The Becoming of Noah Shaw (The Shaw Confessions Book 1)

I BLINK, AND THERE’S A flare of light. The sun in my memory becomes a fluorescent tube light in reality.

“Noah, come on, we gotta go.”

It’s Jamie, shaking my shoulder. I gasp for air, and Florida sheds its skin; the picnic table shrinks into a hideous chair, the thatched roof bleaches out into a white ceiling. The vending machines are still here.

“Where is everyone?” I ask him.

“Where we need to be.”

“Where are we?”

“Mount Sinai,” he says, and the pieces fit together. We’re in a waiting room. “You insisted.”

“I insisted?”

“They brought Stella here, but.” Jamie shakes his head. “It’s not good.”

An image comes to me, a memory, possibly, of people pulling her out of the water—one of her shoes was still on.

“Is she alive?”

Jamie nods, but his eyes dart away. “For now.”

“Can you get me to her?”

He shakes his head, his dreadlocks flicking his cheeks. “No one’s getting near her right now. Her neck’s broken and she’s on life support, I overheard.”

I can choose my own ending.

She didn’t, though, seeing as how she’s still alive. Seems especially cruel.

“Noah, we really need to go.”

“Where’s Daniel?” I say as I get up, swaying on my feet. I steady myself on one of the chairs. Jamie’s not watching—he’s looking at the front entrance.

“At the precinct,” he says. “Waiting for his parents.”

“What? What precinct? The fuck—why?”

“Because he doesn’t want to talk to the police without a lawyer. And neither do you.”

“I’ve got enough to go round,” I say. “But it would be simpler for you to just get us out of it.”

“I can’t get us out of anything. You can’t do anything. Are you listening to me?” He faces me, fake smiling, speaking through clenched teeth. “Someone cut the power. Like literally, in our case—our abilities are gone. We have to go.”