Haunter 1: The Shadow of the Haunter

29. Fire & Brimstone

"Watch out!"

Isaac's shout shook me awake, and I found myself wrapped in Price's arms as he staggered toward the front door. Trisha sprinted past us to open the door and drop the cameras on the grass, then came to help Price take me out of the guesthouse. Behind us, I heard weird noises overlapping Isaac's and Amy's voices, like fireworks cracking and something being sprayed.

Brandon —yeah, it's Brandon again, you know how this goes— reached the porch, panting and grunting, and made one last effort to get to the garden.

"Call 911!" he cried, turning around toward the house.

I was still too weak and hurt to stand on my feet. My knees just buckled and I fell to the grass, dragging him down with me. From where we were, I saw Isaac spray the blazing flames coming out of the fireplace with an extinguisher, while Amy rushed to move everything away from there and pick up her things.

Trisha was back inside, and if I wasn't seeing things, Isaac signaled her to film what was happening.

"What's going on?" I managed to mumble.

Brandon sort of shook his head, his arm still around me, looking in like me, his lips parted in a silent gawk. The fresh air cleared my head just enough to realize I had my face stuck to his shoulder, and both hands on the grass between his spread legs. Something to feel utterly awkward about some other time.

Amy scampered out of the guesthouse, her big bag hanging from her shoulder, as Mike and Susan came running across the garden.

"Are there more extinguishers in the Manor?" Amy asked. "Let's get them!"

She and Susan rushed to the backdoor while Mike dodged us to run into the guesthouse. Isaac saw him there, handed him the extinguisher and hurried toward the dining room, with Trisha on his heels.

Amy and Susan came with two more extinguishers just as Trisha ran out, filming with her phone in one hand, a bag of ghost-hunting gear and Brandon's glasses in the other. Isaac joined us a minute later, carrying a CPU tower and a duffel bag with filming equipment.

"The chimney caught fire!" he said, panting.

"Let's get you guys to the Manor," said Trisha.

"But I can't enter!" Brandon mumbled, wearing his glasses.

I could only gawk around, watching but not really grasping what was going on.

"You can't stay out here!" Isaac replied. "C'mon, Fran can explain it to her pet later."

We heard sirens wailing closer down Greenwich Road.

"C'mon, guys, get up!" Trisha urged us. "This is gonna make the local news. But if they see Brandon here, it's gonna go national and viral."

That seemed to do some kind of trick. Somehow, he managed to kneel up, and Isaac helped him to his feet. Brandon reached out to me, but I was incapable of standing up. Trisha grabbed my forearms and pulled me halfway up.

"Come, damsel in distress," he said with a weary smile.

I don't know where he found the strength, but he slid an arm behind my legs, the other around my back, and lifted me, carrying me all the way to the Manor in his arms. We made it through the backdoor at the same time that a fire engine turned onto the driveway. Isaac helped Brandon stagger to the table with me, he and Trisha dropped the bags they'd brought from the garden, and they hurried back out, still filming nonstop.

"Joseph!" I called out as Brandon left me on a chair, to crumble down on another right next to me with a hurting grunt.

"Are you okay?" asked my phone.