Free Ablaze (Indestructible Trilogy Book 2) by Emma L. Adams Page A

take my time showering, but never quite relax, knowing the guards are waiting outside—and, of course, I’m in enemy territory. Still, I feel slightly clearer-headed, and warm, clean clothes are a blessing I’m not quite used to after two years living on the road.
    Strange how time passes. Two years after civilisation ended and it’s like it’s always been this way. Seeing that video… I can’t wrap my head around it. Murray told me the Pyros had been fighting the fiends for longer than most people knew, but I never really thought about it before. The first fifteen years of my life were about as ordinary as you can get. School. Friends. Dating—well, okay, I didn’t have too much luck with that. But I had a life. I had a future which didn’t revolve around survival, or fighting monsters. I sure as hell didn’t believe in aliens or anything like that. They walked among us. I laugh, shaking my head at the absurdity of all this. Then I stop, peering through the gap in the door. Guards outside. They haven’t responded. Probably programmed by Jared. Like robots.
    My flesh creeps at the thought. I see a black coat like Jared’s hanging on a hook behind the door. I think I’d rather freeze than wear the same uniform as his minions.
    After a couple of minutes, the door opens. One of the guards beckons to me, and I know he’s going to take me to Cas. My heart starts beating faster. I have to see him. I have to know he’s all right.
    The two guards flank me, walking slightly ahead to lead the way. I wish I had a better memory. I’ve already forgotten the way back to Jared’s room, which might have come in handy if I decided to murder him during the night. I haven’t seen any sign of a way out, either. Worrying. Still, Cas’s been here longer. Maybe he can tell me. No way would he take Jared’s dominance lying down, even under threat.
    Finally, we round the corner and come to another corridor with two doors at the end, flung open wide. A training hall, filled with… Pyros.
    I stare, open-mouthed. I hadn’t imagined there would be so many of them. Possibly even as many as Murray’s group. The guards lead me right up to the door, standing either side like bodyguards. I turn from one Pyro to the next. None are familiar, except…
    There he is. At the back of the room, facing a row of dummies. Though he’s facing the other way, no one else moves quite like that, decapitating the dummies as though they mortally offended him. His dark hair gleams like a polished black stone under the bright lights, and he’s dressed in the same black outfit as everyone here.
    Suddenly, I’m mute. It’s stupid. I have the chance to go and talk to him and yet I can’t even call out his name. It’d sound idiotic, anyway, and I’m sure Jared’s watching from somewhere. The guards are bad enough.
    I step forward, pushing my embarrassment aside. Pull yourself together. A few of the other Pyros glance up curiously as I walk between them, keeping at enough distance to not get in the way of their sparring matches. When I’m a metre away from Cas, he turns around. Like he can sense I’m there.
    And he gives me his most unfriendly, antisocial look. “You,” he says, without emotion.
    What? My jaw drops as my heart plunges in my chest. He’s looking at me like I’m a stranger.
    “Excuse me?”
    “What do you want?” he says, swapping his weapon hand. There’s a flash of black on his wrist. The new mark Jared put on him.
    A horrible suspicion rears its head. Is Jared controlling him? Is that why he let me come and talk to Cas, knowing it wouldn’t do any good anyway?
    But he seemed in his own mind in my visions…
    I swallow. “I came to find you,” I say, conscious of the others listening in. “Guess I’m a new recruit.”
    “Good for you.”
    A pause. “Not got anything to say?”
    “Guess not,” says Cas, turning back to the dummies.
    I expect to hear someone laugh, but there’s silence. The others continue to practise