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TEGAN

I have ignited three sets of magazine pages without any luck.

I finally grabbed the entire magazine—I have to risk making a larger fire. In my hurry, I knocked several magazines to the floor, and the entire tray table tipped over, which I’m worried might have alerted Polly that something is going on down here. That means I might not have much time.

Just as the tip of the magazine catches fire, a voice floats down the stairs. “Tegan? Everything okay?”

Polly is coming. This is my last chance.

I hold up the flaming magazine in the direction of the smoke detector. I wave it around, hoping I will set off the alarm. Nothing happens. I don’t have much time, and the fire is starting to scorch my fingertips, so instead, I toss the magazine into the pile I dropped on the floor. Quicker than I thought, the whole pile goes up in flames.

Now we’re talking.

I hold my breath, waiting for the fire alarm to sound off. But before that can happen, Polly bursts into the basement. She must see the smoke from the top of the stairs, and she hurries down as fast as she can.

“Tegan!” she shouts. “What on earth are you doing?”

The pile of magazines beside my bed is quickly disappearing beneath the growing flames. In a flash, Polly yanks one of the blankets off my bed and throws it on top of the fire to smother it. And then, before I realize what she’s doing, she snatches the gold lighter off the nightstand where I left it.

“What is wrong with you?” she cries. “You could have burned the whole house down with you in it!”

“I’m sorry. I thought the fire alarm would—”

“There’s no fire alarm in the basement,” she says.

So it was all for nothing. And even if there had been a fire alarm, who knows if anyone would have heard it?

“How could you be so stupid?” She shakes her head at me. “If you can’t act responsibly for your own sake, at least think about your baby!”

It hits me how right she is. As far as I know, Polly has not done anything to hurt me or Little Tuna. But if I had set fire to this room, I could have died here. Polly isn’t capable of getting me up the stairs. And considering how far we are from civilization, it would take the fire department a while to get here. The house would have burned to the ground with me in it.

I wouldn’t have done it if I hadn’t been desperate.

My eyes well with tears. “I just want to go to the hospital. Can’t you please just call 911?”

Polly is quiet for a moment, looking at me. “I’m afraid I can’t. Not right now anyway.” She closes her fingers into a fist around the lighter. “But I’m going to hold on to this for you so you don’t do anything else stupid with it.”

“It was a gift…”

“I’m not stealing it.” She looks affronted. “I’ll give it back to you when you leave here. And trust me, you will.” She gives me a pointed look. “Just make sure it isn’t in a body bag.”

Polly slips the lighter into her jeans pocket. And that’s that—my one potential weapon is now gone.

I’m worried that no matter what, I’m leaving here in a body bag.