I frowned. “Then what are they?”
He laughed. “I have no idea. But you should take a pie. The pies from this place have, like, no right to be this good.”
By the time he convinced me to agree to take a pie, we had finished counting. It was past five by then, so after going through the recipe book quickly to decide what we’d make, we made plans to meet here again after school the next day to bake. We decided to walk to the corner to the bus stop together, but I needed to say goodbye to Muniba and get my things out of her office first. I told Muniba that so far everything was great, and confirmed I’d be back the next day. I liked the shelter, and now that I knew this wasn’t LostAxis, there was no reason not to come back.
When I went outside, Daniel was crouched talking to the little girl I’d met earlier. He was holding a backpack and jacket.
“Did you like the cookies I left with your mother?” he asked her.
She nodded. “They were better than Andre’s.” She shook her head solemnly. “I don’t like grapes in my cookies.”
He chuckled. “They’re raisins, Yasmin. Not grapes. Did you meet Samaya? She’s also anti-raisin.” He indicated to me.
The little girl nodded, then leaned in to whisper something into Daniel’s ear. Whatever she said, she took a while to say it all. I didn’t hear, but it made Daniel smile. Actually, it made him smile bigger, because I don’t think he’d evernotbeen smiling since I’d met him.
He looked at the little girl’s face and nodded. “Don’t worry ... I’ll be careful. Thanks for the warning. Enjoy your raisin-less cookies.” He stood and waved. “And go back inside, you know you’re not supposed to be out here alone so late.”
She nodded solemnly and started walking toward the door.
As we walked out the gate, I couldn’t help but ask: “What did she warn you about?”
Still smiling, he kept his eyes in front of him. “I don’t know if I should tell you. She told me to keep it a secret.”
I laughed. Daniel was really growing on me. I liked how earnest he was, unlike the other guys my age I knew. Devin and his friends were snarky and always trying to sound cool. I couldn’t imagine any of them leaning down to hear a little girl’s issues with raisins. Working with Daniel was going to be fun. I was so glad something was working out for me this week.
“Well,” I said, smiling, “it will be hard to work together if we keep secrets.”
Daniel looked at me impishly. He leaned close. “Yasmin said she thought you looked like a fairy when she first saw you. But then you said you didn’t believe in fairies. So she looked at some books in the shelter library and decided that you are probably a vampire because you’re wearing black and have black all over your eyes. She told me to be careful that you don’t bite my neck. And don’t worry, I resisted the urge to tell her that I happened to like my neck bitten.”
I blinked a few times, then snort laughed. “That kid is something else.”
He nodded. “She is. There’s a decent number of kids here right now, but Yasmin’s the youngest school-aged one. And, in my opinion, the best.”
“Is there a school in the shelter?”
“Nah, they all walk to a nearby school. There’s an on-site preschool, though. And after-school programs.”
That was interesting. No one had told me why any of the specific people I’d met were staying in the shelter. I hoped Yasmin hadn’t suffered too much before getting there. We were at the bus stop by then. Daniel was going in the opposite direction and pressed the button to cross the street.
“Have a good night,” I said, walking toward the bench at the bus stop. “It was nice meeting you.”
“You too!” Daniel unrolled the navy jacket he was holding and started putting it on. With horror, I realized I’d seen it before. There was a logo of a duck in the corner. Only I now realized it was a goose, not a duck. As in, the Scarborough Killer Geese, Daniel’s hockey team.
“That jacket,” I said, voice cracking.
“It’s great, right? I love our team merch. Only players get this jacket.” The light changed, so he started walking. “See ya, Samaya!” He waved.
It all became clear as Daniel crossed the street.
Daniel played hockey. He hated math. LostAxis didn’t know anything about hockey. He was great at math. Daniel wasnotLostAxis.
But also, Danielwasmost definitely the boy in the picture. His face matched the one in the photo, but the pic wasn’t a close-up. Many guys’ faces could probably seem to match it. But having the same face and the same (rare) jacket as the guy in the photo? That was too much of a coincidence.
Which meant ... LostAxis had sent me a fake picture. I had beencatfished.
And ... also? I was nowworkingwith the guy my whole school thought I was dating.
I fell onto the bench at the bus stop and put my face in my hands.
