Chapter 18: Fire in the Chapel

The fire came up through the floor.

Within a minute the smoke was a grey wall at the altar, and the candles were screaming sideways.

"The doors!" Tadeo shouted. "Everyone on the doors!"

Twelve men threw themselves at the oak.

It shuddered and held.

Whoever had barred it from outside had used a steel bar and a chain, and the chapel had been built to keep armies out.

Giulia clung to the baker with her face in his shoulder.

"Sera," she said. "Sera, I can't breathe."

"Look at me."

She looked.

"Take your breath through the lace of your sleeve. Short ones. I've got you."

I pulled the baker's jacket over both their heads and looked for another way.

The old priest caught my arm.

He had his stole pressed to his mouth, and his eyes were wet and clear.

"The sacristy," he said. "Behind the altar. There's a coal door to the orchard that hasn't been opened since I was a boy."

"Is it locked?"

"Rusted. I had the key once."

"Then we break it."

I dragged Giulia by the wrist through the smoke, with the baker stumbling behind us and the priest behind him.

The sacristy was a small stone room with robes on hooks.

The door was low and black, with iron straps across it.

I tried the handle.

Nothing.

I tried my shoulder.

Nothing.

Behind us the fire cracked and a pew went up with a roar.

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