This is the third time I’ve become overwhelmed since leaving the academy. It’s why I try not to talk about my emotions—I’m afraid of bringing this on. Afraid of scaring my friends.
Sydney reaches to brush her hand over my hair lovingly, and when I promise her that I’m okay, she looks around at the other girls.
“We saw Lennon Rose today,” she announces. There are screams of shock, and I close my eyes, still feeling the jolt myself.
“What do you mean?” Marcella asks, looking to me for confirmation. I nod. “How?” she asks.
“She left the academy with Winston Weeks,” Sydney says. “But … we don’t have all the details yet. The entire thing is”—she looks at me—“weird.”
“Lennon Rose is alive,” Brynn says, smiling and ignoring the negatives. “She made it!”
“She didn’t tell us?” Marcella asks suspiciously, earning an annoyed look from Brynn.
“Lennon Rose is alive,” Marcella continues. “Just … living her life, and she didn’t think to warn us? Didn’t tell us what the academy was doing to us?”
“Maybe she couldn’t,” Brynn says, sounding hurt that Marcella would criticize our friend.
Marcella noticeably tries to contain her irritation. “Okay, well, how did she end up in the same small town as us, then? Coincidence?”
“That’s what we need to figure out,” I say, finding my voice. I hand the glass of water back to Brynn and use the sink to pull myself up. When I’m standing again, I swipe the tears off my cheeks and steady my gaze on the girls.
“Annalise, can you track down info on Winston Weeks?” I ask. “See what his connections are to this town?”
“On one condition,” she says. “You let me bring Raven back.”
“Not now,” I say, wanting to leave this enclosed space, but Annalise steps in front of the door to stop me.
“You can’t keep going like this,” she says sternly. “You—”
“She had one at Lennon Rose’s place too,” Sydney says suddenly before wincing an apology to me.
“It wasn’t a breakdown,” I clarify. “It was … a vision.”
“Another one today?” Annalise asks, concerned. “Without your phone?”
“Not exactly the same,” I say. “But it was the same woman. She was there.”
Marcella marches right up to me, examining my eyes. “Mena … what is she doing to you? How is she getting to you?”
“I’m not sure,” I say.
“We have no choice, then,” Annalise says walking into the living room. I quickly follow her, my eyelids burning from my earlier tears.
“What are you doing?” I ask.
Annalise walks over to the computer and begins clicking the keys. “I’m asking Raven to come over.”
She says it like I have no room to argue, but I reach over and close the laptop. She spins to face me.
“You need help!” she says.
“I know!” I shoot back just as easily. It wasn’t the answer she was expecting. Frankly, it wasn’t the one I planned on giving. I furrow my brow and lower myself to sit at the kitchen table. “I know,” I repeat.
Annalise sits next to me, watching me carefully. “We have to try.”
Solemnly, I nod. “I’ll meet with her again,” I say. “But I’m not going to promise you anything. I can’t just hand myself over to a hacker.”
“I understand,” she says. “But talk to her. See what she can do.”
