She rolled her eyes and slipped her phone back into her pocket. It was just like Declan to not bother texting her back for twelve hours, even though her last text had literally read: text me so I know you’re not dead.

Maisie sat down next to Hadley. The room was starting to fill up, but Declan wasn’t there. She wondered if he’d been invited.

Maisie leaned closer to Hadley, speaking softly. “You know I’m on your side, right?”

Hadley turned to her, clearly surprised.

“I’m on your side. I don’t know if this is going to turn into a Declan-versus-Lopez-supporter thing, but I’m with you guys. I just want you to know that.”

Hadley smiled, then bumped her shoulder against Maisie’s. “I know.”

“Good.”

“I think Declan’s going to be very disappointed to hear that, though.”

Maisie just shrugged. She couldn’t argue. Declan always had been oblivious—or indifferent—to her feelings about most everything.

“I told you not to date him,” Hadley said, barely suppressing a smile.

“Are you ever going to stop reminding me of that?”

“Nope.”

Maisie watched as more people streamed in. Alan and Leticia, also Hadley’s cousins, walked into the room. Leticia’s arm was in a cast, her face bruised. She’d had a close call yesterday.

Alan nodded at Hadley before glancing down at Maisie.

“Your arm looks weird,” he said.

“Your face looks weird,” she retorted. Hadley snorted.

Beto walked to the center of the room, his face grim. Silence fell over the crowd.

“It’s true that my dad is still unconscious,” he said. “But it’s because he’s in a medically induced coma. The doctors expect to bring him out of it within the next few hours.”

Maisie released a slow breath. That was better news than she’d been expecting.

“I’ve heard from Declan, and he’s fine,” Beto continued.

A few people looked around the room, like they were expecting Declan to be there.

“Why would you lie about Uncle Franco?” Hadley asked. She was slumped down on the couch, arms crossed over her chest.

“I was trying to keep everyone calm,” Beto said. “The doctors told me they were optimistic. People hear the word coma and think the worst.”

“Half of us are doctors, jackass,” Hector said.

Beto reddened. “Well, the other half aren’t. Not to mention all the people we’re trying to keep safe.”

“Speaking of, are we going to go after the fucking Reapers?” Leticia asked. “They executed a coordinated hit on the family.”

“Yes. We should do that now,” Beto said. “Julio, take some guys and—”

“Wait, wait,” Maisie interrupted. “You can’t just roll over to the Reapers now. They did serious damage, and they’ll be expecting us. You need to do some recon, coordinate the attack so you don’t lose even more people.”

Beto shifted from foot to foot. He was trying to appear confident, but Maisie knew him too well. He kept lifting his hand to his mouth to bite his fingernails, and then quickly stopping himself.

“She’s right,” Julio said. “Do you have a plan? Or do you just want us to roll in there, guns blazing?”