And now for the big deal and danger. Brace yourselves!

I could not believe it.

Oh, wait. Actually, I could.

I remembered what Breen had said about them – I'd stay away from them for my sanity. As if it wasn't a good idea to keep company with them. It just figured that they'd do something this illicit. Kids from rich families could get away with pretty much everything, because their parents had enough money to bail them out. I was always thankful my family wasn't that way, and that my mom didn't allow such behavior out of us. Alas, my kind of family – the family that was as rich spiritually and morally as it was materially – was as rare as a triple-spawner mule.

"Just spread it out evenly," Marnie's voice continued. "Or maybe I should do it myself. And don't forget to take that can with you – we don't want to leave any evidence behind, do we? This place is going down, anyway."

Down? As in…

Oh, freaking ugly cysnake kings.

I could feel Tails' hand clenching my wrist, hard enough to stop the circulation in my left hand. I remembered what he'd said about coming down to places like this in his younger days. That attraction must have been deeper than I'd realized if he was so mad about it going up in flames.

Or… hold up. There were still people in the shelter. Still human beings. Were the Camford twins even aware of it?

My gut twisted into an Ojo de Dreamcatcher center. DJ, you stupid girl. Most likely they were, and didn't even care.

Oh, no, no, no.

I caught my arm rematerializing, then vanishing. Tails' invisibility was getting shaky. No doubt this discovery of the destruction of a homeless shelter was bad enough for him, with his fond memories of these places. The realization that human lives were at stake couldn't be helping his mood.

The worst part? I didn't blame him one bit. Even if he hadn't been in and out of homeless shelters as a novice, avatars get pretty tetchy when human lives are put in danger. It's their job (read: destiny) to protect them, after all. And this was the single worst, most despicable thing I had ever seen.

I wanted to believe Richard Camford was above all of that. Unfortunately, I was all too familiar with elites stepping on other people – mainly those lower on the social ladder – to get what they wanted.

I caught the girls nearby, at the kitchen wall. Marnie was twisting something in the cracks and crannies that looked like Play-Doh but was likely plastic explosive, from her smirk. I caught Tails' expression through his wavering invisibility power – a mix of fury, apprehension and disgust. I remembered his warnings about plastic explosives – or C-4, as they were officially called: Never use those devices. They are for destructors. We are above that.

These girls were Rich's destructors. Rich clearly wanted this building down, and nothing would stop him. Not even the opinion of an avatar – which, on my count, was well worth having.

I bolted clear out of the kitchen and into the lobby, inevitably dragging Tails with me. I had to warn the others.

All right, you little golden scamp, release me, I thought. Among his other powers, Tails is a pretty darn good telepath. I figured more forceful language would resonate better with him, and it worked. Tails let me go, and I became fully visible again.

Billy yelped in alarm at the sight of me (seemingly) appearing out of thin air. "Holy crud! You just left and now you –"

"Blame the fox," Amos responded. He then studied me. "Um, DJ, that's not a good face."

"We need to get out of here!" I yelled.

Tails glared at me. "Golden scamp?" he whispered.

I tried to convey the message through my stare: Had to get you off me. Don't scold me. You heard the girls too.

Tails seemed to get the message. He flinched, and I could catch some of the empty chairs rattling, as tended to happen when Tails' telekinesis got out of control. A little more and they'd be off the ground.

"I'm serious!" I yelled. "We have to go! Because –"

"Fire!" It was Kowalski. He must've come back from checking the kitchen. "There's a fire in the kitchen!"

"Yeah, that," I finished.

Sonic cursed in what sounded like Korean. "That's not good. There's going to be a panic."

Which was right when I heard a scream. And it wasn't from the homeless folks.

Olga! I'd completely lost track of the foreigner. Where the heck was she? And that scream… I got a bad feeling right then that one or two of the homeless folks in this place weren't coming out of this alive.

Sonic muttered yet another curse. "I'll find Olga. Tails, Vinny Lee, try to contain the fire."

"You heard the man!" I yelled. "Go!"

Tails and Vinny Lee raced off to the kitchen.

"Amos, get Courtney and Billy out to the shelter courtyard. It'll be safer for them." Amos, as always, left as soon as I gave the order, taking my sister and her love with him. "Imira, help me with the explosives."

"What?" Imira sounded more shocked than confused. "Fire and explosives?"

"Yeah, apparently the Camfords wanted a failsafe for this place going down if the fire didn't do it."

Imira muttered a mix of insults and cuss words, both in Arabic. "I'm telling Tails about it. Shouldn't Knuckles be in the area?"

Gee, I hadn't thought of that. But how could we know if Knuckles, our pyro avatar, were nearby? The avatars probably would have sensed it, sure. But we'd have to do this on our own.

I was tempted to use some of Imira's curse words at the thought.

I bolted over to the kitchen with Imira in tow to find the situation had gotten out of hand. The fire had spread to the barrier. Not good.

And there was Marnie, spreading plastic explosives. If I was right, she wouldn't have had enough – only enough to blow up the kitchen. C-4 was strictly regulated. Even a super-wealthy girl like, oh, the Camford twins, wouldn't be able to buy a large amount.

Still, it sent me into a rage to see her spreading it around like paste.

"Marnie!" I screamed. I didn't figure my voice would carry through the flames. But somehow, she heard me. She turned her head and sneered at me.

The distraction was all Imira needed. She ran her hijab through and clapped her on the cheek with it. Hard.

The hijab, of course, was impervious to fire, as well as completely bulletproof and flexible. It had to hurt, getting a blow from that.

Only then did Marnie register my Muslim friend's presence, and her expression was priceless. "How –?"

"None of your concern," I commented. "But blowing up this place? You've signed a death warrant, as far as my friend's concerned."

"You're the only idiots around here," Marnie said coldly. "I'll tell father you're –"

"– saving everyone else?" Tails said, rounding the corner with Vinny Lee, who had a fire extinguisher in her hands. The girl doused the fire with the fire extinguisher. The fox flexed his fingers and the C-4 shot out of the wall where it had been, pulled by Tails' telekinetic powers. "And plastic explosives aren't the best mending material."

"How in the blazes –?" Marnie began, but Tails cut her off.

"You endangered my friends," he said in the coldest tone possible. "I can't approve of that. You endangered all the humans here. That is unacceptable to me."

"Who – who are you? What are you?"

"He's someone who has his priorities straight," Imira observed. Then, "The fire?"

"Vinny Lee knows how to use a fire extinguisher just fine," Tails responded. When Imira kept burning through his face, he huffed. "Fine. Dealt with earlier. I covered the rest of the C-4 as well. And I hope –" he shot a pointed look at Marnie – "that there aren't any more headaches to deal with."

Marnie paused. Then she took off. Cowardly chick.

Imira started after her, but I sent a force field up to block her.

"Let her go," I said. "If the cops have any sense of honor, they'll arrest her as soon as they connect her to the arson."

"How –?" Imira started.

"Ah, forgot to mention I can do that."

"Cops," Tails muttered. "None of us are running, though. We need to give a statement."

"Good idea," I said. "Maybe we can get a decent alibi."

"I sure hope you can," Sonic said, rounding the corner bearing Olga. "We had a little scuffle. I'm not even sure we can back it up."

Sounds like this could get serious. Verse for the update: Matthew 13:12. Stay tuned!