Jude

Despite my many moves, I've never been to this region of the US before. Georgia feels like a peach, fresh and sweet. Last night's storm left serene weather in its wake, and I relish it on our drive to Atlanta.

Lana has made a list of all the parks; we've already crossed out the more popular ones. We need one that will be empty at night and a little out of the way so we can do our work without being seen, but it also needs to be visited enough during the day so someone will actually report it tomorrow. Then we have to wait nearby for the news crew to show up, and Lana will work her magic.

"We'll split up," Taylor says. "And meet at the museum."

Lana and I nod. With our own set of parks to check out, we go our separate ways. Lana knows Atlanta best, so she's handling the busier areas. I rely on street signs and directions from people to get to where I'm going. On my list, there's five parks, each several streets apart. Some are tiny, sad things that aren't big enough to grow the tree I'm planning. Others are are too crowded.

After crossing off the third, I set out for the fourth, the bounce in my step gone. I'm worried. Even if we're caught, it won't be the end of the world. We're meant to expose ourselves soon, anyway. What worries me is that Rani won't notice our signal—or worse, she will, and she won't come. What if that's why she left, because she decided she didn't want to do it? Her life is her choice—I never expected all four of us to be totally onboard, but I don't think I can handle the mystery if we never get to meet her at all.

Something catches in the corner of my eye, and I whirl around. There's no one behind me for at least a block, but I swear there was something right there. It's a city, I tell myself. A pigeon. A rat. Could be anything.

I go into a store to ask about the fourth park on my list. The guy behind the counter has never even heard of it, but a woman hollers out the directions from the milk aisle. I holler back a thanks and leave, and as soon as one foot is out the door, someone roughly grabs my elbow and pulls me into an alley.

I instinctively raise my hands, and thorny vines burst through the ground to meet my attacker. The girl reels back, raising her hands and exclaiming, "Wait, wait! Jude!"

The vines go limp. This is Rani—I recognize her from Taylor's picture. I break into a gleeful smile. "We've been look—"

She shushes me with a vehement shake of her head. "Listen to me," she urges, and there's so much angst in her voice that my smile falls. "I came to Georgia last night to find Lana, but you got here before me. I've been tailing you all morning."

Suddenly Lana's mention of the raccoons and my earlier unsettling feeling makes sense. "But why—"

"Whatever Taylor has told you," she interrupts, "is a lie. He killed Dr. Jansen."

I'm too shocked to understand, and I laugh nervously. "What do you mean?"

Rani pulls me further into the alley. Before I can ask her what the hell she's doing, she pulls out a photograph from her pocket and shoves it into my hand.

"Recognize this?" she asks acridly.

Of course I do. I can't forget those trees, that road, the view behind it all. I know exactly where this is, but what I don't understand is why the house is completely destroyed.

"Dr. Jansen warned me before Taylor got to him," Rani whispers, "and when I made it to Oregon, this is what I found. Taylor burned it down."

Her words are echoing in my head as I stare at the photo. The window above the front door was a stained-glass portrait of a horse; Dr. Jansen made it himself. His late-wife raised horses when she was a little girl, and he wanted a piece of her in the house. That window must be charred now, distorted beyond recognition.

My fingers have gone numb, and it takes effort to look away from the photo. "I don't understand," I mumble.

Rani puts her hands on my shoulders. She looks panicked and desperate, as if she's afraid of losing me. "You have to trust me, okay?" she says, voice cracking. "Taylor is not our friend, and we have to stop him. Tell Lana if you can, but don't let him overhear."

She starts to pull away, but I grab onto her arms. "Where are you going?" I ask.

"To the Ash Yard," she says. "Lead everyone there. And when I make my move..." She takes a breath. "Please, don't stop me."

I shake my head. It's too much. "I don't—"

She tries to pull away again. "Trust me," she repeats. "You have to trust me."

I study her face, but I don't need to study hard. All her emotions and struggles are plain as day. She means what she says, and she's terrified. I loosen my fingers, and her arms slide out of my grip, and then she leaves.

