ARI

Without a word, Jace strode past us, heading out of the room.

“Hey, Jace?” Maia tried. “Maybe you could help—”

Jace yanked the door open.

A balding man with a fringe of brown hair stood there, his hand raised to knock. “Oh. Hi.”

“What the—” Jace slammed the door.

A knock came. “Excuse me?” the man called.

Alarmed, Jace turned to us. “Who the hell—”

“I take it you don’t know him?” Baylie seemed torn between anxiety and something approaching relief.

Which made sense. Everyone they knew seemed connected to the judges.

I shivered, fighting to keep spikes from emerging on my arms.

“He doesn’t look like an enforcer,” Dhanya allowed, though from her tone, she didn’t sound certain that mattered.

“Maybe he’s with the motel?” Maia suggested.

Noah crossed to the door. Eyeing him, Jace retreated. Noah took the handle and then pulled the door open.

“Yeah?” he asked.

“Um, hi.” The man smoothed his tweed jacket nervously. “I’m, uh, I’m a salesman for Bixby Tires and I saw that your SUV needed—”

“We’re not interested.” Noah moved to shut the door.

“Oh no, please!” The man shoved a pamphlet at him, which became pinned in the closed door. Scowling, Noah tugged it out.

A white business card fell from inside, something scribbled on its back. Noah bent and picked it up.

He froze, alarm racing through him.

My breath caught. “What?”

Radiating caution, Noah opened the door a second time. The man stood where he’d been, anxiously rocking his weight from one foot to the other.

“Talk,” Noah ordered.

I shivered at the threat in his voice.

“What’s going on?” Jace demanded.

Noah extended the card without looking away from the man. Jace took it. Rage surged across his face.

He dropped the card and shoved past Noah to reach the guy.

“No,” the man protested, “You don’t need to—”

Jace grabbed him and yanked him into the motel room. Noah stepped back quickly, keeping an eye to the outside, and then shut the door while Jace slammed the man against the wall beside it.

“Who are you?” Jace snapped.

“Guys?” Maia asked. “What did it say?”

Baylie shoved up from the other bed and retrieved the card from the floor. Watching Jace and Noah, she retreated to our side, showing us the card.

Pencil scratches formed hastily scrawled words.

They know where you’re going.

ARI

My life felt like a puzzle and I was missing half the pieces.

I shifted position on the bed, listening to Maia recount a story from my childhood. It’d become clear early on that parts of my memory were intact, though in strange fashions. I remembered traveling cross country with Noah, remembered being at Judge Engle’s party when the dehaians attacked. I even remembered growing up in Arizona and moving to stay in Chicago, though I didn’t know with whom I’d lived before that or why I’d had to go. Maia and Dhanya were likewise missing, and Jace wasn’t in my memories at all. It was as if someone had scrubbed out their images with an eraser and reset all the scenes of my life, leaving empty spaces where nearly everyone had been standing.

It was terrifying.

“—so then Jace gave you the toy he’d won at the fair,” Maia said, “and you stopped crying.”

I winced. “Well, that’s embarrassing.”

“Oh come on, you were three.”

I shrugged, glancing to the others. Noah sat by the window in a rickety metal chair, watching the parking lot through a slender gap in the thick curtains. Even if he didn’t move a muscle, I could still feel his amusement. On the edge of the other bed, Baylie looked away from the television, eyeing him like she’d picked up on it too.

“You know,” she commented to me, “I heard that Noah did something similar when his mom and dad took him to an amusement park as a kid. Only I’m pretty sure he didn’t stop crying.”

“Hey, what?” Noah protested, turning. “Who told you that?”

Baylie grinned. “Maddox.” She glanced to us. “His older brother.”

“Yeah, well.” Noah shifted his shoulders uncomfortably. “Let’s just keep the focus on Ari here, alright?”

He went back to the window. Baylie looked to me, still grinning.