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But I don’t move, and I push her back with a reminder that whatever we say, it won’t actually help anything.
We don’t want to go. And they don’t want to stay.
“We’re almost there,” Phineas says, breaking the silence.
I look up, craning my neck to see out the front windshield. The turn to my street is ahead, and for a moment, everything looks normal.
Then Phineas steers the car around the corner and my blood goes cold.
Fire trucks block the road. Ash coats the concrete. Crowds of people stand on the sidewalk, gawking, while fire crews pack up their equipment and police try to keep any civilians from coming closer.
To the charred and blackened shell of my home.
“Gods…” Huck murmurs.
It’s more than I can say. A strangled cry is trapped in my throat, choking me, and my eyes sting. In my head, Creepy keens with horror.
I tremble, trying to send her comforting thoughts. The structure isn’t a total loss. The walls are still mostly standing. Admittedly the bricks and the teal shutters are covered in soot, while the windows are like black pits into nothing, but maybe our home can still be repaired.
Whimpering, Creepy snuggles around the comforting thoughts, hugging them close like teddy bears.
“Pull over,” I say to Phineas.
He shakes his head. “We need to go.”
“What? No! That’s my house.”
He slows but only to start turning around.
Screw that. I shove open the door.
“Mabel!” Zeb protests.
Phineas hits the brakes as if in surprise, and I take advantage of the brief pause to get out and race toward the police barricade.
I hear swearing behind me, followed by door slams and hurried footsteps a moment later.
“Mabel! Oh god.” Tamira runs up only to slow with shock at the sight of the guys coming up behind me. “Wait, uh… hello.” She chuckles breathlessly at me, though the look she gives the guys is more confused than anything. Her eyes linger on Zeb, her brow furrowing. “You…”
“It is not what you think,” Huck announces immediately, the words sounding far too rehearsed for my liking.
Tamira blinks, obviously hearing that too. “Oh, yeah?” A grin hovers around her lips, though it doesn’t quite dispel the confusion on her face.
I can’t deal with this right now. “I’ll explain later.” Maybe. “What happened here?”
“Right.” She clears her throat, refocusing. “They don’t know. Seems like it might’ve been a gas leak, but…” She splays her hands like she can’t think what else to say.
I head for the barricade.
“Dammit, Mabel,” Phineas snarls behind me.
“Officer?” I walk up to one of the cops currently keeping an eye on the barricade. “I need to get in there. That’s my house.”
The cop skims his eyes across me, Tamira, and the guys behind me with that look all police officers seem to have. The one that says he’s trying to slot us into his grid of guilty, innocent, or a threat.
“Come with me, miss.” He nods toward the collection of emergency vehicles nearby.
I start after him, but then Phineas grabs my arm. I look back in alarm. “What?—”
