Page 151 of Carson

Carver falls to the couch. “Craaazeee. It’s a glitch in the matrix.”

“Wait. I folded one of these in the bar the night Dad told us about Mom,” Carson says, sitting down on the couch. “I gave it to the woman who doesn’t speak. She was drawing a butterfly on a napkin. I thought she might like it. She seemed sad.”

“Did she give it back?” I ask, sitting down beside him. I set mine on the coffee table, not wanting to get them mixed up.

“Evidently, since I brought it home. It must have fallen out of my pocket.”

Cole joins us, grabbing the remote. “Maybe she didn’t like your stupid butterfly.”

I roll my eyes. “You’re just jealous because you can’t fold one.”

“No, but thanks to you, I can now sign one.” He shows us, and it makes me smile. Cole has actually gotten quite good at ASL. In fact, I’ll go so far as to say he’s better than most everyone else at it.

The guys begin to argue over the movie we’re going to watch and I unfold the bill, folding it again just like I used to spend hours in the closet doing. I’m not really paying attention to what I’m doing, but then I notice a flash of red writing.

“Wait. There’s something written on it.”

Cole shuts the TV off, and the three of them give me their full attention.

These men have worked endlessly trying to find Nova and Nyx. I’ve watched how disheartened they get every time they hit a dead end.

“There is a new trafficker in Trap. He’s here tonight. We’re going to let him take us. Tell Jesse we’ll be back,” I read out loud.

Carver jumps from his seat. “They knew, and they let him take them!”

“Sounds like the same thing they did to get to the congressman,” Carson says, shaking his head.

Carver storms to his room, not saying a word.

Cole reaches over and takes the bill from my hands.

“We need to pass this message on to Jesse,” Carson says, rising from the sofa to call her.

I move over to Cole. “Do you want me to show you how to fold it?”

He looks over at me and offers me a sad smile. “Sure.” He watches how I do it, and then I unfold it and hand it back to him.

“Now you try.”

He gets it right the first time.

“I’m glad you were here. None of us would have unfolded it. Well, maybe to go buy a six-pack.” He laughs.

Carson comes back into the room. “Maybe I shouldn’t have called her. Jesse seems more worried than she was before.”

“It’s because they’ve been gone too long,” Cole says sadly. “I’m just going to bed. I don’t feel like watching a movie tonight.”

He stands, gives me a kiss on the cheek and then his brother a hug.

Carson pulls me close after he finds a movie for us to watch.

But my mind goes back to the butterfly note.

Carson tips my head back and looks at me. “Luna, this is not your problem to solve.”

“Ugh, I’ll never be able to focus now. My brain is going a hundred miles an hour.”

He smiles at me as he pushes me against the sofa. “I think I can be of service to you there.”