“Okay, so I told you how we got in when we got here,” she said quietly. “The door was locked, but there’s a window right next to it that we could reach through and open it. You notice how the windows are mostly boarded up, but some of them aren’t, and that one looked like the board had been pried up at some point. I didn’t really think about it then, because we were mostly worried about getting out of the cold, and then you showed up and we had other things to think about. But now I’m thinking about it again.”
“You think someone broke into Joy and Bar’s house?” He winced. “I mean, other than us.”
“I think someone broke in and is still here,” she whispered. “Remember I said I had trouble getting the heat turned on, and part of that was because it was on already in one of the zones of the house. Upstairs.”
As if on cue, a sudden burst of rattling that was definitely a loose board, coming from right outside the kitchen wall, made them both jump. Maggie burst into nervous laughter.
“Okay, what the heck are you two doing in here?” Charlie asked, appearing around the corner from the living room. Then she skidded to a stop and put her hand over her eyes. “Never mind, I definitely do not want to know.”
“Don’t clutch your pearls, Granny,” Sam laughed. “We’re not doing anything. Just talking.” He put an arm around his daughter’s shoulders, then leaned close and whispered in herear. Maggie couldn’t hear him, but she guessed the gist of it from the widening of Charlie’s eyes.
Charlie and Sam closed up with Maggie, and Charlie whispered, “What are we going to do?”
“I think we should find out who else is here,” Maggie whispered back. “If we don’t know who we’re dealing with, we’re going to be nervous all night.”
“What if they’re dangerous?” Charlie whispered. “What if they’re on drugs or something?”
“Then it’s better to know now, don’t you think?”
“I’ll go upstairs and look around,” Sam began, only to be whispered down by a combined chorus of his daughter and Maggie.
“Not alone!”
“Not without me, Dad!”
“All right, Maggie and I will?—”
“I’m not staying here with possible drug dealers in the house,” Charlie whisper-demanded, folding her arms.
“They’re not .... okay, yes, let’s go up and see if we can find them. Charlie, stay behind us.”
“I don’t think we should whisper anymore,” Maggie said in a normal voice. “We’re not doing anything wrong. And honestly, if someone else is sheltering from the storm the same as we are, neither are they.”
“Right,” Sam said. He laughed under his breath. “Look, if anyone else is here, we’re fine sharing the space.”
“We just want to meet you!” Charlie said.
“Okay, now we might all be coming across as overly friendly freaks,” Maggie said. “Can anyone figure out where the stairs are in this place?”
They found the stairs on the other side of the living room, and cautiously went upstairs. It was less finished up here, a large open space with interior walls, some of them nothing morethan the framing studs, and sawhorses and piles of construction supplies. Sam flicked on the light, and as light washed through the space, there was a sudden flurry of noise and thumping from somewhere out of sight.
“Don’t be scared!” Charlie called. “We’re friendly!”
No one came out, but there were no more noises. Motioning the other two behind him, Sam crossed the floor cautiously, with Charlie so close she was almost bumping into him and Maggie bringing up the rear.
The noise seemed to have come from an empty, doorless room, perhaps a bedroom. “Hey, we’re coming in,” Sam said. “We’re not enemies. We’re just ordinary people getting out of the storm. But we’d like to talk to you.”
With that, he reached inside and turned on the light.
“Please don’t hurt me!”
The person cowering in front of them was a young woman in an oversized sweater and boots. She had pink and blue hair, and she’d put her hands in front of her face. Maggie’s chest instantly crumbled in compassion.
“It’s okay. Don’t be scared. We’re not going to hurt you. We’re refugees from the storm, too.”
The young woman cautiously took her hands away from her face. “Who are you?”
Looking around, Maggie saw signs that someone had been living here for a little while. There was a sleeping bag and a pack, and next to it?—
