IX.

This couldn't be true. Had her instincts failed her? She looked at Sgt. Connors as he leaned across the desk to her.

"You need to leave. I don't know what you did, but the Chief's in a bad way. You need to go. Please."

A low moan came from the Chief's office.

"What about my wallet?" She asked.

Connors shook his head. "It was never stolen."

Now a scream from behind the office door.

She pushed into the room. The Chief writhed on the floor. Blackness slithered out his mouth, eyes and ears to the cowering man in the corner with a stethoscope. Her instincts were right. The last one WAS here. A full meal with dessert, and no time to breathe it.

Black smoke ribboned from the Chief's mouth. The Burn had started. "Run!" She screamed. "Everyone out, NOW!"

Fire trucks circled the building. Those who should be saved were. The school fire, contained only in one room, was out. The jail would burn until consumed.

Connors looked down at her. "Who are you?"

Her smile was in her eyes. "Go," she said as she touched his face. A soft golden spot slipped from her fingers to him. "Go. Be good."

A child in blue skipped past.