“A flashlight?” Hope wars with dread. It could be another human being. Or it could be something else.

It flickers again, stronger this time. Yellow-orange. Diffuse.

“Candlelight,” Trey says with conviction.

We stand shoulder to shoulder, watching. The light steadies, like the candle has been set down. A silhouette ghosts past the window.

My heart is racing now. “Should we go knock on the door?”

Trey leans forward so that his nose almost touches the glass. “I don’t know! Maybe it’s an Orkin.”

“But they don’t need light, right? I mean, they can’t even see.”

“Just because the one we saw doesn’t have human eyes doesn’t mean . . .” He makes a frustrated sound. “Actually, I don’t know what anything means.”

“It wasn’t that glow-y light like in the hospital. It was . . . flickery. Let’s go knock.”

He turns from the window to stare at me. Moonlight makes deep shadows of his eyes. “You’re not a very cautious person, are you?”

I blink up at him, wondering what he’d think of me leaving my house alone in the middle of the night, or climbing up onto my roof, or driving straight into a burning neighborhood. “No one ever got anywhere in life without taking a few risks.” It’s something Paul used to say to me, but I know it’s bull crap the moment it leaves my mouth. Things have changed. The old rules don’t apply. “No, you’re right,” I add hastily. “It’s just that I hate not knowing something.”

His mouth quirks. “Well, you’re right too. About what you said the other day. What we don’t know could get us killed.”

Which means we need to find out what’s inside that house.

“Let’s keep watch,” I say. “We’ll do it in shifts. Eventually, whoever—whatever—is inside has to come out, right?”

He’s peering at the house again, his breath fogging the window. “Maybe there are binoculars around somewhere.”

I can’t help the chuckle that escapes. At his questioning look, I say, “If it turns out to be a person, we’re going to look like total creepers.”

He grins. “I’m willing to risk it if you are.”

Neither of us feels like sleeping, so we watch together. Some time later, the light goes out. The moon sets. We shove the bed around so we can sit on it side by side, staring into the darkness.

March 24