Sneak (Swipe Series)

cupped her hands under the running water. She splashed the water onto herself until she was soaking wet. And then she pushed her dripping hands through her hair.
    Mrs. Phoenix looked on in shock.
    “There,” Grandma said, standing in a puddle on the floor. “Now, even if I were wired—which I’m not—it’d be shorted out.”
    Mrs. Phoenix tried to speak, but failed a few times.
    “I want to know what happened to my family, Dianne. I want to know, and I want them back.”
    Mrs. Phoenix looked down at the table for some time, seeing pieces of herself in the rainbow reflections of the soapsuds on its surface. “Then we start at the beginning,” she said, and she held her breath.
    “Go on. Out with it already.”
    The two of them stared at one another for several tense moments. Then Mrs. Phoenix said it, all at once. “Your granddaughter isn’t dead. Lily’s very much alive. Logan’s gone to find her. And my daughter has decided to help.”
    Grandma narrowed her eyes, holding her breath, stepping forward . . . the short-circuiting powder still sparkling all around her . . .
    “You heard of the Dust?” Mrs. Phoenix asked.
    “I’ve heard whispers, in my retirement home. Kids we exclusionists call ‘the great hope.’ I always thought it was nonsense.”
    “It’s not,” Mrs. Phoenix said. “They are the great hope. And they’re led by Daniel.”
    “ Lily’s Daniel? Daniel Peck?”
    “That’s right. Good friends, I remember.”
    “ Friends? Those two kids were crazy about each other! Anyone could’ve seen that.”
    Mrs. Phoenix nodded. “When Lily flunked, it sent Peck over the edge. He started believing the worst, started looking for conspiracies . . . and wouldn’t you know it?” Mrs. Phoenix laughed, stifling another cough. “He actually found one.” She scrubbed the table a few more times, absently. Grandma looked on. “When Hailey’s father died, she took it pretty hard. There were a lot of changes around here, as you know. I had to Pledge, I had to work . . . and about that time—I don’t know if you know this—but about that time, your grandson and my daughter had a bit of a falling-out. Something to do with their friend Dane.”
    “Three’s a hard number,” Grandma said. “Someone’s always left out . . .”
    “Anyway, Hailey was looking for support and not really finding it anywhere. With me at work so much and no one left for her to turn to at school . . . she eventually found the Dust. Found them out on one of those long walks of hers, on Slog Row.
    “I was worried at first about the influence they’d have on her. But I didn’t mind that they were Markless.” Mrs. Phoenix smiled. “I understood the reasons for that well enough.”
    “You mean to tell me,” Grandma said, “that your daughter is a member of this Dust I’ve been hearing about?”
    “That’s right. Since last year, she’s been friends with them, though for the most part she wasn’t participating in any of their . . . activities. That changed fast, though, as Logan and Dane got close to Pledging age. Peck started fearing the worst for them, and . . . well . . . for months, now, Hailey’s spent all her time over there on the Row, doing anything she could to help protect them. One thing’s led to another. And now here we are.”
    “So what’s the conspiracy?” Grandma demanded. “What did DOME do with my granddaughter?”
    Mrs. Phoenix sighed. “Sonya. You’d better sit down.”
    7
    The sun was almost at its highest point in the sky, and the Dust was still riding on Papa’s raft. By now, Peck had explained to them the idea of the Unmarked River, had described its symbols, its system, and its people to the Dust.
    “I don’t like this game,” Tyler had said. “Too many ways to lose.” But under the circumstances, each had agreed there was no better way forward. So throughout the night, the Dust took turns steering their new raft with a long stick, determined to ride until they found some sign of the next “anchor,” whenever that might be.
    It was Eddie who broke the day’s silence. “After all that,” he said. “After all that, we’re just leaving Logan behind.”
    “We’re not leaving anyone behind,” Peck said, pushing the raft around a cluster of rocks and trying hard to fight his exhaustion. “Logan will make it to Beacon. I know he will. Hailey and Dane too.”
    “But not with us.”
    “No. Not likely with us.”
    “And yet we’re still going to Beacon. Even