Pulse

about it.”
    Hawk started pouring syrup onto his totally uneaten pancake.
    “You’ve got a little lake forming there,” Faith said, pointing her spoon in the direction of Hawk’s plate. Hawk set down the syrup bottle and cut a corner of pancake free, stabbing it with his fork. He swirled it around in circles in the slop on his plate, which made him look like he was high or stupid or both.
    “Forget I asked,” Faith said, shaking her head and standing to leave.
    “No, it’s cool. Really, I just—well, I just hope you’re not in any trouble is all.”
    A kid Hawk’s size always had a certain level of paranoia, sort of like a Chihuahua trying to make a go of it in a family of four or five people without getting stepped on. But the pressure was definitely getting to him. Word in the halls was that Wade Quinn was looking for him; and whatever he wanted, it might involve rearranging Hawk’s face. And now Faith was asking questions he wasn’t sure how to answer.
    “How would I know if I’d been given a Wire Code?” Faith asked quietly, sitting back down and leaning over the table toward Hawk.
    “You’d know.”
    “How?” Faith asked. “Are there side effects? Like, is it possible I’d forget stuff?”
    “Maybe. The first time can be unpredictable. How much does it feel like you can’t remember?”
    Faith shifted in her seat uncomfortably. She hated talking about her symptoms even more than having to grovel for information.
    “Honestly? I can’t remember anything from the night with Wade. It’s a total loss.”
    Hawk understood more than he was saying. He knew the only way blank-slate memory loss occurred was if a person took a second Wire Code before the first one wore off. He also knew a dosage of that level, especially for a newbie, could cause irreparable brain damage. And there were other side effects, too.
    No wonder she hadn’t come to school for a week.
    “Have you had headaches, right here?” Hawk asked, touching the center of his forehead.
    “Yeah, feels like someone hit me with a hammer.”
    “Thirsty?”
    “Totally,” Faith said, and to prove it, she drank all the extra milk in her bowl and licked off the milk mustache.
    Hawk didn’t ask anything else, but Faith could tell she had her answer by the way all the color drained out of his face and he wouldn’t look at her.
    “So Wade gave me a Wire Code; you’re sure?”
    “I don’t know who gave it to you. But yeah, you had a Wire Code. No doubt.”
    Faith was angrier than she could remember ever being in her life. She wanted to find Wade Quinn and slap him across the face.
    “That’s what I thought,” Faith said. Her voice shook with frustration at what she’d let happen to her. “Why would Wade do that to me?”
    Hawk had a pretty good idea, but he didn’t think it would help the situation to tell Faith what it was.
    “I don’t know,” he chose to answer, because it was the only marginally safe thing to say. His stomach churned as he looked at the puddle of syrup on his plate. When he glanced up again, Faith had already left. Hawk couldn’t stop thinking about the fact that it was the second Wire Code in quick succession, not the first, that made a person lose their memory. He’d told the Quinns never to do that because it was risky. The things a person did after experiencing two Wire Codes could be unpredictable and at times violent.
    What was Wade Quinn trying to hide?

Chapter 10
The Smallest Guy in the Room
    Hawk found Wade before Faith did.
    “Why’d you do it?” Hawk asked. Wade was alone on the practice field, holding a metal handle attached to a four-foot-long chain. An iron ball, which was sitting in the grass, was attached to the end of the chain.
    “Busy here,” Wade said, not looking up as he swayed back and forth. “I’ll have to rearrange your face in a second.” The hammer throw was Clara’s best event, but Wade was having some trouble mastering it. Working with the hammer always put him in a bad mood.
    “My finger is hovering over a SEND button,” Hawk said, undeterred as he stood his ground a few feet away. “It’s not the kind of message you want going out.”
    Wade shifted his gaze from the iron ball in the grass to straight up the length of the long, rarely used football field. “You know how far it is to the other end?”
    Hawk felt a cool breeze blow against his shaggy hair, sending a chill through his body. “I can ruin you, Wade Quinn. Just tell me why you gave Faith two