“Going to sic your rabid Bot on me?”

“I’ve dismissed Hap for the evening. He knows the routine. My nights are my own.”

“So it’s you who’s going to kick me out of your park?”

She shrugs. “I suppose you can stay. Tonight, anyway.”

“Wow. Thanks.”

We stand there, awkwardly. Or maybe it’s just me who is awkward. She seems comfortable with the silence. She comes closer and touches the trunk of the tree where I had been sitting. There are only a few feet and the massive tree root between us. “This is one of my favorites too. It’s a great tree, isn’t it? I’ve always loved how the root’s twisted and out of control.” She runs her fingers over a large knot like she’s familiar with it and then looks up at me. “What brought you here?” Her voice is soft and genuine, and I can’t deny I’m taking in the transformation of her appearance as well. The hardness is gone there too.

I see the beautiful Raine I saw last night on the rooftop, her hair loose on her shoulders and her movements relaxed. But I remember her sweeping disdain earlier this evening and remember too that chess is one of her hobbies. Is this a calculated move? I can’t forget that there was something about her picture in the file that disturbed me. LeGru’s words come back to me. Trust your first instincts. But I’m not sure what those instincts were telling me. I rely on my own new motto instead: Watch your back, Locke.

I glance around me, wary of an ambush. The park is quiet, and even the bushes have stopped rustling. I look back at her. Is this sudden turnaround in her to make me let my guard down? I walk closer to her and she takes a step back. “You,” I say. “You’re what brought me here. I don’t like being told where I can or can’t go, especially by people who are a little too full of themselves.”

I’m waiting for her to come back at me with a snide remark, but she’s silent, her chest rising in deep slow breaths. She never takes her eyes from me and she finally nods.

“I think it’s time for me to go. Good night,” she whispers. Without another word she walks away.

The air is squeezed out of me. She’s already at the top of the steps that lead to the street but the memory of her eyes still pierces me. In her own clumsy way, I think she was trying to apologize. Have I become too much of a cynic? I want to call after her but she’s already crossing the street to her apartment, and then I see the oddest thing I never expected to see. She climbs a narrow rope ladder hanging from the roof, almost hidden in the shadows. Nine stories.

What makes a girl risk her neck like that, just to go for a three A.M. walk? That’s why she was barefoot. And why not just use the apartment elevator? She reaches the top and pulls the ladder up behind her and then briefly looks back toward the park before she disappears into the shadows.

I’m batting a thousand. Twice in one night. A double bonehead. I need to stop thinking so much and just listen. Maybe Xavier was right. Maybe for this Favor, they did choose the wrong person.

An Impression

“Good work. You’re in.” I finally turn my iScroll back on and Carver’s image looms in front of me. “Livvy will be over this morning in case anyone decides to stop by.”

“Wait a minute.” I’m still trying to wake up, rummaging through the pantry while my coffee brews. I pull the half-filled coffee cup from the brewer and pour in cream. “I’m in what?” I stuff half a protein cake into my mouth. “Who’s stopping by?”

Xavier’s image pops up too. He glares at me. “Were you out all night again?”

“No.” I swallow the cake and try to pay more attention to them.

“The Collective called,” Carver continues. “You have been invited into Raine’s group. Good work. You made quite an impression.”

Not as I remember. “Are you sure? When did they call?”

“Last night,” Xavier says. “I tried to call you to let you know but you didn’t answer.”

His call came long before I met Raine in the park and ticked her off even more than I had earlier. It couldn’t have been her who put in a good word for me. Maybe it was Vina? “Did the Collective say who recommended me?”

“You scored big. It was the Secretary himself. Apparently—”

“What? I never even met him. This doesn’t sound—”

“Would you just pipe it and listen?” Xavier grumbles. I hate that he’s echoing my thoughts from the night before.

“Like I was saying,” Carver continues. “It seems he was there last night and saw you help a boy up off the floor who just happens to be LeGru’s son. Smart move. The Collective quoted the Secretary as saying that he found you to be ‘very gracious in an unpleasant situation.’”

Sheer luck and timing. But if he saw that, he must have seen me grab Raine’s hand too. Is he the one who sent Hap over to choke me? Something about this doesn’t feel right, but if the Secretary is the type who keeps hidden prisoners in the city, choking his daughter’s classmates might be par for the course. Or maybe he’s already checked out my profile and my conveniently rich dad is what did the trick. “What now?”

“Their next meeting isn’t for ten more days but then it really ramps up—you’ll be on nearly every night. The meeting is at the Secretary’s residence, as most of them are. We’ll check in with you, but in the meantime stay put. The less you’re out and about, the better. Study the files, and make sure you have them memorized.”