Aria had taken again to the streets. When Taylor offered to talk Dan into letting her stay with them, she had lied that she was going to follow Luke and everyone else. Instead, she headed in the direction of the Super Sun Market. She planned to wait across the street for him to emerge from the store in the morning.

Omkar was locked in the kind of dream that would make no sense upon waking, despite it being all too logical and real while he was in it. The low, repetitive buzz of the vibrator on his phone eventually drew him out of it.

“Hello, sir, this is Officer Hawkes. I have an Aria Abbott here,” the pleasant male voice told him. “Sir, am I correct in understanding that you have assumed responsibility for Aria while she is in town?”

“Yes, sir,” Omkar replied automatically. Having been taught well to fear authority, Omkar was hardly breathing. He listened like a soldier, waiting for orders.

“Sir, I don’t know if you’re aware but we have a curfew for anyone under eighteen. They cannot be out between 10pm and sunrise unless accompanied by an adult. Can you tell me your exact address?”

Not wanting his parents to be involved, Omkar recited the numbers belonging to a house three doors down from the store. Hearing the address, Officer Hawkes realized that the address was only six blocks away. As far as Officer Hawkes was concerned, because he was wasting his time doing juvenile sweeps anyway, instead of going through the hassle involved with taking her into the station or driving her the six blocks to the house, he decided to delegate the task. “Sir, I’m gonna have to ask you to come pick her up,” Officer Hawkes said. “I can’t let her out of my custody until an adult can come get her.”

“OK, sir, I can definitely do that. Where can I pick her up?” Omkar asked, listening to the policeman relay their whereabouts, with the phone pressed between his cheek and shoulder so he could swiftly get dressed. When Officer Hawkes hung up, Omkar climbed out of his second-story window and dangled off of the ledge of the windowsill before dropping in order to avoid waking his parents up.