CHAPTER TWO

Still dazed by the oddness of this entire situation, Sapphire absent-mindedly searched the downstairs rooms, still not knowing what she was supposed to look for. Something out of the ordinary, Steel said, but everything was out of the ordinary in this assignment, and her partner was certainly ranking first. Still lost in these thoughts, she did not realize that a thick, white smoke was coming down from the staircase. But then she heard Steel's voice, yelling: "Sapphire! Help me! I'm trapped in a burning room!"

She ran upstairs as fast as she could, following the smoke. It was coming out from the first bedroom on the left, one of the uninhabited ones. She opened the door, taking care to cover her hand with her dress to avoid getting burned by the hot handle. The room was completely engulfed in fire, which was roaring toward her, now that it found another source of oxygen through the open door. She hastily retreated and barely avoided the backfire. The heat was unbearable, but Sapphire knew she had to get into the room to find her partner. He was probably lying in there, almost suffocated by the smoke; he was not calling her anymore, and he still wasn't answering her desperate mental calls. She called him aloud, trying to pinpoint his location.

"Steel! Where are you? I can't see you."

She heard a faint: "Over here!" from the farthest corner of the room, then nothing. Thinking furiously, she ran to the nearby bathroom, yanked the shower head from its support, turned the tap open and soaked herself in cold water. She also wet a towel and wrapped it around her head and face. Sapphire ran back to the burning room and boldly went inside that inferno. The wet clothes were helping, but she could already feel the heat licking her exposed skin. Her hands and legs were covered with blisters, but the woman refused to stop looking for her partner. She knew he was somewhere in there, counting on her to take him out of that nightmare. She couldn't fail him now, and she certainly could not let him die because of a few blisters.

Sapphire kept looking for Steel, challenging the searing heat and the hungry flames. She searched the whole room, but he was nowhere to be seen. Her vision suddenly blurred, but she thought it was the smoke making her eyes water, not realizing that her lungs were saturated with smoke and that she couldn't breathe anymore. Her consciousness fading, she collapsed on her knees. But then her clothes took fire, and the sudden surge of adrenaline gave her the strength she needed to run outside the room. She barely crossed the threshold, when the whole ceiling collapsed in a cacophony of falling beams and stones. The enormous amount of dust was enough to quench the fire. The woman fell to the ground and rolled on her sides to extinguish her still burning clothes, but then her strength faded and she slowly surrendered to unconsciousness.

When Sapphire came to, she realized she was lying on one of the living room sofas. Steel was sitting on a chair beside her, a stern expression in the cold eyes. She let out an audible sigh of relief, overjoyed at seeing him alive.

"Thank goodness, Steel, you're all right. How did you make it out of that inferno?"

He answered her in an uncharacteristically cold voice: "I was never in there, Sapphire. And I would like you to explain why you decided to enter a burning room."

She abruptly raised her back from the sofa, stricken by his words.

"What do you mean, why? Because you called me. You asked me to help you out of that room, you were trapped in there."

"I most certainly was not. The room was on fire because of an electrical short circuit. As soon as I realized that, I fled the first floor, and I even yelled at you not to come upstairs. You probably just misunderstood my words."

"But then why didn't I meet you on the staircase?"

He shrugged. "Probably because I was already downstairs, looking for you. You behaved quite carelessly, Sapphire, I'm disappointed."

Now she was almost yelling. "Disappointed? I almost burnt alive trying to save you, and all you can say is that you're disappointed?"

He raised his voice, too. "Well, I certainly cannot say that I'm happy with your performance so far, Sapphire. You're handling this assignment less than professionally, and that's not like you. You must try to focus on your job from now on."

When he stood and left, she felt tears stinging at the corner of her eyes, but refused to let them fall. She tried to keep remembering that he was not himself because of the venomous substance that the cat's scratches let loose in his body, but she could not help feeling hurt by his mistreatment.

She slowly stood, noticing that her elemental nature had already healed her burns and blisters. She briefly concentrated and instantaneously changed her clothes. Now she was wearing blue trousers and a matching blouse. She felt the need of wearing something more protective and comfortable, this time.

Sapphire decided to go looking for Steel, hoping that his fit of temper had subsided. Since she could not see him anywhere, she decided to test their mental connection.

"Steel? Can you hear me? Steel?"

Nothing. It didn't even feel like he was purposely not responding; it felt like they were completely disconnected. It was the first time she could not hear his thoughts in her mind, and she didn't like the feeling at all. She had never realized before how much she relied on their mental link to find strength and support.

Sapphire was unhappily wandering about the large hall, when she heard a muffled growl coming from somewhere behind her. She turned and heard it again. The sound was coming from the library. Maybe the cat was hiding in there. Sapphire slowly opened the door, but the room was completely dark. It had no windows, and she had to turn the lights on to see what was inside. When the room was flooded by light, there was still no cat.

Sapphire closed the door to prevent the animal from running outside, briefly wondering how it had entered in the first place, since the door had always been closed. The room sported a few pieces of furniture: two large and comfortable-looking stuffed armchairs, a small table, a chair and a few floor lamps. All the walls were covered with floor-to-ceiling bookshelves, filled with what looked like rare and very expensive books. Sapphire slowly walked around to find where the cat was hiding, remembering to stay away from its claws. She was looking for a small, although potentially dangerous, creature, not expecting what suddenly appeared in front of her from behind one of the armchairs: a big, black and snarling dog. It was growling threateningly at her, showing big, white fangs.

Sapphire slowly retreated, trying to move toward the door, remembering to avoid any sudden moves. The dog's hair was standing on its back, and she knew that it was assessing her. It probably decided that she was not a threat, but a potential prey, since it attacked and jumped at her, fast as lightening. It was a big animal, and its leaping momentum slammed her to the floor. Screaming, she instinctively raised her harm to protect her exposed throat. The dog's teeth plunged in her soft flesh, causing a blinding pain. She felt her forearm's bone break under the terrible pressure. She fought to remain conscious; she knew that if she let the pain overtake her she would doom herself to certain death. Sapphire tried to ignore the searing pain and desperately concentrated on teleporting away. The dog increased the crushing pressure of its powerful jaw, and Sapphire knew that she couldn't bear the pain anymore. She shut her eyes, sure that she would not open them again.