Chapter 2

Anthony Whitney walked in soaked to the skin, took one look at the scene, and rounded on me.

"Clara Swanson! Have you lost your mind? You dared to hit a resident?"

The second Willow James heard him, she threw herself at him, sobbing, and actually knocked her forehead against the floor a few times.

"Supervisor Whitney, you're a good man, good things come to good people, I'm begging you, just have this Clara girl drive my daughter-in-law to the hospital. She's in early labor, if she doesn't get there soon she could hemorrhage!

"In a hurricane, the ambulance can't even get out! Otherwise I'd never have swallowed my pride and come begging her!

"She says she has work and can't leave, refuses to help me no matter what. Please, just let her take me to the hospital first, I promise I'll send her right back, it won't hold up her job at all!"

Willow's tearful accusation only stoked the fire in Anthony.

"Clara Swanson! Are you really this thick-headed? A life is on the line. The hurricane already knocked out the power and the phones, and don't think I don't know you park yourself in the fire-control room slacking off. Why can't you drive a resident to the hospital?"

The more Anthony said, the angrier he got. He yanked the car keys off his belt and shoved them into my arms.

"Go take them, now! I'll watch the fire-control room, nothing's going to happen!"

I didn't take the keys.

"Building Six is at the very back of the complex. The backup power for the cameras and the fire alarms has been offline for half an hour."

"A minute ago I smelled burnt plastic on Willow James, and she has burns on her hands."

"The electrician who went to Building Six for repairs hasn't answered either. I have to get to the scene right now."

Anthony scoffed.

"I just came back from Building Six. Not a damn thing wrong!"

"No smoke in the basement, no fire in the lobby. The backup power's dead, so what?"

He held up his phone and his pager as he spoke.

"I even talked to the maintenance electrician just now."

"He's down in the Building Six basement fixing it and says everything's fine!"

At that, the tension visibly drained from Willow's shoulders.

She jabbed a finger at me at once.

"You hear that? Supervisor Whitney says there's nothing wrong, and you're still standing here scaring people!"

But my eyes were locked on the devices in Anthony's hands.

My phone, my pager, and the landline were all destroyed.

If I could just grab one of them, I could call for help.

I lunged, but before my fingers even touched the phone, a figure came charging out of the dark beyond the door.

"Supervisor Whitney, look out!"

Willow's son, Dominic Chavez, slammed hard into Anthony.

The phone and the pager both flew out of his hands.

Two sharp cracks.

The phone hit the floor, the screen shattering instantly.

The pager rolled straight into the standing water outside the door, and a harsh burst of static came from it.

I faintly heard someone shouting.

"Fifth floor, Building Six... smoke, something's wrong..."

Before I could make it out, the sound cut off completely.

Dominic put on a face full of panicked apology.

"I'm sorry! I was in such a hurry! My wife's still waiting at the south gate, and the second I thought she might have complications, I couldn't think about anything else!"

Then he dropped to his knees in front of me.

"Miss Swanson, I'm begging you! Supervisor Whitney has to hold down the rear, keep every resident in this complex safe through the hurricane. We wouldn't dare pull him away."

"You're the only one here who can do it, just drive my wife to the hospital! I don't have a license, I don't have a car, I've got nowhere else to turn."

His words dripped with helplessness, but his body just happened to block my path to the pager.

I was already frantic, my head splitting, and I was about to explode.

Then the female ghost beside me let out a cold laugh.

"This animal knew all along that Anthony Whitney has no fire-control certification. He can't operate the alarm equipment at all."

"They kept that useless man behind on purpose. They're dead set on tricking you away!"

"If you leave, this complex is going to have plenty of vengeful spirits clinging to you by tonight. It's one in the morning, after all, the hour everyone's sleeping deepest."

I looked at Dominic kneeling on the floor. His clothes were soaked, and the same layer of black ash coated his arms as it did Willow's.

Melted plastic clung to the bottoms of his shoes.

This mother and son really had just run out of a fire.

The thought of the hundreds of residents in Building Six still fast asleep, the thought that if a fire killed people I might spend the rest of my life haunted by hundreds of vengeful ghosts, set my head buzzing with rage.

Anthony, meanwhile, thrust his belly out, smug, and kept trying to press the car keys into my hand.

"Quit dragging your feet! Can you answer for it if someone dies?"

"Even the residents know I'm the most important person in this complex's property management. Are you too stupid to get that, you idiot? Get moving!"

I grabbed the keys and hurled them straight into his face.