I began grabbing bits of plaster and rubbish from the pile covering the desk and tossed them to one side. Another explosion ripped through the building, and the walls around me shuddered. I ducked instinctively, scraping my thigh along a jagged piece of wood as dust and bricks fell around me. The remnants of plaster still clinging to the ceiling began to crack alarmingly; it wouldn't take much to bring the rest of it down.
I swore and drew Amaya. Don't cut or burn the woman's flesh.
Will not, she replied.
Fire ignited along her blade, the lilac flames bright in the smoky darkness. I used her steel to hack apart the larger chunks of wood, plaster, and metal that lay between me and the receptionist, kicking the smaller bits aside as Amaya's flames consumed everything else.
From somewhere under the mess came another groan.
"Maggie? Can you hear me?" I shoved Amaya's tip under a long piece of wood, then thrust it up and back.
There was a pause, then a weak, "Here. Help."
Something shimmered in the smoky shadows near the door. I tensed, my fingers tightening around Amaya, then realized it was a reaper. She wore the image of an elderly woman and had a kind face and sorrowful blue eyes.
"You can't have her," I said fiercely. "She's not going to die."
"That is neither your decision nor mine," the reaper replied softly.
I blinked. None of them had ever talked to me before. None of them except Azriel, anyway.
"That is because you have never spoken directly to any of us before now," she said, her expression somewhat amused.
"I had no real reason to before now," I muttered. I grabbed another chunk of wood and threw it away.
A flash of familiar heat across my skin told me Azriel had also appeared. "I thought you weren't coming in here in flesh form," he said.
"Yeah, well, you knew it was a lie, so why sound so aggrieved now?" I shoved another piece of wood out of the way. "You could help, you know."