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“What the fuck?”

I heard the fear underneath it. Could see everything.

A boy carrying popcorn slowed to watch us. A woman turned. Someone else stopped on the stairs.

The attention spread.

That’s her. The girl who got taken. She’s a mental case now. The thought arrived whole and vicious.

I glanced at the field.

Declan was already moving. He had dropped his helmet.

Someone caught his shoulder as he broke from the sideline. “Bishop.”

Declan twisted away.

“Let him go,” said the head coach.

The hand released him. The words barely registered.

Declan vaulted the low barrier. Then he was coming toward me. Fast.

I watched him.

Snap.

Get down.

My shoulders hunched. My knees bent slightly. My body moved toward the drain.

I inched closer. Stopped. Stared.

The voice had gone quiet. Panic hit me so suddenly my chest hurt.

No. I needed to hear it. I had to.

Wait. Why?

Sadie moved in front of me again and waved one hand through my line of sight.

My eyes went around her.

Back to the drain.

“Hazel.” Her voice sharpened. “Look at me.”

I couldn’t.

Something terrible waited inside the silence.

Not a thought. Not even fear exactly.

A certainty. A call to action.

If I couldn’t hear him, I wouldn’t know what to do. If I didn’t know what to do—

No. My knees weakened.