"Risa—"
"Stop being such a worrywart and go before she escapes us again."
He did. I brushed the dirt and grit from my hands and clothes as I studied the blackened, broken building. There was little sound coming from the building now—little in the way of human sound, anyway—but the flames were intense, a caress of heat that would burn my skin if I got any closer. But I had to get closer, no matter what Azriel said. Though the approaching wail of the emergency vehicles was barely audible over the fierce burn of the fire, they were little more than a couple of minutes away. If I wanted to check if anything in that locker had survived the blast, I'd better do it now, before officialdom descended and perhaps destroyed whatever evidence still survived.
My gaze went to the front of the building. Fire licked along the roof, but much of the front office still seemed to be standing. Which meant that Maggie, the cheerful receptionist who'd been working there yesterday, might still be alive.
And I couldn't escape the sudden notion that I needed to check—not only to save her life if that were possible, but for the sake of our mission.
My clairvoyance sure picked the oddest times to kick in.
A good-sized crowd had gathered across the other side of the road, but few of them were looking in my direction. I called to the Aedh and she rushed through me, changing my form in an instant.
Heat and dust whispered through my particles as I moved closer to the building, an unpleasant combination that made me want to scratch even though I had no flesh. I slipped through the ugly hole blown in the side of the building and made my way above the debris that had once been a corridor. The storage units on either side were little more than skeletal remnants, with boxes and god knows what else hanging out of them like the innards of a gutted body.
But the wall between the storage section and the office area was still basically intact, and though it was barely visible through the smoke and flames, hope rose.
The door into the office area hung limply from one hinge, tilted inward by the force of the explosion. Flames licked the doorframe and slipped fiery tentacles along the inside ceiling. I went through, mentally wincing as the flames danced through my energy form. It felt like red-hot fingers were being shoved inside me.
The office itself hadn't escaped damage, despite the buffer of the standing wall. Furniture was strewn everywhere, paper and glass littered the floor, and the front windows were smashed and were held in place only by the thick mesh grills covering them. The air was a morass of dust, smoke, and heat.
I spun around, searching for any sign of life, but couldn't immediately see anything. The desk where the receptionist had been sitting had tipped over sideways and was now covered by part of the ceiling. There was no sign of life. But, by the same token, there was no evidence of blood or broken body parts.
Then what sounded like a groan came from under the debris of the desk. I swore mentally and shifted back to flesh. The air was so damn hot that it felt like I'd fallen into an oven set on high, and the thick, heavy smoke swirled around me, stinging my eyes and catching in my throat, making me cough.
"Maggie?" I had to shout to be heard above all the noise. "Where are you?"
No answer came, but after a moment, I heard another groan. It was definitely coming from underneath the desk area.