Alec sensed what was coming with rising dread. Striving for a casual tone, he said, "What's a week, more or less? If this Halfblood has just Awakened-"

"Depending on their power, a Halfblood could be a dangerous anomaly-and a prime threat if recruited by the other side. They may have made contact already. You know I can't let it wait. I need someone to handle this while I'm gone." Vincent fixed Alec with his gaze. "And there's only one person I can trust."

Alec backed away several steps, shaking his head vehemently. "No. No. Forget it, Vincent. I'm here to get away from all that."

"So you said." Vincent rose and crossed his arms over his chest. "You also said you want to stay here at Emerson. And you want me to keep quiet about it."

"Aye. But Vincent ... I just can't."

"What would you rather?" Vincent asked, eyes blazing. "That I bring Zachariah back? He'll certainly discover you when he searches the school. And he won't be as understanding as I am. If you don't run and hide-more successfully this time-he'll turn you in. They'll incarcerate you for eternity with a bunch of monks, if they don't sentence you to death."

"Isn't that what they're going to do to the Halfblood, if we find him?" Alec said, his pulse racing. "I can't exchange someone else's life or freedom for my own."

"We don't know what the Council will do. Maybe they'll be more lenient this time. Unless, of course, we don't get to him first. They'll have no choice if he's already been corrupted. All I'm asking you to do is to identify him and make sure he doesn't get into any trouble until I get back. Do that, and I won't report you to the Elders."

Alec hesitated, frowning. "That's it? You just want me to ... watch over him?"

"That's it. I'll take care of the rest when I return." Vincent looked at Alec, his dark eyes full of meaning. "Do me this one favor and I'll grant your wish. As long as you don't break any laws, or do any more foolish things-no matter how n.o.ble-you can stay here and play human for as long as you like."

Alec silently debated Vincent's offer, deeply conflicted. Did he want to do this-spy on his own schoolmates and condemn someone-however dangerous-to a dubious fate? Absolutely not. It felt like a deal with the devil. But if he didn't do it, Vincent would eventually find the Halfblood on his own anyway. And at this point, did Alec really have any alternative? He was lucky that Vincent was granting him this out. He took a deep breath.

"Okay. It's a deal," Alec said.

"Splendid." Vincent removed a postcard-size electronic tablet from his jacket pocket and set it on the table. "Here's a recap of everything I've done so far. Just pick up where I left off."

Alec stared down at the tablet, the gravity of their agreement starting to sink in. He barely noticed as Vincent walked to the door.

"Don't look so despondent, Alec. When all this is over, you will thank me. Happy hunting."

ten.

When Claire's mom dropped her off at school on Monday, the debris from the scaffolding accident had all been cleared away, and it looked as if construction had been halted. Claire scanned the crowd but didn't see Alec anywhere. As she crossed to the stairs, a group of girls came up to her, concern written all over their faces.

"Claire! Oh my G.o.d! Are you okay?" asked the leader of the pack. It was Gabrielle Miller, the athletic G.o.ddess she'd often seen talking with Neil.

"I'm ... fine." Claire was taken aback. Gabrielle had only talked to her twice in her life-once to welcome her to Emerson, another time to invite her to watch a varsity tennis match-and Gabrielle's clique had never so much as glanced in her direction. So why were they talking to her now?

"We heard you were, like, almost crushed to death by that scaffolding on Friday!" cried Ashley, the curly-haired blonde at Gabrielle's side.

"We were at lunch in the Village and missed the whole thing," put in Courtney, the third girl. "Everybody's talking about it. They said you were interviewed by the cops!"

"Is it true that Alec MacKenzie dragged you out from under the wreckage?" Gabrielle asked.

"Well, he ... he didn't actually drag us, it was more like he tackled us, and-" Claire began.

"Oh my G.o.d!" shrieked Ashley. "I would so love to be tackled by Alec MacKenzie!"

"He is so hot!" agreed Gabrielle.

"I'd give anything to have him save my life," Courtney swooned. "He's that quiet, loner type, which is so s.e.xy. And he has such an awesome accent."

"So awesome ... ," echoed Ashley.

Just then, Erica and Brian joined them.

"Wha.s.sup, peoplez?" Brian said in his typical cheerful fashion.

Gabrielle's group whirled on them en ma.s.se, gasping at the sight of Brian's sling. "Oh my G.o.d!" Gabrielle exclaimed. "Is your arm broken?"

"No, it was just dislocated," Brian said.

"It's a miracle that you guys survived!" cried Courtney.

"Are you, like, having nightmares and s.h.i.t?" asked Ashley.

"Well, it was terrifying," Erica admitted.

