Cross-country practice ended without Adam running at all. He disliked that more than he expected.
Grigori had left before sunrise that morning. The day had passed quickly.
By afternoon, Adam had already found another thing to dislike: being held out of practice.
He supposed it was a fitting consequence for how badly he'd handled 2 Tenets.
Tenet 20: Protect your identity unless it becomes necessary.
Tenet 6: Separate yourself from your emotions while on a mission.
He wouldn't make the same mistakes again.
Timing the other runners had at least been useful. Coach Henry had made him record splits for the team, which gave Adam something to focus on besides the dull ache along his abdomen.
None of it was the same. The track emptied around him as students collected bags and headed toward the locker rooms.
Adam looked down at his phone. He had a message from Lena from nearly 20 minutes ago.
staying after with the girls for a bit
Adam typed back.
Meet at front gate. Walking home.
3 dots appeared, typing.
bossy
Adam put the phone away. That meant yes. He collected his bag and headed toward the gate.
Lena was not at the front gate.
Of course she wasn't.
Adam checked his phone. No new messages. He looked across the school grounds. Most students had already left. The buses were gone. A handful of athletes still lingered near the gym while several small groups occupied the benches and trees closer to the parking lot.
Adam found Lena almost immediately. She sat beneath one of the courtyard trees with Kendra, Anna, Kelly, and Hannah. Adam stopped. His irritation from practice disappeared. Something considerably less useful replaced it.
Hannah Martin sat at the edge of the group with her backpack against her knees, occasionally smiling at something Lena said.
Then Hannah looked up, saw him, and immediately looked back down. Adam narrowed his eyes.
He walked closer but didn't join them. Instead, he stopped beneath another tree roughly 20 feet away and leaned against the trunk, close enough that Lena couldn't claim she hadn't seen him but far enough that he wasn't participating. Lena glanced in his direction, then deliberately looked away.
Adam stared at her. She smiled.
So that was what she was doing.
Fine then.
He folded his arms and waited. Hannah glanced toward him again, looked away, then poked Lena's arm. After the second poke, Lena leaned closer. Hannah whispered something and pointed subtly in Adam's direction, but not subtle enough.
Lena looked over.
"Yeah, yeah," she called. "We're leaving soon."
Kendra spotted him a moment later and smiled. Adam didn't like that smile. It usually preceded problems. She waved. He gave her a small nod. She waved harder.
Adam stopped responding.
Anna's ride arrived first. Kelly's followed a minute later.
Apparently Lena had turned tonight into a sleepover sometime that morning. Anna had family plans, Kelly's parents had vetoed the overnight part, and Kendra was still coming. So, apparently, was Hannah.
Once Anna and Kelly left, it was just Adam, Lena, Kendra, and Hannah.
He looked at Lena. Lena looked at him. Kendra looked between them. Hannah looked mostly at the ground.
Adam waited.
Lena adjusted her backpack.
"So…"
"What?"
"Kendra's staying over."
Adam nodded.
Then Lena looked toward Hannah.
"And Hannah might too."
Adam's eyes moved to Hannah. Hannah's eyes widened slightly.
"Might?"
Lena looked at her.
"You said yes."
"I-yeah. I did."
"Then you're staying."
Hannah glanced at Adam.
"Unless that's weird."
Adam answered honestly. "Why would it be weird?"
Kendra made a choking sound. Lena closed her eyes. Hannah's face reddened. Adam looked between them.
"What?" Adam asked, confused.
"Nothing," Lena said quickly.
Kendra bit the inside of her cheek. Adam didn't trust that either. Hannah adjusted the strap of her backpack.
"My parents already said it was okay."
"Then it's okay," Adam said.
Hannah nodded.
"Okay."
Nobody said anything.
Adam looked at Lena. "Can we go now?"
"Yeah. Let's go."
They started home with Lena and Kendra naturally taking the middle of the sidewalk. Hannah walked beside them. Adam settled slightly behind, which suited him until Kendra slowed to match his pace.
He looked at her. "What?"
"I haven't said anything."
"Then why slow down?"
"That hurts. I'm just trying to hang out."
Kendra glanced ahead toward Hannah, then back at him.
"You know Hannah, right?"
Adam nodded.
"How well?"
"We have classes together."
"Technically, I guess that answers the question."
Adam waited, eyes front.
Kendra sighed. "You could talk to her more."
"Why?"
Kendra stared at him for a beat, apparently reconsidering several things about the universe.
"Because she's nice."
"I know."
