They don’t care about us, so we can’t pretend to be sick. But they do care about self-preservation, so they’ll open the doors to save themselves from a lot of questions the police would have if they found charred bodies in here.

Priya takes a breath, tears welling in her eyes. “I hate to admit it, because I’m scared, but I think Piper is right.”

“Yes, I’m right,” I say. “There is nothing else we can do, at least nothing that will get us all free at one time.”

“No, Piper is not right. Piper is insane!” Hazel exclaims.

Evan ignores her. “When are we doing it?”

“Now.” My heart is beating out of my chest. The rhythm so fast that I feel dizzy. But I can’t wait. I can’t stop and think about this because there is a good chance I’ll talk myself out of it. I mean, it’s the best plan we’ve got, but I won’t deny it is dangerous.

“What the hell?” Theo snaps.

I look up at tiny window. “It’s light outside; they’ll be here. Regular as clockwork. We have to do it now.”

Standing, I head to the kitchen. We don’t have a lighter or matches for obvious reasons…but we can make a fire in the microwave.

“Piper, we should talk about this more first,” Evan says. He follows me to the kitchen area and grabs my wrist.

I turn around and frown. “You agreed that it was a good plan.”

“No, I agreed that it was a plan that could work. There’s a difference, babe. A massive difference.”

When we’re safely out of here, I’m going to obsess over the fact that he just called me babe. Right now, I need to convince him of my side. It’s all or nothing. We can’t keep waiting.

“Okay, but I don’t see what difference it’s going to make in an hour or even a week from now.”

“I’m not suggesting we wait a week, but we’ve given this about five seconds of thought. That’s not enough.”

“Evan, I need you to back me up right now.”

He tugs me closer. “I’m on your side, but I’m also thinking about everyone else here.”

“After last time, we said we’d all be in agreement,” Hazel says, folding her arms. She’s joined us in the kitchen with the others.

“Yeah, and then Lucie attacked the wall with a tiny plastic knife.”

“Don’t bring me into this,” Lucie snaps, scowling at me.

“Okay, enough,” Evan says, frowning at Lucie. He turns back to me. “Piper, think about this.”

“I have. You know we need to act fast. You all do. Why will no one admit what needs to be done here?”

Evan takes a breath and shakes his head. “Okay.”

“Okay, like we’re doing this now, okay?”