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It was up near an aquatics park thatand jerked back awake ht, wake up wake up wake up Cole needed to finally be able to recharge after the two hellish weeks we’d had on the run in Los Angeles I could handle this I could at least stay awake until we had to stop again for gas

The light di even earlier behind the silver storn for the recreation area sees there seeaveto play with, at least, while I watched the road

PGJRPaul, George, John, and Ringoparrot, giraffe, jaguar, rabbitpistol, Glock, Jericho, rifle

HBFBHazel, Bigwig, Fiver, Blackberryhash browns, bacon, flapjacks, bran flakesHarrisonburg, Bedford, Fairfax, Bristol

Below that line of initials was another faint one I slowed the truck, squinting through the sheet of rain at it The downpour had nearly carried the letters away, but I could still see the faintest hint of KLZH

KiaLexusZ-soHondaOkay, that one didn’t exactly work Kansas, Led Zeppelin, ZZ Top, The Hollies Damn, Z was hard--zebras, zoo, zero, zilch, and Zu And that was it That was all , Liam, Zu, Hina Oh--Kylie, Kylie from East River, that worked Kylie, Liam, Zu, Hina Or even Kylie, Lucy, Zu, and Hina--

The air whooshed through the vents, louder now that my mind was completely still and silent It filled e, hard enough for the sound to reachout the naain until I felt alaroo, lion, zebra, hyena, but I couldn’t shake the fizzing sensation in , then we couldn’t have been far behind them And if they kne to follow the code, then they werethey had to be froroup of kids actually leave East River, and that had been Zu’s group

Stop it, I thought, sucking down a long gulp of the air coh the vents I reached over to turn the heat up slightly, trying to drive out the chill There were other kids, plenty of other kids, with those sairl had been, if it was Zu’s group, then there should have been a T there for Talon, the teen boy who’d gone with them I tried to call up each of their faces, but Kylie, Lucy, Talon, and Hina were blank Weird how I could remember their hair, the way they’d worn their black bandanas, the sound of their voices, but not what any of them really looked like My mind had blocked out so ainst the pain, it all ht as well have happened to a different person

But Zu--I re about Zu, fro to each freckle across her nose

Out of the corner of n with directions to the nearby freeway that was counting down the miles to the next city One was the crescent ht--east--not straight ahead like the others

I switched the truck’s headlights on, letting them flood the clusters of trees on either side of the road I started to pull the truck over onto the shoulder, wishing I had some other way to talk to Liam and Chubs, but I stopped h on Lia him this thrill only to have it ripped away seemed especially cruel Chubs could bear the disappointment, but LiamI didn’t want to see his face fall when it all turned out to be nothing I’d already let him down so many times, in so many ways I couldn’t add this to the list

But there was that s, what if it is her, though?

Kylie, Lucy, Zu, and Hina KLZH

This was dangerous--this was letting ical quality of working out It could unfold in a way that’s so ined

That paint--it’d been fresh enough to run under the insistent stroke of rain, hadn’t it? They couldn’t have been that far ahead

Don’t do this to yourself, I thought We were farther north than where Liaht her uncle’s ho Talon’s T Maybe it was exhaustion, or desperation, or some kind of need to prove that life could sonore it

What was the risk in following this trail through, just to see aiting for us at the end? What if this was the one chance we’d ever have of finding her?

Jude would have done it With him, it wouldn’t have even been a debate

I still felt crazy taking the next right, and clearly the others felt the same way Vida tapped the horn, a quiet question It was a dark access road, not even paved The truck settled into the h the fresh tracks left by another set of tires The overgrown trees lining the road were gnarled and twisted into each other; I kept the truckbranches and ripping away leaves

It was that noise, not the earlier, inquiring honk from the other car, that finally shook Cole out of his two-hour nap I saw hi to clear up the disorientation brought on by such a deep sleep