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“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.
