Chapter 8 - Into the Inferno
""Lily!"" Julian screamed, the world spinning in a haze of smoke and ringing ears.
Ignoring the burning debris raining down from the high ceiling, Julian sprinted toward the east wing. The corridor leading to the solarium was filled with dense, choking black smoke. Flames licked at the mahogany wainscoting, consuming historic paintings and antique furniture in a ravenous frenzy.
""Lily! Answer me!"" Julian coughed, pulling his shirt up over his nose and mouth.
The heat was suffocating, blistering the skin on his face. Through the roaring of the flames, he heard a faint, terrified cry.
""Daddy! Daddy, I'm here!""
The double doors of the solarium had been blown off their hinges, twisted into warped metal frames by the blast. Inside, the massive glass ceiling had shattered into thousands of shards, allowing cold night air to feed the burgeoning fire. Lily was huddled underneath a heavy cast-iron garden bench in the corner, shielding her head with her arms. A fallen beam burned violently just two feet from her hiding place.
""Don't move, baby, I'm coming!"" Julian yelled.
He vaulted over a burning timber, the heat searing through the soles of his shoes. He reached the iron bench, dropping to his knees. Lily threw her tiny arms around his neck, weeping hysterically, her face covered in soot.
""I was so scared, Daddy! The man locked me in!""
""I've got you, Lily. I've got you,"" Julian whispered, lifting her into his arms and shielding her small body with his own coat.
As he turned to retreat, a flaming support column collapsed across the doorway, cutting off the exit back to the main foyer. The flames were rising rapidly, forming a wall of fiery death between them and safety.
Looking around the burning glasshouse, Julian spotted the exterior garden doors—reinforced glass designed to withstand storms, locked from the outside. With no way through the hall, Julian grabbed a heavy marble statue of a seated nymph from a pedestal. He charged the reinforced exterior glass, hurling the stone with every ounce of strength he possessed.
May you like
The glass spiderwebbed but held.
Behind them, the ceiling structure groaned, preparing to collapse entirely.
