All The Pretty Ghosts (The Never Series Book 1) by Jamie Campbell (my miracle luna book free read .TXT) 📕

the kerosene. A great whoosh rang out as a wall of fire was put between us.

His laughter carried as he went down the stairs.

In less time than it took to blink, the fire spread. With the kerosene feeding the flames like a greedy child, it blazed a ring around me. The heat quickly rose to rival any furnace. The burning junk crackled and hissed as it was eaten up.

My head snapped around, desperate to see Oliver. He needed to get me out of my bindings. There was no way I could even think of getting through the flames until the ropes were removed. He was the only one who could help me now.

“Oliver!” I called out.

I couldn’t see him. The boxes he had been hiding behind were burning. Colors of orange, yellow, and red were lighting up the room.

He might have been just as trapped as I was.

We could both die. Right here, right now. It could be the end.

I bucked against the ropes, not really having any plan but needing to do something anyway. Panic was about to consume me and it took everything I had to keep it at bay. Doing so now would guarantee my death.

My eyes took in the room again, now starting to water from the smoke. We were at the top of the building, the smog didn’t have anywhere to escape. The grey haze just accumulated, the wispy tendrils curling upwards and enveloping everything it found.

Oliver was suddenly standing in front of me. He had made it through the ring of fire. “Please undo the ropes! We need to get out of here!”

“I can’t help you,” he muttered.

My eyes found his, locking for a moment. His were full of regret, something I really didn’t want to see right at this moment. I wanted him to be determined, angry, focused.

Anything but regretful.

Anything.

“Just help me with the ropes, we can do this,” I urged. I needed to convince him because we were losing seconds and every single one counted. The heat was cooking me from the outside in and the smoke was making water accumulate in my eyes until everything was a blurred mess.

“I’m so sorry, Everly,” he said, shaking his head.

Why was he just standing there?

“Don’t be sorry, just help me. Please.”

“I can’t.”

Tears were starting to streak down my cheeks and I wasn’t entirely sure it was only because of the smoke anymore. There was nothing about Oliver that was making sense. All he had to do was bend down and loosen my ropes. We could then get away, never have to see fire again.

“Please,” I begged, sobbing as I spoke. “Just help me.”

“I can’t,” he repeated.

“Oliver,” I moaned his name. The fire was so close it was starting to lick at my clothes. If it liked the taste, it was going to consume me whole.

I was going to burn alive.

Did Oliver hate me that much that he wouldn’t even help me survive? Why wasn’t he saving himself? He could at least save himself.

He kneeled down so we were eye level. “I am so, so sorry, Everly. I never meant for this to happen. I thought…” His words trailed off as tears welled in his eyes. I wanted to brush them away, they didn’t belong on his face.

We were going to die together.

All because he wouldn’t help me.

“What are you talking about? Oliver, please. It doesn’t have to be like this,” I begged. The smoke was starting to fill my lungs, clogging my throat and making every breath burn.

Then he reached forward. Oliver actually moved for the ropes, he was going to help me. Maybe we would have a chance of getting out. Whatever had gotten into him was gone, he was going to help me.

His hands went through the ropes.

He couldn’t hold onto them.

My mouth hung open as I stared between him and the ropes. I had to be seeing things, imagining things because of the fire and the smoke.

I was delirious.

Oliver tried again, his jaw clenched as he concentrated. Like if he put enough thought into the movement, his hands wouldn’t go through the ropes again.

But they did.

Again and again, no matter how hard he concentrated and tried, he couldn’t hold onto the ropes. I watched him get frustrated and it was heartbreaking.

Because it could only mean one thing.

Oliver was dead.

Chapter Seventeen

“Oliver, no,” I whispered, the sharp intake of breath making me cough as it caught in my throat.

“I’m sorry, Everly. I didn’t want you finding out this way,” he said, his eyes only meeting mine once the words were out.

I had a million questions running through my mind. My chest ached which had nothing to do with the fire. How could I not have known my best friend – the man I was in love with – was dead? He was nothing more than a spirit, invisible to everyone else unless they had my curse.

The fire caught a hold of my coat and started to burn its way through my clothes. It wouldn’t be long before my skin was reached.

There was no way Oliver would be able to help me out of the ropes now. I was on my own – in more ways than one. As he cried at my feet, I desperately looked through the flames, trying to find a way out.

“Everly, I’m so sorry,” he sobbed.

I couldn’t even speak to him. If I started, I wouldn’t be able to stop until everything was said. I didn’t have time for that, I needed to survive. I couldn’t be dead like he was, I still had a chance.

“Oliver, stop. Please, I just need…”

I couldn’t talk as the smoke gripped me by the throat and threatened to take my life right