“Just turn it off,” she said. “Maybe it’ll correct.”

Eden’s phone dinged another text. She read it aloud: “Tell Marwan it will not correct until the situation is corrected.”

Marwan said, “What’s that supposed to mean?”

Another ding. “It says, ‘Tell Marwan I will speak with him later.’ ”

He groaned.

“I’ll go back for it,” Eden said, and turned, but he reached out and grabbed her arm. “No,” he said. “Just don’t.”

She nodded; he released her arm.

Slipping his phone into his bag and then straddling his bike, he put on his helmet. It was good that he wore one even though she knew too well it didn’t always save you. “I’m really sorry,” he said. “But I’ve got to get to work.”

“Okay,” she said. Then she braved, “Talk later?”

He nodded and took off.

The shadows of people up on the platform were having a party on the balcony of a building across the street. Eden headed up the stairs and tried to think of something—anything but this—that she could talk about in therapy. Maybe Julian. But what would she even say that wouldn’t make her sound pathetic?

Marwan

MARWAN

Marwan unlocked the restaurant’s metal gate and lifted it, then unlocked the front door and brought in his bike and turned on lights and opened the garden-facing windows. He liked opening up on weekdays—they only served lunch on weekends—because he usually had at least a few minutes to himself here when he did. He got himself a glass of water and took his phone out, and it wasn’t hot anymore; he turned it on again and it seemed to be booting up fine. So he started taking upside-down chairs off tables while he waited for it. When it rebooted, he’d put on the next beauty queen episode and text Eden and make sure she hadn’t gone back for it.

It had been the right thing, abandoning it.

Probably whoever owned the device would ping its GPS tracker and go retrieve it. Maybe they would never find out what it actually was or where it came from, but at least it wasn’t his problem anymore.

School tomorrow would be normal. Maybe a bit boring by comparison, sure, but normal. Maybe he’d think of a reason to keep talking to Eden, or maybe the four of them would retreat to their usual corners and that would be the end of it. Resuming episode.

His phone dinged.

The text said: Aizel’s mad.

Who is this?

Eli.

Guy needed to get a life.

It’s not a person. It can’t get mad.

Seems mad. Says it’s messing with your phone.

My phone is fine, Marwan wrote back. But then he went to the home screen and looked around and opened his contacts (gone) and photos (gone). The Stitcher app was also gone.

Whatever.