The picture is still in my hand, and I tuck it into my pocket. It feels like it's boring a hole, and I can't stop thinking about it as I completely skip checking the last two parks and simply go the museum where we're supposed to meet. No one is here yet; only tourists are milling around, and a few of them ask me to take their picture. I do as I'm requested, mumbling incoherent no problems and you're welcomes. They must think I'm high.

After handing a phone back to a tourist, I sit on the museum steps, knees drawn up to my stomach. He's fine, Taylor had said when I asked him about Dr. Jansen. He said the same thing when Lana asked, too. And each time, he'd looked at something else instead of meeting our gaze. When he answered me, he was looking at my plants. When he answered Lana, he was looking out at the rain. I didn't think anything of it then.

But now...

"All done?"

It's Taylor, and my stomach knots up. I was hoping Lana would get here first.

"Yeah," I say.

He sits down next to me. "Did you find anything?"

I found Rani—er, she found me. "No." I shake my head. "None of my parks will work."

"Mine, neither. They're too small. Let's hope Lana has better luck."

I nod, and he nods, and we fall silent, looking out at the street. Now that I'm not alone, no one asks me to take their picture, but I wish they would. I spent hours in a car with Taylor, most of them in complete silence, and it was fine. But this, right now, is absolutely unbearable. For me, anyway. He looks fine. It occurs to me suddenly that I've never seen Taylor look at his pager, like he would if Jansen was in touch right now. I've never seen Taylor's pager at all.

"Hey," I say. "Lana asked this yesterday, but I wanted to ask again. After we find Rani, are we going to talk to Jansen before the reveal?"

Taylor looks down at the ant crawling on his shoe. "I don't know."

"We should visit him in Oregon," I suggest. "I know he never intended us to follow his exact orders when we become a team, but I want to hear if he has any suggestions before we out ourselves. What do you think?"

"Maybe." Taylor shrugs. He doesn't glance in my direction, but I still notice the expression that crosses his face.

My hands curl into fists, and I turn away so he doesn't see it. Rani was right, and I feel sick.

Lana shows up a few minutes later, collapsing onto the step beneath us with a huff. "Nope," she grumbles tiredly. "They all suck."

"We can check them out again at night," Taylor says. "Our assumptions on whether or not they'll be busy at night might be wrong. There's no rush. We can make the tree tomorrow night instead."

"Lana?" I ask. "Is there a place called the Ash Yard?"

She considers it for a moment. "It's not exactly in Atlanta," she says. "It's on the outskirts. It's not really a park, more of a greenery, at least that's what I've heard. I've never been there."

"Someone mentioned it to me when I asked for directions," I explain, making up the lie as I go. "An overnight tree there might not get attention since it's not in the city, but maybe we could check it out, just to see?"

Taylor leans back on a step, thinking. Please says yes, I beg. Please say yes. I don't know how else to get him there. I'm already thanking my lucky stars that the Ash Yard might be a park—if it were a store or a museum or literally anything else, I don't know how I would explain our need to go there.

"We can try," he says finally. "Do you know where it is?"

Lana nods.

And I thank my lucky stars again.

_______________________

Jude

Ash Yard is a thirty minute drive away. The entire time, I'm resisting the urge to throw up. I'm sitting next to a murderer who's been lying through his teeth since I met him. That alone makes me nauseous, but the mystery of Rani's plan makes everything worse. I'm doing what she asked, but I have no idea what happens after, and I haven't gotten a chance to clue Lana in, either.

"Oh," Lana says. "That's why it's called that. These are all ash trees."

Ash Yard is, in fact, a park, but an overgrown, unkempt one, and there's no one here. Trees are abundant, but none are near the size of the one I was planning—the one I no longer need to grow, because its purpose has already been fulfilled. There's a cracked concrete patio circle, and at its center sits the only thing that looks mildly attractive: a medium-sized fountain.

We walk around the circle separately, observing the details. I try to stay nowhere near Taylor.

"Hm." Taylor turns, eyeing the place. "Well, its secluded. I don't think anyone will see us at night, but will anyone notice it in the day?"

