“It was her.It was Teresa.”

“Teresa stood up, surprising Thomas with her confidence.“Guess he forgot to tell the little part about me kicking him in the groin and climbing out the window.” Thomas almost laughed as Newt turned to an older boy standing nearby, whose face had turned bright red. “Congrats, Jeff,” Newt said. “You’re officially the first guy here to get your butt beat by a girl.”

“Wonder why we can do this,' he called out with his mind. The mental effort of speaking to her was already straining—he felt a headache forming like a bulge in his brain. 'Maybe we were lovers,' Teresa said. Thomas tripped and crashed to the ground. Smiling sheepishly at Minho, who’d turned to look without slowing, Thomas got back up and caught up to him. 'What?' he finally asked. He sensed a laugh from her, a watery image full of color.”

“Hunger.It's like an animal trapped inside you, Thomas thought.”

“But there was something about the largest object in the solar system vanishing that tended to disrupt normal schedules.”

“It's kind of hard to ask a dead guy what he did wrong.”

“Just follow me and run like your life depends on it. Because it does.”