A train pulled in and blocked their view—the train’s automated voice said, “Stand clear of the closing doors, please”—and by the time it pulled out again, a student had entered the room and was sitting at a desk by the door.

“Anybody know him?” Eli said.

Eden zoomed in on him, but he didn’t look familiar. “I don’t think so,” she said.

“Not me,” Marwan said.

Another person came into the room, then a third. They all sat down and didn’t seem to interact with the device at all. Then a fourth arrived and they all stood and moved toward the desk.

“Does anybody know any of them?” Eli asked.

“Can’t tell,” Marwan said.

“Take pictures,” Ilanka said; Eden had almost forgotten she was there. “So we at least know what they’re wearing?”

Eden snapped a few. One of the guys picked up the device and put it down. You couldn’t see any messages on it, but probably they were there.

Do not tell anyone about the device.

Do not leave the device unattended.

Eden’s ears pinched against the sound of the fire alarm that followed a few minutes later. Her heart quickened, reliving the moment she’d first seen the words TAKE ME WITH YOU … OR ELSE.

Would one of them be weak like she had been? Would one of them be so full of fear that they’d play along?

Ironically, she was sort of counting on it.

She stood now with the others, as if holding a collective breath, until one of the four in the classroom—a guy in a light gray hoodie—reached for the device and left the room with the others behind him.

Eli was the first to take off running toward the stairs.

Marwan

MARWAN

He and Eden and Eli and Ilanka spread out on the sidewalk near the school doors and watched the frantic exit of dismissal stragglers, exchanging nervous looks in between. They were looking for four people—moving as a group. One guy in a gray hoodie, the other wearing a denim jacket. Then two girls—one in red, the other in blue, if he remembered that right. At least the majority of kids had exited right at dismissal.

“There!” Eli shouted and pointed.

Marwan and Eden met eyes and walked toward Eli together. The four of them surrounded the new four just as one of the girls who’d been in the room said, “So what do we do with it?”

“I can take it,” Eli said, stepping forward.

“Take what?” the guy in gray said.

“The device,” Eli said. “It’s mine.” The guy was eyeing all four of them. “Ours, I mean.”

“What is it?” the girl in red asked.

“It’s a project for a computer class,” Marwan said.

“What computer class?”

“Not a class, a club,” he fumbled. “An advanced programming after-school thing.”

“But what is it?” the girl in red asked again.