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risk.”
    â€œWhat about me?” says Candy. “Okay, some ­people are going to think you’re an asshole for being around Chihiro, but you still get to be you. I’m no one.”
    I hadn’t really thought of that.
    â€œLook, I’m still trying to get my brain around all this too. Maybe down the line it would be safe to let a ­couple of more ­people know. But we’ve got to play this out for a while. Chihiro didn’t even exist a ­couple of weeks ago. You stick out. Let ­people get used to you. Then maybe we can think about letting other ­people in.”
    Candy thinks for a minute.
    â€œI’ll give it till the end of January. Then I’m talking to Fairuza. I’m not asking you. I’m telling you.”
    â€œFine. But she’s the only one for the time being.”
    â€œI guess.”
    â€œListen. If this thing falls apart, it’s not just on you and me. There’s other ­people too. Julie. Brigitte. Allegra and Vidocq.”
    â€œAren’t you maybe leaving someone out?” says Kasabian.
    â€œI was getting to you, Iron Man.”
    â€œI thought we discussed no more nicknames.”
    I ignore that.
    â€œI know you think I’m a drag sometimes, but there’s a lot at stake here.”
    â€œI know,” Candy says quietly.
    â€œI saw you dead once. I don’t want to see that again.”
    â€œI wasn’t really dead, dumb-­ass.”
    â€œYou sure looked like you were.”
    â€œThat’s ’cause I’m such a good actress. Me and Brigitte are going to star in a remake of Thelma & Louise .”
    â€œAs I recall, that didn’t end well.”
    â€œIn our version the car is a Delorean time machine, so we just drive off and have adventures with pirates and robots.”
    â€œOr Lethal Weapon, ” says Kasabian. “You could do a girl-­girl remake.”
    â€œOr Bill and Ted, ” she says.
    She looks at me.
    â€œI need another drink. You have supplies upstairs?”
    â€œYou know it.”
    I step aside and let her lead the way.
    â€œHello? Is anyone there?”
    It’s a man’s voice coming from the storage room.
    I look at Kasabian.
    â€œLock the front door.”
    â€œSure. It’s not like we’re a place of business or anything.”
    As he does it, Candy and I knock on the storage room door.
    â€œYou all right in there?”
    â€œWhere am I?”
    I open the door. He squints and pushes himself back to the farthest corner of the cot I set up for him, huddling there like a bug.
    He says, “It’s too bright.”
    Candy and I go inside and close the door. It’s ripe in here. The guy wasn’t clean when I met him. Add an extra week to that. We’re in a cheese factory.
    Candy hits the overhead light. It’s only a sixty-­watt. Candy liked the room dim when the band rehearsed.
    I take a step closer, getting between the guy on the cot and Candy in case he’s as unhinged as he looks.
    â€œIs that better?”
    Slowly, he opens his eyes. He keeps a hand up, blocking the bulb. When he can focus he stares at me.
    â€œWhere am I?”
    â€œAt Max Overdrive. Do you remember coming to me at Bamboo House of Dolls?”
    He sits up and leans against the wall. Candy steps around me, fiddling with her phone. Who the fuck is she calling right now?
    â€œWho’s that?” he says.
    â€œA friend. What do you remember?”
    He looks at the blanket, his hands, and the room like he’s never seen any of it before. When he looks at me I can see the gears starting to turn in his head.
    â€œYou’re Stark.”
    â€œThat’s right. And this is Chihiro. You met her the other night too.”
    He stares at Candy for a little too long.
    â€œThat’s not her real face,” he says. “Or her name.”
    Candy shoots me a worried look. I hold up a hand to say “be cool.”
    â€œYou can see through