“Roanoke,” Eugene murmured.

Johnny glanced at him in the rearview mirror.

“Stop here,” Angelique ordered, her hand already on the door. “I’m getting out.”

Johnny braked in the middle of the road and Angelique hurled herself from the car like she needed her feet on solid ground. Johnny followed suit, albeit more slowly, and waited by Eugene’s door.

Eugene didn’t move. The air was heavy with anticipation. He didn’t need to walk the town to know it was empty. Even the animals were gone. And though there was no sound but his own breathing, he could hear something, like a vibration in the air, rumbling through his skull to the backs of his teeth. Hidden one layer below reality, wrapped up between universes—like a song he couldn’t quite understand, like a humming—

He stepped out of the car. The pavement was hard and grounding. It felt real enough, even if nothing else did. Pressing one hand to his chest, his lungs haltingly expanded as he inhaled. There should be cicadas screaming, and a dozen voices and car engines rumbling past. There should be the scent of roses on the breeze, so thick he could taste it. He couldn’t taste anything. Tipping his head back, he looked at the sky, but it was as if someone had pulled a veil between him and the sun: it looked the same, a white coin hanging in that blue-gray sea, but he couldn’t feel its warmth anymore, and the brightness didn’t hurt his eyes.

A few yards off, Johnny and Angelique were engaged in hushed discussion. Angelique was pacing like a trapped animal, while Johnny stood coolly by.

“—your doing,” Angelique hissed. “I won’t stay to see the end of it.”

“I didn’t realize you cared so much for them.”

“I’m not contesting her right to have it done. Hell, I’d do it myself, if it were me. But the whole goddamn town? There are kids here who weren't even born when it happened! How is that fair?"

"It's not my decision to make," Johnny said.

"No, but you're sure as hell not trying to stop her." Angelique visibly steeled herself. "I'm going, Johnny."

"We have a deal," he warned. "You're mine. I saved your life and you forfeit the rest of it to me, for as long as I've got use for you."

"What use have you got for me here?" she asked desperately. "You want me to stand by your side and watch a whole town disappear?"

He caught her hand. "You promised to stay with me, come hell or high water. That's all I want. The companionship I'm owed."

She squeezed his fingers tight enough that it must have hurt. “You can’t keep me here.”

"What are you talking about?" Eugene interrupted hoarsely.

Angelique turned to him, her hair falling over her shoulders in a tangled wave. "You should get out of here while you still can."

She pulled her Peacemaker from her boot, Johnny still holding onto her other hand. Eugene stepped back, his stomach going tight at the sight of the weapon.