"And quiet."
"I know."
"And you are also quiet."
Adam frowned. "That seems like a reason we would talk less."
Kendra covered a laugh with a cough. Ahead of them, Lena looked back and mouthed something at her.
"Fine," Kendra said. "Just don't interrogate her if she talks to you."
"I don't interrogate people."
She gave him a look.
Adam still didn't understand what he had done wrong.
Kendra moved ahead. A moment later Lena glanced back at Adam and smiled for no obvious reason. Hannah, beside her, suddenly found the sidewalk interesting.
Information was clearly moving around the group without his participation, which Adam disliked.
The house felt wrong without Grigori. Adam noticed it before he opened the front door: no boots near the entryway, no radio murmuring from the kitchen because Grigori insisted silence made cooking boring.
Lena noticed too. Her conversation with Kendra slowed as they reached the porch. For a moment, she simply looked at the driveway. Then she unlocked the door.
"Mom?"
"In the kitchen!"
Sarah's voice came from inside. Lena stepped through first, Kendra followed soon after. Hannah hesitated at the threshold. Adam nearly walked into her. She moved aside quickly, muttering some fast apologies on the way. Adam insisted she didn't do anything wrong.
She entered. Adam followed and locked the door behind them. Sarah emerged from the kitchen drying her hands on a towel. Her expression brightened when she saw the girls.
"Kendra."
"Hi, Mrs. Costanza."
Kendra crossed the room and hugged her without hesitation. Sarah returned it.
"Staying tonight?"
"If that's still okay.."
"Of course it is. You don't even need to ask."
Kendra pulled back. Sarah looked toward Hannah.
"And you must be Hannah."
Hannah straightened.
"Yes, ma'am."
Sarah smiled.
"You don't have to call me ma'am."
"Sorry," Hannah blurted.
"You don't have to apologize either."
"Sorry."
Hannah froze. Sarah laughed softly.
"Come here."
Hannah looked briefly alarmed when Sarah hugged her, but recovered quickly enough to hug her back.
Lena dropped her bag beside the stairs.
"Where's Aaron?"
"Upstairs."
Adam listened. Nothing. That wasn't unusual. Sarah looked at him.
"How was practice?"
"I didn't."
"Good."
Adam frowned.
"You say that like you're happy."
"I am. No need to make that injury worse by exerting yourself."
"Nurse Faye and Coach Henry said the same thing," Adam said, his annoyance creeping back in.
"Then apparently 3 adults are smarter than you."
Adam accepted that this argument was unlikely to go anywhere. Kendra looked between them.
"You're injured?"
"Bruised."
"From Carter?"
"Yes."
Kendra pointed at Lena. "Your brother is terrible at storytelling."
"I know, tell me about it. I live with him." Lena rolled her eyes.
"Ask him about anything and he gives you three words."
"Sometimes four."
Hannah smiled. When she realized Adam had noticed, she looked away.
Sarah returned to the kitchen.
"Shoes off if you're staying. Bags upstairs. I'm ordering pizza because I don't feel like cooking."
Kendra gasped. "I knew I loved this family."
"You say that every time I feed you."
"That's why I love you."
Sarah laughed. Lena grabbed Kendra's bag.
"Come on."
Hannah reached for her bag at the same moment Adam did. Their hands touched the handle. She pulled back immediately.
"Sorry."
Adam looked at the bag. "You were holding it."
"I know."
"Then why are you apologizing?"
Hannah stared at him. "I don't know..."
Adam considered that, then picked up the bag. "I'll carry it."
"Y-you don't have to."
"I'm already holding it."
Lena and Kendra were watching from the stairs with matching expressions Adam disliked on principle.
Upstairs, Kendra took one look at Lena's room and announced, "We need more floor."
"Move the clothes."
"Where?"
"The closet, maybe?" Kendra retorted.
Kendra opened the closet, stared inside, and closed it again.
"Your room is a humanitarian crisis."
"I know where everything is."
"Sure you do."
Hannah tried not to laugh.
Adam waited in the doorway with her bag and looked at Lena for some indication of where to put it.
"Anywhere," Lena said.
He looked around at the misplaced T-shirts, pajamas, and socks.
Romance books filled part of a shelf. A Rubik's cube sat beside a stack of middle-school notebooks.
"That doesn't narrow it down," Adam observed.
Kendra took the bag from him and set it beside the desk. "Thank you, Adam."
She looked deliberately at Hannah. Hannah looked like she wanted to disappear.
"What?" Adam asked.
