Chapter 26
I nside the tent, it was still horribly warm and Clem’s hair was sticking to her forehead.
They’d been in here for five minutes already, just the three of them – the ‘supporting’ half of each pair had been asked to wait outside – and the silence was infused with awkwardness.
Clem didn’t know what to say to Lucas and she wished she were outside with her mum, who was in the audience, instead.
Thankfully, the other contestant, Dinah, was rather chatty, complimenting them both on their bakes and their work.
They were standing right at the rear of the tent near the long workstation containing the tea- and coffee-making facilities, and various snacks.
Clem grabbed a few grapes to try to settle her stomach, which didn’t actually do anything other than make her feel mildly sick.
As Dinah carried on her part of the conversation with gusto, Clem thought she smelt something odd, like burning.
‘Do you smell that?’ she said, breathing it in again.
‘Did someone leave an oven on?’ said Dinah. She wandered over to some of the workstations near the front to check. ‘Doesn’t look like it. Where’s that smell coming from?’
Clem looked around the tent, and gasped. Flames were licking at the bottom of the tent near the corner of the long workstation, and they were building, climbing higher. They might look small now – but not for long.
‘The tent’s on fire!’ she cried. ‘We should leave before it spreads. Quickly!’
Dinah didn’t need telling twice – she nodded and rushed from the tent, probably to alert the others.
But Lucas had hesitated halfway across the tent, glancing around, which made Clem stop in her tracks too, automatically, several feet behind him.
She could already feel hotness spreading through her, intensifying the warmth of the heatwave, and panic rose up inside her.
‘What are you—’
‘Isn’t there a fire extinguisher in—’
They didn’t get to finish their conversation.
The flames moved so rapidly, bursting across shelving units and cupboards containing ingredients and bags of flour and sugar, some of the ingredients exploding, making Clem cry out in fright.
The fire quickly darted across to workstations, setting them alight with towers of bright orange flame that ate through the wood and chewed through everything in their path.
Clem’s route to Lucas was blocked by the roaring, blazing spikes, and the tent was fast filling with heavy, dark smoke. Distantly, somewhere outside the tent, she thought she heard Reina barking.
‘Clem!’ Lucas shouted, the sound punctuated by coughs. ‘Clem, are you—’
More mini explosions were triggered as the fire tore across the other workstations, ripping into ingredients.
Clem shrieked in terror, staggering backwards away from the flames as thick smoke made her eyes stream and her lungs burn.
She glanced up, coughing – the canvas ceiling was melting , leaking down like watery chocolate.
The workstation behind her was on fire too.
The panic within her was chanting that she was in danger.
It was blisteringly hot, with these scorching flames and the already boiling summer heat.
They had to get out of here before the tent ended up collapsing on top of them.
But it was hard to think straight; she was so afraid and her skin was so hot.
It was like every path out was blocked by roaring flame.
She couldn’t constrain her coughs and they ripped out of her, searing her chest. The panic spiralled along with them.
She tried to find a way to get to Lucas, and the exit.
Reina’s barking persisted faintly. She had the horrible, wild thought that she’d never see Reina, or the outside of this tent, again.
Her mum, Misha, her colleagues at the cat café, Lucas . . .
‘Clem . . . I’m coming to you . . . get . . .’
She couldn’t hear the rest of his words around his coughs and through the cacophony of the fire.
‘No!’ she choked out. Even though she was fearful, she knew he couldn’t put himself in danger for her – he had to get out, otherwise they’d both end up hurt.
Logic had abandoned her, shoved aside to make room for her fears.
She couldn’t stop coughing. She couldn’t breathe and it was awful – if she passed out in here, what would happen?
She had a wild vision of herself collapsing right here on the spot, of the tent’s melted ceiling and everything else crashing down on top of her, squashing the last of the air from her chest. They would pull her from this tent but she wouldn’t be breathing when they did.
Most of her irrational fears didn’t come to pass, and that could sometimes be a comfort, but this time her anxieties felt well and truly real.
