“I have friends out there, and they’re going to help, we’re going to get you out of this.” Alanna still looked suspicious, but Lisa was peeking at her from behind her hair, loosening her grip on Ron’s shirt for the first time. “I promise you, everything is going to be all right,” Jessica said with a surge of confidence. She looked at the children with calm determination, surprised to realize she had meant every word.

*  *  *

“John! Charlie!” Carlton burst in to John’s apartment, the door hitting the wall as it swung open.

Marla jumped, sitting up straight on the couch. “Carlton, what’s going on?”

He didn’t respond, scanning the room. Marla was alone; she had the TV on at a low volume. The door to John’s room was closed, and he went to it. “No one’s here,” Marla said with a hint of disapproval, but Carlton rushed to look inside anyway. “John’s not here; neither is Charlie,” Marla called.

“Well, I ran into one of them,” Carlton said grimly. “One of the Charlies, that is. The bad one. Where is John? Where’s everyone?”

“John and Charlie went somewhere; they seemed to be in a hurry and they wouldn’t say where they were going.”

“Jessica?”

“I haven’t seen her. She’s probably at home.”

“I was just at her apartment, she’s not there.” Carlton stared at Marla, palpable dread rising between them. “Charlie—the other Charlie, I didn’t even hear her come in; she didn’t knock or anything. It was like she knew Jessica wouldn’t be there.”

“Wait, shut up,” Marla said suddenly, pointing to the TV.

“Marla, this is serious!” Carlton said with alarm.

“Look at this; they’ve been playing this commercial all day.” Then the cartoonish face of a little girl, painted like a clown, filled the screen.

“Come dressed as a clown and eat for free!” said a booming voice, then the camera cut to the front of a restaurant.

“That—that’s her!” Carlton shouted. “I mean the sign, the girl on the sign, the clown girl thing!” Marla leaned forward, squinting at the screen. Carlton stopped, thoughtful for a moment. “She was taller, and a little attractive. It was really confusing; so many emotions.”

“They’ve been playing these all day. New restaurant, animatronic characters …”

“It’s like the girl on the sign was all grown-up, and wanted to feed me pizza …” He trailed off.

“Carlton!” Marla yelled, snapping him back to the present.

“You know where it is? The new place?” he asked.

“Yes,” Marla announced. She flipped off the TV and stood. “Let’s go.” Carlton looked her grimly up and down, then took the other earpiece out of his pocket.

“Put this in your ear,” he said. “It’s all we have; trust me.”