Cops are pulling up now.

“We’re out of time!” he shouted. “They’re here! We have to go now.”

Priya led the group back to the stairwell. “No one is going to find you in my hiding spot.”

“Are you sure?” Rainbow asked.

“Positive,” Priya said.

They ran through the corridors, turning corner after corner. Xander, at the rear of the group, half expected a cop to jump out at every turn. Finally they reached a different wing of the hospital. “Where are we?” he asked.

“Sometimes when I didn’t want to get another treatment, I hid in different parts of the hospital,” said Priya. “It got to the point where my mom wouldn’t let me go to the bathroom by myself because she knew I was going to take off.”

They jogged to the far end of a corridor. Priya stopped at the door and shoved it open to a stairwell. Barbed wire blocked the staircases.

“We have to go up,” she said. “You’re going to have to crawl under the wire.”

Priya pulled her sleeves over her hands, grabbed a coil of barbed wire and hoisted it high enough for Quest to crawl under. Rainbow followed him. The others passed their things through, then joined their companions.

Xander had to buy them more time. He texted Li.

Stall them.

He waited for an answer. Nothing. Not even the three dots. This was not good.

He followed Destiny as she squeezed under the barbed wire. Priya followed, carefully setting the wire back down.

Thankfully, the barbed wire was only on the first flight of stairs. Now they could move faster. Priya pushed her way ahead of the group and led them to the eighth floor. She opened the door at the top off the stairs and guided everyone through.

Then she led them along the corridor until she found the door marked Chapel.

“The police won’t look for you here,” Priya declared.

“You sure about this?” Quest asked. “I mean, it doesn’t look very hidden away.”

“Not the chapel. Let’s go inside. I’ll show you.” Priya guided them to a door at the back of the room. It opened to the roof, where there was a patio overlooking the hospital grounds. The red and blue lights of the police car flashed below.

Sage smiled. “Awesome. The fuzz would never think to look for us here.”

“And we can see when they take off,” Destiny added.

“You just have to watch out for any weak parts of the roof,” Priya said. “And there’s a fire-escape ladder right there if you have to get down in a hurry.”

“Thank you, my lady.” Quest bowed to her and then held out his hand to Xander. “Gimme some skin. This is radical.”

Xander hesitated, not sure what to do, then slapped Quest’s palm.

“You only have to hide here for a bit,” Priya said. “When the police are gone, you can go back into your home.”

Rainbow hugged Priya. “Thank you. You’re good people. I’ll catch you on the flip side.”