Serephina was out of her coffin. The full skirt of her ball gown brushed the edges of the door that led to the kitchen. She couldn't go closer, because there was a spill of daylight from the window. Gasoline was pouring across the floor towards her.
"Anita, help Mommy."
"It's a lie," I said.
"What's a lie?" Bradford said.
I shook my head.
"Anita, help me, you don't want me to die. You don't want me to die, not when you can save me."
I collapsed to my knees, cuffed hands digging into the gravel of the parking lot. "Stop the gasoline."
Larry knelt beside me. "Why?"
It was a good question. Serephina had a good answer. "Jeff Quinlan is in there. He's inside."
"Shit," Larry said. He looked up at Bradford. "We can't torch the place. There's a kid inside."
"Stop the gas," Bradford said. He walked away from us, towards the truck, motioning them off.
And I felt a surge of triumph from Serephina. It was a lie. Xavier had brought Jeff over last night. There was nothing alive in that building.
I gripped Larry's arm with my cuffed hands. "Larry, it's a lie. She's lying to me. Through me. Get me in the back of a squad car, now, and torch the place."
He stared at me. "But if Jeff..."
"Don't argue with me, just do it!" I screamed it, burying my face between my arms, trying to ignore the voice in my head.
I could taste Hypnotique on my tongue. It was too much. Serephina was scared.
Larry called Bradford back, and they half-carried me to a marked car. I started to struggle when they tried to shove me in the back, but I did my best not to fight, and they closed the door. I was in a metal and glass cage. I gripped my fingers through the mesh in front of me, digging it into my skin until it hurt. But even pain didn't help.
The gasoline was everywhere, soaking into everything. Serephina was choking on it. "Ni?a, don't do this. Don't hurt your Mommy. Don't lose me again."
I started rocking back and forth, hands digging into the wire. Back and forth, back and forth. It'd be over soon. It'd be over soon.
I felt a gentle touch on my face, a memory so real it made me turn and look for someone. "My death will be as real, Anita."
Somebody lit it. The flames roared to life, and I screamed before they hit her. I slammed my cuffed hands against the glass and screamed, "Nooo!"
Heat washed over her, crumbled the cloth of her dress like a melting flower, and ate her flesh.
I pounded my hands against the glass until I couldn't feel them anymore. I had to help her. I had to go to her. I fell to my back and kicked the window. I kicked it and kicked it, feeling the shock all the way up my back. I screamed and kicked the glass, and it cracked. The glass cracked and fell outward.
She was screaming my name. "Anita! Anita!"
I was halfway out the window before somebody tried to grab me. I let them grab my arm, but pushed my legs free of the window. I had to get to her; nothing else mattered. Nothing.
I fell to the ground with someone holding my arm. I got halfway up and threw them in a shoulder roll onto the ground. I ran for the fire. I could feel the heat now, rippling along my skin. I could feel the heat inside eating us alive.
Someone tackled me, and I beat at them with my hands made into one fist.
The hands let go, and I scrambled to my feet. Shouting, and someone else holding me. He lifted me off the ground, arms wrapped around my waist, pinning my arms. I kicked backwards, and hit his knees. The arms loosened, but there were more arms. More hands. Someone lay on top of me. A hand the size of my head pressed the side of my face against the rocks. Hands pinned my hands against the rocks, his full body weight on just my wrists. Someone was sitting on my legs.
"Ni?a! Ni?a!"
I screamed with her. I screamed while I choked on the smell of burning hair and Hypnotique bath powder. I saw the needle coming in from the side, and started to cry, "No, no! Mommy! Mommy!"