Read Online Relic by Renee Collins - Free Book Online Page A

direction of the noise. A lone man sprinted toward us from up the otherwise dead-still street, screaming at the top of his lungs. Landon and I exchanged a look, and without saying a word, ran to meet him at the same time.
    The screams didn’t let up. Sudden patches of light illuminated windows all along the main street. A few people in nightclothes stepped out looking bleary-eyed but frightened. Tom and Mr. Connelly ran from the Desert Rose to see what the commotion was.
    The man, a Chinese laborer covered with dirt, ran straight for us.
    “Huo,” he said in a frantic rasp. “Huo!” He gripped Landon by the shirt. “Ta wen lai dau!”
    “Easy there,” Landon said, prying him off. “Take it easy.”
    “What in the hell’s got your goat?” Tom asked. “Wakin’ up everybody in the town like that?”
    “Huo!” the laborer said, eyes wide.
    “How about you try telling us in English, boy,” Connelly said. “We don’t talk your damn Chinese gibber jabber.”
    The laborer trembled all over, pale as death. “Ah…pah…chey,” he said, struggling to enunciate the words through his terror. “Ah pah chey!”
    The small crowd that had gathered around exchanged confused looks. But his words struck me right in the chest.
    “Apache,” I whispered. Landon heard me, and our eyes met with a flash of fear.
    His voice was louder. “Apache.”
    The word seemed to suck the air from the street. The laborer nodded frantically. “Ta wen lai dau!” He pointed to the flickering lantern that hung by the door outside a nearby shop. “Huo!”
    I stared at his shaking, dirty hand, and all at once I could see it wasn’t dirt. Of course it wasn’t. I knew that color, that smell. Better than I wanted to. It was ash and smoke.
    Huo . He meant fire.

Chapter Six
    The next few moments were a blur of sounds. Panic spread quickly. It was partly helped by the arrival of others rushing down Main Street, shouting for help. Within a few moments, everyone in Burning Mesa seemed to be awake and caught up in the fear.
    “It’s at the excavation camp!” someone shouted.
    Less than a half mile out of town. The flames would arrive in a matter of minutes.
    In my mind, all I saw was fire. Vast, angry orange flames, spreading with unnatural power. Devouring everything in their path. The fire that had destroyed my home. The fire that had killed my parents. Memories I had tried so hard to keep at bay now crashed down on me like a rockslide.
    The commotion of the street pulled me back to the moment. Everywhere voices echoed together in the night like thunder.
    “Run for your lives!”
    “We won’t go down like Haydenville! We’ll fight!”
    “Pray for God’s mercy on our souls!”
    Nausea rippled through me. I turned dizzily and would have tripped to the ground if a pair of strong arms hadn’t caught me.
    Landon.
    “You all right, Maggie?”
    “Ella.” In spite of the chaos in my head and around me, the only thing that mattered sprang to my lips.
    “Ella!” I said again.
    Landon looked confused. “Who?”
    “My little sister.” I clung to his shirt. “You have to take me to her. Right now!”
    “Take you where? I—”
    “I’ll run all the way there if I have to.” I turned and broke into a dizzy sprint, but Landon caught up with me. He hooked his arm around my waist to slow me down.
    “Maggie! Hang on.”
    “No!” I was gripped with horrible visions of the St. Ignacio mission engulfed with flame. “Let me go! I have to save her!”
    “I’ll take you,” Landon said, holding my hands, trying to calm me down. “Of course I will. But you gotta relax. You’re going to make yourself faint.”
    “I won’t relax. Not until she’s safe in my arms.”
    Landon’s eyes met mine, his gaze so sincere that I was thrown off. “We’ll get there in time,” he said. “I give you my word. Just tell me where to go.”
    As we pushed through the confusion in the streets, I heard Adelaide shouting for me. I turned to see her and