<link href="css/hmh.css" rel="stylesheet" type="text/css"/> <meta content="urn:uuid:3b0a70e3-b668-4354-b5b8-e9d3cfe48f7e" name="Adept.expected.resource"/> </head> <body><a id="p30"/> <h2 class="chaptersubtitle ">Cas</h2> <h1 class="chaptertitle ">— Chapter 15 —</h1> <p class="left "> <b>F<span class="smallcaps">IRE ALARM</span>.</b> </p> <p class="follow">The sound pounded in her temples. <em>Bwoop. Bwoop.</em> Everything was ringing.</p> <p class="follow">That was wrong.</p> <p class="follow">Cas shouldn’t be hearing anything anymore. This was all supposed to be over. But her shoulder and cheek hurt. Something hard was digging into her side. Something heavy was pushing down onto her back, and the fire alarm was screaming.</p> <p class="follow">And she smelled smoke.</p> <p class="follow">Cas opened her eyes and closed them again as she coughed.</p> <p class="follow">Dust. There was lots of dust in her eyes and burning her throat. Fear punched through the confusion, making it harder to think. She couldn’t think, because nothing made sense. Everything was wrong.</p> <p class="follow">She closed her eyes, then snapped them open again.</p> <p class="follow"><em>The gun.</em> Where was the gun?</p> </body> </html>