When the Devil Speaks by Day Owen

Author:Day, Owen
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Night Rize
Published: 2022-03-10T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter Twenty

Headley took off, and Dylan heaved the window upward. Like a professional diver, Headley sailed through the open window in perfect form, passed over the patio, and plummeted toward the pool.

Carlotta’s exit wasn’t nearly as graceful, but she threw herself out the window with much more force than Dylan had expected. The ends of the comforter billowed around her as she soared down in a wide arc.

Finally, with no time to get a running start—a loud roar sped toward the bedroom door as the fire greedily sucked up the fresh air—Dylan pushed off the windowsill with all the strength in his legs and prayed he wouldn’t land short of the pool.

When he was halfway to the ground, a great tongue of fire whipped out of the bedroom window, shattering the glass. Jagged shards followed him down, and Dylan covered his head with the fitted sheet so they wouldn’t gouge his eyes out. Beyond the blood pounding in his ears, he heard Carlotta shriek. He tensed up as he sensed the ground rushing to meet him.

Dylan’s foot clipped the edge of the pool, but the rest of his body hit the tarp dead on. The straps holding the tarp in place snapped under the combined weight of three people, and Dylan splashed down into a puddle of cold water at the deep end.

There was more water in the pool than he’d thought there would be, but it was still so shallow that the impact knocked the air out of his chest. His head whipped back and struck the concrete. Stars burst across his vision. All of his old surgery scars threatened to split wide open. At least two of his ribs audibly cracked.

Stunned, Dylan lay motionless in the water, numb to the world, until his vision cleared up. At which point he took in the view of the inferno that had devoured nearly half of Headley’s formerly grand home.

The brick siding was holding up against the heat, but from the crashes and clangs that echoed across the yard, it seemed that the interior wasn’t faring as well. When the fire department finally managed to stamp out the flames, the house would be nothing but an empty, charred husk.

Dylan pushed himself into a sitting position—and groaned as pain surged across his back. He poked at his ribcage until he found the busted ribs and was relieved to find they hadn’t shifted out of place. His skull too appeared to be intact; the bloody cut on the back of his head wasn’t deep.

In fact, all of his injuries seemed relatively minor. No broken limbs. No punctured organs. No paralysis. Mostly just cuts and extensive bruising. He’d gotten off light.

He rolled over onto his knees to check on his companions.

Carlotta sat on one of the pool’s steps, cradling her right arm, whereas Headley was nursing a bloody nose and staring sadly at three teeth he’d spit into his hand. Neither of them were in critical condition, however.

Dylan considered that a major victory compared to the situation they’d found themselves in only minutes before.

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