Page 30

DRIVING THROUGH RURAL Texas, the landscape was vast and unending. Stretches of dry, browned fields rolled past as the car hummed along the highway. The sun beat down harshly, even through the dusty windows, casting a bleached light over everything.

“Where to next?” Anticipation made Ruby’s fingers twitch against the wheel.

“South a bit. Lucas said a fire had been reported shortly after an Edward sighting. We’re going in blind this time, no clue how many thermies, if any, were left,” Jonah replied, his eyes scanning the road ahead. The app on his phone urged her right, down a dirt road.

The vehicle was much more spacious without the camera equipment, leaving Kavya room to lay out in the backseat. A few hours prior, she had climbed into the back without a word and immediately fallen asleep.

The countryside opened up to a single-story red brick house, its structure standing oddly solitary among the sparse landscape.

It looked almost staged—a farmhouse without the farm, lacking any land, barn, or livestock.

Only a fenced backyard with dirt roads traced around the property, leaving an uncomfortable isolation that made Ruby’s stomach tighten.

They parked in front of the house, Kavya waking at the sudden jolt of the brakes. She sat up and rubbed her eyes. “We’re here?”

“I think so.” Jonah opened his door and reached for the gun in his holster. “Wait here while Ruby and I clear the house.”

Kavya nodded and Ruby and Jonah made their way up the walkway to the porch. The silence was unnatural, no voices, vehicles, or vultures. As Jonah grabbed the doorknob, Ruby put her hand on his arm, stopping him.

“Don’t go busting in. I think there may be a kid involved. And if…” She swallowed. “If the kid is alive, we don’t want to scare them.”

He stiffened. “How do you know?”

She paused, debating. If she told Jonah about the phone call, would he believe her?

Or would it make him suspicious of her? With the number of agents now working for Edward, the vastness of his network of traitors, could she trust Jonah not to tell the TCA?

The last thing she wanted was to be further sidelined.

“There’s toys in the backyard. I saw them on the drive up.”

He nodded, accepting the lie, and attempted to quietly open the screen door. They both winced as it groaned in response. The wooden interior door, painted with a white paint that chipped at the corners, was locked.

“Should we go around the back?”

Ruby shook her head. “If someone’s here, they definitely heard the screen door. Might as well just go in.”

She drove her heel beside the door knob. The door splintered around her sneaker. She pulled it out, wincing as she plucked a shard of wood from the fabric.

They crept into the house, Ruby leading the way, Jonah following with his gun drawn.

Ruby gestured toward the kitchen and Jonah nodded, splitting off to investigate the living room.

Cookware and other utensils lined the laminate countertops—clean, but worn with years of use.

A pot of macaroni and cheese sat on the stovetop.

Ruby touched the edge of the pan. Still warm.

Making her way toward the dining room, she jolted, stopped in her tracks by the picture on the fridge.

A young couple, maybe mid-twenties, stood around a red-headed girl sitting in front of a birthday cake with seven small candles.

In the image, the girl grinned, revealing a couple of missing teeth and a single dimple.

Her gut tightened. The kid looked so much like—

She shook her head, briskly making her way out of the kitchen and back toward Jonah, who was on the bottom stair, pointing toward the second floor.

She pointed toward the backyard. He nodded. Gravity pulled at her, urging her to stop, but she shoved against it, moving forward anyway. The sun beat down harshly as she reached the fence, and there, mingling with the dirt and dust, were remains—charred, practically reduced to ash.

Clenching her fists, she took a deep breath and crouched beside the corpses. Two skulls. Not three. Roughly the same size. No phlogiston floated, no smoke, barely any warmth remained. In fact, the macaroni was warmer than the carcasses. A cracking sound echoed from inside the house.

“Ruby!” Jonah yelled a few moments later. “Watch the roof!”

A small red-topped form darted from a second floor window, scuttling toward the top of the sloped roof. A little girl with a messy red ponytail, Barbie-themed sunglasses, and a softball uniform clung to the bricks of the chimney, her arms only reaching halfway.

“Help!” Her tiny voice cracked. “I can’t get down and there’s a scary man in my house and I don’t know where my parents are and—” She cut herself off with a sob.

“Shit, stay there!” Ruby yelled back, sprinting her way through the backyard and into the house.

Kavya met her at the front door with a bewildered look. “Why is there a child on the roof?”

“Fuck if I know.”

They jogged up the stairs. Jonah stood in the hallway, his hands in his hair, gun safely back in his holster. “Door was locked. I kicked it in, thinking it was Edward or a different thermy. I didn’t know it was a kid.”

