Chapter 2

I tried to pull away as we walked to the car.

"Actually, I think I left my lucky pencil upstairs," I said, my voice tight.

Sarah's grip on my shoulder tightened. "You have plenty of pencils, Ella. In the car."

Mark opened the back door for me, his smile unwavering.

They were herding me.

I got in, my mind racing.

As Mark started the engine, I saw him.

Ethan.

Liam' s best friend since kindergarten.

He was jogging down the street, headphones on, looking straight ahead.

Hope surged through me. Ethan was real. Ethan would know what to do.

"Ethan!" I yelled, pressing my face against the window.

Sarah turned sharply from the passenger seat. "Ella, what are you doing?"

Her face was a mask of annoyance, but for a split second, I saw something else. Fear?

Mark glanced in the rearview mirror, his smile gone.

Ethan didn't hear me. He was too far.

"He's Liam's best friend," I said, my voice pleading. "Maybe he's heard something!"

"Liam is gone, Ella," Sarah said, her voice cold. "Focus on your future."

Ethan was my only chance.

I fumbled for my phone, my fingers clumsy.

I typed a quick message: "ETHAN! HELP! Car - blue sedan. Corner of Oak & Elm. NOW!"

I held the phone screen up to the rear window, angling it towards where Ethan had been.

He was further away now, but maybe, just maybe, he'd see the flash of the screen.

Suddenly, Mark swerved the car to the side of the road.

"What's wrong?" I asked, startled.

"Engine's making a funny noise," Mark said, but he was looking at Sarah.

Sarah nodded curtly. "I think I need to use the restroom. Ella, you said you were nervous? Maybe a quick break at the gas station up ahead?"

A gas station? It was a flimsy excuse.

Ethan. Had he seen my message? Was this his doing?

Sarah turned to me. "Just for a minute. Then straight to the test."

She was watching me, her eyes like chips of ice.

I nodded. "Okay."

Mark pulled into the gas station.

Sarah got out with me. "I'll come with you."

"I can go by myself," I said quickly.

"Nonsense. Mother-daughter bonding," she said, that fake smile back.

We walked towards the restroom.

My phone buzzed in my pocket.

Liam.

I ducked into a stall, Sarah waiting just outside.

The text read: "Ethan is not your friend. Don't trust him. GET OUT NOW."

My blood turned to ice.

Not Ethan? But he was Liam' s best friend. They were like brothers.

The restroom door opened.

"Ella?"

It was Ethan's voice.

I slowly opened the stall door.

He stood there, looking concerned. "You okay? I saw your text. What's going on?"

Relief washed over me, so strong I almost sagged. Liam's text had to be a mistake, a glitch.

"These people," I whispered, "they're not my parents. They're impostors. They're trying to force me to the SATs."

Ethan's expression didn't change, but something in his eyes did. A flicker.

"Okay, okay, calm down," he said, his voice smooth, reassuring. "Listen to me, Ella. The best way to find out what's happening, to find Liam, is to go along with them for now. Let them take you to the test. I'll follow. I'll figure this out. I promise."

His eyes. They were too calm. Too steady.

Like Sarah's. Like Mark's.

And he didn' t ask who "these people" were. He just accepted it.

Liam' s warning echoed in my head. "Don't trust Ethan."

My hope crumbled.

He was one of them.