Abigail
The acrid stench of smoke hit me before the car even turned onto the street of Gina Wolfe’s house.
Thick smoke fumes curled up in thin ropes sizzling into the sky. The smell was acrid, clinging to the back of my throat as Connor drove us closer to the burning mansion.
"He’s insane," Finnegan hissed through his teeth, his eyes wide at the sight of his mother’s home burning. His knuckles were clenched so tightly they were white.
The sound of the engine roaring to a halt, the car tires squealing against wet pavement filled the air and Finnegan immediately lunged out of the car.
There wasn’t much left of the grand Victorian mansion. It was now a blackened skeleton, flames still licking at the upper windows despite the deluge of water the firefighters were pouring onto it.
Red and blue lights from their fire fighting truck flashed around the place. I followed after Finnegan sighing. Devin and his mother were truly dramatic.
Was there really any need to set fire to the building and cause all this commotion? He was adding to his list of crimes.
Murder, Arson and Destruction of properties.
All the full acronyms of mad. It was total chaos. Firefighters shouting orders over the crackle of dying flames, police men trying to help as much as they could.
One of them was talking to Finnegan and the agitated look on his face only deepened as I moved closer.
"What about Martha?! What do you mean she’s not out yet?"
"We found her!" Someone yelled from inside the gates to the building and paramedics immediately rushed through loading a stretcher. Finnegan rushed after them and I hurried after him, my heels sinking into the mud.
Martha looked terrible. Her face was mapped with bruises. She had one eye swollen shut, her arm hanging at a wrong angle. But she was conscious, her good eye landed on Finnegan immediately.
"Finn," she whispered.
Finnegan was at her side in an instant, taking her hand gently. "Martha, you’ll be fine. I’m so sorry,"
"Devin came looking for something," she rasped. "Your-your mother’s safe. I’m so-sorry I couldn’t stop-"
"Don’t, Martha," Finnegan hushed, his thumb brushing her knuckles. "Don’t apologize. You did nothing wrong. I’m taking you to the hospital. You’re going to be okay."
A police officer stepped forward. "Mr. Wolfe, we need to question her. The assault, combined with the arson, we can use this to find your brother."
"Later," Finnegan snapped, "She’s going to the hospital now. You can question her when she’s stable."
He grabbed my hand as he climbed into the ambulance with Martha. God this was such a mess.
We couldn’t even process Angel going with Victoria and had to face this. What on earth?
Angel was a smart girl.
She was too smart to be manipulated so easily so she couldn’t have been manipulated into going with Victoria by a mother that she didn’t particularly like.
So what other reason was there? Why would she go with Victoria?
Martha was admitted into the hospital and we left once we were sure she was responding to treatment.
Three hours after taking her to the hospital, when we pulled up back home, there were two figures waiting on the front steps
"I’m fine, Henry!" Finn bellowed.
"Humor me, will you?" Henry insisted. "Just for a minute."
They walked away together, toward the side of the house. River moved to stand beside me, and we watched the two men talk. I couldn’t hear what they said but Henry pulled Finnegan into a hug, his arms wrapped tight around his friend.
Finnegan’s hands came up, clutching at Henry’s jacket, and his shoulders shook lightly.
I didn’t know what Henry said to him, but for all his jokes, Henry loved Finnegan deeply.
When they broke apart, Henry must have cracked a joke because Finnegan shoved him off with a little grin before Henry walked back towards us.
"Take care of him," he murmured to me.
"Please. He’s... he’s not okay. He won’t admit it, but he’s not."
"You don’t have to tell me," I told him, smiling. He squeezed my shoulder, gave River a hug and left.
"This is all a mess," River sighed. "You would think after the old witch’s death we could breathe easy but her death only made it all so much messier."
"Yeah tell me about it," I mumbled, stalking towards Finn.
My heart ached for him. Henry was right. He was trying to hold it all together but I knew he wasn’t fine.
River suddenly gasped behind me, holding up her phone. "Oh my god, we have to get back to Angel, now!"

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