Swipe

exactly trivial. Why do you think he made it with any confidence?”
    Logan thought about it. “I guess . . . I guess he just knew me well enough to know.”
    “Know what?”
    “That I’d be fed up enough to show. That I was tired of the games. That I’d come just to end it, no matter what, I guess. And he was right. Even without you . . . I think I would’ve.”
    “That’s a pretty specific assumption to make about a person’s reasoning in a rather unusual situation, don’t you think?”
    Logan frowned, saddened at how easily he was being manipulated. “He’s been watching me a long time. I guess he has my number.”
    The two of them arrived at the castle, and Erin set her backpack on the ground. She began rummaging through its contents.
    “What now?” Logan asked.
    “Now we prepare.”
    9
    “What is she doing?” Eddie whispered.
    “How should I know?” Blake said.
    “Looks like she’s throwing powder everywhere.”
    “Why would she do that?”
    “She’s pretty,” Tyler said.
    “Shut up.”
    Among the chatter, Meg sat silently, petting her mouse, which was still dead. Blake was glad she had something to distract her— his one stroke of luck the whole evening. The four of them sat perched, totally invisible, in the shadows, fifty feet from the castle where Logan and his friend stood.
    “We wait to see what she’s up to,” Blake said. “No one moves until we’re sure.”
    10
    “This is surveillance powder,” Erin said. “Powerful stuff.” She sent it around the play structure in chalky billows, which hung in the breeze before settling invisibly to the surfaces and ground. “It’s made of nanomics, essentially. They’re sensitive.” She took out a small tube that looked like it might have held hair gel and squeezed a pea-sized glob onto Logan’s finger, as well as her own. “Now rub this into your ear canals.”
    “I’m not gonna—”
    “Just do it.” Erin put her finger in her ears, and Logan followed suit. “Really get it in there.”
    It felt cool in Logan’s ears, and he could feel it dry and cake onto his skin.
    “Now walk ten feet that way.”
    “Great idea, Erin. Separate us in the darkened playground where we know for certain a convicted killer is waiting to abduct me. How ’bout a round of hide-and-seek while we’re at it?”
    Erin rolled her eyes. “Fine. Take this if it’ll make you feel better.” She handed him one end of a clear piece of twine. “It’s a weapon. You’d use it to choke a person. But we’ll just use it to keep tethered to one another. Now walk.”
    Logan looked at the twine and hoped with all his heart that he would never have to choke anyone, ever. But he held the twine tightly and walked away from Erin, all the same. Once he’d gone a ways out, Erin cupped her hand over her mouth and spoke quietly near the area where she’d dispersed the chalk. “Can you hear me?”
    It was as if she’d whispered it right into Logan’s ear. “Loud and clear,” Logan whispered back. But Erin shook her head. He returned to her side.
    “It’s not for communication; it’s for surveillance. The gel in our ears is tuned to the powder. Anything anyone says around this play structure, we’ll be able to hear. Even a whisper. Even a breath. You could walk five miles and still hear what was happening in this castle. Hold on to that twine, by the way. You might need it.”
    “How much does this powder cost?” Logan asked.
    “It’s not for sale. As far as anyone outside DOME knows, it doesn’t, strictly speaking, exist.”
    “Well, that’s just great,” Logan said sarcastically. “And here we are with a bucketful.”
    “Yes, Logan, for security , so we know who’s around.” She rolled her eyes. “Wind should carry it out to a pretty far perimeter.”
    “Fine,” Logan said. “So now what do we do?”
    Erin was glad he asked. “To catch Peck, we need tangible, recorded evidence. That means laying a wire.” She pulled something else from her backpack. It looked like a roll of Scotch tape.
    “This stuff does the trick.” She began lining the upper corners of the castle with it, standing on tiptoes to reach. “Everything this tape picks up is sent directly to DOME headquarters. They have a system recording day and night. At least that’s how it seemed when I hacked into their system this afternoon.”
    “You what ?”
    Erin ripped a piece off and smoothed it out with her fingers. When she’d finished, the tape was invisible, and