I hefted my backpack higher on my shoulders and tugged on Jed’s and Aidan’s packs, pulling them with me to the side of the shed—Sam followed.

“What?” Jed said, “Fred, what is it?”

“It’s Nora.”

“You don’t know it’s her they’re looking for,” Jed said, as the four of us peered around the bike shed to where she was standing across the street.

Sam and I both gave him a look, and Jed nodded a little reluctantly. “But it probably is,” he agreed.

“What are we going to do?” Aidan asked, once we’d pulled our heads back. We’d told him at lunchtime what Penny had said about someone being missing from the haven, and then we’d all heard the scream of those sirens. . . .

I looked at each of them staring back at me but also waiting for me to say something. To make a decision. To lead the way.

And I can’t describe it exactly, except to say that Luca had been right—about the compass inside us that points the way. It was like that needle spun on my heart, and from one breath to the next, I knew what I had to do. I just hoped the boys would help me, that their own compasses would point the same way.

“She’s here to see Mr. Khouri,” I said. “She has to be. They’ve been working together and it’s the only reason that’d make sense! Sam, Aidan, you need to find him and tell him, somewhere private where no one else can hear, and then get him to wait in the Skeleton room for us.”

Sam and Aidan nodded, and I told them to go—hurry!

Then it was Jed and me.

“We can’t make this a big deal. We have to act totally normal.” I said. And then we were heading toward the crosswalk, and the crossing guard blew his whistle for us, and by then Nora must have spotted me because she’d turned her back to us and wandered over to the other side of the footpath.

“Çkemi,” I said when I came to stand beside her.

Nora had her arms wrapped around her middle, but when I said that she eased them a little and turned to me, smiling sadly.

“Hello,” she said, and I could see she’d been crying.

“Are you here to see Mr. Khouri?” I asked, and Nora nodded. I could feel Jed shuffling his feet nervously behind us, then the crossing guard blew his whistle again in two sharp bursts that made Nora jump.

“They’re looking for you, aren’t they?” I asked. She took a deep breath and nodded her head again.

I put my hand out—palm up—and Nora looked down at it, blinking back more tears. “Falemenderit. Thank you,” she said, and took it.