“Scuse me, scary man, gotta get a kid off the roof.” Ruby stepped around him and over the fragments of the door.

Glass littered the floor around the bathroom’s tiny window. She turned back to Jonah, eyebrows furrowed. He put his hands up. “The glass broke when the kid opened the window. Must be old.”

Shit. A familiar dread settled in her chest. Hands on the edge of the sill, she lifted out of the bathroom. Glass scraped against her legs as they dragged through the window and out onto the roof.

“Hi, cutie,” Ruby called out, standing and finding her balance. “What’s your name?”

Pink sunglasses peeked out from behind the red brick. “Ellie.”

“I’m Ruby. The ‘scary man’ earlier was my good friend Jonah. He didn’t mean to scare you. He’s pretty big, but he’s honestly just a teddy bear.”

“Really?”

“Oh yeah.” Ruby took a few steps toward the girl. A tile moved beneath her foot, sliding down the roof and landing on the grass below. “He’s really a wimp. You’re definitely tougher than him.”

The resulting laugh was more of a wheeze than anything, stunted by fear, but Ruby would take it. She took a few more steps, meeting Ellie at the chimney.

“I don’t think we’ll be able to go down the same way. There’s sharp glass all over the window and the roof is pretty steep.” Ruby crouched beside the girl. “So I’m going to scoop you up, and we’re going to hop down, okay?”

“No!” Ellie shrieked, ducking back behind the chimney.

“Okay… okay.” Putting her hands up, Ruby sat on the top of the roof. The asphalt pressed into the backs of her thighs. She waited. Empty, brown fields stretched out as far as she could see. The sun hovered over the horizon, slowly descending.

“What are you doing?” Ellie asked.

Ruby crossed her legs. “I think I’m going to watch the sunset. Would you like to join me?”

“You’re not going to make me come down?”

“Nope.” She patted the spot beside her.

“Promise?”

“Promise.”

Ellie took a wobbly step around the tower. Ruby held her hand out and the child took it, using it to balance herself as she carefully squatted beside Ruby.

“The sunset is pretty out here. It’s hard to see it where I live,” Ruby commented.

Ellie cocked her head to the side. “Where do you live?”

“Denver. Have you ever heard of it?”

The girl shook her head.

“It’s a city, with tall, glass buildings and—”

“Like a skyscraper?” Ellie interrupted, hands waving, eyes wide.

Ruby laughed. “Not quite that big.” The girl’s shoulders slumped. “But still pretty big. And we have mountains.”

Ellie grew silent, watching the sun as it fell below the fields. “I’ve never seen a mountain before.”

“I can take you to see one, if you want?”

“I would have to check with my mom and dad first.”

Ruby winced. At least the kid hadn’t seen what happened to her parents. “That’s a good idea. But first, we have to get down. Are you ready?”

Ellie glanced toward the ground. “Will it hurt?”

“Nope,” Ruby stood, offering her hand and pulling Ellie to her feet. She turned. “Hop on my back.”

The girl jumped and Ruby caught her legs. Small arms wrapped around her neck, choking her. After making her way to the edge of the roof, she hopped down, landing in front of the porch where Jonah and Kavya waited. Ellie released her grip but ducked behind Ruby, clutching her right leg.

“Ellie, these are my friends Jonah and Kavya. We were sent to check up on you.”

“Hi,” Ellie whispered, peeking out from Ruby’s thighs.

“Hi, Ellie.” Jonah crouched, bringing himself to her eye level. “I’m sorry about earlier kiddo. I didn’t mean to scare you. I was trying to make sure there were no bad guys in the house.”

“Ruby called you a wimp.” Ellie giggled as Jonah’s jaw dropped dramatically.

“Did she now?”

Ellie nodded enthusiastically.

Ruby gasped. “Traitor. I’ll get you for that.”

The little girl laughed harder, skirting around Ruby’s outstretched hands. Her movements were fast, unnatural, matching Ruby’s own reflexes.

Warmth flooded Ruby’s chest, followed by a familiar tug. The hair stood on her arms.

Ruby reached out, gesturing to Ellie’s sunglasses. “I love your shades. Can I see them?”

Immediately, Ellie’s hand shot up, clutching the sunglasses to her face. Her small body pressed back against the wall, her fingers wrapped protectively around the frames. “I have to keep them on, or the bad people will come get me,” she whispered.

A chill ran through Ruby’s spine. She steadied herself, maintaining a gentle smile. “Who told you that?”

“Ed.”

Bile rose in her throat. She forced herself to swallow it down. “Don’t worry, Ellie,” she said softly, fighting the lump in her throat. “I’m friends with Ed too.”