“Can we talk?”

“Um.” He smiled awkwardly. “I guess.”

Eden waited for him to get up, then walked out onto the sidewalk, holding the door for him as he followed.

“I wanted to clear the air,” she said. “In person.”

“Okay?” he said, like he had no idea what she was talking about.

“Asking people to send them sexy pics or whatever is gross.”

Julian made a face and looked away, like he was amused.

“Coming on to people and then acting like it never happened is also gross,” she said.

“I thought you were into me.” He looked like he might just walk away.

“But you weren’t into me. So why even ask for the pic so many times?”

He shrugged. “I don’t know.”

She shook her head and studied him for traces of whatever it was she’d initially found attractive in him.

“Are we done?” he asked finally.

“Yeah, we’re done, Julian,” she said, and he went back into Starbucks.

She got out her phone and earbuds and thought about listening to her dad’s voice mail, which had been restored to her phone, presumably right before the device imploded, but instead she opened Spotify and went to the playlist called “Current Faves.” After some serious help from Gmail and Spotify she’d gotten them all back, and now they were on her own account. The last two tracks her father had favorited before he’d died were at the top—one was called “Pain”; the other, “The Day Will Be Mine.”

Svetlana was suddenly there. It was as if a unicorn had walked up to her.

“What are you staring at?” Svetlana asked.

“Nothing,” Eden said, taking one of her earbuds out again.

“Ilanka told me about that thing you guys had. How you thought I was dead.”

“I’m glad you’re not.”

“Me, too.” Svetlana laughed awkwardly. “Obviously. But it’s gone, right?”

“Yes,” Eden said. “It’s gone.”

Svetlana just nodded and walked off, and Eden started on her way, too. Whatever Aizel had meant when she’d said, “You wouldn’t believe the things I’m capable of,” well, Eden didn’t want to know. She only knew that the next time she got a flight out of LaGuardia, she’d get a window seat and look down at that spot with the tall reeds, where life had become this completely insane, out-of-control thing. She’d think how maybe, when it was all said and done, it had been a little bit—just maybe the tiniest bit—fun.

Looking at the song titles again, she put her earbud back in for the walk home. She picked “The Day Will Be Mine” because the idea felt right.

Ilanka

ILANKA