“We need to figure it out,” Zach says. “We should be the ones to decipher it.”

Daniel looks to Zach, as if trying to read what he’s not saying in the set of his jaw and distance in his eyes. “I love you, Zach,” Daniel says. “But you’re still Eric’s son. I’m not sure the code is safer in your hands than in his.”

“Danny!” Lynell exclaims, head whipping in his direction. “Zach is not his father.” She turns her attention back to her cousin and a sympathetic ache fills her chest at the look of betrayal in his eyes. “You’re not your father.”

Zach blinks and clears his throat. “He has a point. I am an Elysian.”

“So am I.”

“No you’re not,” Daniel says. His mouth is still pressed into an angry frown, and Lynell scowls at him.

“Yes, I am. Just because you don’t like it, doesn't make it not true.”

Daniel flicks his eyes away from Lynell. She sees the familiar war in his face. The one between kindness and anger. As always, kindness wins.

His shoulders relax and his face softens. “I’m sorry, Zach,” Daniels says. “I know you’re not your dad. But . . . the idea that anyone could control the Registration and make it even worse makes me want to scream.”

“You may not believe me, but it makes me want to scream too,” Zach says. “I don’t want to help you decipher the code because I want to use it. I want to help because it’s Lynell’s to know. And because someone once told me to choose good.”

Lynell wanted to get straight into code-breaking mode but Zach insisted that just in case they needed to run without warning, they should be prepared. So, he gave Daniel directions to a strip mall to get hair dye, clothing, food, and a burner phone.

“Why do we need a burner phone?” Lynell had asked.

“I have a buddy still working for my dad. We can trust him, I promise. I’ll tell him to call if he hears anything suspicious.”

“Suspicious?” Daniel asked.

“Say my father finds out about Anna. I’d just like him to be able to contact me if needed.”

“In that case, I should call Mother Adella and ask her to tell us if anyone comes asking about me or Anna,” Lynell said. At the men’s confused looks, she adds, “Mother Adella was the head nun at the halfway house. I know I can trust her and if I ask her to, she’ll call us to give us a heads-up.”

So, they wrote a list of what to get, and Daniel, being the least recognizable of them, left to buy it all.

“Not too short!” Lynell says, dodging the scissors Zach extends as he cuts her hair. “I don’t want to look like a little boy.”

“If a haircut makes you look like a little boy, then you have more to worry about.”