The guard. You were talking to him, too, that’s what Ramona had said to Kelsey. It had only been in passing. Not a comment that had really stuck with me. But maybe that was the link. That the Wolf had been Kelsey’s way in, when the rest of us wanted out.

“How did you meet her?” I ask.

“She showed up at the house a couple weeks ago trying to get Kelsey to do something with her,” Riel says. “I was her second choice when she found out Kelsey was dead. Like I was going to run off and do whatever she wanted. It sounded like Quentin had tried to use her, too. But she wasn’t looking to help anyone but herself. She was damn good at reading people, though. I’ll give her that. She must have grabbed the book when she was here. And by the way, she added shit to the book. We never wrote about being an Outlier in there. Back then, we didn’t know yet.”

“What did she want you to do?” I ask. Do you think you’re an Outlier too? is what I really want to know. But it seems pointless to risk annoying her when I already know the answer is yes.

“Who knows? I never let her get into specifics,” Riel says. “Some way to ‘cash in’ on being an Outlier. She kept going on and on about how she and I could ‘help each other.’ She must have thought I was pretty fucking stupid—actually, no, I think she was pretty fucking stupid. Running around assuming everyone wants money? I don’t want money.”

“What do you want?” I ask.

She considers the question for a minute. Then turns to stare at me hard.

“Justice,” she says finally. And I feel a flash of disappointment, like she already knows she’s failed.

“Riel, we should go,” Leo says, looking around nervously. “It’s getting late. And with everything going on, I don’t think we should hang around here.”

“But . . .” I start. Please don’t go is all I can think to say. I already know, though, that pleading won’t persuade Riel to do anything. “The other girls. They’re still in that hospital.”

“Riel,” Leo says, impatient. “We should go. Seriously.”

“I know,” she says, walking toward him. Leo and Riel start down the alley, but Riel stops and turns back to me when she’s gotten a few strides away. “Well, don’t just stand there like an asshole. Come on.”

22

NO ONE SPEAKS AS LEO DRIVES US AWAY FROM DELANEY’S AND OUT OF Cambridge. Soon we are on I-93, leaving the city of Boston behind. As the lights shrink in the distance, my chest loosens a little. Even though I know that bigger problems lie ahead and not behind.