“I’m twelve,” he protested.
“Well, that changes everything,” I said dryly.
Peter looked down at his knees. He seemed to be expecting a scolding.
I nudged him gently with my shoulder. “Come on. As someone who hijacked her first car at fifteen. How’d you’d do it?”
His gaze swept up to meet mine, startled by my confession. “First trip up, my tablet was dead. I asked the driver if I could use his phone to text my parents.” He shrugged. “They’re not supposed to come out of the cabin during trips, but I cried a little. So he let me borrow his phone. I… downloaded some malware onto it. Gave me access to all his passwords. From there, I could get all the drivers’ passwords, then lock them out.”
I couldn’t help but laugh. “And why here?” I asked, nodding toward the river.
“My dad asked my mom to marry him here,” said Peter. “I looked up the location once, and it was pretty. I wanted to see it.” A bitterness beyond his years crept into his voice. “I kept hijacking the buses because I thought my parents would notice. Maybe one of them would worry when it was late. They would care. But neither of them did.”
He hugged his knees a little tighter to his chest. Probably for effect, the little con artist. I grinned at him.
“Am I in trouble?” he asked.
“You’re going to have to answer some questions,” I said.
“But are people going to be mad?” he asked.
“Actually,” I said, “I think a very nice recruiter is probably going to visit your parents in the next fewdays. You could get your education paid for, have a career waiting for you when you graduate. If that’s what you want. And if it isn’t…” I handed the tablet back to him and looked out at the river. Green grass flourished beside the river and I saw a few fish darting between the rocks. A small oasis in a scorched land.
I said, “Next time, order a different ice cream flavor.”
9
I have to leave Nonna’s apartment.
Well, first I use the bathroom. The last thing I need is to be distracted at a high-stakes moment. And then I make for the door.
When I pass through the living room, I see Eames sitting on the love seat beside Piper. Her face is pressed into his shoulder and he’s murmuring quiet reassurances.
They’re both terrified, even if Eames hides it well. Their fear sharpens my own determination—I won’t let anything happen to them.
As my fingers alight on the doorknob, I hear a familiar voice. “Are you sure you should be doing this?”
I glance over my shoulder. Nonna stands a few feet away, her arms crossed. “Doing what?”
“Going out there,” says Nonna quietly. “The smart thing would be to wait for the authorities.”
I give her a rueful smile. “Would you believe me if I said this wasn’t the worst situation I’ve ever been in?”
Nonna’s gaze skims over me and I realize belatedly that I’ve allowed the left sleeve of my arm to ride up. One of my scars peeks through. I tug down my sleeve.
A frown crosses Nonna’s face—but it’s mostly concern.
“Whoareyou?” she says.
The question stings. Even if it is meant rhetorically, it still hurts. Because the truth is, she doesn’t know me. She knew the girl that once dwelled within my bones. A girl who looked at the world as something to conquer, something to enjoy, something that could be hers.
I’m not that girl.
Not anymore.
“Lock the door behind me,” I say, and slip outside.
And then I stand in a shadow-drenched hallway. Red illumination softly pulses from the emergency lights.
