31

Bubber went downstairs to find King. I stayed in bed and waited for him. He came back alone. “King is gone.”

“Maybe he went back to the cave,” I said. “He could be waiting for us there, right now.”

Bubber shook his head.

“He’s around,” I said. “He has to be.” Bubber didn’t say anything. “Look, he can take care of himself. He did it before us. He can do it again.”

My brother just looked at me, like he knew something I didn’t know. “King’s not coming back.”

I slept. Bubber went out and came back with Drake’s cakes and an orange. I got up and dressed. My throat hurt but my chest felt better. “You want to go look for King?”

Bubber shook his head.

We went up the stairs to the landing by the door to the roof. It was safer here. “You want to go back to the cave and look?” Bubber shook his head. He wasn’t looking anymore. He didn’t even want to talk about King. The dog had gone around the corner and disappeared.

“I see Daddy’s hand,” Bubber said later. He was leaning on the railing, looking down the stairwell.

I heard somebody coming slowly up the stairs. “It’s not Daddy! Let’s get out of here.”

“I see Daddy’s hand,” Bubber said again.

I looked. There was a hand on the railing below. “It’s somebody else,” I said.

“I’m going down.”

I was afraid it was McKenzie. I made a grab for him, but he had already started down the stairs.