‘I don’t know,’ Jake said, as we pulled up the driveway. ‘All I know is, I was catching some pretty heavy-duty Z’s, when all of a sudden Dave is all over me, telling me we have to go down to the school and find you. How’d you know she was down there, anyway, Dave?’

David’s face was unnaturally white even in the moonlight. ‘I don’t know,’ he said, quietly. ‘I just had a feeling.’

I turned to look at him, hard. But he wouldn’t meet my eye.

That kid, I thought. That kid knows.

But I was too tired to talk about it just then. We snuck into the house, relieved that the only occupant who woke upon our entrance was Max, who wagged his tail and tried to lick us as we made our way to our rooms. Before I slipped into mine, I looked over at David just once, to see if he wanted – or needed – to say anything to me. But he didn’t. He just went into his room and shut his door, a scared little boy. My heart swelled for him.

But only for a second. I was too tired to think of anything much but bed – not even Jesse. In the morning, I told myself, as I peeled off my dusty clothes. I’ll talk to him in the morning.

I didn’t, though. When I woke up, the light outside my windows looked funny. When I lifted my head and saw the clock, I realized why. It was two o’clock in the afternoon. All the morning fog had burned away, and the sun was beating down as hard as if it were July, and not January.

‘Well, hey, there, sleepyhead.’

I squinted in the direction of my bedroom door. Andy stood there, leaning against the door frame with his arms folded across his chest. He was grinning, which meant I probably wasn’t in trouble. What was I doing in bed at two o’clock in the afternoon on a school day, then?

‘Feeling better?’ Andy wanted to know.

I pushed the bedcovers down a little. Was I supposed to be sick? Well, that wouldn’t be hard to fake. I felt as if someone had dropped a ton of bricks on my head.

Which, in a way, I suppose they had.

‘Uh,’ I said. ‘Not really.’

‘I’ll get you some aspirin. I guess it all caught up with you, huh? The jet lag, I mean. When we couldn’t wake you up this morning, we decided just to let you sleep. Your mom said to tell you she’s sorry, but she had to go to work. She put me in charge. Hope you don’t mind.’

I tried to sit up. It was really hard. Every muscle in my body felt as if it had been pounded on. I pushed some hair out of my eyes and blinked at him. ‘You didn’t have to,’ I said. ‘Stay home on my account, I mean.’

Andy shrugged. ‘It’s no big deal. I’ve barely had a chance to talk to you since you got here, so I thought we could catch up. You want some lunch?’