“No,” I said. “The flames would need to cover at least a section of the house. But we won’t be… the location isn’t important. We can work out the details.”
“I’m almost on board with that,” Peter said. “Burn down the house, put an end to this lunacy, house has to be sold if it’s flooded and burned, with the sale, money gets out there, and because we’ve all been helpful, we each get a cut.”
“No,” Kathryn said. “That’s idiotic, and nothing in the contract supports it. The law firm would take over the property.”
“Which would be messy,” Peter said, “Considering everything that’s involved, and the sheer amount of blood in the hallway.”
Tiff, Alexis, Ty and I were already shaking our heads. Evan saw us and started shaking his head too.
“No? Because… they’re in on it. They’re a part of it,” Peter voiced his thoughts aloud.
“There you go,” Ty said.
“How much a part of it?” Kathryn asked.
“On a level,” I said, “They’re a bigger part of this than Rose or I. They made this possible, and they’re perpetuating it.”
“Why?” Peter asked.
“That’s an answer too long and complicated for me to give,” I said. “Our focus right now needs to be on getting through the rest of tonight. It’s what, seven o’clock? Not even?”
“Not even,” Ty said.
“Thirteen plus hours until all of this is over,” I said. “We need a new angle.”
“And somehow this new angle leads us to burning the house down?”
“Part of it. Maybe,” I said.
“Part of it maybe,” Ty said.
I could see Ty, Tiff, and Alexis exchange a look.
The look was about me.
The pounding on the doors changed in timbre. Different hands and tools were smashing at the barrier, now.
“What are you guys not saying?” I asked.
“They’re worried that, your jokes aside, you’re legitimately insane,” Peter said.
“You’ve known them for all of one and a half hours, give or take, and you feel qualified to judge what my friends are thinking?” I asked.
“He’s… not wrong,” Ty said.
I didn’t have a response for that.
I could see their eyes, the lack of eye contact as they refused to look right at me.
“Blake isn’t crazy,” Evan said. “He’s as sane as I am.”
“Thank you,” I said. “I appreciate that.”
“Um,” Peter said.
“The bird is talking,” Ty clarified. “We can hear it, you can’t.”
“Sucks to be them,” Evan said, “What I was saying, before I was rudely interrupted, is since I’m very level headed and very sane, and I’ve done so much, saved the day a few times, I’m pretty sure…”
“You can’t set yourself on fire, Evan,” I said.
“No,” he said, exasperated. “I want you guys to set me on fire. Or turn me into fire. Duh. I’m too young to play with matches.”
“Us setting you on fire is a bad idea too,” I said.
“Listen,” Peter said, pausing to wince at one particularly loud slam on the door, “I get that the bird supposedly talks, but this isn’t doing a lot to make things sound less crazy.”
“The… bird,” Green Eyes said, “wants to go out in a blaze of glory, I think.”
“As a blaze of glory,” Evan corrected. “I want to go out there as a blaze of glory. Flaming bird, wings spread, trail of smoke behind me, all my enemies fleeing at the sight of me.”
“Sorry,” she said. “As a blaze of glory. That does sound pretty cool.”
“I know, right?” If Evan could have smiled, he’d have been beaming at Green Eyes at that point. She was propped up, leaning over him, half-sitting on the desk, now, with Evan on the corner beneath her.
Green Eyes raised her head to look at me, “If we’re going to stay here, we’ll need food at some point.”
“Holy shit, you didn’t eat enough?” Peter asked.
“We’re not staying here,” I said. “They wouldn’t have attacked if they didn’t think they could finish off everyone in the house. The whole point is to leave Rose without any supports.”
Which started almost everyone talking. Too many things to be said, no organization, and even the people I was closest to had only a couple days of memories of association with me.
Alexis, Tiff, and Ty wanted to talk about tactics, or how much they didn’t like mine. Peter was focused on me and Green Eyes and all the rest of the strangeness, almost being cheery or humorous in a weird way that might or might not have had to do with his near-death experience. Kathryn was trying to clarify just how all of this worked, with a focus on the sensibility of it, which wasn’t constructive in the here and now.
Only Roxanne, Christoff, and Eva were silent, observing.
There was too much in the way of nervous energy, too many differing motives and points of focus. The levels of experience, comfort and familiarity with this world varied by years, months, weeks, and hours.
“Quiet!” I shouted.
People fell silent.
I could see how agitated they were. Peter’s hands almost fidgeted before he stuck them into his pockets, leaning against a bookcase. Kathy somehow looked furious, as if trying to be heard and failing had somehow offended her on a fundamental level. Ellie was incapable of staying in one place, and Eva’s constant glare only made her more prone to nervous pacing.
“Please,” I said, as I glanced at Christoff. “We’ve already lost Callan. Some of you nearly died out there. Things are bad. Focus. Let’s take thirty seconds to think. Silence. Then, when those thirty seconds are up, we’re going to go around the group. Each person can say one thing, or ask one question for, let’s say, one answer. Think about what you need to say and what doesn’t matter.”
There were a few nods. Some reluctant.
“If you’re all going to be silent,” Eva said, “I might as well say-”
“Shut the fuck up,” Ellie said, glaring. She was still bleeding here and there from the kicks she’d taken. “I’ll forget what poison it was, and your brother can die, if you don’t shut the fuck up and play the good doggie.”
“Doggie?” Eva asked, eyebrows going up.
“Sit, stay, sic ’em if we give the order,” Ellie said.
“If you think-”
“I think,” Ellie interrupted.
“Shut up!” I said.
They shut up. Eva didn’t pipe up, though she glared at Ellie, and the rest were content to keep their mouths closed.
The pounding and scratching continued, and I could almost see the nervousness of the others ratchet up in the quiet. They felt the need to do something.
Trouble was, we needed to be on the same page.
I took more than the required thirty seconds. It was only when most of the others had started looking around and acting like they were about to talk that I spoke up.
“We’re going by seniority here,” I said. “We-”