerise shouted at the ceiling of the stairwell. “The ship is breaking!”

The voyageur jerked sideways in response, knocking Cerise off her feet. Her head smacked against the side wall, and she staggered to catch herself, pressing a hand to her right temple where there was now a bleeding gash.

“Are you all right?” Alouette called from behind Marcellus.

Cerise just let out a grunt in reply and surged forward down the last flight of steps. The evacuation bay was dim and low-ceilinged. Darker than even the cargo hold that they’d arrived in. At the end of the deck, Marcellus could see a large hexagonal hatch, locked with a single heavy lever.

The escape pod.

He allowed himself to breathe a sigh of relief. But it was a second too early, because just then the voyageur trembled violently. The extra weight of Gabriel on his shoulder caused him to lose his balance, and Marcellus was thrown forward. He reached out with his free hand to break his fall, and his palm slammed against the curved wall of the evacuation bay.

“Argh!” he cried, pulling back his hand. The metal was burning hot.

“It must be Laterre’s atmosphere,” Alouette called out. “We’re too close.”

Alouette’s words were swallowed up by a terrible, ear-shattering sound that shook the whole voyageur. Then a bright, scalding, blinding light roared up in front of them.

Fire!

In an instant, the huge flames seemed to fill the deck, sucking in every molecule of oxygen and choking out great puffs of heat and terrible smoke. Marcellus could barely open his eyes. Every inch of his skin felt as if it were melting into the hull around him.

“Come on!” Cerise yelled, yanking down on the lever. The hatch of the escape pod screeched open. “Get in.”

The fire licked and burned at Marcellus’s back. He lunged forward and shoved Gabriel into the pod. Together with Cerise, they lowered him into one of the jump seats, and Cerise began to strap him in. Marcellus turned back for Alouette, only to find a wall of smoke where she once stood.

His stomach flipped as he struggled to see through the thick gray plumes. “Alouette?!” he screamed.

There was no reply.

He took a step forward, toward the wild, thundering blaze. The smoke burned and clawed at his throat. His eyes watered. But then, he saw it.

A flash of dark curls in the furious glow of the flames.

“Alouette!” he called again.

But she wasn’t moving this way. She was moving back toward the stairs.

“What are you doing?”

Alouette shouted something back at him, but he couldn’t hear it over the din of the fire and the screaming ship.

The voyageur gave another terrifying jolt as the sirens blared on and the fire lashed out at him like angry talons. “Alouette!” he called again. “You have to get into the—”

Just then, out of the smoke, Alouette came hurtling toward him, her hands clasped tightly around what looked like a piece of cloth. Was that her sac? Had she really risked her life for that?

Marcellus reached out a hand to her, but a moment later, a terrible roar detonated across the hull, and he watched in horror as Alouette was sucked backward, clean off her feet, pulled toward the spiraling and spewing flames.

“Alouette!” He charged forward.

The smoke was so thick now, he had to cover his mouth and nose with his sleeve. He could see nothing in front of him. He dropped to his knees and scoured the floor of the deck with outstretched hands. Until finally, his fingertips touched fabric. Then skin. Then hair. Heart pounding, he reached for her, pulling her fallen body to him. She let out a soft groan, and Marcellus nearly melted into the floor with relief.

Hooking his hands under Alouette’s shoulders, Marcellus began to drag her backward, toward the hatch. Her body was still