It was true.
Wally stood over the maps, the box of matches shaking in his hands as he watched.
“What have you done?” Tam asked, horrified.
“Protected the town,” he replied. “It was the only way.”
“Oh no,” Francis whispered, horrified. “No, no, no.”
All those copies—the last ones in existence—gone.
We all watched the blaze in stunned, horrified silence as it began to spread, obliterating the maps, then creeping outward, toward the shelves and walls.
“We have to get out of here,” I said, suddenly recognizing the danger we were in. The buildings in Agloe were from the 1930s, when the phantom settlement had been created, and were all made of wood. “The whole place is going to come down.”
“Where’s Nell?” Tam cried suddenly, spinning around.
“Oh my God,” Eve gasped. “I set her down when we came in here.”
Terror struck us as we heard you scream. You were somewhere in the fire, Nell.
I couldn’t even move—but Tam was already gone. She threw herself straight into the blaze.
“Tam, no!” Daniel yelled, trying to chase her. “Nell! Nell!”
All of us leapt into motion after him—but at the same moment, there was a horrible whooshing sound from everywhere around us, and it seemed that all at once, the entire vault was on fire, every surface covered in dancing, licking flames. There was so much smoke, so thick and black I could hardly breathe. I had never seen fire move that fast—we were in a tinderbox. The walls were already buckling around us, the shelves collapsing, threatening to trap us beneath them. And in the middle of the room in a towering molten heap, the maps Wally had collected were blazing so brightly, they were glowing white.
We tried, but it was impossible to go forward. The fire had become a wall, cutting us off from the rest of the vault. From Tam, and from you. We were driven back, first to the door, and then to the sidewalk outside, still yelling for you and Tam.
“Get off me!” Daniel shouted, his throat raw, but the fire surged again, swallowing the building. “I have to go after them!” he kept shouting, but Francis and Eve had pinned him down so he couldn’t run to his death, and I was holding Wally around the waist, clutching for dear life as he tried to drag himself back inside as well.
“This is my fault,” Wally cried as he fought me. “Let me go, you have to let me go—”
Just as Francis and Eve lost control of Daniel and he lurched toward the blaze with a howl, something moved from within the flames.
“Tam!” he screamed.
And she was there—stumbling, coughing, and carrying you. You were covered in ash and there were scorch marks on your clothes, but you were alive. Your mother had somehow spared you the worst of the deadly smoke, but it had taken its toll on her. Her face was covered in black soot, streaked with lines where her tears had run down and then evaporated in the heat, and her hair was crisp and frayed. She was wheezing, barely able to breathe.
“Tam!” Daniel called, running for her as she emerged. “Tam, here!”
She cleared the doorway, one foot on the sidewalk, strong enough that I thought she might make it to his arms. And then as the roof collapsed in behind her, she fell.
Daniel lunged to catch her. Together, you all hit the ground, Daniel first, trying to cushion you against his chest from the blow, and Tam last, crumpling softly on top of you and him.
We all ran forward, to pull the three of you back from the flames—but just as we were close enough to grab hold, suddenly everything disappeared. The stoplights, the sidewalks, the little shops with their awnings.
The whole town, vanished.