“Calvin,” I said and cleared my throat. “When Chloe helped Ink escape and ran to get help, Tripp Reynolds, Calvin’s brother, saw her and picked her up. He brought her to the clubhouse, and they told Phoenix everything. Tripp said he found text messages from his phone to Chloe’s discussing the plan to attack you. She was trying to use you to make peace with Calvin after what happened the first time she invited you to one of their parties.”
“But I left school early on Friday. There’s no way she could’ve known that,” Ariel said. “And I went home a different way than I usually do.”
“You’re right,” Ink said. “They let the air out of your tire earlier in the day. They were planning to follow you when you left school and grab you when you pulled over. They passed you on their way to the school, which was right before I got there.”
Ariel slowly shook her head and looked down at her lap. “This makes me not want to help people anymore. If I would’ve said no when Elsie text me, none of this would have happened.None of it.”
I recognized the importance of what she said and took a moment to choose my words carefully. “If you tried to help an injured animal and it bit you, would you stop helping injured animals? Or would you be more cautious next time?”
“I’d be more cautious next time,” she said knowingly.
“I was going to save this for later, but now seems appropriate. How do you feel about therapy?”
“Yes, please,” Ariel agreed instantly. “Don’t look at me like that. I don’t want to turn out like the idiots in this story. I’ll deal with my trauma and become a functional adult, thank you very much.”
“You make me prouder every day.”
“I try,” she grinned.
“How’s your head?” I asked. “Are you good for a few questions?”
“Yeah, I think I’m okay right now. My head hurts, but it’s tolerable.”
“What happened with Jake?” I asked bluntly. I didn’t see any reason to beat around the bush.
Ariel visibly swallowed, and I watched my sweet, tender-hearted daughter harden herself. “Jake and I have spent a lot of time together recently. I thought we liked each other orwhatever. Then he told me he couldn’t be in a relationship. Okay, fine. Being friends is cool. Being sent a video of Jake sucking some girl’s face isn’t cool.”
“Oh, honey,” I said. I wanted to say more, but knew she needed to finish while she was composed.
“It’s fine. I mean,it’s not, but I just didn’t want to see him. He didn’t do anything wrong, but it still hurt my feelings. That’s the real reason I left early. I was so upset and knew I would have to face him. When Mrs. Kiefer said I could leave early, I jumped at the chance to avoid him. That’s why he wasn’t with me. And that’s why I haven’t wanted to see him.”
“Oh no,” Ink said slowly, reaching for his phone. “I need my other brain. This one’s sparking but not firing. Please enjoy this momentary intermission.”
Minutes later, Dice walked into the living room. “What can I remember for you?”
“Hold on,” I said, stopping Ink before he inadvertently blurted Ariel’s personal business to Dice.
“It’s fine, Mom,” Ariel said. “They’re sharing a brain.”
“Ariel said something about a video being sent to Jake. I mean, a video of Jake was sent to Ariel.”
“The video of Jake kissing an AI bot?” Dice asked.
“That’s right,” Ink said. “The video is fake.”
“You’re sure?” Ariel asked hesitantly.
“The video Byte found on No Nuts’s phone was one hundred percent fake,” Dice said confidently.
“I wonder if it was the same one sent to me.”
“Not sure, but that would explain why there was an AI video of Jake on No Nuts’s phone.”
“I got a screenshot of the video from Byte. Here,” Ink said, handing his phone to Ariel.
“Yep. That’s it,” Ariel said and promptly tossed the phone back to Ink. “And you’re sure it’s fake?” she asked again.
“Yes,” Dice answered. “There’s no doubt.”
