“I wish I weren’t.” I could feel George at the back of my head again, watching the proceedings. I moved to grab a Coke out of the fridge as I said, “Alaric, tell your sister to close all the windows she can get to, and not to open the door for anyone. How long is it to sunrise there? Another five hours or so?”

He nodded mutely.

“Okay. If I’m right—and let’s all hope I’m not—it should get a little safer after the sun comes up.” I started for the door back to the living room.

“Hey!” Becks hlf rose. “Where are you going?”

Maggie didn’t look at her. She just kept watching me, suddenly paler than I’d ever seen her. “He’s going to go send an e-mail, aren’t you, Shaun?”

“Yeah.” I nodded. “I am. Mahir, hold the fort, keep everybody working—and if anybody sounds off from the hazard zones, tell them to stay inside and close the windows. I’ll be back in a few minutes.”

No one else spoke up as I left the kitchen; no one but George. How sure are you? she asked, voice tight.

“Sure enough to know that I’d give just about anything to be wrong.” I stepped over piles of bulldogs on my way to the house terminal, where I sat and tapped the keyboard to wake the computer from its slumber. “But I don’t think I am wrong. That’s the problem. I really don’t think I am.”

I’m sorry.

I laughed, a little wildly. “Times like this, I really wish you weren’t dead, you know. When you were alive, I could count on you to think of these things first. Then I got to sit back looking shocked, and let you do all the doom-saying.”

Sorry my deadness is inconveniencing you.

“Don’t worry about it. It was probably my turn to do the shit jobs.” I logged in and called up my e-mail client, ignoring the multiple messages flashing Urgent as I scanned for a single sender. She wasn’t there.

“Damn,” I sighed, and opened a new message window. I paused long enough to be sure that I wanted to do this and, when no other ideas presented themselves, began to type.