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“Whoa there!” Sam said, holding Conor back just as the ghosts inside Evie slipped out, leaving her dazed and staggering.
“Kiss us, kiss us!” the ghosts demanded.
“Sorry. I only date one at a time,” Sam said. He grabbed Evie’s hand and pushed Conor through the basement toward the stairs. The ghosts howled with anger.
“This way!” Conor led them into a cramped, unused room with a sweat box.
“How do you know where to go?” Sam panted.
“The lady,” Conor said. “Here.” He pointed to a window with no bars.
“Beautiful!” Sam snugged it open. “Ladies first.”
“Sam?” Evie said, coming around.
“Yeah. You’re gonna hate me for this but…” And with that, Sam pushed her out the window. Sam heard her land with an “Oof!” followed by an angry “Saaam!”
“She’s okay,” Sam said, nodding. “You next.”
Conor slid through the window and made the small drop to the ground. Sam followed. He slid down the muddy hill and nearly plummeted into the churning currents of the Hell Gate.
Evie yanked him to safety by the edge of his shirt, ripping it. “Thanks. You owe me a shirt,” Sam said.
“You owe me twenty dollars.”
Up front in the administration building, an antsy Theta smoked a cigarette and looked out at the rain and fog settling over the island. Memphis and the others had been gone a long time. Shouldn’t they be back by now? And where was Henry? It didn’t help that Isaiah was sullen and focusing all of his hostility on her.
“You wanna play cards?” she asked, a peace offering.
“No, thanks,” Isaiah mumbled as he drew.
“I know you don’t like me,” Theta said finally.
“Never said that.”
“You didn’t have to.”
Isaiah cast a sidelong glance at Theta and went back to his sketching. “Since you been around, Memphis don’t have time to play ball with me or go to the games or nothing. He’d rather be with you.”
“Memphis loves you more than anybody.”
“No, he don’t.”
“Yes, he does.” Theta took a deep breath. “And anyway, I’m about to be around a lot less.”
“How come?”
“I got my reasons.”
“Swell. Now Memphis’ll blame me.”
“No. He won’t.”
“Yes, he will! When you’re a kid, you always get blamed for everything!” Isaiah said.
“You won’t get blamed for this,” Theta said sadly. She took a drag, let it out. “It really bugs you being treated like a kid.”
“And how,” Isaiah said on a sigh.
