2. Do you see any land?

3. Are there any markings on the ship—name, numbers, logos, designs?

4. What’s the weather like?

5. Time of day? Sun position?

I look up and show everybody.

“That’s enough to start with,” Sawyer says. “We don’t want to overwhelm her.” His uneasy look is back, and I wonder if he’s changing his mind about this.

We head back home and stand in the driveway. I make everybody gather around, and I say, “I wish we didn’t have to do this, guys. It was so nice there for a couple days, thinking it was all over and we could go on with our lives.” I watch Sawyer’s face as he stares at the ground. “You can all walk away, you know. This is my deal. And I don’t want anybody here who doesn’t want to be here. I can’t handle that hanging over my head.” I look at them. “Think about it and let me know.”

“I don’t need to think about it,” Trey says.

“Me neither,” Rowan adds. “I’m in.”

“I’ll go where Trey goes,” Ben says. I forgot he was still on the phone with us.

Sawyer looks up. “We’re all in, baby,” he says. “Sink or swim.” He chuckles uneasily.

Trey groans and pats Sawyer on the back. We say good-bye to Ben and hang up, and make our way to the house. Rowan and I walk together, while Trey and Sawyer fall behind and linger by Sawyer’s car. And I hear Trey say, “It’ll be okay, bro. We’ll get through it together.”

I glance at them, puzzled. And I realize Sawyer’s not following us to come inside.

“Later, guys,” he says. “Night, Jules.” He gets into the car, starts it, and pulls out of the driveway. I knit my brows, then lift my hand to wave, and watch him go.

Twenty-Six

In the morning, after the traditional jockeying for the bathroom at 6:00 a.m. (I lose due to phone-checking distraction), I’m relieved to find a lengthy message from Tori:

1. Rocks are in the distance along (I think) the shore.

2. Can’t really see much land per se though because of weird angle, spray, and chaos but I think it’s there.

3. Ship is mostly white, but blue on bottom. Didn’t catch any markings—everything goes so fast.

4. Weather is stormy. I think it’s raining but could be spray.

5. Some light low in sky like early midmorning and maybe a glimpse of a far-off building? Could just be a weird shadow. It’s just a flicker. Is there a way to stop this crazy thing so I can actually look at it?

I reply: Great stuff here. Will check in with you soon. We’ll teach you how to pause it. Let me know if anything new shows up—it usually does. As she probably already knows.

There’s another text message, from Sawyer this time. Sorry I left all weird. Wasn’t feeling well. Better today. Ready to tackle Tori’s vision. See you at school. <3

I smile. Maybe that’s all it was.

• • •

At school Sawyer acts completely normal, and I think I must have seen something that wasn’t really there regarding his weirdness yesterday. Trey, Sawyer, and I meet up for lunch as usual, and for the first time since the fire, Roxie and BFF Sarah give me a long stare as they walk by our table, and Roxie says something immature about my ugly, hand-me-down fire clothes.

“Ahh,” I call after her, “an insult! Finally! Now things are really starting to feel like they’re back to normal. I knew I was missing something in my life.”

“You’re welcome,” Roxie says.

Trey and I look at each other. “She was actually funny,” he says.

“I was just going to say that,” I say. “Jules is impressed!”

“So is Trey,” Trey says.

Sawyer looks at us. “Is this the latest Demarco thing to do? I’m just trying to keep up here. I thought we were still doing dot-com jokes.”

“Please,” I scoff. “Dot-com jokes are so two visions ago. Stay on your toes, Angotti, or you’re off the team.”

“You can be on my team,” Trey tells him with a wink.

Sawyer shakes his head and grins. “Aw, man. I thought Ben would cure you of this desire to force homosexuality on me for your own selfish whims.”

“Ben’s not here,” Trey says. He leans toward Sawyer. “Come on. Kiss kiss. Huh? Yeah?”

Sawyer laughs out loud. “Trey, my friend, if you can keep me from drowning, I’ll give you a kiss you’ll never forget.”

“Aaand, here we go.” I fold my arms.

Trey sits back and looks offended. “How dare you, Sawyer. Really. I’d never cheat on Ben.”

Sawyer just shakes his head.

I change the subject. “So, what are we going to do about Tori? Should we head over there after school, or what?” I’m personally getting really sick of the drive to UC. The traffic makes me crazy.

Trey and Sawyer sober up and we toss around the options. “There’s not a huge hurry, is there? All the visions have had time frames of at least a few weeks, right?” Sawyer asks.

“Yeah. Mine was more like six or seven weeks. Longer than yours,” I say.

“And mine was longer than Tori’s first one,” Sawyer says.

Trey knits his brows. “So it appears that the time from first vision to the day of the tragedy is growing progressively shorter. I wonder if that’s something to note or just a coincidence.”

“Good question,” I say. I consider it for a moment. “But in all instances, or at least in Sawyer’s and mine, the vision gave us more information as time progressed. A hidden frame exposed here, an extra scene there,” I say, remembering the moment I discovered Sawyer’s face in the body bag.