I didn’t know if we had two seconds or two minutes before he transformed.

“It’s okay.” He tugged the mask off over his head and tossed it to the side. “I can’t do this anymore.”

Anger and grief and denial crushed in on me, all mixed together. “But I got Alex,” I said. “I got her home safe.”

He gave a faint, sad smile. I could read the relief in it. And so much more.

“I know how you feel about her,” he said.

He did? I was shocked.

But my surprise was nothing next to what we were facing.

“Take care of her,” he said. “And make sure she takes care of you.”

He flipped the shotgun around, extending the stock to me.

“Now,” he said. “Are you ready?”

No.

I couldn’t get my mouth to answer.

“Chance,” he said, firmly. “This is gonna happen any second now. Are you ready?”

No.

I took the shotgun. He put his fist around the end of the muzzle, held the bore to his forehead, and looked up at me. Our eyes locked. I watched his lungs fill and contract, fill and contract.

I waited for that full-body shudder.

But nothing happened.

A minute passed. And then another.

Patrick let the shotgun bore slip from his face. “This is weird,” he said.

I coughed out something like a laugh. “This is impossible.”

Noises drifted up from below us, and we peered over the edge of the carport. Hosts were moving up the street from the town square, drawn by the blast.

Patrick stood, swiped the shotgun back from me, and hopped onto the roof of the house, heading back toward school. “Either way,” he said, “let’s get the hell out of here while we can.”

*   *   *

We entered the gym quietly, slipping through the double doors. The kids sat in rows on the basketball courts, the cots cleared to the side for the day. Alex sat on the lowest bleacher, having just finished talking to them all. Judging from the mood, it was clear what news she’d related.

The kids’ faces were as blank as dolls’, as blank as those of the Hosts themselves. Shock hung like a cloud in the room. It was so much to come to terms with, especially for the younger ones.

But they deserved the truth.

They deserved to know what was in store for them at the Lawrenceville Cannery if they were ever caught.

No one noticed me and Patrick standing at the back of the gym.

At last the spell broke. A few of the kids started crying. JoJo sat between the Mendez twins, trying to comfort them, but they were inconsolable.

“I don’t understand,” Eve said. “Why would they do this?”