My mom would be livid to know I was in here, but I didn’t care. Jordan had run off to a building that was much more engulfed than this one, and someone needed to try to help the Moores.

Then again, Jordan was crazy and thought he was a superhero.

I paused and cocked my head. I heard something—not the fire, not people talking. It was a baby crying. Oh, jiminy. I couldn’t tell where it was. Was it deeper in the house? Or outside already?

I placed my hand on the next door in the hallway. It was warm but not hot. Hmm. I touched the knob with the back of my hand in case the metal might burn me, but it was okay. Crouching low to the floor, I pushed the door open and peered inside. It was dark and full of smoke, and there it was: the baby’s cry—plus someone else sobbing.

“Hello?” I called out, my eyes stinging from the smoke.

“Grandma?” came a small voice from the darkness.

“Where are you?” I asked, smoky tears flowing down my face.

“I’m here,” she said, sounding all of three or four years old.

I couldn’t see anyone, though I could hear them both. “Come to me,” I said. “Follow my voice.”

“I have Hannah.”

“Good girl,” I said over the baby’s howls as I crawled deeper into the room, holding a hand out in front of me and hoping to make contact.

“Grandma, is that you?”

“No,” I said. “My name’s Maggie. What’s yours?”

“Where’s my grandma?”

“We’ll find her.”

“I heard the beeping,” she said, choking on smoke. “I couldn’t get out, so I came to be with Hannah. Nobody would forget Hannah.”

“Nobody would forget you, either,” I said, sweeping my hand around until my finger brushed skin. “Is that you?”

A little hand grabbed mine. “I’m Evie,” she said.

“Let’s get out of here.”

“Don’t forget Hannah.”

I felt for the baby where the cries were coming from—in Evie’s lap. She was a little peanut.

“We’ll all leave together, promise,” I said. “Now I’m going to stand up, Evie. Don’t move.”

I tried to take a deep breath but started coughing. I stood up amid the dense smoke and felt for the wall, which was Sheetrock. I stepped to the right, feeling my way with my hands.

“Don’t leave!” Evie cried, her hand on my shin. “We need to find my mommy and daddy!”

I ignored this. I needed to save us first. “Just looking for a window, honey.”

There was a large crash from elsewhere inside the house. The roof was coming down. We needed to hurry.

I took another step away from the girls, trying to tune out their cries. Something was in my way, I think a dresser, but I could feel a window above it. I patted my hand against it till my fingers hit a lock. The window appeared to be small and high up on the wall.

I tried shoving the dresser out of the way, but it was caught on something, so I pushed it over, letting it crash to the floor.