Josh shook his head. “He was wearing a ski mask.”
“Oh my God.” I leaned into Josh’s chest, my breath coming short and ragged as wave after wave of terror crashed over me. “I thought it was over. Paige is in jail . . . I thought . . . I thought I was safe.”
“I know.” Josh ran his hand over my hair again and again and kissed the top of my head. “I know. It’s okay. We got here in time. Everything’s gonna be okay.”
Suddenly Gage and Trey reappeared at the back door. They were out of breath and soaking wet. Apparently the skies, which had been threatening since that afternoon, had finally opened up. Gage doubled over as he clung to the door handle and I saw lightning flash through the sky behind him. He finally straightened up and let the door slam.
“Anything?” Josh asked.
“He took off in a black Acura,” Trey said as he fought for breath. He ran his hand over his close-shaven head, sloughing off the rain. “I tried to get the plates, but I only saw the first two letters.”
“Well, at least that’s something,” Josh said. He tipped my face up with his finger beneath my chin. “We should go to the police.”
I shook my head, tears streaming from the corners of my eyes. I felt like an idiot for going off on my own. For thinking this was over just because Paige was locked up. For not listening to MT. “I just want to go home.”
“But we have to report this,” Josh told me.
“So let them come to me for once,” I said, bracing my hand against the wall and struggling to my feet. All three of the guys—even Gage—made a move to help me, but I managed to do it myself. “Right now all I want to do is lock myself up in my room. And until someone figures out what the hell is going on around here, I’m not coming out.”
TECHNOLOGY IS NOT YOUR FRIEND
“So let me see if I understand all this,” Taylor said later that evening, pacing back and forth in front of my closet. Outside my window at Pemberly the storm raged, thunder growling and lightning flashing. The rain pelted the windowpane, sometimes so loudly it drowned out our words. Every now and then the lights would flicker and I just prayed we wouldn’t be left in the dark. That was the last thing my nerves needed right now. “This Sabine girl totally screwed with your mind via e-mail and text, then Noelle and her grandmother totally screwed with your mind via e-mail and text—”
“Um, hello? Sitting right here?” Noelle said, raising her hand from my desk chair like she was going to ask a question in class.
Taylor shot her a look that said “Let me finish.” Wow. Things had really changed.
“And now this MT person is screwing with you via text?” she finished.
“That’s the deal, basically, yeah,” I replied, leaning back into my pillows, which were propped up against the wall at the head of my bed.
I’d changed into my favorite Penn State sweatshirt and Easton soccer shorts upon returning to the dorm, and had just finished giving my statement about tonight’s incident to Detective Hauer, who had left with a promise to run the partial plate against the car’s make as soon as he got back to the Easton PD. While part of me would have loved to pass out and put this night behind me, I was far too wired to sleep, which was why everyone was here, keeping me company. Kiran leaned back against the door and Ivy sat at the foot of my bed, her back against the wall and her feet dangling over the edge of the mattress.
“Reed, I think you know what you need to do,” Taylor said seriously, crossing her arms over her chest. “You need to give up on technology.”
I snorted a laugh.
“She’s right,” Kiran put in, inspecting her fingernails. “Technology is not your friend.” Her eyes lit up and she pushed herself away from the wall. “Maybe you should move to, like, the African jungle or something. Become one of those women who lives off the land and studies the apes or something. Go completely off the grid.”
A bolt of lightning flashed so brilliantly I nearly jumped out of my skin. Taylor smirked and walked over to my dresser, piling her hair atop her head and checking out the effect in the mirror. While Ivy, Noelle, and I had gone casual, she and Kiran were still sporting their cocktail dresses, having come right back here with us instead of stopping by their rooms at the Driscoll.
“Yes, Kiran. That is so what I want to do with my life,” I said sarcastically as the thunder clapped just outside. “Why didn’t I think of that before?”
“Besides, we already decided. No running and hiding,” Ivy reminded me.
“So if we’re not gonna run and hide, I say we go on offense,” Noelle said, leaning forward in the chair. “Find out who this MT person is already and grill them about what they actually know until they snap.”
“But there’s no way to find out,” I told her, supporting my cast with my other hand. “Every time we try to text them it bumps back to me as unsent.”
“Oh, please. They’re probably just blocking you,” Taylor said, letting her hair tumble down around her shoulders again. “Any good hacker can get around that.”
I looked at Ivy and she sat up straight, pushing away from the wall. “Any good hacker?” I said. “Aren’t you a good hacker
?”
“How?” Ivy asked Taylor. “We tried texting and calling from my phone—”
“And mine,” Noelle said.