Pulse (13 page)

Faith wasn’t just distracting Wade from the important work he needed to do. She was also standing between Clara and Dylan. And that, Clara began to realize, was unacceptable.

At one time, years before he’d met Faith and Liz, Hawk had been a sneaky little kid. By the third grade he’d fashioned himself a persona that allowed him to drift through school without being noticed. He’d gotten into the habit of finding discarded Tablets—all too common with eight-year-olds hell-bent on playing tag on the playground. Grade school kids don’t keep a lot of interesting, private information on their Tablets, but it had been a thrill all the same to find some nugget of information he could use when he needed it.

Hawk was always the smallest guy in the room, and for the most part it hadn’t bothered him at all. It seemed to him that the other small boys in grade school were trying too hard in order to make up for their size. They were all clowns or live wires, full of aggressive energy, their voices stuck at an annoyingly high volume. It wasn’t in Hawk’s nature to be obnoxious or hold center stage. He didn’t talk much; but when he did, his comments were wry and cutting, the stuff of legend. No one wanted to be on the receiving end of a well-crafted Hawk comeback, so very few kids scuffled with him verbally back then. It was how he’d gotten his nickname. Hawks were quiet watchers; but when they were ready, they moved with purpose and struck with deadly force. It helped that Hawk seemed to know secret things about almost everyone, in part because he had big ears and listened to every conversation, but also because he’d been inside most of their Tablets at one time or another.

Unfortunately for Hawk, he’d lost every ounce of his early confidence in the sixth grade, and it had never returned. Grade school was so simple: stay quiet, provide a biting remark when required, sneak around as much as possible. But middle school had been like a wrecking ball on his quiet personality. He’d tried a cutting remark only once and chosen badly, finding himself with a bloody nose at the hands of a large, mean, popular kid. The incident had put a black mark of humiliation on Hawk that dogged him all the way to Old Park Hill. His quiet charm turned reclusive and weird. Other kids kept their distance and mocked him when he tried to fit in. One might say he was driven underground, deeper into himself, where he spent endless hours hacking into his Tablet. By the time he met Faith Daniels at Old Park Hill, Hawk was one of the few people in the outside world who had cracked the Tablet code. It was a dangerous thing to have done, he knew, because it gave him access to things he wasn’t supposed to see. He hadn’t told anyone, for who would he tell? His parents were as isolated as he was, content with their books and their writing. For them, the outside was a quiet place to be left alone for as long as the world would allow them the peace and quiet.

Hawk always liked the reason for his nickname: that he could strike at any moment, and the victim wouldn’t see it coming. Though, to be fair, he hadn’t struck anyone with deadly force in his entire life. He thought about it a lot, because he had long ago acquired the skills to inflict a lot of misery on his enemies, and he often reveled in these thoughts for longer than was useful. A little fantasizing about watching your tormentor suffer was fine, but that sort of thinking can get to be a problem if it becomes a habit. Hawk had thought of a thousand ways to ruin Wade Quinn’s life since arriving at Old Park Hill. They’d both been there longer than Faith or Liz, and somehow they’d fallen into each other’s orbit. Wade had gotten a taste for Wire Codes at his old school, and he knew from experience that it would be the really smart, socially awkward kid who would have the skill to get it done.

“Never made one,” Hawk had said the first time Wade asked him to make a Wire Code, which wasn’t exactly true. As a Tablet hacker of some renown, he’d played around with Wire Codes purely to see if he could make them. They were a witch’s brew of crazy codes and hidden sites; and while no two of them were exactly alike, they all shared the same foundational coding designed to set the mind on fire.

“I tell you what,” Wade had said as he stared down at Hawk during their first encounter. “Give it a shot. I’ll pay twenty Coin just to see what you come up with.”

Wade Quinn was the biggest badass Hawk had ever encountered in his life, and he could tell from experience that he was an alpha male of the highest order. This was the kind of guy who could literally destroy a kid like Hawk, but Wade was also that rare beast who could carry a kid like Hawk up the social ladder. Associating with the likes of Wade Quinn, especially in the form of something that instantly created dirt on the guy, had a certain appeal.

“No promises, but I can try,” Hawk had said. “Give me a couple of weeks.”

