Ms. Cross arrives about twenty minutes later, and I have to repeat the entire process with her. She's much more thorough in her questioning than either El or Felix. She makes me recount every single thing I can remember, from what clothes Samuel was wearing, to descriptions of the other patrons at the cafe.

“Anything could prove to be important at giving a clue as to where he's been hiding,” she tells me.

“Do you think he was being serious? About not wanting anything from Adam other than to tell him this?” Felix asks her. He's leaning against the counter, watching me with his brow creased in a frown.

“It's impossible to say, at least right now,” Ms. Cross sighs. “I have no idea. I suppose it could technically be true, but it could as easily not be. If it isn't, that means he has something planned for Adam, and we don't have any idea what that could be at this juncture. If it is...” She exhales a deep breath. “I just don't know. If it is true, then yes, I suppose he could have been being serious about not having any ulterior motives.”

“It could be true, and he could have ulterior motives,” El suggests. “People use their own kids as pawns all the time. And he doesn't even really know Adam, it's not like he'd have any real fatherly feelings towards him, would he?”

“Oh Christ,” I groan, dropping my head into my hands. “Why is my life like this?” I stand up from the couch. “I need to get some fresh air. I'm going for a walk.”

“No!” shout El, Felix, and Ms. Cross all at the same time.

I throw my hands into the air. “I can't even leave the house now?!”

“It's clear Cartwright knows where you and Felix live,” Ms. Cross explains in a more gentle tone. “If he is working with someone else, then they probably do too. There's no way of knowing if this apartment is being watched. I don't want you going anywhere alone until we know exactly what he's up to.”

“What am I going to do about work?” I protest.

“I'll drop you off and pick you up,” Felix offers.

“He'll still be alone while he's there,” point out Ms. Cross.

“I won't be alone, my boss and coworkers will be there,” I say loudly.

Ms. Cross waves my words away. “They're mundanes, they won't be able to do a damn thing if Cartwright or anyone else comes for you there.”

“I'm not busy, I'll stay at the radio station during the day. I'll just hang out in the parking lot in my car or something,” says Felix.

“I'd feel more comfortable if he didn't go at all, at least not for now. Are you dependent on his paycheck to pay rent? I can cover the difference until this is all dealt with.”

“I am not hiding away here like some scared rabbit!” I shout, interrupting them. “I can't just stop living my life because some asshole may or may not want revenge on me! I mean, what if he's never caught? Do you expect me to just stay in this apartment for the rest of my life? Go into hiding? Join the Witness Protection Program or something?”

“Nobody is suggesting anything that extreme, Adam,” Ms. Cross replies, frowning seriously at me. “All I am saying is that right now, until we know more, it would be wise to stay inside and out of sight. This is a temporary precaution, not a final solution.”

“Maybe the Council could put someone from the Guard on watch at the radio station,” El suggests. “Like how one was sent to watch Adam before his trial.”

“I don't need a babysitter either!” I snap, but Ms. Cross is already shaking her head.

“There isn't any evidence that Adam is in any real danger yet. The Council won't deem it necessary to assign a member of the Guard to watch over him, especially since they are relying so heavily on the Guard to respond to the recent increase in attacks from the Magician's Independence Movement.”

“Let's just stay home for a few days, okay?” Felix says to me, crossing over to the couch and taking my hand in his with a reassuring squeeze. “Maybe a week or two. We'll make a stay-cation out of it. Movies and microwave s'mores and shit.”

“For two weeks?” I repeat. I've only had the potential of being cooped up inside suggested to me so far, but I already feel ready to start climbing the walls. “I'll go insane!”

“I don't want you boys to stay here,” Ms. Cross tells us. “It's clear Cartwright knows where you live. I think you should take an actual vacation. Bring your parents along, Felix. Your mother is a fine dueler, if I remember correctly. I want you to take Adam to your parent's house tonight, and then I want all of you to get on a plane first thing tomorrow morning and fly somewhere, anywhere, and take a vacation for the week. And most importantly, I want you all to keep your eyes peeled for anyone following you, especially while you're in the airport. In fact, tonight, after it's dark, you and Adam will sneak out of the apartment building, and you'll walk to the grocery store on D street. I want you boys invisible the entire time, do you think you can manage that, Adam?”

“Er, yeah, yeah I think so,” I reply, taken aback.

“Good. I want you to have an Lyft or something along those lines pick you up there and drive you to Felix's parents' house. Get dropped off a couple of blocks away, and make sure that you're not being followed on the way. I want you to walk the rest of way, invisible again, just in case the house is being watched. If Samuel is working with the MRF again, then it's possible the Roths, the Fuenteses, and myself are all having our homes watched. They'll be expecting you to go to one of those places if you leave. Go in through the back. When you all leave in the morning for the airport, I want the both of you invisible from the time you leave the house, until you're positive you haven't been followed. Eleanor, you and I are going to keep up the charade here. We'll both periodically visit the empty apartment during the next few days, bringing food once or twice to make it look as though the boys are lying low at home.”

“I always get the boring jobs when we have to start planning subterfuge,” El complains.

“Do you boys agree?” Ms. Cross asks, looking to me and Felix.

“I don't know,” I begin.

“Yes,” Felix answers adamantly. He turns to me. “This will be good. We'll go somewhere nice, somewhere with a beach. We can just spend a week not having to worry about any of this. No one will know where we are, and for a whole week, all this Samuel stuff will be someone else's problem to deal with.”

I want to keep arguing, but honestly, that does sound pretty nice to me.

“...Okay, fine,” I finally concede.

“Call your parents, Felix, fill them in right away. Tell them to call me if they have any questions. All right, I'm going to go. I'm going to look into what Cartwright told you, Adam, try to find out if there's any truth to it. If he's lying, I'm sure the truth will come to light fairly quickly. I'll let you know as soon as I learn anything. Eleanor, make sure you leave a few hours before Adam and Felix do. If anybody is watching the place, I don't want them thinking you're involved if it's discovered that they snuck away.”

Ms. Cross gives me a hug before she goes. “It will be fine, Adam. These are just precautionary measures. Prepare for the worst, hope for the best. With luck, all this will amount to is a very pleasant vacation on a nice beach somewhere.”

If that's true, then it means that Samuel really is working alone, and that all he wanted was to talk to me. It that's true, it means that he really is my father. As far as best-case-scenarios go, this one leaves me feeling sick to my stomach.