The night smells like smoke long before they reach the hill overlooking the lake. Julia is out of the car before it fully brakes, sprinting down the slope toward the glowing ruins. The orange embers paint her skin in trembling light, and when her knees hit the wet ground, her voice breaks into the darkness.
“Why—” Her fingers curl into the soot, desperate. “Why do they keep trying to destroy us?”
Brandon’s arms wrap around her from behind, pulling her against his chest. His own breathing is uneven, but he holds her like she’s the only solid thing left. “They won’t,” he whispers into her hair. “Not anymore. Not again.”
The firetrucks are gone now, leaving only a skeleton of the hall they’d chosen hours earlier. The beams are still steaming, rain hissing as it lands on them. Arthur moves
