Page 137 of All the way home

Dazed, he texts Kieran—his texts from earlier are still there, he’s real.

hey my phone is about to die

going on the hunt for a charger

if you guys are at the gate i’ll mind my business tho dw

but yeah just a heads up if you come back and i’m gone

i’m not skipping out on you

:)

For a full four seconds, he stares at the smiley face, wincing. Stupid. It’s stupid. Kieran will probably think it’s dumb.

With a fervent prayer to the universe that the smiley face will not be the thing that brings Kieran to his senses, Zach starts walking back to the gate.

Emerging from the darkness back into the brightly lit terminal feels like a rebirth into a different world. Outside, Zach can see through the windows—can actually see the flashing lights of the tarmac, the glowing dots of plane windows.

The snow has stopped.

Flinching against the sudden onslaught of light and sound, Zach follows the signs back to C53, heart still racing.

How is this real? Could he have imagined this? Could he have invented someone like Kieran in his head?

When he gets back to the gate, Lucas is still there, alone. He blinks up from his book in surprise. “Uh, hello?”

“Hi.”

“Where’s Kieran?”

Zach bends down to unzip his backpack, at once feeling just as awkward as he usually does, on uncertain ground. “Um. I’m not sure.”

“Yikes.” Lucas’s eyebrows arch. “So he’s done it again, then?”

“Done . . .” Zach trails off aimlessly, straightening. “Again?”

“The Kieran thing,” Lucas explains, almost absently.

“. . . He has a thing?”

Lucas looks up. “I just meant he doesn’t exactly have a wonderful track record. I’m sorry if he hurt you.”

Oh, Jesus. Zach’s rib cage is too tight.

“What do you mean, track record?” he asks.

“Do you want to know what he did to my cousin?” Lucas asks.

This feels dangerously like choosing to listen to a siren. Like spotting a will-o’-the-wisp and knowing exactly how treacherous the landscape is going to be and being unable to resist the pull.

Zach, hating himself, hating everything, says, “Tell me.”

Lucas lets his book fall closed and leans forward. “So, this summer, my cousin comes up from the States, and I introduce him to Kieran. They get along like a house on fire right away, obviously.”

There’s something sickeningly pointed about the way he says it.

Zach’s stomach lurches.