A Tempest of Tea

Back at Spindrift the next morning, Jin wakes up with the sense that something is wrong. He realizes that Flick is gone and goes to find Arthie, who warns him to get everyone to Penn’s home on Imperial Square before the Ram can exact revenge. Jin and Arthie usher everyone out, telling them to leave in groups and sending someone to get Matteo. However, before they can put this plan into action, a window shatters, and a gang called the Plodders attacks. They quickly get into a fight with the gang, as Jin and Arthie refuse to leave each other, but soon they hear the sound of someone starting a fire. Jin begins to panic, but Arthie steadies him and gets him out of the burning building. Everyone except Arthie manages to escape before Spindrift explodes.

Arthie grieves as Spindrift burns, feeling like “all her life she’d spun a slow dance through a burning room, and the inferno had caught up to her at last” (277).

Panicking, Jin overcomes his fear of fire and pushes his way back into the burning building, desperate to save Arthie. He finds her trapped under a bookcase, but before he can reach her, she frees herself, only to collapse in his arms.