“Thank God!” Christopher cried, and his whole body changed — his arms came out, his face crumpled into desperate relief, his voice climbed into raw concern.

“Oh, thank God, I thought you’d fainted, I thought you had some kind of reaction, I came back and—”

“Don’t come any closer to us, Christopher.” My voice came out cold and flat and did not shake at all, which surprised me, because the rest of me was shaking.

I kept myself between him and Lucas.

“Brenda, honey, what are you saying?” He dropped to a crouch, spread his hands, put on a face of wounded bewilderment.

“I stepped out for some air.