18

Liam

They saw the hotel from a block away.

Or what was left of it.

“The whole thing fell apart,” Liam choked out as he ran alongside Ray. He didn’t have much breath to spare.

The hotel was a pile of brick. Brick, for goodness sake. Nobody had built with brick in California since, like, 1906.

This is not good, not good, not good.

The last time Liam had felt this painful sense of panic was two years ago, when he’d heard about Sasha’s accident. When he’d only known that she’d been rushed to the hospital “in bad shape,” which could’ve meant dead.

One look at the rubble of the hotel told Liam what this could mean.

Ray started shouting. “Harper! Harper! We’re coming!”

Liam wanted to join in but didn’t have enough air in his lungs.

And where was Sasha?

Ray reached the wreckage first. He paced the edge of the brick mountain, still calling Harper’s name. Liam caught up just as Ray started climbing.

“Don’t!” Liam warned him, heaving in air. “You could—cause a shift. Could crush her. Stay off it.”

“Harper!”

“If you—shut up—a second—we might—actually—be able to—hear her.”

Ray went quiet. They both listened for Harper’s voice but heard nothing.

“Okay,” said Liam. He had his wind back now. “It’s a big building—was a big building. There’s a lot of ground to cover. She could be anywhere. Let’s circle the whole thing. You go left, I’ll go right.”

He raised his voice to a shout: “Harper, if you’re here and you can’t talk, that’s okay. But if you can find some way to make noise—if you can tap on something, a piece of metal piping, maybe. Any kind of noise . . . We’re listening. We’re here. We’ll find you.”

He started moving along the perimeter of the ruins. Ray headed in the opposite direction. Smoky, bitter air wafted toward them from another part of town. Liam felt his sweat drying in uncomfortable prickles. Come on, Harper.

Tap. Tap. Tap.

It was the sound of one dull, hard object against another dull, hard object. Not as clear and piercing as metal-on-metal would’ve been, but it was audible.

“Here!” shouted Liam. “She’s somewhere over here! Good job, Harper! Keep it up!”

Before Liam could stop him, Ray started scrambling over bricks, moving toward the middle of the destroyed structure.

“Be careful, you idiot!” Liam yelled after him—right before he did the same thing.

They stopped about a foot away from the source of the tapping. Ray ripped aside a chunk of the ceiling and stared down through layers of debris. Liam thought he spotted a flash of blonde hair. “Harper?” Ray called. “Tap once if you can hear me.”

Tap.

Ray’s face split in a huge, stupid grin. “Tap twice if you’re glad we’re here.”

Tap, tap.

“That’s freaking emotional blackmail, man,” Liam laughed as he wiped the tears from his eyes.

Then he stiffened. “Wait a minute. Where’s Sasha? She should be here by now.”