All The Pretty Ghosts (The Never Series Book 1) Jamie Campbell (best life changing books .TXT) 📖

then and there. It wanted to pull me down to the dark depths of Hell and never let me go again.

There was no way that was going to happen.

There had to be a way out of the ropes. Out of the fire. Out of the room. I just had to find a way.

My leg seared with scorching pain as the flames found their way through my coat. The pain shot through me like a hot knife, making me shriek in agony.

Somewhere in the factory downstairs, I thought for sure I heard Taz laughing his head off.

The beams of the roof started to crack, warning me they wouldn’t stay in place for too much longer. I looked up, instantly wishing I hadn’t. One beam was burned almost right through, the glowing orange embers taking up a larger area than the remaining wood.

“Oliver, I have to get out of here,” I spluttered. My throat was so sore my voice barely sounded like my own. An eighty year old woman who had smoked her entire life had taken my place. The thought almost made me laugh in the midst of my hysteria.

Something loud banged behind me, sending a wave of flames my way. My back started to heat up, probably covered in stray embers ready to work their way into my clothes. Perhaps if I was lucky, I would die of the smoke before the flames really took hold of me.

If I was lucky my death would be swift.

There was so much I wanted to say to Oliver but I guessed it didn’t really matter anymore. Soon, I would join him on the other side and then we’d have all the time in the world.

I wondered if the spirits would still haunt me if I was one of them.

They’d probably finally leave me alone.

Perhaps death was a sweet relief, like the poems said they were. Perhaps the afterlife would be a better world than the one I currently lived in. Maybe I would be thankful not to have to really live anymore.

No more struggling.

No more pain.

Just lightness. Or darkness. I wasn’t really sure what awaited me. All those spirits and I’d never thought to ask even once. I could have known all the universe’s secrets but I was always too busy to ask the ghosts.

The idea was absurd, I knew that but I didn’t much care. The pain in my leg was so unbearable I wanted to die. I wanted for it to be all over. There was no use prolonging the inevitable. At least it would stop Oliver’s constant sobbing at my feet.

“Come on, help me out here.”

That voice. I knew that voice.

I couldn’t quite place it. All I could see were dancing flames surrounding me like they were having a party. I couldn’t feel my leg anymore. It was either numb… or gone.

Someone tugged at my ropes.

For a moment, I thought it was Oliver and I had dreamed he was dead. But he was still at my feet, it wasn’t him. Whoever it was, he wasn’t happy with the ropes. He cursed under his breath, his hands yanking with every movement.

And then release.

I could move again. Not that I was actually in control of my body. My hot leg wasn’t feeling anything and the blood was still rushing toward my other limbs.

The boy lifted me, bustling me about like I was nothing more than a ragdoll. I was thrown over his shoulder as he held onto my legs. He swore again as we rushed through the flame wall. The heat flew around us, an inferno that was surely burning us both to a crisp.

He almost lost his grip on me twice when we hurried down the stairs. My head was over the side, giving me a blurry view of the ground far down below. It was a fatal stop at the bottom if he did drop me.

My hands found his back and I gripped on tightly to the material of his shirt. I couldn’t see his face but I could feel his strong muscles as they held me there.

He wouldn’t drop me.

If he had walked through fire for me, he wouldn’t let me fall to my death.

Perhaps it was Oliver after all. Had I really thought he was dead? It was so stupid of me. It was silly to have those thoughts. Oliver wasn’t gone, he was right here, saving me. Just like I thought he would.

A loud crack echoed in the vast expanse of the factory as the roof gave in on the mezzanine level, showering us in biting embers. The boy hurried that much quicker to get away.

I bounced along on his shoulder, my fate given away to him. The flames sent shadows over the factory floor, making it unrecognizable as the place I had walked in only a little while ago.

Now, it resembled Hell.

A jolt to my leg sent out a shooting pain. Bile rose to my throat as I tried to swallow it down again. Breathing wasn’t easy in the quickly spreading smoke but the last thing I needed to do was vomit. I had to hold on, just until we got to safety.

“Are you okay?” the boy asked.

My jaw was set too tight to answer. “Hmmm,” I mumbled. He kept running through the aisles, keeping up a steady pace even though I doubted whether he could see very much. Between the smoke and the dark shadows, it would have been impossible.

Sunlight finally assaulted my eyes as we ran through the doorway. I gasped for fresh air, hearing the boy do the same thing. He didn’t stop until the factory was a block away.

He let me down, holding me steady while I gathered my footing before stepping back.

It wasn’t Oliver.

I was facing Jet.

He was covered in black