“Let’s say tomorrow instead,” Wade replied.

By this time Hawk’s awkward nervousness had taken full bloom, and he yammered on for another few seconds before Wade walked away without so much as a good-bye. By 4 a.m. that same night, Hawk had created his first functioning Wire Code, a real junker; but he was able to deliver it the next day.

“Be careful with that thing,” Hawk had said, only half joking. “It’s radioactive. I really have no idea what it will do to your brain.”

Wade had tapped out the transaction for twenty Coin on his Tablet, transferring the funds to one of Hawk’s many untraceable accounts, and Hawk slipped the Wire Code necklace into Wade’s hand. The deed was done. Hawk, the geeky quiet kid, was officially a drug dealer.

Standing outside of Faith’s window at midnight wasn’t something Hawk had planned to do; but there was something he had to show her, and it couldn’t wait any longer. A week had passed since the incident on the football field, and he’d reverted back to his quietness, not talking to anyone at school and avoiding eye contact with the people he knew. It was an unusually cool night as he looked into Faith’s window, trying to decide how to wake her. He wasn’t fully aware that Faith’s parents weren’t in the picture, so as far as he was concerned, ringing the doorbell wasn’t an option. He was thinking of tapping on the glass when she began to stir.

He watched her roll over and pull the thin covers up to her chin, curling into a tight ball in her sleep. Then the door to her closet began to open slowly, and he ducked low against the windowpane. At first he thought there might be a dog or a cat in the house, or worse, a coyote, which had been known to roam the valley. But how would a coyote get into Faith’s closet? She’d never said anything about having a pet, either.

Hawk peered over the sill of the window, cupping his hands to his eyes for a better view through the shiny glass. What he saw made no sense, and he began to wonder if he was tired enough to be seeing things that weren’t there. It was true he hadn’t slept very much in the past few days, but he’d never hallucinated before.

A folded blanket was hovering a few feet over Faith’s bed, and as Hawk watched, it began to unfold. A few seconds later the blanket was all the way flat, hanging in the air like a big magic carpet.

Hawk couldn’t help himself from banging on the glass, because he cared for Faith and he somehow imagined the blanket was about to smother her. He watched as Faith stirred awake and rolled over onto her back. As she did, the blanket fell, landing softly over her entire body before she opened her eyes and looked around like someone might be in the room with her.

Hawk tapped on the glass once more and waved moronically, hoping Faith wouldn’t chase him off by yelling for her parents.

“It’s just me. It’s Hawk. Nothing to worry about.”

Faith breathed a sigh of relief and then seemed to wonder how the blanket had gotten onto her bed. She went to the window and unlocked it, pushing it upward only a few inches and crouching down to talk.

“What are you doing here? It’s after midnight. In case it wasn’t obvious, I was asleep.”

“No, I get it, I do,” Hawk said, nervously shivering in the cold. “This can’t wait. It’s a timing thing, honestly. I wouldn’t ask if I didn’t have to.”

“You’re acting weird.”

“I know, totally normal, back to my old self. Can you let me in? It’ll only take a second.”

Faith looked back at her bed like she were still dreaming, rubbed her eyes, then peered back out the window.

“Did you put that blanket on my bed?” she asked.

“I’m out here, remember?”

Faith looked dubious, but she raised her eyebrows and shrugged it off, pushing the window up high enough for Hawk to crawl through.

“You know, I do have a front door. For future reference.”

“Didn’t want to wake up your parents,” Hawk said as he climbed through the opening and caught his tennis shoe on the edge, falling onto the carpeted floor. “Always liked carpet, much more forgiving than hardwood. Love the stuff.”

“Uh-huh,” Faith mumbled, shutting the window and crawling back under the covers before Hawk could say anything else. He stood in the dim light of her room rubbing the cold from his bare arms.

“No, you can’t get in,” Faith said.

Hawk looked like he was about to cry.

“If it’s that big a deal, fine,” Faith said. “Just stay on your own side.”

Hawk shook his head back and forth like she’d misunderstood.

“I’m sorry, Faith. I blew it. I didn’t think you were going to take those Wire Codes. They were for Wade.”

