Fantine

The heat from the burning porch structure was hitting my back in waves, and the thick black smoke made it hard to draw a deep breath as I stepped through the shattered frame of the front door into the wet gravel yard. Selene was already standing up from the grass where the blast had thrown her, her face covered in dark soot and her black coat singed at the edges, and the moment she saw me empty-handed without my pistol, she dropped her own weapon onto the ground because she wanted to break me with her bare hands.

"You always thought you were special because you were the youngest,...