I wasn’t going to ask how. She was maybe six or seven, too big for me to carry. I made staying motions and ducked inside the door to kick around in the rubble I knew would be there, searching for a broken board or a length of pipe she could use as a crutch. Stumbling over a dented metal folding chair, I pictured some Macy sentry in better days, sitting by the door, keeping a comfortable watch. For all the good it did when the Adders fell down on them like a building collapse. But now the chair would get this kid to safety.

She got the idea right off and let me help her stagger up on her good leg, the chair tucked tight beneath her arm. It was a pretty good fit. She gave a little shiver, like a dog righting its fur, and tried a few steps. Awkward, but it let her stand straight and loosed her tongue. She peered up at me, revealing a fresh bruise from cheek to jaw, and older ones around both eyes. “Gonna eat us, they were. When they run out of food.”

I blinked. “What? No, they wouldn’t. Bad people say that just to frighten you.”

“Nope. They were. Did everything else they said they would.”

She couldn’t be right, about the eating at least. I mean, really? But I didn’t argue. Julian was hissing at us to hurry. “Why don’t you help me get these little guys up and moving so we can all be safe?”

At the girl’s urgings, the toddler pair untangled and rose on unsteady feet, even let me take their hands to lead them to the boat. As I lifted the second boy into the back seat, a sudden flare shot up above the dark profile of the rooftops across 35th Street, flushing the wall behind us with an orange flicker. For a second, I was sure the sun had broken through the heavy cloud cover.

“Holy fuck! Another one!” Julian twisted in his seat for a better view.

“Another?”

“Cell hub.” He pulled out his phone to jab at its tiny screen. “That’ll be . . . Tower Two.”

Off toward the West Side, a second broad column of smoke smudged the flat gray sky above the rooftops, hot points of light eating it from within.

“Shit! Must be after them all!” He waved his phone like it had betrayed him, then bent to it again. “Bad move. It’ll backfire on them.”

I settled the lame girl in next to the toddlers. “Sure it’s not Adders?” If there were Adders out there still sober enough for targeted arson, they could be back here any minute.

“Nah.” Julian kept at his phone. “Like I said. Uptown stuff. Adders couldn’t pull off a coordinated take-down. They’re basically meat on legs. Ever tried to talk to one?”

“Me? How would I?” I was appalled. “You have?”