“Yes.” I stepped inside, grateful at least one teen was accounted for.
I scanned Alex’s couches, but they were empty. Part of me had hoped this was one of Mia and Kitty’s pranks and I’d find them here watching TV. But the TV was off. There was no giddy laughter, only the sound of whatever playlist Alex had on. I walked to the kitchen, but the girls weren’t around the table eating Alex’s gourmet junk food like I sometimes found them.
Alex followed me with his hands in his pockets. “Are you looking for something?”
I scanned the hall, then turned to him, trying not to let the way he looked now—hurt, upset, confused—distract me. “Mia and Kitty. I can’t find them. Have they been here?”
“No,” Alex said. “Not since I’ve been home at least. When did you last talk to them?”
“Last night in the car. Right after we dropped you off. All their stuff was gone when I came home. They didn’t text me to check in today, but I figured it was because they were still upset.”
Alex took me by the shoulders and steered me to the kitchen table. “We’ll figure it out. Here, sit.” He turned away, and seconds later pushed a plate of lemon cake in front of me.
“I’ll be right back.” He left down the hall and knocked on Greyson’s door, pausing for a moment before poking his head inside.
I stared down at the lemon cake. At least Alex didn’t completely hateme after what I’d said. But then again, maybe he did. He seemed like the type of person who’d bake his mortal enemy a cake.
Greyson appeared moments later with Alex at her heels.
“Hey, Jo,” she said, taking the seat across from me. Alex stood behind her, bracing the back of her chair with his hands.
Greyson chewed on the string of her hoodie—no, it wasMia’shoodie. The one I’d seen her wearing last night. “Have you seen Mia and Kitty today?” I asked.
Greyson tugged the sleeves of the hoodie over her hands. “They didn’t come over today.”
Maybe that was true, but she’d definitely seen them. How else had she gotten Mia’s hoodie? “But did you see them today? Maybe at my place? Or the beach?”
Greyson shook her head.
I didn’t believe that for a second. Since they’d met, there hadn’t been a single day the girls didn’t see each other.
“They left this,” I said, and passed the note Mia had written across the table.
I watched Greyson’s face carefully. She looked down at the note, the hoodie string still in her mouth.
Alex bent over her shoulder to read it, then took the chair beside her. “You don’t know anything about this?”
Greyson shook her head, and her hands grew still as she stared at the note in front of her.
I leaned toward her, hoping I looked as desperate as I felt. “I’ve called them, but their phones are off. I don’t know where they are, or where they’re going. I just need to know they’re safe.”
Greyson shifted uncomfortably in her seat. She pushed the note back to me and let the hoodie string drop from her mouth. “Okay, I saw them, but they made me promise I wouldn’t say anything, and I pinkie promised, and you can’t break a pinkie promise. Only... I don’t want anything bad to happen to them, and if you haven’t heard from them...Well, I thought they’d call you, or at least text. They came to say goodbye, and I said I thought they weren’t leaving for another three weeks, but they said they had to go right now because they’d messed up your summer enough. I said I didn’t think that was true. I begged them to stay, but they wouldn’t.”
Alex went rigid in his seat. “And you didn’t think to tell me or Jo about this?”
Greyson shrugged. “They made me promise.”
“Do you know where they are?” I asked.
“They wouldn’t say.” Greyson looked up at me with tear-filled eyes. “They said it was a secret. I asked them, and Kitty wanted to tell me, but Mia said not to because she knew I’d tell. I would, you know. I’d tell you if I knew where they were.”
“When did you see them?”
“I don’t know, like, four hours ago.”
Four hours!They could be anywhere by now. I hung my head in my hands.
“I’m sorry,” Greyson squeaked. “I didn’t know—”