3 voices answered at once.
"Nothing."
Adam left before they could explain whatever he was missing.
Aaron appeared 20 minutes later, came halfway down the stairs, and stopped when he saw Lena, Kendra, and Hannah occupying the living room.
Adam sat at the dining table with homework. They looked at each other.
Kendra noticed first. "Hi, Aaron."
"Hi."
"You know Hannah?"
Hannah gave him a small wave. "Hi."
"Hi."
Aaron sat opposite Adam with a book, opened it, and did not read.
After several seconds he asked under his breath, "Why are there so many?"
"Sleepover."
"I can see that."
"Then why did you ask?"
Aaron glanced toward Lena, Kendra, and Hannah. "Is this because Dad left?"
"Yeah. Most likely."
That answer satisfied him until Hannah glanced toward Adam and immediately looked away.
Aaron slowly turned back to his brother.
Aaron's mouth twitched. "Oh."
Adam looked puzzled. Aaron shrugged and let it go.
Adam returned to his homework. Aaron did the same, still smiling faintly.
From the kitchen, Sarah called, "Did anyone ask Jack if he wanted dinner?"
Lena looked over from the living room. "Why would I?"
"Because Neil isn't staying with him, and he's living over there by himself."
"He's 17."
"So are you, young lady."
Lena considered that. "Fair."
"I'll text him," Sarah said.
The doorbell rang about 20 minutes later.
Adam answered it. Jack stood on the porch with his hands in his jacket pockets.
"Your mother invited me for pizza."
"Right."
Jack looked past him into the house. Lena, Kendra, and Hannah were visible from the entryway.
He looked back at Adam. "She didn't mention there would be other people."
"She probably didn't think it mattered."
Jack considered that. "It might."
Adam stepped aside.
Lena noticed him first. "Jack."
"Lena."
She pointed across the room. "Kendra, Hannah, this is Jack Bernard. Jack, Kendra and Hannah."
Kendra waved first. "Nice to meet you."
Jack paused, but only for a moment. "Yeah. Nice to meet you as well."
Kendra grinned. "Lucky you." She shoved Lena sideways.
"What's that supposed to mean?" Lena gave her a strange look.
Hannah gave Jack a small wave. "Hi."
Jack returned the gesture. That seemed to satisfy both of them.
Jack ended up at the dining table beside Adam while they waited for the pizza. Adam was halfway through a math problem when Jack glanced at the page and pointed out an error in one of his solutions. Adam checked it, nodded, corrected the line, and thanked him. Sarah watched them from the kitchen with a proud look.
The pizza arrived at 7 PM. Sarah had ordered too much, apparently on purpose.
Kendra and Aaron did most of the damage.
Lena accused him of taking the last pepperoni. Aaron pointed toward the second box.
"You greedy-" Lena got cut off as Sarah put her pizza on Lena's plate.
"Thank you, mom!"
Lena stopped complaining the moment Sarah put a slice on her plate.
Hannah sat across from Adam on the living-room sofa. That was not ideal. She had chosen the seat only after Kendra told her to sit there.
Adam had noticed that too. Every few minutes, Hannah looked up. Sometimes their eyes met, then she looked away.
After another glance, Adam had had enough of guessing.
"Is something wrong?"
The table went quiet. Hannah froze with her pizza halfway to her mouth. "No."
"You keep looking at me."
Kendra immediately drank from her soda. Lena stared at the ceiling. Aaron stopped chewing. Sarah looked between them. Jack looked from Hannah to Adam, then lowered his eyes to his plate.
Hannah's face turned red. "I-"
Adam waited.
"I wasn't," she finally said.
"You were."
"Adam," Lena said.
"What is it? Something wrong with my face?"
Sarah pressed her lips together. Kendra made a strange noise into her cup. Hannah looked ready to flee the room.
Adam realized he had made some kind of mistake. He wasn't sure which one.
He adjusted his approach. "You don't have to stop."
Kendra choked on her drink, which suggested Adam had somehow made things worse. Lena put her face in her hands. Aaron looked down at his plate. His shoulders moved once.
Jack set his slice down very carefully. Adam stared at both of them.
Sarah stood. "I'm getting more napkins."
There were already napkins on the table. She left anyway. Hannah stared down at her plate.
"Sorry."
Adam sighed. "You don't have to apologize."
Nobody helped him.
Adam tried to think of something normal to say. Daryl would know,but unfortunately Daryl wasn't there.
Kendra finally saved them.
"He's asking because he has the social instincts of a raccoon."
