“Well, yes. I suppose Joanna wouldn’t mind us stopping by. I don’t know if the kids will like the smell, but we—”

  “Great,” Maya said, cutting off her rambling mother. “Take them there.”

  “Is everything okay? I mean, with you.”

  “It’s fine. I just need to focus on my job right now. I have people to treat. I don’t want to worry about Gerald or the kids. Go to Joanna’s. Okay?”

  “All right. If I remember, I’ll text you when I get over there.”

  “Thanks, Mom. Love you.”

  9

  She had lost track of how many hours they had worked before the supervisor forced Maya and Reno to take a break. They had worked up to—and probably beyond—the 18-hour shift limit in one 24-hour period. And the last thing Maya wanted to do now was deal with a reprimand from the union rep.

  The most recent aftershock had occurred three hours ago. While another could come again at any time, the lull in seismic activity had given emergency crews the opportunity to treat more people. Maya hadn’t wanted to stop because there were still plenty of people who needed help and not enough emergency personnel to get to them all, but when they arrived at Nashville Fire Station #19, Maya parked the rig in its designated bay. She turned off the ignition and then sat back in her chair with her eyes closed, exhaling with a long, slow whistle.

  “What a day,” Reno said.

  “Yeah. And it’s not over yet.”

  “I know. I want to be out there as badly as you do. But we can’t go out anymore or we’ll get suspended. You need to check on your kids anyway.”

  Maya knew her mother would keep Aiden and Laura safe. Elizabeth had even texted her when she’d gotten to Joanna’s house. But Gerald still worried her, and the situation in Nashville had barely kept her mind off of him. The tone of his voice in those voicemails had been almost rabid. She wondered if he had gone to her mother’s house, or if he’d only been bluffing.

  She checked her phone as she stepped out of the rig. Maya had text messages from her mother and from Laura, but nothing from Gerald. She texted her mom to let her know she was still okay and that she was finally getting a break.

  Curious, she opened her front-facing camera when she got to where there was enough light. Maya hardly recognized the eyes that stared back. Dirt covered her face and the bags under her eyes appeared darker than she had ever seen them.

  Maya slid her phone back into her pocket.

  They walked down the main hallway and past a handful of firefighters sitting around a table playing poker. Maya and Reno waved as they walked past on their way to the locker rooms.

  “Meet you out front in fifteen?” Reno asked.

  Maya let her hair down and dust filled the air. She ran her hand through tangled and greasy locks.

  “Let’s make it twenty.”

  She walked into the small locker room, stripped down, and stepped into the shower. Leaning her head against the wall, she let the warm water soothe her aching muscles. Dark water pooled at her feet and swirled around the drain, but the water lightened as the dust and grime washed from her body. Maya normally liked to think while she took a shower, but not this time—it was the fatigue that allowed her to relax.

  After fifteen minutes of hot water numbing her tired muscles, Maya turned off the shower and returned to her locker. She stepped into clean panties, sports bra, and a tank top, then slid into the bottom half of her uniform—a pair of dark pants. For now, she’d forego her white paramedic shirt. She dabbed at her hair with a towel and then left it down to dry. She was already five minutes late for meeting Reno.

  Maya hurried down the hallway and out the front door. Reno stood there, leaning against the wall. Unlike her, he’d dressed in his full uniform. He looked her up and down, and then smiled.

  “You clean up nicely.”

  “How long have you been waiting for me?”

  “Not long. I thought we could hang somewhere else for a bit—not the firehouse. You know, try to take a real break from this mess. Unless you wanted to try and get some sleep or something.”

  Maya snorted. “Yeah, I don’t think I’ll be getting sleep anytime soon. But do you think it’s a good idea for us to leave?”

  “Tommy said it was all right—I think we gotta be off the clock for at least five more hours before we can jump on another shift. He walked by a few minutes ago, suggested that we leave our radios on.”

  Maya wouldn’t sleep if she stayed at the station, and she knew everyone in the place would be watching the news and talking about the day’s events. If she was going to take a break, she was going to take a break.

  She smiled. “Let’s get out of here.”

  Open 24/7 and nestled between St. Thomas Midtown Hospital and Nashville Fire Station #19, Café Coco was usually filled with college students and hipsters, but doctors, nurses, and emergency services workers also came in and out of the place during all three shifts. Reno had thought the place might be closed due to the earthquake and had suggested calling to see if it was open, but Maya had wanted to walk, to get fresh air and not have to drive again just yet.

  Upon arriving, Maya saw the usual stream of steady customers. The only time Maya had seen the place dark was during the Nashville flood of 2010. She’d thought the earthquake might have knocked out its power, but she’d been wrong.

  People were going in empty-handed and leaving the café with their favorite caffeinated, black fuel. Not many grabbed a table, and so Maya and Reno took one towards the back. Maya loved one cream and one sugar in her coffee, but she opted for a straight black brew this time. Reno followed her to their table, and Maya sipped her coffee as she texted her mother and waited for their food.

  “Everything cool with your kids?” Reno asked.

  Maya nodded. “They’re with my mom.”

  “Good. You know if Gerald went to your mom’s house?”

