I nodded.

"Something happened," he said. It wasn't a question. I wondered what my face looked like.

"Don't go back to Bangladesh before I talk to you, okay? Want to catch Mom at home."

His eyes widened and he jumped before I did. I arrived in my room and stepped across the hall to their bedroom doorway. Dad was standing by the bed looking down at Mom, who was asleep, her mouth open. I stood still, frozen by the naked tenderness on his face.

He exhaled, then glanced over at me. "She's fine," he said.

I looked down at my watch. Unbelievably, I still had another half hour before I had to be at school.

Mom stirred, opened her eyes blearily, looking first at Dad, then at me. She mumbled. "-ing okay?"

Dad nodded. "Shhh. Everything's fine. But don't go back to Bangladesh without talking to me, all right?"

She sat bolt upright.

"What happened!"

Well, at least I didn't have to tell the story to each of them separately. It still took a few moments for Mom to become fully awake. We ended up downstairs at the kitchen table with tea all around.

"You should've come for one of us!" Mom said sharply when I'd barely started.

I blinked. It was Dad I'd expected to freak out. "By the time I knew I needed you it was too late. The boat was out in the river with Anika."

Dad held up his hand to Mom. "Let her finish."

I said, "Yeah. I'm going to be late for school otherwise."

I finished the story.

Dad was staring at me, open mouthed.

"What?" I said. "He was moving when I left, honest."

"You can add velocity horizontally?"

"Any direction, really."

He shook his head. "That's fascinating. I always wondered wh-"

"It means she could break her neck!" Mom said.

It took a lot of effort not to reach up and rub my aching shoulder. "Well, I think you should be more upset about my jumping in public and messing up the relief work."

Mom bit her lip and Dad smiled slightly.

"We were done," Mom said. "We were only hanging around to make sure the chukri girls were taken care of."

Dad nodded. "We don't like to linger in any one country. There's too much chance that someone will snap a picture that gets to the wrong people. I didn't used to worry, but the facial recognition software is getting better every year, combing every social network and photo-display site on the planet."

Mom tried to look stern, but she couldn't hold it. "Nobody died and the girls got away. The rations and water filters won't go to waste." She smiled tiredly. "I can live with that."

Dad shook his head. "But maybe we need to rethink this involving you in the relief projects."

My mouth dropped open. "What? I kept those girls safe!"

"Not you, though," Dad said.

Mom said, "That's not fair, Davy. Especially given your history."

"We're not talking about me," Dad said.

I took a deep breath. "You're right," I said.

Dad said, "Besides you-what?"

"You're right. It's dangerous for me to be involved in your projects."

Mom and Dad looked at each other, eyebrows raised.

"So, I'll just go do my own projects, instead."

I jumped.

I walked to school from the edge of the woods. I was hoping that Caffeine's posse was hanging around. I wanted to show them some tricks with momentum.

They weren't.

I was calmer by the time I crunched through the last bit of old snow next to the school building, but still angry.

I'd been helping Mom and Dad with relief efforts all over the world before I could jump. And now that I could jump it was less safe? I slammed my locker shut a little harder than necessary. Kids flinched and stared at me.

"Sorry," I muttered. My face went hot and I barely kept myself from jumping away. I walked to Mr. Hill's class with my head hunched between my shoulders and my bag clutched across my chest.

The bell rang as I went through the door. Tara and I exchanged glances before I sat, and I saw her sit up straight, frowning.

That won't do. I took deep breaths and worked on dropping my shoulders. By the time Mr. Hill started talking I think I at least looked normal and by the end of class I even felt normal.

Tara touched base with me in the hall as we left. "You all right? You looked kinda mad when you came in."

I surprised myself by laughing. "A fight with my dad. Stupid fight, actually. One of those he can't win, but that doesn't mean we won't still have the fight."

"Boys?" asked Tara.

I stared at her blankly.

"Dating? Girls?"

I shook my head. "No. Not that. Though now that I think about it, maybe I should bring up the possibility." I grinned. "Does your Mom ever tell you you're too young to do things that you are quite capable of?"

Tara laughed. "When does she not? The only thing she thinks I'm old enough to do is homework and housework. Everything else? Not so much."

We went our separate ways.

The abstract focus of math was a welcome distraction and, since I was caught up with assignments in humanities, I was able to read ahead.

But sometime after I sat down for lunch Tony staggered into the cafeteria, his nose a bloody ruin.

Coach Teichert was on duty and he stuck his head out into the hallway before scooping up a handful of paper napkins from the lunch line. He pressed them up against the red flow. "Who did it?"

Tony yelled at the pressure. I think his nose was broken.

"Who hit you?" Coach asked again.

Tony mumbled something.

"What?"

"I fe' down," Tony said louder.

Right. He fell down.

I don't think anybody believed that.

I looked over at Caffeine. She'd been in the cafeteria the whole time, sitting with Donna at her usual table. She was smiling slightly and she certainly didn't look surprised.

Coach Teichert escorted Tony out, destined for the school nurse.

A few minutes later, Hector Guzman came in the cafeteria and sat at the other end of Caffeine's table.

Jade said, "Hector was wearing a hoodie right before lunch."

I looked over. He was wearing a black T-shirt.

"It's not like it's warm in here," Tara said, eyebrows knitted together. It wasn't. The school district was pinching pennies on the heat.

"Maybe he's all warm from punching out Tony," I said.

Jade nodded. "And maybe he has Tony's blood splashed across his hoodie."

I thought about the chukri girls and the mastaans. "Where is Hector's locker?"

Jade shrugged but Tara said, "Down by the physics lab."

"That's not close at all. He couldn't have put his hoodie there."

"Yeah, but he could've given it to someone else."

"Maybe, but he could've put it in a trash can, too. Watch my bag, okay?"

The hoodie was in the third can I looked in. Not one of the two big cans by the cafeteria doors, but the one near the girl's restroom across the hall.

Coach Teichert was standing outside the nurse's office, talking to Dr. Prady, the principal, when I walked up and showed them the bloody front of the hoodie, part of it still wet.

Dr. Prady's eyes widened. "Where did you get that?"

I told him.

He took it by the edges and looked at the collar. Hector's last name was written below the size tag in faded marker.

Coach Teichert nodded when he saw the name.

Dr. Prady asked, "Did you see anything?"

I shook my head. "I was in the cafeteria when Tony came in with the bloody nose."

Coach Teichert exchanged glances with Dr. Prady and said, "Let's see what Tony says now." He looked at me. "Thanks, Cent. Uh, keep this to yourself, all right?"

"Yes, Coach."

I got back to the cafeteria before the bell rang.

We did high jumps in PE. I was sorely tempted to add velocity on my vaults. My shoulder still ached and I didn't do as well as many of the other girls.

I kept my eye on Caffeine, but she left me alone, even walking wide around me on more than one occasion.

I didn't know whether to be glad or disappointed.

TWENTY-THREE.

Davy: Old Data, New Application Two weeks after his last trip into the Rhiarti Tower, Davy tried again during the early morning rush hour. The alarm had gone off last time when he'd been in the second office. He jumped into the first office he'd entered on his last visit wearing his most business-formal suit, an aquiline false nose, and horn-rimmed glasses.

The office was empty.

Davy glanced out into the hallway and saw a woman carrying a stack of files, walking away from him. He stepped into the hallway and walked in the opposite direction.

His goal was to find the fanciest office in the company and read the name on the doorplate.