Adam looked at her. "That doesn't make any sense."
Hannah laughed quietly. Adam looked at her again. She stopped, and he looked away.
After dinner, Jack collected his jacket from the entryway.
"Thanks for dinner, Mrs. Costanza."
Sarah pointed at him. "You know you can come over whenever you want."
"I know, ma'am. I'll try."
Kendra leaned toward Lena. "He talks like Adam."
Jack looked at Adam. Adam looked back.
"I don't think so," Jack said.
"Neither do I," Adam said.
Lena sighed. "That's exactly why she said it."
Jack appeared to consider that on his way out.
After Jack left, Sarah retreated to her bedroom, claiming she was tired. Adam knew what that meant. She wanted to be alone. Grigori had been gone less than a day, and his absence had already settled into the house: the empty chair at dinner, the silent garage, the missing footsteps downstairs.
Lena had answered the silence differently. Kendra and Hannah filled the living room with enough noise for everyone.
Adam understood the logic, even if the noise was irritating. He tried to go upstairs.
"Adam."
He stopped. Lena pointed toward the armchair.
"Sit."
"Why?"
"We need another opinion."
3 movie choices filled the television screen. Adam looked from them to Lena.
"This is what you need me for?"
"Yes."
Kendra handed him the remote. "Option 1."
Romantic comedy.
"No."
"You didn't even read it."
"I saw the picture."
"Judgmental."
Option 2 was horror. Option 3 was a crime thriller.
"3," Adam said.
Lena groaned. "Of course."
Kendra glanced toward Hannah. "She likes one."
Adam waited. "So?"
Kendra stared at him until Lena threw a pillow at her.
"Stop helping," Lena said.
Hannah looked mortified. Adam still did not understand why.
Lena took the remote. "We're watching the horror movie."
Adam stayed mostly because Lena was smiling, and not the polite version she used when she wanted everyone to stop worrying. This one reached her eyes. He settled deeper into the chair.
The movie was terrible. Adam knew the killer within 14 minutes. Aaron came downstairs halfway through, watched long enough to catch one scene, and said, "The boyfriend did it."
Kendra threw popcorn at him. "Get out."
Aaron left, and he was correct.
Hannah sat on the floor near Adam's chair. One loud sequence made her jump hard enough to bump his knee.
"Sorry."
"You're fine."
She turned back to the screen, embarrassed for reasons Adam still could not identify.
Across the couch, Lena rested her head against Kendra's shoulder. Kendra went quiet and leaned into her. Adam glanced from them to the empty space where Grigori usually sat. The noise made more sense then.
Lena did not want the house quiet.
He could live with that.
"That was awful," Kendra said when the credits rolled.
"You picked it," Lena said.
"I voted for romance."
"You always vote for romance."
"Because love is beautiful."
"You change boyfriends every month."
"Hey, that's not true."
"Right. Two months now. A world record."
Hannah laughed.
Lena looked toward Kendra. "Speaking of boyfriends-"
Kendra pointed at her. "Don't."
Adam's attention shifted over automatically. Kendra caught him.
"Not you. You can leave now," Kendra said, shooing him away with one hand.
"Okay."
Adam looked away. Kendra lowered her voice. He caught only fragments after that: Mason. Her parents. Tomorrow. Something about a car. Lena answered just as quietly.
It was private, and he knew when he wasn't welcome to listen.
He stood. "I'm going upstairs."
Kendra looked over. "Goodnight, Adam."
"Goodnight."
Lena waved. "Night."
Hannah turned. "Goodnight."
Adam looked at her. "Goodnight, Hannah."
She smiled, nervous but genuine.
Halfway down the hall, Adam stopped.
The evening replayed itself without invitation: Hannah looking at him and looking away, the blushing, the apologies, Kendra and Lena reacting whenever he spoke to her, Hannah choosing to stay.
The pattern finally resembled something he had seen before. It reminded him of one of Sarah's dramas from her home country.
Aaron's door opened. "What?"
Adam lowered his voice. "I think Hannah likes me."
Aaron stared at him.
"You just figured that out?"
Adam's expression flattened. Aaron tried not to smile and failed.
Adam walked away. Behind him, Aaron quietly shut his door before he started laughing.
In his room, Adam sat on the edge of the bed.
Danger made sense to him. So did injury, being trapped, and being questioned by people who meant him harm.
This was considerably less familiar.
Downstairs, the girls started laughing again.
Adam stared at the wall and closed his eyes.
"Great."