“Uh-huh,” Faith said, not sure how she was supposed to respond. She was tired, and she felt betrayed by one of the only friends she had in the world. What she really wanted at that moment was to fall asleep and forget about Wade, Hawk, Dylan—all of them.

“I need to tell you how it happens,” Hawk said. “He doesn’t ask me to make them. He
tells
me to. Try being my size with a guy like that telling you what to do. It’s not easy saying no.”

Faith’s heart softened as she looked at Hawk. He looked so young and vulnerable. She was starting to feel like maybe she was being a little too hard on him. She still didn’t know if she could trust him, but she was willing to listen. The truth was, she felt lonely, and Hawk was very chatty. He’d do most of the talking anyway.

“Come on, get in,” she said, pushing down the covers on one side of the bed and patting the sheet like she were trying to coax in a puppy.

Hawk leaped onto the mattress so fast it startled Faith fully awake. He didn’t even remove his shoes, which she thought was gross and dumb; but he had the covers over his legs before she could say anything.

“Cold out there. Way better in here. Thanks for the invite.”

Faith was pretty sure she’d just made a mistake. How long was this going to take?

“So you’re not a notorious drug dealer then?” Faith said.

“No way, not that. Not even close. I’m very limited release, superexclusive. Only rich a-holes need apply.”

“Right.”

Faith ran her hands along the soft surface of the blanket.

“How
did
this thing get here? You sure you didn’t do it?”

Hawk was nervous about how to answer, because obviously Faith didn’t know her room was haunted. What else could have caused a blanket to drift over a bed like that and unfold? Was there any chance he had imagined it himself? His stress level had been off the charts lately, and it was dark in the room. Maybe he was losing his marbles.

“Probably the Wire Codes,” Hawk lied. “Sometimes you forget little things for weeks after. You probably put it on and just don’t remember.”

“I guess. You know what the strange part is though? I was thinking about how cold I was, not really dreaming it, just wishing I had another blanket. And then I woke up, and there it was. Weird, right?”

Hawk shrugged like he had no idea what she was talking about.

“You know, if you want, I could probably sleep here for the rest of the night. My parents don’t even know I’m out.”

“You wish,” she said sarcastically.

“Yes, I do.”

“At least get your shoes out of my bed. That’s gross.”

Hawk’s shoes hit the floor before Faith could take back what she had just given in to. For Hawk, it was the single most awesome thing that had happened to him in months. He took out his three-day-old Tablet and pulled it by its gleaming corners, stretching it until it snapped into its larger size.

“I brought you something. It’s time sensitive.”

“Sounds mysterious,” Faith said. “Kind of like this blanket on my bed. I’m telling you, I didn’t put it here.”

“Setting aside the fact that your room is haunted by items of home decor, I think you’ve got a nice place here.”

Faith couldn’t help but smile as Hawk looked around the room appreciatively. He was a huge nerd, but he was sweet. “What did you bring me? If it’s a hug, you can put your shoes back on and hit the road.”

Hawk pressed the screen on his new Tablet, bringing it to life. The light bathed the room in an eerie glow. Shadows danced on the walls as Hawk used both hands to program in some commands, bypassing several layers of security in order to reach the service he wanted access to.

“We can only do this for about two minutes before it fades out,” Hawk said. “You’ll need to make it quick. And listen, I don’t know if I can ever do this again. The new Tablet had a back door installed, something I’ve never seen before.”

Faith didn’t have a clue what Hawk was talking about; but then he handed her his Tablet, and his meaning became clear in an instant.

Liz Brinn’s face was on the screen, staring back at her.

“Liz? Is it really you?” Faith stammered.

A cute guy with sandy-brown hair squeezed into the camera view. “Hey, Faith! Thanks for taking care of Liz while we were apart. I owe you one!”

“No problem,” Faith said, laughing softly as her eyes began to fill with tears.

“Uh-oh. Your buddy’s not doing too well,” Noah said.

“Stop that,” Liz said, playfully shoving Noah out of the way. Her cheeks were flushed with good health, and she looked happy.

“Hey, it’s okay. Don’t cry. Everything is fine, really.”

Faith wasn’t so sure. She’d really blown it on the night she’d been swept away by Wade Quinn. “I’m so sorry, Liz. I don’t know what I was thinking. And I miss you. It’s not the same out here all alone.”