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said.
    “What about Jay-Jay?”
    “We’ll carry him.”
    “In the rain? You said he could die.”
    For a moment, she considered telling him about Jarod’s hand, about Cody and the radio. He already thought she was crazy though. Maybe she was, but every tingling hair on her body told her it was time to go.
    “Somebody was upstairs with me,” she said. “We’re not alone here.”
    “What do you mean? I was just up there, and nobody’s come in.”
    “We all fall down,” Cody said.
    Anthony pointed. “What the hell’s wrong with him?”
    She held Cody’s face against her shoulder. “It’s just something we sing when he’s nervous. Now we need to go.”
    “Those government pigs are probably still out there,” Anthony said. “People that you brought down on us. We can’t take Jay-Jay out there.”
    “Listen, I don’t care if you believe me or not. Somebody or something is upstairs right now.”
    “Something, huh?” Anthony rolled his eyes. “You’re not taking Jay-Jay anywhere. I won’t let you.”
    “London’s burning,” Cody said over her shoulder. “London’s burning. Fetch the engine.”
    “Can’t you get him to stop?” Anthony asked. “He’s creeping me out.”
    She sat down in a chair and held Cody in her lap. Pushing sweaty strands of hair from his forehead, she said, “Baby, please wake up.”
    She shook him gently. A massive thunder strike rattled the building. The warehouse’s metal beams moaned like a collapsing submarine. Cody breathed quicker. More than ever, she knew it was all connected. Jarod’s deformation. The storm and Cody. Finally, she couldn’t take it. She shook him harder and shouted, “Wake up.”
    An explosion above. Dozens of windows that lined the warehouse’s ceiling imploded. She dove to the concrete and smothered Cody. Shards of glass sprayed down. Luckily, they were near the center of the building. Wind and rain poured through the windows now. Trash blew everywhere.
    “Christ.” Anthony pointed at Cody. He started to back away from them. “It’s him. He’s doing this.”
    He ran to the steel doors, pulled them open, and disappeared outside. She couldn’t worry about him now. At this point, he wouldn’t be much help.
    “I’m sorry, baby.” She slapped Cody’s face to wake him. The second time, his blue eyes rolled back. Immediately, the storm seemed to die down.
    “Ouch.” He rubbed the side of his face.
    “You scared me.” She hugged him tight. Though she wanted to end it there, it couldn’t wait. “Who were you talking to?”
    “He wants to come in again,” Cody said.
    “Who does? Who wants to come in?”
    Before he could answer, the door squealed open. Phil ran up with a giant blanket folded under his arm.
    “Oh, thank God,” she said. “I was beginning to think you weren’t going to make it.”
    “I told you my car was parked all the way back on K Street.”
    “I’m sorry. We need to leave. Did you see any police at Tammy’s house?”
    “No, but her front door was wide open.”
    Jay-Jay’s skin color was pretty good considering. For the first time tonight, she felt as though they might actually get out of this.
    “Where’s Anthony?” Phil asked.
    “He went for help, too.” She couldn’t be sure how Phil would react if he knew the truth of the night’s events. The front door opened again.
    “He’s back,” Phil said.
    She looked up to see Anthony’s bald head peek into the warehouse. Did he have a change of heart? No, he’d probably come back for his friends. Time for damage control. She needed to convince him that he hadn’t seen anything unusual. That shouldn’t be too hard considering the story.
    “Use the blanket,” she said to Phil. “We’ll carry Jay-Jay on that.”
    A wet thudding sound filled her ears. Anthony’s head rolled face up at her feet. Spattered in blood, his expression had frozen in terror. Skin hung from his neck from where it had been torn off.
    “Cody.” She snatched him up and