Chapter 62

Amelia

I jolt awake, my skin slick with sweat. The air in my room is thick and heavy, the heat pressing down on me like a physical weight. Blinking away the last vestiges of sleep, my eyes widen in horror as I take in the sight before me—roaring flames licking at the walls, devouring everything in their path.

Panic seizes me, a scream lodging in my throat as I stumble from the bed, coughing and choking on the acrid smoke that fills my lungs with every gasping breath. The fire seems to have originated in the closet, the flames climbing higher and higher with each passing second. I can’t begin to fathom how this nightmare started.

I lurch towards the door, my only thought to escape, to flee the inferno that threatens to consume me. But as my fingers close around the handle, a blinding white light explodes through the room, the force of it sending me flying backward. I crash into the vanity table, the glass shattering beneath my weight as I crumple to the floor