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done.
    In one month, Logan’s life had collapsed around him, and he realized now how fragile all of it had been. Everything he’d ever known, he had taken for granted. But none of it had been promised. None of it was owed to him. Logan saw that now.
    There was one thing left for Logan to look forward to, and he did with all his heart. One thing left to think about as he floated through classes and hallways in which no one would say hi. One thing left to think about as Logan lay in bed each night, unable to sleep.
    It was his date with Hailey. The only person at Spokie Middle who still noticed when he passed. The only person in his life who hadn’t just called it quits and moved right along. It had taken them until November to do it, but with Logan’s punishment being somewhat more . . . nebulous these days, he and Hailey had finally gotten around to setting it up. She had suggested Wednesday of next week, the day before Logan’s birthday, as a sort of early celebration, and Logan was all too happy to take it.

    It was on that Wednesday that Erin found Logan in the Amazon Wing.
    “I hear you got a date tonight,” she said. It was the first time she had stopped him for any real conversation since their day cleaning up the Row.
    “Sort of,” Logan admitted. “If you wanna call it that.”
    “Doesn’t matter what I call it,” Erin said. “It is what it is.”
    “Like you care,” Logan said.
    Erin looked at him very sadly. “You never got it, did you?” she said. “Through all of it, you never actually understood.”
    Logan wanted to ask just precisely what that meant. He wanted to jump inside Erin’s head and know right then exactly what she was thinking. But he didn’t, and he couldn’t.
    In the projections behind Erin, a monkey swung into the trees and looked at the two of them. It picked at a leaf, chewing and swinging a little and laughing. Bugs swarmed, and Logan could see the underbelly of a tarantula as it crawled across the virtual pane of glass. Logan had time to look at all of this because Erin had walked away.
    2
    After school that day, Logan walked the streets of Spokie for a long time before heading over to Hailey’s house. He didn’t want to go home. Without the Mark, he couldn’t hang out in a mall or a store. So he walked, just like he’d do with Hailey when he picked her up, and he used the time to think.
    It only barely registered to Logan that tomorrow was his birthday. It only vaguely dawned on him that tomorrow was his Pledge. He wasn’t afraid of it anymore. There was nothing left to be afraid of.

    When Logan made it to Hailey’s door, she had it open before he could ring the bell. She smiled in a way he’d never seen from her, and in a way he hadn’t seen from anyone in weeks. She was happy to see him. He loved her for it.
    “Hi,” Logan said.
    Hailey still couldn’t quite make eye contact. She never could. But her voice was sincere. “I’m glad you came.”
    They walked through all of Spokie. They walked for hours. They walked under the trees in Old District; they walked through the playground in the park; they walked past the school, past the shops, past the Umbrella and the Center surrounding it.
    They chatted idly. It was just nice to talk.
    “There’s a place just outside of town,” Hailey said. “A really neat old building. I like to go there sometimes to think.”
    Logan smiled.
    “You wanna see it?”
    “Of course,” Logan said. He had nowhere else to be.

    The sun had long since set when they crested the hill far out of town. It was dark and calm under the stars. But there, in the distance, in a glade between the trees of the undeveloped land well beyond Spokie’s borders, stood an old, white building, still beautiful despite the graffiti and dirt on its walls. A steeple rose from its side with a bell at its top.
    “What is this place?” Logan asked. “I’ve never seen anything like it.”
    “I know.” Hailey smiled. “It’s a warehouse. I think you’ll like it here.”
    3
    From the shadows behind Hailey, a boy emerged. And then another. The second one laughed a little, maniacally. Logan recognized them instantly.
    “Hailey,” Logan said, grabbing her arm, his nerves taking over. “We have to get out of here!”
    But Hailey stood still. She didn’t look afraid. She just stared.
    “Hailey, I know these guys,” Logan whispered urgently. “Trust me when I tell you, we have to leave now !”
    Hailey took his hand.
    “Good,” Logan