Flashlights swarmed the area in front of Iralyn. Hidden in the bushes, she trashed about, trying to catch the attention of whoever was there, but it did about as much good as her screaming: none.

“Stop trying to get yourself killed,” a voice hissed in her ear, only audible because she was so close.

Once the flashlights were gone, and the people out there had passed, the person who had dragged her into the bushes let go. She ripped her arm out of their grasp and took off running down the path, only to be grabbed again just a moment later.

“Iralyn, I only wish to talk,” the person said.

“I wish for you to go away!” Iralyn shouted.

“Shh! You’ll draw them back here!”

“So what?”

“Neither of us can afford that, can we? You are a sixteen-year-old girl named Iralyn, are you not? The police are looking for you. I am a twenty-seven-year-old man named Michael. The police are also looking for me.”

Those were the police. The ones Vera must have called on her. How had they managed to find her so quickly?

She knew the answer instantly: Ezzie. Ezzie must have called them and turned her in. For Ezzie, it would be both revenge and a boost to her Virtue score.

“Well, congratulations, you just sold us both out to the Virtue system,” Iralyn said, barely two seconds later, “why not just walk out with your hands raised screaming that you broke a law, huh?”

“There is a point in this park you need to see.”

“No. I’m leaving. I’m going to find somewhere to sleep and get a good rest.”

“All right then, Iralyn. I will leave you to it. But if you ever need somewhere to truly hide — somewhere better than this park, you know how to find me,” Michael said.

“Wha— No, I don’t,” Iralyn said, but Michael had already blended back in with the shadows, vanishing into the trees.

He must have me confused for someone else, she decided. Although there probably weren’t very many girls her name with her age who just so happened to also be trying to avoid the police right now, if any, how could he have found out about her?

He couldn’t have. It was as simple as that.

She started heading back out of the park...she wasn’t going to find Darcy here. She was only going to find enemies. Ezzie, the police, whoever Michael was, and maybe more than that.

Then, just as she got to the entrance, she saw Darcy perched on top of the arch above the sidewalk leading into the park.

“Hey, Iralyn,” she said, “I remember you. You’re that goody-two-shoes from year ten, right? Oh, who cares. I heard you were looking for me, though.”