Tag closed his eyes. “What happened to watching Daniel?”
“It was a waste of time,” Manik said. “He’s following his normal nighttime routine like clockwork.”
Normal nighttime routine?I thought, stomach stirring.What does that mean?
Zoe asked as much.
“He sleeps,” Manik began, “then wakes up, walks to the bathroom like a zombie, and then pulls up Netflix and watches something before falling back asleep.”
“I don’t like the sound of that,” Zoe said.
“Neither do I.” Manik nodded, clueless. “Stranger Thingskept me up for hours once.”
“What was he doing when you left?” Tag asked, somehow keeping his cool.
Meanwhile, I just lost it. “How did you find us?”
Manik shrugged. “He was halfway through some documentary, but I’m pretty sure he was asleep.” He gestured to Zoe. “And I followed Zoe. All I had to do was check Snapchat.”
Tag and I didn’t bother hiding our groans. Zoe hadn’t been with us when we’d confirmed everyone’s invisibility on the app’s map, and we hadn’t thought to search for her way-too-accurate avatar.
“God, I’m sorry,” she whispered. “I didn’t even think about it. I was too worried about Maya…”
I tugged her dark braids to let her know it was okay. I mean, we would make it okay. It had been a mistake, but Tag would fix it.
“Go back to Mack,” he told Manik.
“No,” Manik said. “I want to help.”
“Youwerehelping,” Tag countered. “Having eyes on Rivera was crucial.”
“All we needed to know was that he was in his room,” Manik said as an imaginary snake slithered up my spine. My mom called it my “sixth sense.” It told me when something was off or about to go wrong. I switched off the headlamp before moving closer to Tag.
“Serpents,” I muttered.
“You sure?” he muttered back.
“And I confirmed it,” Manik continued. “He’s in our house, in our room, and it’s what? Like 2:45? Why would he leave?”
“Oh, I don’t know,” I said caustically. “Maybe because all your kids are on the loose?”
“Yeah, um, how did you miss that?” Zoe asked. “Them sneaking out?”
Manik sighed. “They probably went through the kitchen window,” he said. “It’s ground-level and as far away from Mr. Bauer’s apartment as you can get, on the opposite side of the house.” He shook his head. “I’d never be able to see them from the fire escape.”
“Whoever designed Mack’s layout is an idiot,” Zoe mumbled as Tag said, “Word on campus is they nicked Daniel’s keys too.”
“Brendan Foley!” Manik exclaimed indignantly as Tag putboth hands on my shoulders. Through his flannel, I felt his thumb trace a swift circle on my shoulder blade—our code forrelax—before he began backing us into the trees.
“Serpents indeed,” he murmured. “Do you see that light over there?”
I squinted, then shivered when I saw the dim iPhone light across the course. “Alex?” I whispered.
“He would’ve texted,” Tag said. “Not to mention, also come from the woods.”
I swallowed hard. Whoever was out there was walking up from the ropes course’s main entrance, right off a campus road. My heart pounded. Who was it?
“Oh my god,” Zoe breathed when the newcomer called out, and then in one quick kick-ass motion, she shoved Manik into the meadow before diving in the shadows and rolling into a crouch next to Tag and me. I grabbed her hand. The chances of everything going to shit had suddenly soared.
