FOR A FEW seconds after the blast, Times Square was totally silent. The wind died down and every bulb and LED fizzled out. From all sides, people started creeping out of broken buildings, stunned and shaken, not sure if they had just witnessed a nightmare or a miracle or both.
Near the epicenter of the blast, Lamont lay on his back against a pile of wreckage, barely conscious. Margo crawled to him over the rubble. She wrapped her arms around him. He winced with pain.
“He’s gone,” Margo said gently. “You won.”
Lamont shook his head. Even that hurt.
“That wasn’t Khan dying,” he said. “That was Khan escaping.”
Lamont leaned forward. His brain was throbbing and it felt like hot knives were stabbing him through the chest from the inside.
“Maddy,” he said, his voice raw from dust and smoke. “Where’s Maddy?”
Margo turned with him to scan the area. All around them, pavement heaved up at odd angles and small flames flared up from the crevices. A few yards away, a curled hand was poking out from under a jagged metal plate.
Maddy’s hand.
Margo and Lamont crawled over piles of broken asphalt and twisted beams to get to her. For Lamont, every move was agony, but he pushed through it. With Margo’s help, Lamont braced one shoulder against the huge section of metal and heaved it aside. Maddy was on her back underneath. Blood and soot covered her face. She was pale. Still. Not breathing.
Lamont slid his hand under Maddy’s neck. Her head tipped back, limp.
He pressed two fingers against the side of her throat. No pulse. Not even a quiver.
“No!” Lamont shouted, leaning over her. The pain in his chest erupted again. His face twisted with pain and his vision blurred.
“Move back.” Margo’s voice. Now steady and determined.
Lamont rocked slowly back onto his heels, his knees still touching Maddy’s body. Margo leaned in close from the other side. She rubbed the dust from Maddy’s lips. Then she placed her mouth over Maddy’s mouth and began to breathe into her. She didn’t know how. She didn’t know why. It was as if Maddy were telling her to do it.
She exhaled in quick, hard puffs. Again and again. She paused and turned her head to see if Maddy’s chest would rise on its own. It didn’t. Margo leaned in again, her tears falling onto Maddy’s face. She pinched her nostrils. More breaths. Then more. It felt like hours, but it was only minutes. After that, it was no use. Margo stopped. She looked up at Lamont and shook her head. Lamont pressed his fists against his temples as if he were trying to crush his own skull. He gritted his teeth and squeezed out two words.
“I’m sorry,” he said.
It would be hard to list all the things he was sorry for. Sorry for putting the people he loved in danger. Sorry for believing he could protect them. Sorry that he was alive instead of Maddy and Jessica. Sorry that the Shadow’s mighty powers had failed them both.
Margo rocked gently, eyes closed, tears streaming down her cheeks. She rested her hand on Maddy’s head. She’d known this girl for such a short time, but she loved her in a way that went very deep. And now she felt hollowed out and helpless.
Suddenly, Maddy’s whole body shuddered. Her neck arched back. Then her mouth opened wide in a loud, rattling gasp.