The restaurant security gate was down—a wall of rolling metal—and the sidewalk sparkled with glass dust. Foot traffic on the street was light, probably because the block was mostly restaurants and it wasn’t really mealtime.

She texted Marwan—I’m here—and he appeared inside and then unlocked and opened the door and raised the gate. The storefront glass nearest the kitchen area was mostly gone, just jagged edges around the rim still in place.

“Hey,” he said.

“Hey,” she said. “That looks dangerous.”

“I know,” he said. “I’m not sure when it’s getting fixed. My dad’s pretty shaken up. We’re closing for a few days.”

“Understandably,” she said. “Is Eli here?”

“On his way.” He pulled the gate halfway down after she stepped into the room.

She wasn’t sure she’d ever been in an empty restaurant and didn’t especially like it. “What happened?” she said.

“A guy saw me and the device in the bathroom and thought it was a bomb. Because look at me. And also, it started another countdown. Like it wanted him to think it was a bomb. Because the countdown is already gone.”

“Who was it?”

“I don’t know him.”

“Where is it now?” she asked.

“Over there,” he said, nodding toward the open kitchen. “It hasn’t done anything since.”

She turned her back to the device, reached into her back pocket, and took out her copy of the plan and held it near her stomach, eyebrows raised.

“Do you think we should go for it now?” Eden asked.

He shook his head no just as Eli ducked under the gate and stepped into the room.

“Hey,” he said, and the feeling of the air, the walls, the lighting all changed.

There had been some kind of tension—push and pull—going on with Marwan. Was that the first time they’d ever been alone? No. They’d been in Panera together and on the roof and that day they’d walked into Astoria Park together and then out. But somehow it felt like a first. Felt like the first time she admitted in a way her brain understood that she was attracted to him.

“Why are we here?” Eli asked.

“I didn’t know where else to go,” Marwan said.

“Wait,” Eli said. “Did the device do this?”

Marwan nodded. “It seemed to want this to happen. It made me take it out of my bag and then started counting down when the guy walked in. It said it didn’t want to be there today.”

Marwan’s phone buzzed and he looked at it. “Shit.”

“What?”

“My father wants to know why the school and the police are asking where I am.”

Eden said, “I thought you didn’t know the guy who saw you.”

Her phone dinged. A text from Julian: Did that guy you hang out with really bring a bomb to school?