DAMIEN RIVAS
2:22 p.m.
Death-Cast did not call Damien Rivas because he isn’t dying today, which he considers a shame because he’s not very impressed with the way he’s been living his life lately. Damien has always been an adrenaline junkie. New roller coasters every summer he met the required height. Stealing candy from drugstores and cash from his father’s pouch. Fighting those who are the Goliath to his David. Starting a gang.
Playing a game of darts against himself isn’t exactly thrilling.
Talking to Peck on the phone isn’t exciting either.
“Calling the cops is some little bitch shit,” Damien says, loud enough for his speakerphone. “Getting me to call the cops goes against everything I stand for.”
“I know. You only like the cops when they’re called on you,” Peck says.
Damien nods, like Peck can see him. “We should’ve handled that ourselves.”
“You’re right,” Peck says. “The cops never even got Rufus. They’re probably giving up because he’s a Decker.”
“Let’s get you some justice,” Damien says. Excitement and purpose surge through him. He’s been living away from the edge all summer and now he’s inching closer and closer to his favorite place in the world.
He imagines Rufus’s face where the dartboard is. He throws the dart and hits bull’s-eye—right between Rufus’s eyes.
MATEO
2:34 p.m.
It’s raining again, harder than back at the cemetery. I feel like the bird I looked after as a kid, the one pummeled by the rain. The one that left its nest before it was ready.
“We should go inside,” I say.
“Scared of catching a cold?”
“Scared of becoming a statistic who gets struck by lightning.” We hang out underneath the awning of this pet store, puppies in the window distracting us from figuring out our next move. “I have an idea to honor your explorer side. Maybe we can ride the train back and forth. There’s so much I never got to see in my own city. Maybe we’ll stumble into something awesome. Forget it, that’s stupid.”
“That’s not stupid at all. I know exactly what you’re talking about!” Rufus leads the way to a nearby subway station. “Our city is gigantic, too. Someone can live here their entire life and never walk every block in every borough. I once dreamt I was on some intense cycling trip where my tires had this glow-in-the-dark paint on them and I was aiming to make the city light up by midnight.”
I smile. “Did you succeed?” There’s actual race-against-the-clock suspense in this dream.
“Nah, I think I started dreaming about sex or something and woke up from that,” Rufus says. He’s probably not a virgin, but I don’t ask because it’s not my business.
We’re heading back downtown. Who knows how far we’ll go. Maybe we’ll ride the train until the very last stop, catch a bus, ride that to an even farther stop. Maybe we’ll end up in another state, like New Jersey.
There’s a train, door open, at the platform and we run into it, finding an empty bench in the corner.
“Let’s play a game,” Rufus says.
“Not Gladiator again.”
Rufus shakes his head. “Nope. It’s a game called Traveler I used to play with Olivia. Make up a story about another passenger, where they’re going and who they are.” He shifts, his body leaning against mine as he discreetly points at a woman in blue medical scrubs under her jacket, holding a shopping bag. “She’s going home to take a nap and then blast some pop music as she gets ready for her first day off in nine days. She doesn’t know it yet, but her favorite bar is gonna be closed for renovations.”
“That sucks,” I say. Rufus turns to me, his wrist spinning, encouraging me to go on. “Oh. She’ll go back home, where she’ll find her favorite movie on some cable network and catch up on emails to her friends during commercial breaks.” He grins. “What?”
“She started her evening fairly adventurous,” he says.
“She was taking a nap.”
“So she’d have energy to party all night!”
“I figured she’d want to see what her friends are up to. She probably misses text messages and phone calls since she’s usually too busy saving lives and delivering babies. She needs this, believe me.” I nod at a girl with headphones bigger than fists and hair dyed platinum. She’s drawing something colorful on her tablet with a blue stylus. I nod toward her. “She got the tablet for her birthday last week and she really wanted it for games and video-chatting with her friends, but she discovered this design app and experimented with it when she was bored. It’s her new obsession.”