Chapter 8: Gray Sedan

"Where is she now?" I said.

"The school's camera shows the car heading west," Marcus said. "Toward the river."

"I'm coming."

"I'm already downstairs."

Damien was beside me before I'd hung up.

He didn't ask if I wanted to be there.

I wouldn't have heard the answer.

The car took the avenue like a thrown stone.

Snow hammered the windshield, and Marcus drove through it with both hands tight on the wheel.

I called Lily.

It rang four times.

Five.

Then a click, and a sound like cloth.

"Ava."

Her voice was a thread.

"I'm here. Don't hang up. Are you hurt?"

"No. I don't think so. There's a man in front, and one next to me."

"Okay. Look at your hands. Are they cold?"

"Yes."

"Press your thumbnail into your fingertip. Count it for me."

"One. Two."

"Keep going. What do you see out the window?"

"Snow. A big sign. Pier something."

"Read me the sign."

"Pier Nine. Ava, I'm so scared."

"I know. You're breathing too fast. In for four."

Beside me, Damien had gone completely still.

He was watching my face.

"Hold. Out for six," I said. "Lily, listen. Don't fight them. Be boring. Be so boring they forget you."

"Okay."

"Is the phone in your pocket?"

"Yes."

"Leave it open. I'm not going anywhere."

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