All her catastrophising made possible in this moment.
‘Clem! Stay . . . Okay? Stay low! Move . . . fast!’
Lucas’s voice pierced her thoughts.
‘Stay low!’ he growled.
Clem crouched down, as low to the ground as she could get.
She couldn’t even take a deep breath to steady herself, but Lucas’s words had prompted some rational thoughts.
They filtered through her terror. Guidance on what to do.
She lifted up the bottom of her dress and covered her mouth with it to stem how much smoke she was breathing in.
Have to get out have to get out have to . . .
Squinting, Clem glanced left and right. The space to the left of the workstations was so far untouched by flames, and she hurried through the thick smog. There was a banging, smashing sound as she drew closer, and fresh panic spliced her. Was it more debris?
‘Clem! I’ve . . . in my way . . .’ Lucas’s voice grew clearer as she quickened her way towards him, her eyes watering still, and his tall silhouette emerged from the smoke.
He was kicking aside debris – toppled cupboards and drawers and shelving units – swinging his foot violently. His shirt was pulled up over his nose as he bashed things aside, exposing his abdomen.
He was clearing a path for them.
Lucas looked up, saw her, motioned for her to come to him. Clem raced forwards and had never been so happy to have another person’s arms encase her. She gave a strangled sob.
He drew her in, tugged her downwards, and pulled her towards the exit, both of them crouched low, trying to evade the worst of the smoke.
‘It’s okay!’ he said, voice rough. ‘Keep low, nearly there . . .’
They kept left, flames on the right still blazing and lashing, but he’d made an opening by kicking some of the shelving units aside – the exit and the sun becoming visible, a cube of light up ahead. They were going to make it!
Lucas pulled her towards it, and they burst out into the daylight, Clem coughing and spluttering and dropping her skirt down.
At once, other hands were on her, on Lucas, yanking them away from the tent.
Clem was dazed by the rush of motion, by the bright wash of sunlight after so much black smoke.
She couldn’t speak; she could barely think.
Every fibre of her being was shaking. Her collarbone felt like it was trembling beneath her skin.
Lucas held her close to him, arm scooped around her shoulders to steady her.
‘They’re out!’ someone shouted. ‘Take them up the road with the others, near the castle entrance! It’s spreading in the direction of the field and surrounding trees!’
Clem’s vision was blurry – from the sun or the smoke she’d moved through, she wasn’t sure which – and she couldn’t make out who was speaking.
The heat out here was disorientating, as if she should still be surrounded by flames.
She was light-headed, the world tipping – from the smoke or the anxiety, she didn’t know.
But Lucas kept his arms around her as they were guided up the road, away from the ruined tent.
*
It wasn’t the grand finale Lucas had been expecting.
It had left him shaken. A stone was lodged permanently in his gut.
He’d seen Georgina disappear around the rear of the tent before the blaze started.
Had she caused this fire on purpose? As soon as the thought entered his mind, he rebuffed it, guilt making his skin prickle.
Surely not. He was being stupid – Georgina wouldn’t want to ruin this for him, even if he didn’t return her feelings.
And she’d never do something so reckless and dangerous; she wasn’t that immature.
It had probably been caused by something catching ablaze in the heat.
Georgina was nowhere to be seen when he craned his neck to look out over the crowds.
Fire and ambulance crews were flocking around the area, and paramedics raced to him and Clem, who hadn’t stopped shaking since they left the tent.
He kept his fingertips gripped around her shoulders, afraid she might buckle if he let her go.
His parents charged over, too, his mum enveloping him in a hug, in tears, his dad trailing after her more slowly, looking ashen and grabbing Lucas’s shoulder tightly.
Another woman launched herself at Clem, flinging her arms around her – her mum, he guessed.
They only moved away when the paramedics gently told them that Clem and Lucas needed to be checked over.
The fire was being brought under control so it didn’t spread to the neighbouring woodland and trees. After they’d been looked at, Lucas and Clem were sent to hospital at once to treat their smoke inhalation, both of their parents following in their own cars.