"It would have totally sucked if you'd died." Gabrielle shuddered. "I mean, school's just barely started! That would have ruined the whole first semester."

"Everybody's so freaked about it," added Courtney, "saying, 'It could have been me.'"

Gabrielle shouldered her backpack. "Brian, my dad's a doctor, so let me know if you need any painkillers."

"Thanks, but I'm already well supplied," Brian returned with a grin.

The three girls waved and dashed off. Claire glanced at her friends with eyebrows raised as they headed up the stairs in the group's wake. "That was strange."

"Not really. We're famous now." Erica smoothed back her shiny red hair, a huge smile on her face.

"Have you seen Alec?" Claire asked.

"Not yet," Brian answered.

"He's usually right on time." Claire was getting worried now. "I hope he's okay."

"He looked fine on Friday," Erica said.

Claire frowned. "Maybe he's avoiding school so we can't grill him about what happened."

"You just keep telling yourself that, Detective," Brian said, shaking his head.

All day long, the scaffolding accident was the major topic of conversation at school. So many people came up to ask Claire if she was okay-most of them people she'd never talked to until now-that it made her head spin. She'd never been the center of so much attention before. Admittedly, it was exciting-but at the same time, she felt uncomfortable. She hadn't really done anything, except not die. Alec was the one who deserved the recognition, but he was absent all day. Where was he?

After school, as Claire was grabbing her books from their locker, her eyes were drawn to the bulky, black mystery box sitting at the bottom. What was that thing, anyway? she wondered. Could any of her questions about Alec be answered by what was inside?

The box was locked tight, with a digital keypad on the lid. A thought occurred to her: Even if she couldn't open it, maybe she could put her new ability to some practical use and try to get a reading off the box-the same way she had with the bracelet. She knew this was prying, but her intense curiosity overcame her feelings of guilt.

Taking a deep breath, Claire extended her right hand over the lid of the box, then pressed her palm down onto it, concentrating on the feel of the cold, textured surface.

Nothing happened. Nothing at all.

Just then, she heard the sound of laughter and approaching footsteps. She quickly slammed the locker door and hurried off with a disappointed sigh. It figures, Claire thought, frowning. Nothing about her supposed ability had ever been predictable or convenient. If she was going to learn anything about Alec, it'd have to be the old-fashioned way.

That is, if he ever returned to school.

The following morning, traffic was so bad that Claire arrived at school with only two minutes to spare before cla.s.ses started. She made a beeline for history in the North Quad, arriving breathless just as the second bell rang.

To her astonishment, Mr. Patterson's door slammed shut in her face. Claire stopped short, speechless, then quietly tried the door handle. It was locked.

Claire had never been locked out of a cla.s.s! It was bad enough that she'd received a D on her first history paper. This would only further jeopardize her grade-and, ultimately, her scholarship. Fighting back a wave of panic, she wandered around the side of the building. Through the cla.s.sroom window, she could see Mr. Patterson already lecturing. She was about to head to the library to study when she noticed Alec sitting in his usual seat.

So he's back-and he's okay, she thought. A surge of intense relief swept through her. A second, lesser thought followed: Maybe she'd finally get a chance to talk to him today, and find out what planet he was from. Her cell phone vibrated in her pocket, signaling a new text message. c.r.a.p! she thought. She'd forgotten to turn off the d.a.m.n thing when she arrived on campus. She yanked the phone out and glanced at the screen, fully expecting the text to be from her mom.

Instead, it was from an unknown number. All it said was: Don't panic.

She glanced up and saw Alec secretly working his cell phone beneath the cover of his desk. Another message arrived: I'll share my notes. -A Claire smiled. That was nice of him. She was putting her cell phone away when the sharp rap of knuckles against gla.s.s brought her eyes back to the cla.s.sroom window. She froze in horror. Mr. Patterson opened the window, his eyes fixed on her, Alec's cell phone in his hand.

"Congratulations, Miss Brennan," he said with a derisive smile. "You and Mr. MacKenzie have just earned yourselves detention tomorrow."

eleven.

Alec stared at the green wad of gum that was stuck to the underside of the cafeteria table just inches from his face. What possessed these kids, he wondered, to engage in such a repulsive, germ-spreading habit? From his awkward position, seated cross-legged on the tile floor, he raised his weapon-a b.u.t.ter knife.

"I'm sorry I got you into this mess." Alec began chiseling away at the offensive lump.

Claire smiled, similarly employed beneath a nearby table. "It's okay. Getting EMD will help defuse my rep as a goody-goody."

