“How’d you guys get out of your house without anyone seeing?” Randy’s voice was small in the murky air, but cheerful.

Jayson scoffed. “Mom is never around. It’d take her a month to notice if we never came home.”

Ru knew very well that their mother looked in on them first thing when she came home late from work. It occurred to her, though, that there was no look-in the night before. If Ms. Hadley had come home before they did, she’d have noticed they were missing.

“What about you?” Randy poked Colleen, who jumped and squealed.

“I saw them lock the front gate. I saw them. But it was open when I touched it. No one asked where I was last night, no one saw me leave. Ru, no one even noticed I wasn’t on the bus. If one of the others knew I walked home, they would have told the house mothers for sure.”

A flicker, off to the southwest. Ru’s eyes darted that way but took in nothing but dark fog. Her heart jumped to life.