Pulse

was useful. A little fantasizing about watching your tormentor suffer was fine, but that sort of thinking can get to be a problem if it becomes a habit. Hawk had thought of a thousand ways to ruin Wade Quinn’s life since arriving at Old Park Hill. They’d both been there longer than Faith or Liz, and somehow they’d fallen into each other’s orbit. Wade had gotten a taste for Wire Codes at his old school, and he knew from experience that it would be the really smart, socially awkward kid who would have the skill to get it done.
    “Never made one,” Hawk had said the first time Wade asked him to make a Wire Code, which wasn’t exactly true. As a Tablet hacker of some renown, he’d played around with Wire Codes purely to see if he could make them. They were a witch’s brew of crazy codes and hidden sites; and while no two of them were exactly alike, they all shared the same foundational coding designed to set the mind on fire.
    “I tell you what,” Wade had said as he stared down at Hawk during their first encounter. “Give it a shot. I’ll pay twenty Coin just to see what you come up with.”
    Wade Quinn was the biggest badass Hawk had ever encountered in his life, and he could tell from experience that he was an alpha male of the highest order. This was the kind of guy who could literally destroy a kid like Hawk, but Wade was also that rare beast who could carry a kid like Hawk up the social ladder. Associating with the likes of Wade Quinn, especially in the form of something that instantly created dirt on the guy, had a certain appeal.
    “No promises, but I can try,” Hawk had said. “Give me a couple of weeks.”
    “Let’s say tomorrow instead,” Wade replied.
    By this time Hawk’s awkward nervousness had taken full bloom, and he yammered on for another few seconds before Wade walked away without so much as a good-bye. By 4 a.m. that same night, Hawk had created his first functioning Wire Code, a real junker; but he was able to deliver it the next day.
    “Be careful with that thing,” Hawk had said, only half joking. “It’s radioactive. I really have no idea what it will do to your brain.”
    Wade had tapped out the transaction for twenty Coin on his Tablet, transferring the funds to one of Hawk’s many untraceable accounts, and Hawk slipped the Wire Code necklace into Wade’s hand. The deed was done. Hawk, the geeky quiet kid, was officially a drug dealer.
     
    Standing outside of Faith’s window at midnight wasn’t something Hawk had planned to do; but there was something he had to show her, and it couldn’t wait any longer. A week had passed since the incident on the football field, and he’d reverted back to his quietness, not talking to anyone at school and avoiding eye contact with the people he knew. It was an unusually cool night as he looked into Faith’s window, trying to decide how to wake her. He wasn’t fully aware that Faith’s parents weren’t in the picture, so as far as he was concerned, ringing the doorbell wasn’t an option. He was thinking of tapping on the glass when she began to stir.
    He watched her roll over and pull the thin covers up to her chin, curling into a tight ball in her sleep. Then the door to her closet began to open slowly, and he ducked low against the windowpane. At first he thought there might be a dog or a cat in the house, or worse, a coyote, which had been known to roam the valley. But how would a coyote get into Faith’s closet? She’d never said anything about having a pet, either.
    Hawk peered over the sill of the window, cupping his hands to his eyes for a better view through the shiny glass. What he saw made no sense, and he began to wonder if he was tired enough to be seeing things that weren’t there. It was true he hadn’t slept very much in the past few days, but he’d never hallucinated before.
    A folded blanket was hovering a few feet over Faith’s bed, and as Hawk watched, it began to unfold. A few seconds later the blanket was all the way flat, hanging in the air like a big magic carpet.
    Hawk couldn’t help himself from banging on the glass, because he cared for Faith and he somehow imagined the blanket was about to smother her. He watched as Faith stirred awake and rolled over onto her back. As she did, the blanket fell, landing softly over her entire body before she opened her eyes and looked around like someone might be in the room with her.
    Hawk tapped on the glass once more and waved moronically, hoping Faith