nuclear bomb. I looked down at it. This tiny thing held so much power. Did I really want to give it
to Noelle right in front of them? Was I really going to sell out the only people who had been
faithful to me in this whole mess?
Answer? No.
I placed the disc along the edge of my desk and lifted my fist.
Noelle stepped forward. "What are you--"
But she was too late. I brought my hand down on the side that was hanging over the edge of the
desk. The thing split right in half with a satisfying crack.
"Huh. I can't believe that worked," I said. I turned and Frisbeed the two halves at Noelle's feet.
"There you go. There's your precious disc."
Everyone just stared down at the broken pieces.
"That's fine," Noelle said finally. "They'll send me a new one." She checked her watch. "Reed, you
have thirty-three minutes."
She slammed the door on her way out, and everyone let out a breath. Astrid dropped to the
ground to pick up the pieces of the disc.
"How bad was it, really?" she asked me, her dark eyes nervous as she held up the remnants.
"I really only looked at mine, but it was bad," I told her. "It listed my parents' income, how much I
made last summer, all my exes.... There was even stuff on my brother on there."
"Scary," Astrid said, launching the pieces into Sabine's plastic garbage can.
23
"Do you really think she can just get another one?" Sabine asked.
"Probably," I said with a shrug. "But you guys are all pretty normal," I joked. "You have nothing to
worry about, right?"
"Right," they all chorused, looking at one another in a snagged way.
Then we all cracked up laughing. I couldn't imagine that the secrets in their files were anything all
that awful. Maybe to them they were, but considering some of the secrets people like Ariana and
Cheyenne had kept, how bad could they be?
"Come on. You heard her," I said flatly. "We only have thirty-three minutes."
"I can't believe this is really happening," Sabine said, getting back to work. She shook her long
black hair back from her shoulders and her ever-present shell earrings clicked and swung. "Maybe