Lana shakes her head. She offers a counterpoint, but I'm not listening. I'm not-so-subtly looking around, expecting to see Rani hiding behind a tree, but I don't see her. Blood is roaring in my ears.

"Jude?"

It snaps me out of my distractedness. "Huh?" I say, blinking.

Taylor and Lana glance at each other. "I was asking what you think about putting the tree in the fountain?" Lana asks.

I wonder how many times she tried to get my attention before I noticed. "Oh," I say, flustered. "Um, well..."

I never get a chance to finish that sentence. Rani appears from behind a tree, and just as Taylor and Lana notice her, she raises her hands. The water from the fountain bursts sideways with a neck-breaking speed, and it goes right for Taylor. The stream pins him against a tree, and he screams, but it's immediately cut off by the bubbling and frothing of the water.

I'm too shocked to move. So is Lana. We simply watch, dumbfounded, as the water appears to triple in volume, picking Taylor up and trapping him in a massive, swirling mass that continues to grow as it's fed by the fountain. I can't see him through the froth and current, but I know he's in there, and he's drowning.

"What are you doing?" Lana screams.

"He killed Dr. Jansen," Rani says, hands swaying as she commands the water. Her voice is stiff. "And he's going to kill us if we don't kill him first."

Lana's eyes go wide. She stays where she is, but she's shaking her head. "No. No. I don't—Jude? What the fuck is going on? What is she saying?"

The water continues to swell. Taylor continues to drown. And I just stand there, letting Rani do it. I can't get it out of my head; the picture, the lies. It happens too fast. I don't know what to do.

So I do nothing.

Lana is freaking out. If I'd gotten a chance to tell her the truth, maybe she would be doing nothing like me, but as it is, she's completely caught off guard and unwilling to accept a sudden murder attempt. It takes her several seconds more to get over the shock, but when she does, she makes a horrified noise at the back of her throat and sends a gust of wind at Rani's legs. They're swept out from under her, and Rani falls. So does the water. A massive wave splashes over Ash Yard, and it almost topples me over. Taylor falls out of the burst bubble and right onto the concrete. His eyes are closed, and he doesn't move.

Rani and I stay where we are. Lana rushes over and puts a hand to his neck.

"Oh my God," she says. "He's not breathing." She looks directly at Rani. "What's going on?"

But Rani has already explained, and she doesn't seem keen to do it again right now. She stands up slowly, making no move forward. I remain where I am.

Lana starts to do CPR, but her elbow's in a cast. She can't do it right. As soon as she realizes this, she looks at me with wide, horrified eyes.

"Don't," Rani warns me immediately. "Let him die."

"Jude," Lana implores. "Come on! We're not murderers! Please."

I shake my head, heart pounding. "I—"

"He'll kill us!" Rani exclaims. "We may never get a chance to stop him again!"

"Why should we believe you?" Lana snaps. "Or him? Let him tell his side and let me and Jude decide who we believe!" She looks back to me, tears in her eyes. "Come on!"

I brought him here. Rani delivered the blow, but I brought him here. Whether he deserves this or not...I am not ready to be a killer. 

I rush over to Taylor and start CPR. It's one of the things I learned at the family events that the bases held. Knot tying, rope climbing, junior drills, how to keep a dead person from staying dead. I know this can take a while. I know there's a huge chance he's going to stay dead.

Lana stands between me and Rani. It's like she's protecting me, but I know Rani isn't going to do anything. I almost expect her to leave, but she stays, watching me with a grim shake of her head. She's scared, and I don't blame her one bit. I am, too.

I've been doing compressions for almost a minute when Taylor's eyes fly open. The three of us flinch, and he spits out water, coughing and wheezing. He's staring at the sky the entire time, bewildered and confused.

I rock back on my heels, my arms sore. "He needs to go to a hospital."

"Why?" Rani asks.

"People can slip into comas or have seizures even after they're resuscitated," I say. "We don't know if the lack of oxygen caused any damage. And I think I fractured a rib."

Rani takes a deep breath. "Alright," she says flatly. "Let's get John Doe to a hospital."