Chapter 363

The first floor looked normal, but an eerie stillness made goosebumps rise on my arms. The only sound was the staccato beeping of smoke alarms coming from all directions.

A wide sweeping staircase rose in front of me. It felt ominous, but the kids were up there, and they were in danger. I hurried up to the second floor, taking two steps at a time.

At the top of the stairs, the smoke was thick enough to see it floating lazily in the air. I coughed several times and pulled the neckline of my shirt up over my mouth and nose. It helped me breathe a little better.

I forced myself to stay calm and reasoned that the kids must be in a room to my left and toward the front of the house.

Hurrying down the hallway, I stopped at each door that faced the street and threw the doors open.

“Hello, Piper,” I called. “I’m here to help you and Lane get out of the house. Where are you, honey?”

“In here,” the girl's voice said from further down the hall. “Hurry, please. I’m scared, and it’s hard to breathe.”

“I’m coming, Piper,” I yelled and coughed some more. “Hang on, sweetie.”

The smoke was thicker toward that end of the hallway, but I ran toward the little girl’s voice and opened what I hoped was the right door.

It was the nursery. Little Piper stood between the window, where she was trying to steal gulps of fresh air, and her brother's crib.

“I can’t reach Lane to get him out of his crib,” she explained and shook the crib’s drop side. “I don’t know how my mommy makes it open.”

“It’s okay,” I said through another coughing fit. “I’m here now.”

I was impressed with the little girl’s bravery. She wouldn't leave the burning house without her baby brother. She had covered his face with a blanket to try to protect him from the smoke, but she couldn’t get him out of the crib.

I pivoted toward the window and quickly took a few gulps of fresh air. Then I picked up the baby with one arm and Piper with the other. Balancing her on my hip, I ran for the stairs.

The smoke was growing thick enough to sting our eyes. We had to get out of the house.

Nearing the top of the stairs, I shrieked and clutched the kids tight to my body when a burning beam fell from the high ceiling, missing us by inches.

I froze in terror, watching small chunks of burning wood and insulation float to the floor.

“Hurry, lady!” Piper begged me as the baby began to scream.

A fit of coughing wracked my body until I saw stars in front of my eyes. Realizing I could pass out from the smoke and the three of us would die, I ran down the stairs.

The air was a little clearer on the first floor, but the fire over our heads was burning faster. The sound of the second-floor ceiling slowly caving in was frightening. The fire was gobbling it up quickly.

Like a lit match, the mansion was burning from the top down.

“Out. You must get the kids outside, Daisy,” Diana said. Her voice echoed through my mind. “Go. Hurry!”

I ran to the door and panicked for a few seconds when it wouldn’t open.

“You have to turn the thingy to get out,” Piper said. She reached out and turned the latch.

The door opened, and I rushed outside with the kids in my arms.

Collapsing onto the sidewalk, the kids and I were coughing so hard we couldn’t catch our breath. It was a relief to see two policemen running our way.

Fire trucks and ambulances came screaming down the block, and a news crew that was filming the fire had caught my narrow escape from the burning mansion with the children.

The cops each took a child from my arms and called the EMTs to bring oxygen.

“They’ve all got smoke inhalation,” one cop told them.

Before the medical team got to our side, a well-dressed young blonde woman ran toward us. The police tried to hold her back, but she broke free, screaming, “I’m their mother! Let me through!”

She took her kids from the police officer’s arms and cradled them both while crying over and over, “Thank the Goddess, you are safe.”

The emergency medical staff gently intervened. “Please let us examine and treat the children, ma’am,” one EMT said as he put an oxygen mask over Piper’s face.

Next, they attended to the baby and then me.

The oxygen made me feel dizzy at first, but I quickly began to feel stronger.

The children’s mother sat on the sidewalk beside me, holding her kids in her arms.

“Thank you,” she said with tears running down her cheeks. “Thank you for saving my babies.”

I nodded and took off the oxygen mask. “You’re welcome. I heard Piper yelling for help, and I had to do something.”

“She was brave, mommy,” Piper said. “When Nanny didn’t come back, I didn’t know what to do. But then this lady came for us. I think she’s an angel.”

“Only one of the best of us would run into a burning building like that,” the mother said.

“That’s Daisy Wilson who saved your kids,” a man’s voice directly behind us said. “She’s no angel.”

I turned around and saw a reporter and cameraman from a local news station. They had intrusively recorded the conversation between me and the children’s mother.

“Daisy, what made you run into a burning building?” the reporter asked and pushed the microphone into my face.

A coughing fit seized me, and I couldn’t answer. The mother did it for me.

“Daisy was brave enough to run into an inferno to save my kids after my nanny left them alone,” the mother said. My husband and I will be forever grateful to her.”

“Who are you?” the reporter asked.

The mother stood, still clutching her children. “I am Delia Plum, the wife of Deputy Mayor Hudson Plum. Daisy is obviously a wonderful and brave person. If she hadn’t been here, our children would have perished inside our burning home.”

The reporter turned to me. But before he could ask another question, Amy appeared at my side.

“Let’s go inside, Daisy,” Amy said. “You and the children are welcome too, Mrs. Plum.”

“Thank you,” Delia Plum said. “But my husband just arrived. I’m sure he’ll have a plan for us.”

“If there is anything we can do, please let us know,” I said.

Leaving the small oxygen tank and mask behind, Amy and I hurried into the homeless shelter.

“Are you okay?” she asked.

“I’ll be fine,” I assured her. “Should we sneak out the back and go shopping? My truck is parked in by the fire trucks, and I don’t want to deal with the press.”

Amy agreed and drove us to Gisele’s in her Mercedes. As she parked in the lot, I groaned, seeing all the other cars there.

“I’m not up to defending myself from misinformed Alphas,” I groaned. “Maybe I’ll stay in the car.”

“Come on in. I’ll defend you, sweetie,” Amy said. “Don't worry.”

I sighed and followed my bestie to the shop’s entrance.

I promised myself I would ignore any insults thrown at me and walk away. Getting angry would only make things worse. And I didn’t want to make a scene in Gisele’s shop.

Amy and I walked in and froze a few feet from the front doors. The three TVs that were usually tuned to a music station were all tuned to the local news. The story on every screen was about the fire on Lycan Square.

“My wife and I owe a debt of gratitude to Daisy Wilson,” Deputy Mayor Hudson Plum told a reporter. “We would have lost our children today if it wasn’t for her brave actions.”

“How did the fire start?” the reporter asked.

“Our nanny admits she left a candle burning in her room on the third floor,” Delia Plum replied. “The woman is obsessed with scented candles.”

Hudson Plum put his arms around his family. “Again, Delia and I thank Daisy Wilson for saving our children. Now, if you’ll excuse us, I’d like to get my family somewhere to care for the children.”

Every eye in the store was glued to a TV screen. But then someone finally noticed me and told the others I was in the store.

Then, the room began to buzz with excited voices, and dozens of heads swiveled in my direction.

I almost turned and ran, but my feet wouldn’t move.

Amy took my hand. “Let’s get out of here, Daisy.”

“There she is,” Gisele said and pointed at me.