Or maybe it wasn’t long. Maybe the whole event had lasted only the time it would take to leave the half-court gym, go back through the kitchen, up through the offices, unlock the parking gate, circle the church property—to find seven kids laughing because they were fine, and the eighth pretending she didn’t care that her hair was burned off and she was left with a piece of sooty carpet up there.

“What’d you do, Graff,” said Austin, “go out for hamburgers and shakes?”

Graff checked them feverishly, patting them down like suspects in a hijacking. “Oh, my God,” said Graff, “what are your parents going to say to me?”

Nobody even had a blister, and only Macey was coughing a little.

“Take you to the hospital for observation,” said the paramedic.

“No, no,” said Macey quickly, “I’m fine. But—but how come I’m the only one who got burned?”

“Sparks, probably,” said a fireman. “Your hair flying out behind you when you ran. You were tinder. Everybody else was wearing a baseball cap or their hair is close to their head. You’re lucky the other kid put out the fire or you wouldn’t have a face left.”

“Oh, my God,” said Graff again. “Your parents—”

“Let’s not tell the parents,” said Austin. “This seems like a good thing to omit.”

Lindsay was recovering. She had her voice back. “I can’t believe you told me not to bring my cell phone, Graff! I’ll never listen to you again!” She turned to the firemen. “Did somebody want us dead? Were they after us?”

“Doubt if anybody knew you were here,” said one fireman. “Or cared. It was arson, though. Witnesses across the street saw the guy do it. ’Course, they didn’t go after him. Can’t give us a description, except he’s black. Probably the same guy who hit two other churches in town, and the old temple. Nobody uses the temple anymore, but that just makes it a better target.”

We were a target, thought Macey.

“We could skip the details when we talk to the parents, Austin,” agreed Graff, “if Macey still had hair on her head. But she’s going home in a skull.”

“A skull!” shrieked Macey. “Where’s a mirror? How bad is this?”

“You’ll look fine,” Venita consoled her. “You get one of those cute little haircuts, like a buzz for the marines. Razor-cut a design in it.”

Macey closed her eyes and set her jaw against sobbing. Lindsay and Grace immediately wrapped their arms around her and ordered Graff to bring the van around.

Austin said, “No, no, we can’t leave. The fire is out. There’s going to be a lot of cleanup. We’re here, and we can help.”