The administration at Emerson apparently believed that it was best for student growth to focus their time after school on athletics, the arts, and other extracurricular activities, so detention-instead of being after school-was served before. Hence the name Early Morning Detention, or EMD. As demeaning as this task was, Alec didn't mind being here-both because he was with Claire, and because it was a welcome distraction from the a.s.signment that had been weighing on him ever since Vincent's visit. Alec knew he was supposed to be keeping an eye out for the Awakened at school-he should have started looking yesterday-but so far, he hadn't been able to bring himself to even glance at the data on Vincent's tablet. Thankfully, at least Claire was out of the running, since the target was male.

He glanced at her as she concentrated on removing a particularly difficult piece of gum. Even at seven in the morning, crouched beneath a cafeteria table, she looked bright and beautiful, and best of all, blissfully unaware of it. He wondered what she was thinking. The whole school seemed to be talking about the scaffolding incident, and he felt certain it was still fresh in Claire's mind. Vincent believed Alec had covered up the use of his powers well, but Alec was unconvinced. He'd been so reluctant to talk to Claire that he'd deliberately cut school Monday, but he couldn't keep that up forever. She hadn't said a word about it yesterday after history. Maybe-just maybe-he'd imagined that look she'd given him after he tackled them, and she didn't suspect a thing.

They worked in silence for a few minutes, accompanied by the sounds of clanging metal pans and fervent chopping from the nearby kitchen. Alec was trying to decide how to begin a conversation when, thankfully, she did it for him.

"I've been meaning to tell you," Claire said with a cautious glance in his direction, "after what happened on Friday, we were ... I was worried all weekend."

His pulse quickened. s.h.i.te. Here it comes. "Worried?"

"Yeah, I was afraid you might have been hurt in the accident."

"Oh." Was that all that was worrying her? Relief curled through him. Alec popped off a wad of pink gum, dropped it into a trash bag, and scooted along the floor to the next table. "No, I'm fine. I was really sorry to hear about Brian's shoulder, though-and I'm glad you and Erica weren't hurt."

"Thanks. We all felt bad that we couldn't call you or anything. Did you know you're not listed in the Emerson directory?"

From the expression on her face, he could see that she was dying to probe further-just as he was dying to change the subject. "I like to keep that information private." Alec hoped his tone sounded casual.

"Why?"

"Because I live by myself." He was grateful that he could at least answer that question truthfully. "The administration is okay with it, but I thought it'd seem strange to others if a student was listed without any parents or guardians."

"How'd you pull that off? I thought it was against the law for minors to live alone."

"I'm emanc.i.p.ated." He'd told this story so often over the past month-to school administrators, his landlord, the guy he'd bought his car from-it was starting to feel as if it had really happened. "Last year, I moved to northern California to live with my uncle Gregory. Unfortunately, he turned out to be a raging alcoholic, so I pet.i.tioned the court to let me live on my own-but he still pays my tuition."

"Wow. That must have been hard. But don't you have any other relatives you could live with?"

"Not really, no." It was the perfect opening: He could slip in a few tidbits to address his previous mistakes. "At first, after my parents died, I lived with my grandfather in Spain-but he's an anarchist, and they threw him in prison. Then I stayed with an aunt who's a missionary in Korea, but her boyfriend wasn't too keen on having me there, and neither was the aunt with seventeen cats in Edinburgh." That should tie things up nicely-if she buys it.

Claire frowned, sliding to another table, where she began de-gumming its underside. "Brutal. I don't envy your family reunions."

He laughed.

"But at least you have some family," Claire continued. "I don't know where any of mine is. My mother is the only relative I have."

"Really? Why? Is your mother the black sheep of the family? Did she run away and join the circus, or marry someone they didn't approve of?"

Claire shrugged. "I wish I knew. She refuses to talk about it. All I know is they got married, had me, and then he left."

"Do you even know who your father is?"

"Nope. I like to think he was a n.o.bel Prizewinning scientist who had to return to vitally important, top-secret work, and then died rescuing his lab workers from a fire. Or the emperor of some small island nation forced into hiding when a coup took over." She sighed. "But the truth is, I think he's just some deadbeat who knocked up my mom at seventeen and bailed."

"I'm sorry. I know how hard it is, growing up without a father."

"How old were you when your parents died?"

"Ten." The truth, again-although age ten had been so long ago for him, he could barely remember it.

"Now it's my turn to say I'm sorry."

"It's okay."

Claire fell silent once more as they continued sc.r.a.ping. Alec felt her eyes on him, and he sensed that she was drumming up the courage to ask him something else.

"By the way," she said hesitantly, "about Friday ..."

He froze. "Aye?"