My anger rose and I had to remember that she was baiting me. Suicide by nonsense. Cassie once tried to teach me a breathing technique to achieve a calm state of mind. All it ever did was make me light-headed. I turned from the wall, walked over and bent down by Malia. “What have you done to Rox?”

Her poor face was battered good, blood pooling under her thin skin like liver spots. Great, I’d beaten up an old lady. If there is such thing as a life review upon death, mine is going to be one sordid mess.

“That’s not for me to say,” Malia said.

“Well, I’ve got no one else to ask.”

“You don’t want to meet the one with the answers.”

“You’re wrong about that.”

Malia tried to wipe blood from her face with her sleeve, but only smeared it across her cheek. “He doesn’t make things better. He only makes them worse.”

“What can be worse than this?” I’d take this question back if I could. It must have been accepted as a challenge.

Malia’s bloodshot eyes softened for a moment, expressing sadness, pity. Then her lips peeled back to reveal crooked teeth coated in blood and she started laughing. The laugh of a lunatic staring into the great abyss. Eyes bulging, neck swelling, chest heaving. Malia was going to die from dark hilarity, choking on her own blood.

I grabbed her arms and lifted her to a sitting position, patting her on the back to clear her throat. A mist of blood sprayed from her nose and mouth as she continued to choke on my question. Intent, it seemed, on having me kill her one way or another. Her laughter went on for a long while. Several minutes, at least. Every time it seemed to be winding down in hitching gasps something would start her up again. I let it run its course, resisting the urge to silence her with my hands.

“Oh, my,” she said. “Sorry, what was the question again?”

“Forget it,” I said. “Where do we go from here?”

She smeared more blood across her face and looked at the wet sleeve. “You’re free to leave whenever you’d like,” she said.

“Great, let me go grab Cassie and Rox and we’ll be on our way.”

Malia stretched out a hand so I could help her up. I stood and pulled her with me. She swayed backwards and placed a hand on my shoulder for balance. Leaning on me for strength.

“Okay,” she said. “I’ll take you to them.”