Around the prison and in her head, Barbara heard prisoners calling out and guards shouting for clarification, but none of them could make themselves understood by anyone else. The chaos was spreading. Somewhere down on the first floor, an alarm continued to howl. They heard locks clicking shut on all the doors around them.

They also heard the barking of dogs. “Dogs,” Ray said. “Why didn’t we know they had dogs? Do you speak Dog, Babs?”

Barbara shook her head. “Fuck,” Ray muttered.

Dogs. Michelle liked dogs.

“You didn’t say anything about dogs,” she said. “I’m not killing dogs.” This is where I take a stand on killing things? Michelle thought. I may be as crazy as Mollie.

“Then shut the fuck up and do something about them,” Billy Ray snarled. He looked like he was about to barrel straight for the guards and dogs.

Michelle opened her arms wide. Twenty bubbles the size of oranges flew from her hands. They sailed through the air, soft and rubbery. They blobbed about like soap bubbles as they landed in front of the dogs, bouncing erratically. As she had hoped, the dogs went nuts. They shied away from the bubbles, barking and snapping at them.

The guards tried to control the dogs, pulling on their leashes and yelling commands in French. But by now the guards were tripping over leashes and the bubbles themselves.

Michelle released another wave. These were marble-sized. Several hundred bounced across the balcony, clacking like castanets as they hit. There was nowhere to step that wasn’t covered in bubbles. The guards and dogs that weren’t already going ass-over-tea-kettle began retreating down the grey metal stairs.

Michelle glanced over the railing. Bubbles rose from her palms and began raining down on the courtyard below. The courtyard wasn’t that big, and she had plenty of fat. She filled it chest-high with iridescent bubbles so it looked like the largest, and prettiest, plastic-ball pit ever—minus the snotty, germ-filled kids.

The guards and dogs were floundering in the bubbles when the marble-sized bubbles began rolling off the balcony, causing more mayhem below.

Michelle had a small moment of pride. She’d managed not to kill another living thing this time.

The floor shifted underfoot in the manner of a bathroom scale coming to a slow decision. The doors issued thunk-thunk-thunk sounds, suggesting a sequence of heavy bolts slamming into place.

Mollie said, “What the fuck was that?”

“I think we’re locked in,” said Babel.

Ray cracked his knuckles. “Great. That means everyone else is also locked out. So let’s find Bruckner and get out of here.”

Mollie joined him and Babel as they examined the control panels. She looked for anything that might enable the guards to switch between views from the roughly eight bazillion security cameras scattered throughout the prison.

A faint tink echoed from the louvered air vents. The HVAC kicked in, blowing hard.

“Uh, guys…” Bubbles pointed to one of the vents. A faint yellow mist gusted through the grate. Similar gas spewed from all the vents.