Just when Zadie thought the nightmare was over, Finn threw one of her cryptic curveballs. “It was real,” she gasped. Finn may have not wandered onto the highway, but hearing her talking like she’d just stumbled out of Narnia didn’t exactly put Zadie’s mind at ease. “What was real?”

“The motorcycle.”

“I don’t understand.”

Finn wasn’t sure where to begin. This particular memory of her mother’s was different from the others. It had a sense of urgency to it. Her heart was still racing from the moment she—or rather, Nora—had stolen that motorcycle.

The echo had begun in the very parking lot they were standing in. The bass from the music playing inside the bar thrummed like a beehive. Finn/Nora had a set of keys in her hand that didn’t belong to her, keys she’d sweet-talked a deliriously drunk man into giving her so he wouldn’t try to drive home. She may have been stealing his bike, but she might have also saved his life. At least that’s what she told herself when she climbed on and revved up the engine.

Desperate times … She knew there was a second half to the saying, but she couldn’t remember what it was. Her mind was spotty. One second she was there and the next—well, she wasn’t sure where she went in between. The only thing that grounded her was an unflinching instinct telling her to go, go, go. Go where? Finn/Nora couldn’t remember what had happened to her car. This bike was the only thing that could get her back on the highway, and she needed to be back on the highway before it was too late. It’s getting worse.

When she was finished recounting the echo, Finn looked up at her sister. “Then I heard you calling my name.” She could still feel the phantom tremor of the bike’s engine coursing through her muscles. She looked back at the motorcycle. In the side-view mirror, Nora peered back at her. Finn blinked and her mom’s face was replaced with her own reflection. “I—Mom was scared. Like she was running from something.”

“What would she be running from?” Nora wasn’t perfect, but as far as Zadie knew, she hadn’t been involved in anything particularly nefarious.

“I don’t know, but whatever it was, she had to get out of there quick.”

Zadie sighed heavily. “You scared the crap out of me, Finn. Sneaking out, jumping on a stranger’s motorcycle … You could have gotten hurt. Maybe you should try to cool it on the echoes for a while.”

Finn shook her head defiantly. “No way. It’s the best chance we have of finding—”