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gripped the handles and pulled the bag away from my body. Behind me, I could hear my companion following. Our feet thundered against the metal steps. The sound echoed around the cylinder stairway. I dared a glance back and instantly wished I hadn’t.
    The eerie figures hadn’t yet given chase. They resumed their leisurely pace after us as if we weren’t in the middle of an earthquake.
    “Who are those guys?” I shouted, using the banister to pull myself along.
    “Just run!” my companion snapped back.
    I would have asked why, why were we running? But he didn’t have to answer. I saw it for myself.
    At first glance, it looked like they were holding fire launchers; the flames in their long, spidery hands had to have originated from somewhere, right? But I didn’t see a gun, or a machine, just… hands, holding fire.
    “What—?”
    “Get down!” My companion tackled me to the side before I could register what was happening.

Chapter 4
     
    The first fireball whizzed over our heads and slammed into the wall ahead of us. It exploded across the stone, leaving a very real, very large singe mark in its place. I hit the stairs with a bone-rattling thud, and felt nothing except the numbing sensation of hysteria bubbling up the back of my throat. Panic seemed to be the only emotion my frozen brain wanted to register.
    On top of me, my companion twisted his body, concealing me completely from the rain of fire falling around us. The stench of burning plastic filled the air and the fire alarms seemed to scream even louder. The sprinklers ruptured overhead, soaking through our clothes like ice needles, but did not douse the fire. If anything, it seemed to be getting bigger the wetter it got.
    “We have to keep moving!” my companion shouted over the noise, as if I needed to be told.
    Again, his fingers closed over my wrist and I was yanked me up like a ragdoll. I think I was running. I couldn’t feel it, but the halls rushed past as we bolted haphazardly up one and down another while the floor shook beneath our feet and the walls caved in around us.
    “We’re going to get killed if you don’t knock that off!” my companion growled over his shoulder when I tripped for the hundredth time.
    With his inhuman speeds, I couldn’t keep up even if I wanted to. My sneakers were slipping chaotically across the wet marble and my legs… what legs? They may as well have not been there at all for all the sensation I had in them.
     “I can’t help it!” I snapped, surprised that I could even speak. “I don’t usually get attacked by fireballs on a daily basis!”
    Teeth flashing in a snarl, he shot a glance over my head. Long, dark fringes whipped across his face, nearly shielding his eyes as he scanned the hall behind us for the two still just feet away. They were close now, too close; their fireballs were only missing us by mere inches.
    He suddenly stopped running and turned to me. Without batting an eyelash, he hauled me onto his back like a baby koala. He barely shouted for me to hang on before he was moving again. My ears popped. My eyes stung with the lash of wind and smoke. I squealed — an embarrassing sound. My arms tightened around his throat and I buried my face into the crook of my arm to keep from being nailed in the head with a fireball. It was like being on the back of a horse without the saddle. My stomach dipped, churning with the unnatural sensation.
    When we finally broke free of the building, he didn’t stop. He rounded the building and took off into the fields at the back. Our pursuers followed without breaking stride, away from where the rest of the school stood huddled, shivering in the night. I knew this because I somehow mustered the courage to glance back and caught them tailing us, twin shadows, moving with the same speeds as us without even running; they were… gliding!
    “I’m going to put you down,” my companion said over the whistling in my ears.
    “What?” I cried, horrified.