[Ava's POV]
For a suspended, long beat of a heart, nothing in the world stirred. It was a snapshot of chaos, caught in time.
The air itself appeared to be solidified, the universe breathless in the aftermath of the blast. Silver sparkles, the final fading flames of the broken overhead lighting, floated like incandescent snowflakes, casting brief, dancing shadows. Thin, pungent smoke curled from the charred floorboards in ghostly coils, and the acrid, sickly flavor of seared metal and lightning—ozone—stuck in the back of my throat, a taste both foreign and horribly terrifying.
In the silences that rang, I could hear the wild, frantic drum of my own heartbeat, a staccato beat of terror against my eardrums.
Rhett's arms were a cage of unyielding muscle wrapped around me, hard and unmoving
