When they were all safe and sound, Annabelle and I left them to rest. We were walking to the bank of elevators when Elijah came tearing out of their room. My first thought was that something bad had happened and I started forward, prepared to call an ambulance, but that wasn’t it.

Elijah threw himself at me with all the strength in his scrawny little boy body. He wrapped his arms about my waist and buried his face against my shirt. Sobs wracked his frame, and I reflexively hugged him close while making soothing sounds, just like I used to do with Lexi when our parents were out getting stoned, leaving us home alone, hungry and terrified.

“Thank you,” Elijah said. He lifted his face to look at me. His brown eyes glistened with tears, and the tip of his nose was pink. “Thank you for saving us.”

My heart cracked in two right then and there. As fast as he’d arrived, he turned and ran back to their room, slamming the door behind him. It was too much. I was gutted. I leaned against the wall, feeling the shock waves of the evening ripple through me. My breath was shaky, my heart was pumping hard, and I could feel the tingles start in my fingers and toes. Wouldn’t it just be fitting to stroke out on Annabelle right here, right now?

“Nick, are you all right?” she asked. “You look pale.”

“I’m fine,” I lied. “Let’s get out of here.”

I wasn’t fine. As we crossed the street, I felt the entire left side of my entire body give out. One minute I was walking, and the next, my leg couldn’t support me, I felt like my heart was going to explode out of my chest, and I was going down.

“Nick!” Annabelle screamed, and reached for me.

But the pavement got me first, and my face bounced off the hard ground like a cantaloupe.

I woke up, lying on the curb with Annabelle and, improbably, ManDee crouched over me.

“Ambulance is on its way, pumpkin, don’t you worry,” ManDee said. He patted my arm. “I saw you from the window, and I thought, What the hell is wrong with that guy? And the next thing I knew, you went down, right in the road. I ran over to help your girlfriend get you up on the curb.” He fanned himself with a prettily manicured hand, sporting several very large rings. “I think you scared a year off me.”

I could hear a siren increasing in volume and assumed it was for me. I glanced at Annabelle. Her eyes were enormous in her face. She was shaking. I wanted to comfort her and assure her that I was fine. I fully expected not to be able to find the words or to be able to speak them, but aside from the thumping pain of my forehead, I found I could speak.