  “I called him back and left a voicemail. Sent him a couple of texts. He hasn’t replied to anything.”

  “He probably wasn’t serious.”

  You don’t know him like I do.

  A waiter approached their table carrying two plates.

  “Americano Panini?”

  Maya raised her hand, thanking the hipster as he set the sandwich down in front of her.

  “And a Caesar salad with no meat for you, sir.”

  “Thanks,” Reno said.

  “Enjoy.”

  Maya grinned as she looked at Reno’s plate.

  “What?” Reno asked.

  “I don’t know how you can go through what we went through today and just eat a salad. Don’t you want some protein or something?”

  “You’ve been making me have lunch at that damn Jamaica Way too much lately. You know I can’t resist their jerk chicken. I gotta keep my waistline under control. Besides, plants have protein, too. You don’t want to be stuck with Raymond as a partner if I call in sick, do you?”

  Maya laughed. In truth, she didn’t want to be stuck with anyone else as a partner. She loved Reno’s company. Not only was he fantastic at his job, but he was kind.

  The two ate without pausing for conversation. Like her, Maya assumed Reno didn’t want to talk about the earthquake. Everyone in the café was chatting about it, but Maya blocked them out. She enjoyed her panini and swapped a few texts with her daughter.

  “You know,” Reno said, “You can make fun of me all you want about this salad, but this thing is—”

  The table shook. Maya watched her coffee splash from side to side before the mug fell off the table and shattered on the floor. Maya looked around at the worried faces in the restaurant, then at Reno.

  They both shot to their feet.

  “Everyone, outside!” Maya yelled.

  “Now!” Reno said, grabbing people by their arms and dragging them out of their seats.

  Maya led everyone into the middle of the street, away from tall trees or buildings. The ground continued to shake.

  “Is everyone out?” Maya asked.

  “The café’s clear,” Reno said.

  “All right,” Maya said. “Everyone just stay—”

  An explosion cut Maya off, throwing her to the ground. She covered her head while the people around her screamed. The ground shook again.

  When it stopped, she stood and glanced in the direction where she thought the blast had originated, thinking that maybe an aftershock had ruptured a gas line.

  Her eyes went wide as Reno got up and stood beside her.

  “Oh my God,” Maya said. “What is that?”

  10

  Maya sprinted toward the smoke. It filled the near horizon above the Nashville skyline, whatever had caused it was less than a mile or two away.

  Others who had fled the surrounding buildings ran with her. As did Reno. She stopped after she’d gone two blocks. The massive oaks surrounding Centennial Park blocked her view of the fire, and the night sky made it even more difficult to see anything else.

  “That’s coming from the direction of the Parthenon,” Reno said.

  Another loud crash rattled Maya’s teeth. People screamed, as the ground trembled enough to knock her off balance. A split second later, she saw a second cloud of debris billowing toward them. Maya thought about the old church and the limestone dust that had been created when it collapsed.

  “We should get back to the station,” Reno said, his voice shaking. “Or least see if we can get closer in the rig.”

  Maya looked at him and saw a bead of sweat on his top lip. Reno stood, shifting his weight from one foot to the other.

  “No. We need to keep following that smoke. If buildings are collapsing, we can help people out.”

  “We don’t have any of our gear with us. And we’re not equipped to put out fires.”

  “It doesn’t matter. People need help, now.”

  “I don’t think that’s a good idea, Maya. We need to—”

  Maya ran again, ignoring Reno’s pleas to return to the station. She felt a flutter in her stomach. Why would smoke be coming from the Parthenon, one of Nashville’s oldest and most treasured landmarks? It was the centerpiece of Nashville’s stunning Centennial Park and had enthralled citizens and tourists alike for decades. She was no scientist, but Maya knew the structure was made of concrete—and concrete didn’t burn.

  Pushing aside the question, Maya pumped her arms and legs faster, leaping over trash in the road.

  Cars had stopped on 25th Avenue, the drivers standing beside them, looking around and pointing in several directions at once. Maya shot past them and ran up the short hill and into the park. Reno called after her, but she kept moving.

  She pushed through the trees and came to the wide-open field that stretched two hundred yards from the West End neighborhood she’d exited right up to the steps of the Parthenon. She stopped in the middle of the field, fifty yards away from the structure, and stared. Her jaw dropped, and her heart sank.

  It hadn’t been smoke after all. It was dust.

  It appeared as though a giant hand had squeezed the Parthenon until nothing but hunks of concrete and white dust had trickled to the ground. The giant columns had been pulverized, and the art gallery inside the structure had to have been obliterated into electrical wires and shards of glass beneath the mass of debris.

  A few people stumbled away from what was left of the structure. White dust coated their bodies except for where blood streaked their faces. She could smell natural gas and raw earth even from here. Some of the trees had been uprooted and tossed to the side like used toothpicks.

  And above the pile of rubble rose a pointed stone obelisk from beneath the surface… thinner, but similar in proportion to the Washington Monument. It slowly climbed into the sky like a rocket lifting off of a launch pad. Dirt, pipes, and people flew in every direction as the obelisk continued to rise.

