Free Sneak (Swipe Series) by Evan Angler Page A

is where I’m going,” she said. “Can you read it?”
    Mrs. Phoenix knelt down. “Yes,” she said. “I can read it.”
    “Good. Also . . .” Hailey reached into her purse and pulled out an old wooden board covered with little odds and ends. “I wanted to give you this. It’s a sculpture to remember me by. I finished it today.”
    “That was fast!” Mrs. Phoenix said. “It’s beautiful.”
    “Might be my last one for a while. So take good care of it, okay?”
    Hailey’s mother nodded, sniffling once.
    “Do you know what it is?”
    Mrs. Phoenix examined the object, but at last she said, “No. I’m sorry. I don’t.”
    “Okay.” Hailey looked nervously over her shoulder, into the depth of the woods around them, listening carefully. “Well, when the time comes, I’m sure you’ll figure it out.” And she decided not to say anything more.
    “You’d better go,” Mrs. Phoenix said.
    “I can’t walk you back.”
    “I know that.”
    Hailey nodded.
    “But I’m not that fragile, Hailey. I’ll be just fine.”
    The clearing around them was wide and grassy and glowing under the moonlight. A breeze picked up and cooled their skin. Hailey hugged her mom for a long time.
    10
    “I don’t know what they were looking at,” Erin said into her tablet, several minutes later. “It’s sticks and rocks. There’s nothing there .” She pointed her tablet at the ground.
    “Could you hear what they were saying?” Mr. Arbitor asked.
    “Barely. This long-range mic you gave me’s a piece of junk.”
    “Well, how about you tell me anyway, Erin? Humor me a little.”
    Erin frowned. “She knows. She’s going.”
    “Okay,” Mr. Arbitor said. “Then we’d better move fast.”
    11
    The moon was fuller tonight, lighting the broken sidewalks but casting everything along the underpass into shifting shadows.
    Logan had spent the day riding his bike around the ruins. He was steadier now, and eager to head east. He’d only come back for the food.
    Across the way, Bridget rummaged through the huddle’s “kitchen” to ration what little she could for Logan’s trek. Logan watched nervously with one hand on his bike, biting his nails and pacing short steps back and forth at the edge of the street’s darkness.
    Come on , he thought, willing Bridget on. What’s taking so long?
    He was fiddling with his bike’s gearshift when he first heard the footsteps stomping across the overpass above.
    “ DOME! ” a voice yelled down. “DOME coming!”
    Within moments, Markless were fleeing in every direction, tripping over themselves, crying, leading one another around the lightless space.
    Bridget weaved her way through the commotion, spinning in circles and scanning the darkness. “Where is he? Where is he?” she said, stopping the Markless around her as they gathered their things and scattered into the side streets of the Ruins. “Has anyone seen him?” She cupped her hands to her mouth, whispering harshly now. “ Logan! Logan, where are you? ”
    Logan gripped the handlebars of his bike, petrified, too scared in the moment even to flee.
    Bridget. She’d really done it. She’d gone straight to DOME. And she was about to turn him in.
    “Hey—!” A hand grabbed Logan’s elbow from behind. Logan swung around wildly to shake it off.
    “Whoa, whoa! It’s me, Andrew.” Andrew held his hands up.
    “We need to get you out of here.”
    Logan hesitated. Then he nodded.
    “So get down,” Andrew said, pushing Logan as he ducked behind the bike. “Stay low. She’s looking for you.”
    “I can’t see DOME,” Logan said desperately. “Where are they? Andrew—where are they?”
    “Come on,” Andrew said. “I know these streets. I can get you out of here.”
    “But Bridget—”
    “Forget Bridget! They’re here . And who do you think brought them, huh? ’Cause I’ll give you one guess.”
    He grabbed Logan by the wrist and ran with him away from the underpass and into the streets of rubble, Logan pulling