Chapter 5
“There!” Tara points to a space between two of the gods north of the city. “That looks like the biggest gap!”
I nod in agreement. There’s a path between a materials warehouse and the town hall that would take us straight to it. Unfortunately, that path is crammed with people who are also trying to run. We even see Professor Kilfoyle bumping through the crowds.
“Professor Kilfoyle!” Tara shouts. He stops when he sees us, getting bumped and jostled.
“We’re under attack!” Professor Kilfoyle shouts. “You’ve got to flee the city!”
“No shit!” Tara says. “But we can cut through the warehouse, can’t we?”
He gets a look of surprise on his face, like he wishes he’d thought of that, and we all run for the front doors of the warehouse.
He kicks the doors open, even though they were probably unlocked, and lets us run into it first, which is actually really brave when you think about it.
Inside, there’s a main hallway that runs the length of the building.
We dash down it. Through the windows we can see people running and screaming.
The sky lights up with increasing fires, and I try not to recognize all the faces of people who are losing their homes and maybe their lives.
I might be one of those people, too.
“These are the gods, aren’t they?” Professor Kilfoyle shouts as he kicks open another hallway door for us.
“Yes!” Tara says. “They come out of a rock. And they take kids!”
Professor Kilfoyle stops. “What?”
“It happened thousands of years ago to the Spackle.”
Hundreds, I think. The Land, I think.
“That’s . . .” Professor Kilfoyle shakes his head. “I don’t even know where to begin.”
I scribble out, We need to run! and hold it up.
“Yeah, we do,” Tara says, and Professor Kilfoyle opens the next door, letting us through first.
“If we go through the office at the back–” he says.
But it’s the last thing he ever says.
The ceiling behind us collapses in flame when Tara and I are two steps into the next section. A giant burning foot has slammed down through it. Professor Kilfoyle disappears underneath, and it’s only Tara catching my arm that stops me from being smashed flat, too.
We look up.
A god stands above us, looking down and screaming.