  People ran in every direction, clamoring to escape from the strange object that had apparently grown out of the Parthenon’s rubble. Maya blinked and shook her head, waving people toward her even though she wasn’t quite sure what she would do with them. The Parthenon hadn’t been open at this time of night, and Maya thanked God for that. If more than the maintenance staff and security guards had been in the underground museum when this thing had emerged from the ground, they’d be dealing with dozens, possibly hundreds of injuries.

  Maya and Reno checked people as they arrived, alerting them that they were paramedics, but everyone seemed fine, and more interested in watching the obelisk rising.

  “What is that thing?” a woman asked.

  “Where did it come from?” another wondered.

  The tip of the obelisk poked through the dark clouds above and then it stopped—now rising taller than any other building in the city. An ominous silence fell upon them, and even the crickets stopped chirping. Everyone continued to stare at the stone structure towering over Nashville.

  A low hum shook the earth beneath her feet then, and a vibration came through her feet and shook her jaw. Maya watched as the night sky pulsed, a light coming down from the clouds that was bright enough to cast an eerie, blue tint over the entire area. And then, the sky exploded in silent flashes of purple and white. The subterranean trembling continued.

  “We’ve got to get everyone away from this thing,” Reno said.

  Maya heard her partner, but she couldn’t take her eyes off the light show dancing around the obelisk and reaching into the sky above them. The silent lightning came again.

  “Maya!”

  She turned to him.

  “Help me! Now!”

  Maya turned away from the visual spectacle above and began directing people out of the park and toward West End Avenue. She grabbed the hands of a young woman and her son, leading them away from the historic Nashville landmark.

  Sirens flashed up and down West End Avenue. Dozens of emergency vehicles had followed the dust to the destruction at the park.

  Maya and Reno guided people to arriving rigs as a cop approached the two of them, having sighted Reno’s uniform.

  “You two see what happened?”

  “Not fully,” Maya said. “By the time we made it over here, that thing had already destroyed the Parthenon.”

  “Do you know if everyone made it out?”

  “Mostly, I imagine,” Reno said. “But there had to have been cleaning crews and security in there.”

  “All right. We’ll get a search and rescue team inside.”

  The cop ordered some of the other officers on the scene to cordon off the area around the strange, new obelisk even though most people had already been running away from it. He then stood next to Maya and stared up into the sky.

  “What is that thing? Did it shoot up from underneath the Parthenon?”

  “I think so,” Maya said. “I need to call my family.”

  Maya stepped away and took her phone out of her pocket. She scrolled through text notifications from her mother, Laura, and Gerald. She cringed at seeing his avatar on her screen, in particular, and didn’t want to hear what he had to say quite yet. She tapped her mother’s name.

  After a long silence, the phone beeped and the call dropped. She tried again with the same result. Checking the top corner of the screen, she saw it read, “No Service.”

  Great.

  Maya crossed the street, moving away from the chattering people and emergency lights. She continued staring into the corner of the phone’s screen, holding it up in the air and hoping to catch a few bars. No Service.

  She had been in one of the most populated areas of the city, sandwiched between two hospitals and some of the best restaurants and bars in Nashville. Maya could see at least two cell towers from where she stood. She turned around and looked at the obelisk again, feeling a pit growing in her stomach.

  She opened the messenger app. The message from her mother sat at the top.

  Haven’t heard from you recently. Just want to make sure everything is all right. Love you.

  Maya looked at the one from Laura next. She grinned as an image filled the screen. Laura and Aiden had taken a selfie together. Both had their lips puckered up for a kiss.

  We love you and miss you, Mom!

  Maya brushed a tear aside and blew a kiss at her phone. “I miss you guys, too.”

  She backed up and opened Gerald’s message without reading the preview.

  Weird. Your mom isn’t home. Convenient. Good job, Maya. I hope you realize the mistake you made.

  Maya groaned and shook her head. Gerald had gone to her mother’s house looking for the kids. What if he was looking for them right now, while she was here dealing with this… situation?

  “Maya!”

  Maya lifted her chin and saw Reno standing across the street.

  “Get over here! Now!”

  Maya hurried across the street. Several first-responders talked on radios while others stood around pointing at the sky.

  “What is it?” Maya asked Reno.

  “Listen.”

  EMD calls came through in rapid succession.

  “Multiple vehicular accidents outside Nissan Stadium. Any available units.”

  “Vehicular accident at Hillsboro Pike and Glen Echo Road. Any available units.”

  “Vehicular accident on Clarksville Pike crossing the Cumberland. Any available units.”

  Maya wiped her clammy palms on her pants. Her heart raced.

  “What the hell?”

  Maya shook her head, unable to give him an answer. “We’ve got to get back to the rig. Now.”

  11

  After sprinting past groups of panicked people and pushing their way through throngs of onlookers, Maya and Reno ran through the open bay door and climbed into their rig. Maya didn’t even bother going inside the firehouse to grab her uniform. Proper union dress code seemed slightly insignificant compared to what she had witnessed a few minutes ago, and they weren’t on the clock anyway.

  “Which direction we headed?” Reno asked. “There are so many calls coming into 911 that dispatch can’t keep up.”