text: "We need to go wide," Rochelle proclaimed when she came out of her prescience trance — there was no way Hikaru was going to dignify her made up word by even thinking about it. "It's a mess out there. The police are holding in a few spots, but they're running out of ammo. Cross Pacific at 138th. We'll take that up to Golden Given. That'll give us a wide berth."
  
  "Golden Given?" Hikaru frowned. She didn't know the side streets that well, especially away from campus.
  
  "Just use 138th Street," Rochelle nodded. "It dead ends at Golden Given. Take a left, and that'll take us out to 112th Street and we can drop back down to the church."
  
  "Look at that," whispered Cassie, her fingers absently running through her dyed-green hair. "All that smoke."
  
  "Secondary fires," Mindy reported. "Some of the Lemures are setting houses of fire. At least, that's what I'm hearing on the radio."
  
  Five cop cars roared down Pacific Avenue as they waited to cross. "We need to hurry," Rochelle said. "They're going to start throwing up roadblocks to turn people around. We can't get cut off."
  
  "Well, the light needs to turn — " Hikaru clamped her mouth shut as the light turned green and she gunned it across Pacific.
  
  "So is this going to work?" Juanita asked, flipping through the book. "It's in German."
  
  "I read German, remember."
  
  Juanita gave Rochelle a surprised look. "Really?"
  
  "What's my major."
  
  "Archeology, right?"
  
  "Yeah, and a lot of the Archeology was done by Germans in the nineteenth century. It's helpful to read it."
  
  "Wow. You seem like such an airhead."
  
  "Thanks," Rochelle sighed. "Appreciate the compliment."
  
  "Oh, honey, I'm sorry. You're just..."
  
  "A slut?"
  
  "Pretty much."
  
  Rochelle made a pleased sound. "Now I'm our husband's slut."
  
  "So we're clear all the way to the church?" Hikaru asked, making the left turn on Golden Givens.
  
  "Uhh, I couldn't quite see that far," Rochelle admitted, flipping through the book. "But 112th is past our college, so it should be fine."
  
  "Okay," Hikaru answered. Please be right, Rochelle.