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asked. Hailey and her mom had grown pretty close since Hailey’s father had passed away; there wasn’t anything in Hailey’s life that Mrs. Phoenix didn’t learn about during their nightly chats at dinner.
“We had fun this afternoon, playing those wailing mitts after school. And it was good to see his house. But I just . . . I’m afraid he’s gonna end up . . . getting hurt.”
“Because of everything between you and Logan.”
“Yeah, sure, I guess. Me and Logan, me and Dane, Logan and the new girl . . . it’s all getting complicated pretty fast.”
Mrs. Phoenix nodded. “Have you tried being up-front with Logan? Up-front with Dane? About what’s really going on?”
“How can I be?” Hailey shrugged. “If I tell Logan, he’ll tell Erin, and then she’ll come after me . . . if I tell Dane, he’ll tell Logan, and then Logan’ll tell Erin, and then—”
“I get it.” Mrs. Phoenix smiled.
“But Logan has a good sense of things, I think. Today he even agreed to . . . well . . . sort of take me on a date.”
“That’s great!” Mrs. Phoenix said.
“Yeah. If Erin doesn’t ruin everything first. And if everything doesn’t get too awful with Dane.”
Mrs. Phoenix smiled encouragingly. “I’m sure it’ll all work out.”
“How do you know?” Hailey said.
“Because you’re better at this than you think.”
Hailey smiled and kissed her mom on the forehead. “Take care of that cough,” she said.
“Leave the plant.”
“It won’t actually freshen the air.”
“Leave it anyway.”
So Hailey did, and she left her mom’s room feeling much better, as always, than she had going in.
But this relief lasted just long enough for Hailey to walk from her mother’s bedroom down to the kitchen. It lasted no longer than that.
Because when Hailey entered the kitchen, she saw it glow with more than the starlight that shone through its grimy windows.
She saw it glow with fire.
A note was burning in the sink.
10
Despite his headache, Logan felt good when he got home that night. He wasn’t crazy or paranoid. He’d been right all along. Someone was watching him, following him. His worst fears had come true, and finally, he was facing them. He and Erin had Peck in hiding, Peck’s gang was running scared . . . and better still, he had a partner in all of it.
Not just any partner, either. Erin. Erin was smart. She was funny. She was brave—much more so than Logan, in fact. She was better than he was at so many things. He could see it. Clearly. For his sake, he hoped it wasn’t quite so obvious to her.
It was with these happy thoughts that Logan snuck up the stairs outside his house to the seventh floor. He turned the key and opened the door and switched on the light. He was on top of the world.
And it was then that Logan saw—on his bed, hands folded neatly and eyes trained straight ahead—his father. No smile. No scowl. No expression at all.
“Hi there,” Mr. Langly said, totally flat. “How ya been, Logan?”
EIGHT
LOGAN’S MANY FRIENDS
1
G ROUNDED. ONE HUNDRED PERCENT, COMPLETELY , utterly grounded. Not just a little bit. Not just “no parties.” Not just “no television on weekends.” Not just “home by dinner.” Logan was allowed to go to school. His father would escort him. And Logan was allowed to come home. His father would be waiting when the final bell rang.
He could forget about spending time with Erin. He could forget about going on the date he’d arranged with Hailey. He could forget about everything.
“Bummer,” Erin said. “Guess we’ll be doing all our planning at lunch. And in class.” Logan frowned, but Erin quickly shrugged it off. “Maybe it’s for the best. School’s probably safer than my apartment would have been, anyway. Peck’s friends don’t exactly seem like the learning type, and Peck wouldn’t come anywhere near such a public place.”
Logan nodded. Erin had a point. This wasn’t a total dead end.
The rest of the month slowed down, but not by much. Classes were spent sending messages back and forth on tablets, pretending to take notes on lectures. Hallway walks were spent scheming. Lunches on the lawn were for filling Logan in on Erin’s adventuring the night before. “They’re still at the stadium,” she’d reported over a series of days. “They call themselves ‘the Dust.’ The boys are getting restless, and they’re planning something big. Don’t worry, though, Logan”—she winked when she told him
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