Chapter 26
KAYLA
No one ever tells you how your mind blanks when danger is right in front of you.
For several seconds, your brain literally shuts off.
Neurons stop firing. Synapses stop.
The world stands still.
My brain takes a vacation from reality for several stunned moments after I see the small flame just inside the hallway outside of Deacon’s office.
The smell of some sort of accelerant and smoke hang in the air, choking me, and my body zombifies for a few terrifying seconds, frozen just in the doorway.
It isn’t until the flame flickers before my eyes that I blink and remember that I still have a brain. And just then, my brain has only a singular thought:
Run.
But the hallway is hot. Unbearably so. And I can barely see past the thick coal-like puffs that rise from its dancin
