I nodded once. Good thinking. Those two earned enough to do anything we asked them to.

Swinging myself around the railing, I jogged up the stairs and walked through the shop, papers and dust coating the floor as I exited into the park.

The stars dotted the night sky, the sea air tickling my nostrils as we strolled through the park and took in rotting paint and wood and the quiet bumper boats and Ferris wheel.

A lump filled my throat, and my heart pounded like it did when I had her in my truck that night after the game, and like that Devil’s Night I torched all of her hard work and the only presence she had left to torture me with in this town.

I wasn’t sure if she was going to forgive me for this, but I had to do it. I had to know if there was anything beyond this for us.

“Why are we doing this, Will?” Banks asked.

But I was done explaining myself. “Because I said so.”

I was done living in the past. I had an ocean of tomorrows to get busy building, and I was ready to live.

I looked to Michael and Rika. “Take the west side.” Then to Kai and Banks. “Past the swings.”

The four of them ran off to douse as much as they could with the fuel they had, and I walked toward the coast, the pirate ship, and Cold Hill with Alex and Damon.

“Are you sure this isn’t an impulse thing?” Alex asked.

“Are you sure he’s sober?” Damon asked her instead.

“Shut up,” I griped.

I realized that my life decisions could be characterized as questionable, but not every crazy thing I did was because I was drunk.

Just some things.

We all got busy emptying the containers on rides, game booths, and old food stands, keeping our eyes peeled for anyone who wasn’t us, but I just wanted everyone to hurry. I wasn’t going to stop myself. I wanted the challenge of never being able to look back. I wanted the Cove gone.

But that didn’t mean this wasn’t painful.

I clenched my jaw, walking around Cold Hill and the cars, one of them that carried us one night where she let me touch and kiss her.

The pirate ship where she pealed with laughter, and I knew I was head over heels watching the light in her eyes.

Misha loved it here, too. Which was probably why I hadn’t invited him tonight. He would try to stop this.

And I needed to do it.

“The last time we set a fire, we got arrested,” Damon said.

The gazebo wasn’t the last fire we or he set, but I supposed he chose to block out Rika’s house and Sensou.

“I’m not going back to jail,” I assured him.

I tossed him a couple of flares and one to Alex, tossing my gas can into the fray.

“Spread out and give one to Michael and Kai,” I told him, raising my voice and shouting into the night. “We’re going to light up the fucking sky, because Michael Crist is marrying Erika Fane in two days!”

I smiled, holding my hands to my mouth and howling into the night. Laughter and more howls went off around the park, and I heard Rika yelping with excitement.

I lit my flare and looked to Alex.

“Are you sure?” she asked, lighting hers. “I know what this place means to you.”

“It was one night.” I looked up at the Ferris wheel. “I need my life to be more than one night.”

I launched the flare, watching it land on the platform, and all it took was a moment before a flame spouted and quickly spread.

The fire coursed up to the Ferris wheel, lighting the bottom car and its old leather seat on fire, the flames rising and rising, traveling from car to car as the whole park lit up in a glow so tremendous that I needed sunglasses.

The wind blew and the heat of the fire covered my face, and I closed my eyes, not sure if I wanted to cry or smile.

Michael Crist, Kai Mori, Damon Torrance, and Will Grayson were going to have their secluded, seaside resort, because we lasted, and we were going to build something that would, as well.

Heat rushed under my skin, and I couldn’t hold it in anymore. I was home.

Tipping my head back, I belted out the loudest howl I could manage from deep in my stomach hearing the rest of them—the girls, too—join me as our fires spat and hissed around us, the whole fucking place going up in flames.

I looked over at Alex, seeing her eyes squeezed shut and her mouth in an O as she belted into the night air, and I laughed, hooking her neck and planting a slobbery kiss on her cheek.

She giggled, all of us looking up at the flames rising and spreading, and after a few more minutes, I looked right, seeing Lev and David arrive in the parking lot with the fire engine.

We’d let the fire do its job—just long enough for the place to be beyond repair—and then start putting it out.

“Wait,” I heard someone call. “Hey, wait!”

I released Alex and looked around, seeing Rika staring off toward the back of the park.

“What is it?” I jogged over, stopping next to her.

She stared, bending to see around rides and into the distance. “I thought I saw something?” Then she looked at me. “Are you sure the place is empty?”

I thought it was. Just then, I saw the door to the shop we’d come through flapping in the wind, and if anyone were here, they’d be hiding there.

“The tunnels!” I told everyone. “Go!”

Everyone ran, heading back to the shop and toward the underground. We didn’t have homeless in Thunder Bay, but there were no cars in the lot and there was nothing else within a couple miles from here. If someone were here, they were living here.

“We should’ve checked the place,” Michael gritted out. “Dammit.”

Scurrying down into the tunnels, we ran back toward the entrance to the track, and I opened the door, sending Alex, Damon, Kai, Banks, Micah, and Rory on their way.

“The seats swivel,” I told them, out of breath. “Just turn around and go back the way we came like I taught you. It’s the fourth red light down.”

Kai nodded, everyone descending into Coldfield.

Damon looked back at me, but I shook my head, knowing what he was thinking. “Just go,” I said. “I’ll catch up.”

I got ready to shove Rika and Michael in after them, but I looked back and they both were hanging by a room.

Closing the door, I approached. “What is it?”

I looked inside, seeing a bed, posters and graffiti on the walls, and a lamp turned on.

“Didn’t Misha say he stayed down here for a while? After Annie?” Rika asked.

“Yeah.”

She walked in, picking up a sandwich or something, half-eaten and laying on a wrapper. “Someone’s here,” she said, squeezing the fresh bread.

Either the light was off when we arrived, or the door was closed, because we passed this room on the way in and noticed nothing.

Shit.

“Dammit!” Michael growled.

We ran back up the stairs, the flames orange and bright outside the shop windows as we raced into the park, searching for who was here.

We couldn’t let anyone be hurt.

And it would be fantastic if there were no witnesses.

“I know I saw someone,” Rika said. “Maybe a girl.”

“Like a little girl?” I asked.

She nodded.

“Shit! There!” Michael yelled, pointing.

We halted, sucking in air and looking through the swings and toward the fun house, seeing a small form standing way on top.