I checked the navigation screen and saw our destination. “Oh,” I said. And abruptly, a few things became clear.
I picked up the driver’s hand and used his ringware to unlock the cabin door. I stepped out and found an entire bus of people gaping at me.
I must have looked a sight: wind-blown hair and glass clinging to my clothes. “Good news,” I called. “We’re going to be all right.”
Elle had half risen from her seat. “What did you do?”
“I’ll explain everything soon,” I said. “First I have to make a call.”
Prefect picked up halfway through the first ring. “Augusta—”
“Hey,” I said, “the day that hijacked bus stopped for the dinosaur ice cream. Did anyone actually buy any?”
The bus continued toward the Rogue River.
I let the bus take its course, because it was obvious to me now that it wasn’t programmed to driveintothe river. Rather, the bus took a left turn into the lot of an abandoned state park. The brown signs were rusted and the pavement was cracked and uneven.
Brakes hissed, the engine powered down, and then the doors slid open. A few more chunks of tempered glass tinkled gently to the ground, and an automated voice cheerfully informed the passengers it was time to disembark.
For a moment, no one moved. Then everyone surged to their feet and began rushing for the doors as if afraid they might close again. I let Peter go in front of me and I heard Shin at my back, carrying his kids.
We spilled out into the parking lot. The air smelled of sun-warmed water and fresh greenery, shrubs kept alive by their proximity to the river. The Rogue was beautiful, twisting through the burned forest. A few people headed for the restrooms, settled on concrete benches. Others simply stood and stared at the bus like it might catch fire. Elle walked toward the river,gazing at the water. “Well,” she said, “if we had to take a detour, this isn’t so bad.”
Archer stood a few steps away. He gave me an incredulous stare. “I can’t believe you crawled out of a moving bus,” he said. “I’ve seen some wild stuff, but never something like that. What in the world made you do that?”
“Penance,” I said.
“And what would a kid like you have to be guilty about?”
I looked out at the river. “Surviving.”
“Ah.” I expected him to ask for more details, but he didn’t. Instead, he gave me a small, tight smile. As if he understood. “That ring,” he said. “It belonged to my wife.”
Past tense. And I understood why he would keep it near, why he toyed with it in moments of stress.
And perhaps that was the best thing I could encounter in my transient, dangerous life. A moment of understanding—when my own trauma brushed up against another’s.
I walked away from Archer. The sunlight was pleasant, and I regretted that I wore a long-sleeved shirt. It would have been nice to feel a little heat against my skin. Sitting on the slope of dead grass and large rocks, overlooking the river, was a lone figure.
I sat down beside him.
“Mint chip,” I said.
Peter looked up at me, brows scrunched together. “What?”
“That day you made the bus detour for dinosaur-shaped ice cream,” I said. “Only one passenger actually went inside and ordered ice cream. And no one else on this bus likes mint chocolate chip.”
His big brown eyes flashed wide in surprise, and in that moment he lost his grip on the tablet. I gently pried it free and glanced down at the screen. There was a game—aliens fighting a war in space—but it wasn’t moving. A screenshot of a game. I flicked it away with two fingers and up came the screen I’d truly been looking for.
It showed a bus navigation system.
“How’d you know?” Peter asked.
I shrugged. “I was put on this bus to find you. I knew the previous hijackings had taken passengers to tourist destinations and no one got hurt. But this time, the driver was passed out—I thought the hijacker had drugged him and was escalating to violent crimes.”
Peter frowned. “I didn’t do anything to the driver.”
“I know,” I said. “I assumed things. I assumed you were innocent because you’re a kid. I assumed the driver was a victim, when in fact he was probably the most dangerous criminal here. Drinking on duty? Come on.” I rested my elbows on my knees, clasping my hands together. “Now, out of professional curiosity, how did you do it? Hijack the bus at age ten?”
