We stopped about twenty feet from the edge of the wreckage that used to be the old mill. I wasn’t sure whether I should focus on Graham or the fire in front of me.

Callie said, “Can you see anything, Beth? The strait’s right there.”

She pointed at an area near the center of the wreckage, where some part of the structure hadn’t collapsed completely.

“Try focusing really hard. It looks to me like a dark blue tube sock, all stretched out like a hose.”

A tube sock? Seriously?

I took a couple steps forward and stared at the spot she’d indicated.

My movement seemed to shake Graham out of his paralysis. He made an angry sound and ran right at me.

Things happened fast. Callie lurched toward Williams, her hand stretched out. Before she could reach him, he grunted like he’d been punched and went down. Graham jumped over Williams and tackled me. I fell hard with Graham on top of me and hit my head on the pavement. A second later, I heard a loud sound, and Graham collapsed on me. Something warm and wet washed down the side of my face.

There was a moment when nothing moved. Dazed and terrified, I tried to figure out what was going on. Then I heard voices from my left — the firefighters, shouting. Graham’s limp body was rolled off me, and I sat up, holding the back of my head. Kara knelt beside me and took my hand. My head stopped hurting. I looked around.

Graham was lying beside me. A pool of blood was forming under his head. He was either unconscious or dead. A little bit to my right, Callie was helping Williams sit up. The big man was as white as a sheet. He looked sick and shaky.

“Fuck,” he said. “No way he should’ve pulled that off. Barrier was as strong as I could make it, and he still broke through.”

I looked at Graham, who hadn’t moved. I touched the side of my face, and my fingers came away bloody.

“Did someone shoot him?”

“I think his own luck zapped him,” Kara said, and laughed a little crazily. “There was an explosion in the wreckage. This thing flew out and hit him in the head.”

She toed a dark hunk of metal that was lying at her feet.

“A fireman got hurt too.”

Sure enough, the crew had dropped the hose and was helping one of their own across the lot toward the road. The injured man was hopping along. Maybe some debris had hit him in the leg.

“Come on. We still have to try with the strait,” Callie said.

I looked around, trying to gather my wits.

“What should we do about Graham?” I said.

“Leave him,” Williams said angrily.