One and a half rings, and the person on the other end picked up.

“Hey, Presley,” the voice came through. Young.

“Lookout.”

“Yeah. Sorry. I saw the call go through, but Victoria can’t answer.”

“She’s… she took the drug?”

The voice on the other end made an amused sound. “Not a drug, but yeah. I see on my computer here that Eric made it to where you are. He just filled you in, I guess.”

“Why?” Presley asked. “There had to be other ways.”

“We tried most of them. Think of it like a sickness. We realized we couldn’t do it on our own, like someone with cancer who needs chemo, so we reached out for help. We’re trusting you. Some really didn’t and we had to deal with that, and some didn’t but came around, or saw this as a heroic sacrifice. But others, like me, I trust you guys.”

“I don’t know if we deserve that trust,” Presley told Lookout. She thought of the voices. The sentiment.

“You guys trusted us a lot, letting us do our thing even when we messed up. I definitely made some embarrassing mess-ups, believe me, haha! You gave us second chances. But listen… Presley, we love you, I love you, it’s fun getting the messages and fanart, but I’ve got like an hour of work to do and only twenty minutes to do it, maybe, so—”

“You took it?”

“Haha, yeah. I did say I trust you. I truly, one hundred percent believe people are good, Presley. I love people. I know this will be okay… and I’m not sure we have enough. The red light’s still shining and the cracks and crystallization is spreading, so I’m going to contribute my point-one percent.”

“No.”

“Already done, Prez. And we are going to hang out again. I’d stake my life on it.”

Presley’s mouth opened, but words didn’t come out.

“That was a joke. Imp’s rubbing off on me. Um! But okay, I’m going to patch you through, but I really, really, really have to get work done. See you later! Don’t tell Natalie what I did!”

“Lookout—”

The phone had already crackled. Now it rang.

Presley blinked several times.

On the fourth ring, this time, there was an answer.

“Natalie Matteson here. Who’s calling?”

“Presley,” Presley said, her voice tight with emotion.

“Oh, honey.” Presley could hear the noise of a car in the background.

“I shouldn’t call you if you’re driving. I didn’t want her to bother you.”

“It’s okay,” Natalie said. “I’m on my way to a settlement. My car is… turns out it’s terrible for driving on roads like these. I’m getting a ride. Where are you? Who gave the presentation?”

“E—I forget his first name. Kingston.”

“Eric?”

“Yeah.”

“How did he do?”