“I’m getting a very bad feeling,” Virtue said.
“It’s not like the fire can spread here,” Sanjit said, trying to sound nonchalant and failing.
Virtue didn’t say anything. He just stared. And it dawned on Sanjit that his brother and friend was seeing more than just the fire.
“What is it, Choo?”
Virtue sighed, a heavy sound that edged toward a sob. “You never ask me about where I came from.”
Sanjit was surprised by the turn in the conversation. “Africa. I know you come from Africa.”
“Africa’s a continent, not a country,” Virtue said with a faint echo of his normal pedantry. “Congo. That’s where I’m from.”
“Okay.”
“That doesn’t mean anything to you, does it?”
Sanjit shrugged. “Lions and giraffes and all?”
Virtue didn’t even bother to sneer. “There’s been war there for, like, ever. People killing one another. Raping. Torturing. Stuff you don’t even want to know about, brother.”
“Yeah?”
“I wasn’t in an orphanage when Jennifer and Todd adopted me. I was four years old. In a refugee camp. All I remember is being hungry all the time. And no one taking care of me.”
“Where were your real mom and dad?”
Virtue didn’t answer for a long time, and some instinct warned Sanjit not to push him.
Finally, Virtue said, “They came and started burning down our village. I don’t know why. I was just a little kid. I just know my mother—my birth mom—told me to run and hide in the bush.”
“Okay.”
“She told me not to come out. Or look. She said, ‘Hide. And close your eyes tight. And cover your ears.’”
“But you didn’t.”
“No,” Virtue whispered.
“What did you see?”
“I…” Virtue took a deep, shuddering breath. In a strained, unnatural voice he said, “You know what? I can’t tell you. I can’t use words for it. I don’t want the words to come out of my mouth.”
Sanjit stared at him, feeling as if he was looking at a stranger. Virtue had never talked about his early childhood. Sanjit berated himself for being so self-centered, he’d never asked.
“I see that fire and I just have a bad feeling, Sanjit. I have a bad feeling it’s getting ready to happen again.”
Taylor found Edilio with Orc, Howard, Ellen, and a few others. They were retreating from the worst of the fire.
Voices cried pitifully from the upper floors of a house that burned like a match head. Taylor saw Edilio press his hands to his ears.
Taylor grabbed his hand and pulled it away. “There are kids in that house!”
“Yeah?” Edilio said savagely. “Do you think?”
It was so unlike Edilio, it shocked Taylor. The others looked at her like she was an idiot. They all heard the cries. “I can do it,” Taylor said. “I can pop in and out before the fire gets me.”
Edilio’s furious glare softened just a little. “You’re a brave girl, Taylor. But what are you going to do? You can bounce, but you can’t carry anyone out with you.”
Taylor stared at the house. It was half a block away and even from this distance the heat was like a furnace.
“Maybe I can…” She faltered.
“What’s happening in there? You can’t stop it. And you don’t want to bounce in there just to see it. Believe me,” Edilio said. “You don’t want to see it.”
The cries were not heard again. A few minutes later the roof collapsed inward.
“The fire is spreading on its own now. We should try to make a fire break,” Ellen said.
“A what?” Edilio asked.
“A fire break. It’s what they do in forest fires. They knock down the trees that are in the path of the fire. It stops the fire from moving tree to tree.”
“You talking about knocking down houses?” Howard said. “You talking about Orc knocking down houses. That’s going to—”
“Shut up, Howard,” Orc said. Not mean, but definite.
Howard shrugged. “Okay, big guy, if you want to get all altruistic.”
“Whatever,” Orc said.
Dekka ran into Edilio. Literally. She was obviously half blinded by smoke.
“Dekka!” Edilio cried. “Have you seen Sam?”
Dekka tried to answer, choked, coughed, and ended up shaking her head.
“Okay. Come with us. The fire is still spreading.”
“What are you—?” she managed to ask.
“We’re going to make a fire break,” Edilio said. “The fire is jumping house to house. We’re going to knock some houses down and push them back.”
“Get Jack, too,” Dekka said, squeezing the words out and biting off the racking cough that followed.
“Good idea,” Edilio said. “Taylor?”
Taylor disappeared.
“Come on, guys,” Edilio said, trying to rally his sick, dispirited group. “We can maybe still save a lot of the town.”
He led the way and the others followed.
Where was Sam? Usually it would be Sam leading the way. Sam handing out orders.
Was Sam okay? Had he caught up with Zil? Had he done what he threatened to do? Had he killed Zil?
Edilio could still hear echoes of the cries from the burning house. He knew he would be hearing them in his dreams for a long time to come. He wasn’t going to manage too much sympathy for Zil if Sam had carried out his threat.