Silas turned to face her, and it caught her off guard. Sometimes, in movement, Silas looked exactly like the boy she fell in love with. When he was still, she noticed the way the skin around his eyes had begun to pucker, as if already starting the slow migration into the ground. But when he was in motion, she noticed only his eyes: kindergartners’ sky blue, so fiercely blue that the marker bleeds right through the page. Those hadn’t changed since high school. In fact, they looked even brighter behind his slightly graying hair.

Lily thought about Gavin’s hands on her that afternoon. The way he grabbed for her, reached for her. Like she was the surface and he was drowning.

“What kind of workout did you do?”

Lily’s heart kicked up a notch, but only a notch. Sometimes she wondered which would be worse: to get caught, or not to.

“Treadmill,” she answered.

“You look good.”

He didn’t come near her, but he looked like maybe he wanted to.

“Well, someone’s gotta fix what those monsters of ours did to me,” Lily said, her palm slick on the banister.

“Twenty-five minutes,” Silas said before turning back to the stove.

Lily stopped in front of Sean’s door, listening to the hacks and slashes of the PlayStation. He would hear from her later, she thought. Just as soon as she washed the spit from her thighs.

PEYOTE

MY MONITOR BEEPED, AND I clicked out of the Harrisons’ to check my inbox. It was a Spec Three, my personal favorite. I hadn’t been at this job for too long, but it was long enough to know which people were my favorites. For Hell, I mean. Not for socializing.

I clicked on the message, and the video came up.

“Please,” a girl said, her hands pressed together on the top of a mailbox. The rest of the scene filled in around her: a tree-lined street, dappled sunlight glinting off the windows of big houses. “Please, please let me get in. My mom will kill me if I don’t get in. Please, please, God, or whoever is listening: I’ll do whatever you want if you just let me get in.”

I grabbed my tablet and clicked Confirm.

It was go time.

—

BEFORE I GO ON, I suppose it’s important to know how time works down here.