Raven tilts her head from side to side, considering. “It means the person is likely close,” she says. “Whoever sent out that signal … They would have been in the school or nearby. And that’s where I can help. This is what I do.”
“Meet strangers from the internet?” Sydney asks. Raven laughs.
“Well,that,and trace codes. Install firewalls to keep them from trying to hack you again.”
I straighten my back and turn to Annalise. She smiles.
“I told you she could help,” Annalise says.
Raven checks the time on her watch and gets up in a purposeful movement.
“Look,” she says. “I’ll let you all discuss this. Either way, I promise your secret is safe with me. Trust me when I say I’m not on the side of abusive men. I don’t even have all the details, butI can promise you I’ll do whatever’s necessary to bury them. It sounds like an awesome Tuesday night for me, if I’m honest.”
Marcella covers her laugh from the other end of the couch.
“But you let me know.” Raven walks over to Annalise and gives her a quick hug before heading to the door. “And keep me updated on your pain level,” she says quietly. Annalise nods that she will.
Since leaving the academy, Annalise has been suffering from sharp pains behind her eye, headaches from where Guardian Bose damaged her. We’d hoped it would go away, but the truth is, she sustained fatal injuries. We don’t know the extent of the repairs Dr. Groger did inside her head before he was killed.
Raven looks back at me. “And you,” she says. “If you’re having residual headaches from earlier, use a cold compress. It’ll cool the system, at least temporarily.”
I blink, surprised that she knows I have a headache. Raven leaves our apartment, and the second she’s gone, Sydney walks to the door and locks it. She looks furious.
“Why would you endanger us like that, Annalise?” she asks. But her voice doesn’t hold the anger she’s trying to project. It’s hurt. And it’s fear.
“I’m trying to save us,” Annalise snaps, getting up from the couch. “What if she’s right? Someone close by trying to get inside our heads? We have no idea what we’re up against.”
“All the more reason to be careful,” I say.
“Careful? How about obedient, Mena?” Annalise says. “When has following the rules ever helped us?”
“That’s not what I meant.”
Annalise’s eyes fill with tears. She reaches up to trace the deep scar cutting through her cheek. “You see this?”
I nod that I do.
“This is how I remind myself of what we’re running from. I see it every morning and use it to find my strength.” She lets her arm fall to her side. “Not only can Raven help us block whoever’s trying to hack you, she said she can also help with other things. Including teaching us how to use all our programming. We can become stronger.”
Brynn sits up at this mention. Marcella reaches to take her hand with a deepening worry in her expression.
“We need to figure ourselves out,” Annalise continues. “We’re stronger than we think. I knew that without anyone else’s input. But what if we could be unstoppable?”
There is an allure to the idea of power. I don’t know what Raven can do to help us with that, but she’s obviously convinced Annalise. Which is unusual. Annalise isn’t the trusting type. She’s practical and maybe even a little vengeful. She would have poisoned the entire staff of Innovations Academy if we would have let her. She’s not about to give up her control without a good feeling about the entire thing.
But I’m not quite there yet.
“What do you want to do?” I ask her. “At this point, I’m not even sure we can stay in this town.”
“We finish the mission,” Brynn states. “We finish it so we can save our girls. That’s what you said.”
“Of course,” I murmur. Now that Brynn has put those words out there, I feel like a coward for considering otherwise.
“But we don’t know who’s trying to hurt us,” Sydney says, worried.
“That’s why we need the firewall,” Annalise says. “And Raven—”
Annalise’s phone begins buzzing on the coffee table. She reaches for it, but then her hand freezes. She lifts her eyes to mine.
