Before Karina can give her an assignment, Daria says, “I’m going to do some more research on the computer.”

“Piper,” she asks, “remind me what was Jewel’s last name?”

“Knight.”

“Right,” she says, writing it down on a piece of paper.

The bell rings. “Piper, your job is to figure out what that key of Jewel’s goes to,” Karina says.

“Jeez, I don’t know,” I say, shrugging. “That’s like looking for a needle in a haystack.”

Karina bumps me with her hip. “You can do it. You’re a Firefly Girl.”

Lunchtime. I grab my food and hurry over to our table in the corner.

I only half listen to Jerome and Noah talk about tryouts for track. All morning, most of my brain space has been taken up with that mysterious key and why the heck Jewel and Baby came all the way out here from Kentucky in the first place. I remember how endless that bus ride was from Texas and how scary and confusing it was when we got out at the bus station.

I gasp. A chill runs over me. “Country-Wide bus station!”

Everybody stops talking and looks at me like I’ve gone crazy.

I grab Karina’s arm. “CWS! The key! Country-Wide bus station!”

Karina nods. “That could be right.” I can see the wheels working behind her brown eyes. “That could totally be right.”

“Okay,” Jerome says, “you’ve lost me here. What’s the deal?”

Quickly, I fill them in on the story of Baby and Jewel.

“On the key it says ‘CWS three, number twenty-five,” I explain. “We figure the number twenty-five is a locker number, but we didn’t know what CWS stood for. Until now.”

Noah nods. “I think you’re right. I know some bus stations have lockers.”

“But what does the number three mean?” Luz asks.

We look at each other, brains puzzling and puzzling.

Noah gives me a shy, sideways look. “I know which station number three is.”

“Really?”

He nods. “Me and my big brother came in at that station a few months ago from LA.”

For a second, he doesn’t say anything. Then he says, “We had to leave some stuff in a couple of lockers there until we found a place to stay, over at the Road Home shelter. It’s pretty far away,” he says. “In the south end of the city. We’d need to take the subway there.”

I stand up. “I say we go there, see what’s in that locker.”

Karina blinks. “Now?”

“Well, no,” I say, sitting back down. “After school.”

Karina shakes her head. “I can’t. I have to babysit my sister after school.”

I look at Jerome. He frowns. “Tryouts for track are after school today. I really want to go.”

“Noah, please say you can go.” I’ve never ridden on a subway. The thought of it makes me kind of sick.