Pulse

realizing how hungry she was. She gestured to her new jeans, and Hawk nodded approvingly.
    “Perfect fit. Good thing, because I don’t think they’re returnable.”
    “How about I pay you in eggs?”
    “Deal.”
    As they walked toward the kitchen, Faith wished Liz was there with them. It wasn’t the same without her, and she hadn’t messaged back yet. Faith set her Tablet on the kitchen table and got the eggs out of the fridge. There were four left for the week, but she was fine sharing them.
    “So listen,” Hawk said. He was more fidgety than usual, picking up the salt and pepper shakers and setting them back down again, spinning them around on the flat wood surface. “I’m not sure how you want to handle this. I mean, I don’t want to get all sad on you. Sucks though. Really, really sucks.”
    Faith felt a nervous chill run from her head to her toes and leaned over the sink, sure she was going to vomit.
    “You okay? You don’t look so good.”
    “I’m fine. Just a little tired is all. Late night.”
    What had she done? She must have gotten wasted with Wade or maybe after they parted and gone and made a total ass of herself. She wished more than anything that she could just remember.
    Her Tablet pinged with a message, which only made her more anxious. It would be from Liz, telling her what a loser she was. It was going to take some work to sort this all out, and she wasn’t sure she had the strength to do it. All she really wanted to do was take three aspirins and go back to bed. She picked up one of the four eggs and considered its surface, which made her think of Liz and her obsession with the way things felt. The egg was cold and smooth in her hand. It was oddly comforting against the softness of her palm. She used her free hand to slide her Tablet closer on the kitchen counter, spinning it right side up so she could see who the message was from. There was a long pause, a fragile silence in which the birds could be heard singing outside the open window. The egg slipped out of Faith’s hand and hit the floor, and she felt the clear liquid splash her new jeans.
    Faith looked up at Hawk and finally understood why he was acting so strange.
    “She’s gone.”
    An uncomfortable silence followed before Hawk blurted out, “I thought you knew. I’m sorry.” He didn’t know how to keep going. He wasn’t all that good in social situations involving girls in tight jeans anyway. So he said the only other thing that came to mind and hoped it was enough. “Sucks, right?”
    Faith couldn’t believe the message on her Tablet. She’d been so sure there would be time to make things right with Liz, to talk it all out and get back to where they were. To hold hands and walk to the grade school and read real books. The response to her message told her none of that was going to happen.
Elizabeth Brinn has been moved to the Western State. User account deactivated.
    “She didn’t contact you?” Hawk asked, because he didn’t know what else to say.
    “No, she didn’t,” Faith said.
    And then she turned to the sink and threw up.
     
    Hawk was having some problems of his own, but he knew it wasn’t the right moment to bring it up with Faith. He’d only known her for a few weeks, and yet he could tell she was coming apart at the seams. Any idiot could see that much.
    His Tablet had turned up missing three more times since that first night at the grade school. Each time he would have sworn it was right next to him, only to look over and see that it had vanished into thin air. Each time it was gone a little longer, pushing the limits of his fragile psyche. Either he was slowly losing his mind—a real possibility—or someone was messing with him. He could only think of one person to confront about it, and so he left Faith and found Wade Quinn.
     
    “Look, little man, I don’t know what you’re talking about. Sounds to me like you’ve been doing more than just baking the goods.”
    Wade was a dick; there were no two ways about it as far as Hawk was concerned. But the guy had access to a ton of Coin. He always had a lot of cash in his Tablet account, and he was always happy to spend it.
    “Seriously, are you messing with me?” Hawk asked. “Because I’m not lowering my price again. Wire Codes are tricky. Plus I could get in real trouble, man, like huge.”
    It was not Hawk’s proudest moment, groveling in front of Wade Quinn, who also happened to be his only customer. “Just tell me—are you