Chapter 33 - The Girl in Green

The thing wearing Ava’s face hissed, a terrible inhuman sound. It continued to tear at the sheet.

Barlow and I clambered up the metal stairs. At the top, we had to duck to make our way through a tight hallway and a narrow space lined with river stones.

We turned a sharp corner in the tight corridor and found ourselves in the back of the fireplace.

We were in Burton’s office.

Of course.

Kenzie crouched inside the fireplace, holding a giant lever that looked like it had been designed for Frankenstein’s castle.

“Pull up the stairs,” Star said from behind her.

“I can’t,” Kenzie yelled. “Someone’s on it. It won’t move.”

I grabbed her and pulled her out of the fireplace.

Star stood between Burton’s desk and the fireplace. She ran her hands along the fireplace mantle, searching for something.

A face swam out of the darkness of the fireplace. It was Ava again. Not the Ava of tooth and blood, the monstrous Ava who had eaten Soren. It was the earlier Ava, pink lipstick and mussed hair—heartbreakingly lifelike. I heard Kenzie whimper behind me.

“Madison, wait!” the monster said.

Kenzie walked slowly toward the fireplace, toward the monster. I had a knife pointed at the thing.

“Ava,” Kenzie said, her voice a slow drawl. “I’m so sorry. . . .”

“Don’t look at it, Kenzie,” I said. “It’s not Ava.”

Barlow grabbed for Kenzie to pull her away, and the monster swiped at him, connecting with his upper arm. Claws tore through his shirt and soaked his shirt red with blood. At that moment I lunged as the monster moved toward them and I drove the knife deep into its side, the handle wrenching out of my hand as the monster retreated toward the fireplace.

“Madison, wait!” the monster shrieked in pain, in my own voice. It turned, and Ava’s eyes focused on me with unbridled hatred.

I backed away, my knife gone now, stuck deep into the side of the monster. I hit the edge of Burton’s bar cart and it stopped me. I reached behind me for a weapon, hoping for a knife, or at the very least a corkscrew, but I only found a bottle. I picked it up and brandished it. It was not enough to even slow the monster down.

I glanced at Burton’s desk and the letter opener and scissors within reach of Star. But Star wasn’t looking at the desk. She ran her hands along the fireplace mantel, still searching.

She found a long box of fireplace matches and moved away from the fireplace, toward Burton’s desk. The monster turned toward her as she fumbled with the lid of the box.

“Madison, wait!” the monster said.

From the other side of the room came the sound of dozens of matches catching fire. Star had lit all the matches at once, holding them at the base like a torch. She pushed the flame toward the figure of Ava, and the monster shied away, ducking back into the fireplace.

I should have known. All this talk of protective iron. Star had made an obvious logical conclusion. Everything in the world is afraid of fire.

Star made her way around the edge of the room holding the makeshift torch of matches in front of her, moving slowly to keep the fire from going out.

The office door flew open.

Burton strode into the room, a blaze of auburn hair and anger. She was wearing a forest green jacket nipped in at the waist, trimmed with black velveteen as though she were riding to the hounds or something. Strange that I would notice at this moment.

Burton’s eyes widened in surprise and maybe even fear. She glared angrily at the figure of Ava.

“What are you doing in my office?” Ms. Burton said to the monster. “You know you’re not supposed to be up here.”

Ava blinked. If the monster understood her, it gave no sign.

The headmaster moved across the room and reached under her desk for what was clearly some sort of alarm button.

“If you’re hoping for Coach’s help, he won’t be coming,” Kenzie said.

Ms. Burton raised an eyebrow, seeming momentarily impressed. Her look immediately changed to alarm as the monster took a step forward.

She pulled an industrial kitchen hand torch out of her desk and lit it. The monster pulled back from her desk and looked toward us. Star’s handful of matches seemed less imposing compared to the hot blue glow of Burton’s torch.

Burton came around to the front of her desk and leaned against it. She held the torch in the direction of the monster, but her attention was focused on us. Now that Ms. Burton had a weapon, she seemed to regain her composure.

She wasn’t afraid anymore. My knife was yards away, stuck in the side of the monster. It had barely seemed to slow it down.

“How—how can you do this?” Barlow stammered. “You’re supposed to protect us from—her.” Barlow pointed at the monster. I wanted it to wear a different face. Anyone but Ava.

“Barlow, you know as well as I do what the monster ate before we corralled it in the mountain,” she said. “When it attacked you, I made damn sure that you’d be the last.”

I glanced toward Star. The matches were burning down to her hand, and though they were keeping the monster at bay, she’d have to drop them soon. Into the carpet? Would they simply burn out?

“And what will you do when it’s your turn to protect the valley, Barlow?” Burton said.

“Not this,” Barlow said, his eyes downcast.

So, Barlow really hadn’t known about the headmaster.

“Protect the valley?” Kenzie said. “Don’t you mean profit off of?”

Burton’s eyes flashed.

The matches had burned so low that Star had to be feeling the heat in her hand, but if she felt the flames, she didn’t show it.

Time was up.

The monster took a step toward us and I backed away instinctively. I still held a bottle in my hand.

I glanced down. Overproof rum.

I thought of my mom.

Burton’s “tea time.”

Overproof. High alcoholic content.

Flammable.

I looked toward Star, matches burning dangerously low, and I raised the bottle of overproof in her direction.

Star nodded.

I threw the bottle hard at the stones of the fireplace and it shattered into a million pieces, splashing everything in its path, including the monster and the carpet, with rum.

“What do you think you are doing?” Burton said. “How dare you!”

Star threw the bundle of lit matches onto the carpet, and flames exploded in a whoosh that engulfed the floor, the desk, and the monster. I picked up another bottle and threw it into the flames, and was ready to throw another when Barlow grabbed my arm and pulled me away. We ran from the office, hand in hand, the monster howling in pain behind us.

As we cleared the door, I saw the figure of Ava morph into something else, burned but still alive, retreating into the fireplace. Burton was nowhere to be seen. Perhaps the monster had taken her into the depths of the old hospital. Maybe she’d dropped to the floor of the office trying to navigate a path out of the fire.

I didn’t care what happened to her.

I was out and I’d survived.

No.

We were out, and we’d survived—together.