City of Magic: The Complete Series by Helen Harper (book club recommendations TXT) 📕

my eye. For a moment I thought that it was from one of the street lamps – until it occurred to me that it was still daylight.

Trepidation shivered down my spine as I tiptoed forward, ignoring the creaky floorboards. I drew one of the curtains back and peered out then immediately wished I hadn’t. The sky itself was on fire. If you want to know what genuine terror feels like, imagine seeing what I was seeing. The end was truly nigh.

Instantly forgetting every logical thought I’d had about earthquake safety, I sprinted for the door and pelted down the stairs. ‘Lizzy!’ I shrieked. I careened round the corner and into the living room but there was no sign of her or Christopher. ‘Lizzy!’ I tried again.

‘Over here, Charley. Oh my God. Are you seeing this?’

I followed the sound of her voice. She was standing on the threshold of the house and staring out of the front door.

I ran up and yanked her backwards. ‘Don’t stand so close! It’s dangerous!’ I could feel my heart thudding against my ribcage. Fire was the one thing that absolutely terrified me. You wouldn’t need to be a genius to work out why. Poetic justice, I thought dully. Maybe I deserved this.

‘It’s not coming near the house,’ Lizzy said. ‘We’re alright.’

The sky was ablaze. How on earth could we possibly be alright? Then I looked out and realised what she had meant; it wasn’t so much that the sky was on fire but that it was raining fire. Great globules of flame were pelting down from above. I could see scorch marks all over the place although none of them were near us. There was radius around the house of a good five metres that was entirely clear of the fiery deluge.

Swallowing my rising nausea, I stepped outside. I could hear screams from up and down the street, as well as further away.

‘Bloody hell, Charley! At least I didn’t go outside! Get back in here!’ Lizzy shouted.

I waved to her, indicating that I wasn’t going to venture far. I took another step. The fire might not be falling anywhere near me but that didn’t mean I couldn’t feel its heat. What possible scientific explanation was there for this? Lizzy was right – this really was the end of the world.

Using my hand to shield my eyes, I scanned upwards. The clouds, of which there were many, were blood red. My chest tightened. For the first time in a long time, I was fresh out of ideas of what to do. None of this made any sense.

I dropped my gaze to check my street, half expecting the four horsemen to come cantering through with cheesy grins of triumph. One of the older houses a hundred metres away was on fire. I started forward, unsure what I could do. Part of me was expecting the fire, like the rats, to avoid me completely; after all, the splats of flame weren’t coming anywhere near my house. I hadn’t gone far, though, when Lizzy screamed and I felt searing heat on my shoulder as a fat glob of fire burned through my T-shirt. I hissed and drew back, frantically patting the spot to put out the tiny flames.

I spotted various other people who were closer to the burning house emerging with pails of water and hosepipes. I breathed out. My thoughts coalesced into something more coherent and I turned back to Lizzy. ‘That old tray!’ I yelled. ‘The one in the kitchen that you used to sledge down the staircase that time. Get that!’

Lizzy’s brow furrowed. ‘But…’

‘Just get it!’

She spun round and ran inside. I turned back to the street. Smoke was rising at a tremendous rate from the burning house but, to my untrained eye, it looked as if the fire was being extinguished. That didn’t mean I wasn’t going to do everything I could to help, even if it was a distance away.

I eyed the road. With the amount of fire rain dripping down from the orange-tinged clouds, the chances I’d make it to the building unscathed – let alone be in a position to help out – were probably about eighteen to one. I’d had worse odds.

I was planning the optimal route to avoid the worst of the flames when, from somewhere closer to hand, there was a faint voice. I stiffened before straining to catch it.

‘Help. Help me.’

My limbs went rigid. It sounded like a kid. ‘Where are you?’ I bellowed.

There was a momentary pause, which only intensified my terror. With slightly more strength than before, the voice called out, ‘Here! I’m here!’

A hand waved from beneath one of the parked cars a few houses further up, narrowly avoiding several fiery droplets.

‘I see you!’ I shouted. ‘Don’t move! I’ll come and get you!’

Lizzy nudged me from behind, the battered silver tea tray in her hand. I took it from her, pleased for the first time that it was one of the few objects that had been left behind in the house when I’d taken possession of it. With handles on either side, it would work perfectly as a mobile shelter. I flipped it round and held it over my head.

‘Charley,’ Lizzy said, her voice shaking, ‘I really don’t think…’

I didn’t wait to hear what she wasn’t thinking but darted forward, tings of sound above my head as the fiery rain hit the tray. In retrospect, using a metallic tray that conducted heat probably wasn’t the greatest idea in the world – I could already feel the heat permeating through to my fingers – but there wasn’t much time to find a fire-retardant blanket. The pain encouraged me to move even faster.

As soon as I reached the car, I ducked down and stuck my hand out. ‘Come with me,’ I urged.

‘But the fire…’

‘It’s okay.’ I cast a nervous glance around. The strange flames were still falling and there was no indication that they were going to stop. I was no mechanic, but I doubted that petrol-fuelled