The day passed uneventfully for Hal. Much as he didn't want to, he obeyed Storm and kept away from the jail. Partly because he knew she was right—it'd just get him into a boatload of trouble—and partly because he knew they would never let him in to see Art, anyway. That would kind of ruin the point of solitary confinement.

Brick asked only a few questions before abandoning the conversation of Art. Either he didn't think it was interesting enough to continue discussing it, or he just got bored altogether. Due to Hal's head injury, he was excused from classes for the day and could spend it in his and Brick's room, trying to play video games to keep his mind off of the whole predicament.

There was a scary moment when a panicked Brick came to their room, saying that Silence and Diana were missing. However, that turned out to be a false alarm when they turned up fifteen minutes later. Silence seemed a little perturbed about something, but Diana seemed unconcerned.

Hours later, Hal lay awake, staring at the ceiling long after midnight. His hamburger from dinner sat like a rock in his stomach. Diana had been animated at dinner ... far too animated. It was a far-cry from her behavior during the day, before her and Silence's apparent disappearance.

Someone knocked. Hal jumped a mile into the air, shooting up in bed. With his heart thudding in his chest at the unexpected noise, he glanced over at Brick. His roommate was still snoring. "Brick," he whispered sharply. "Brick, wake up!"

"Wha—five more minutes, bro," Brick mumbled into his pillow, rolling onto his stomach.

"Brick, someone's at the door!" Hal hissed.

"Huh?" Brick sat up, his face sprinkled with indentations from his pillowcase. "Who's at the door?"

Hal smacked his forehead. "If I knew, I wouldn't be asking you to check!" he said.

"Idiots!" The sharp but quiet voice from outside the door sounded familiar to Hal's befuddled brain. "It's me—Silence!"

"Oh." Hal got out of bed and opened the door. Sure enough, Silence stood there. She looked weird in white fleece pajamas, with her normally-perfect pixie tousled around her face. "Hi. What're you doing here?"

Silence shouldered past him, which Hal thought that was probably against the rules. Girls weren't supposed to be in the boys' dorms, period. However, Silence appeared to be flouting that particular rule at the moment. "We've got a big problem," she stated, closing the door behind her while digging into her pocket.

"And that is ...?" Hal raised his eyebrow as she pulled what looked like a remote out of her pocket and pointed it at the corner of the room.

A spark of light interrupted them, nearly blinding Hal. When he could see past the stars in his eyes, he saw a smoking security camera in the corner that definitely hadn't been there before. "Eh—what the heck?" Hal said.

"A security camera," Silence answered. "I snuck into the security room today and discovered that they've got one in everyone's rooms."

"Well ... that's not creepy at all." Hal glanced at the burnt-out camera with a nervous frown. "What're you doing here, Silence?"

She started pacing. "It's Delphi. She's been off ever since she came out of her meeting with Guardian."

"She had a meeting with Guardian?" Brick's eyebrows shot up.

Silence nodded. "Yeah. She was all nervous about it when she went in, but when she came out, it was like everything was all hunky-dory. Now, I'm no expert when it comes to Delphi, but I think this behavior is totally not normal for her. Am I right?"

"Totally," Hal agreed reluctantly. "She's always kind of quiet and serious. Like, always. Either that or she's poking a little fun at you, in a sarcastic way. But she's never been this ... chatty ... before."

"Is that a bad thing?" Brick asked. "I mean, maybe she's feeling better after actually talking to Guardian. Maybe he alleviated whatever concern she had in her mind."

"Maybe," Silence said doubtfully. "But I dunno. That'd be saying that he alleviated the concern in Eagle's mind, and I think we both know that didn't happen."

None of them answered that. They all knew that Art's conversation with Guardian had definitely not left him more animated than before he'd gone to see him.

Hal scratched his head. "Well, um, why'd you come here, break the school rule, and bust one of the cameras just to tell us Diana's been acting weirdly?" he asked.

Silence shook her head after hesitating for a long moment. "Well ... no," she said. "I ... had an idea. Call me crazy, but ..."

"Whoa, whoa, if Silence is calling herself crazy, then this must be absolute nutter-crazy," Brick commented. He probably would've added more, but Silence held up her hand and his voice died in his throat.

Silence shot him a superior look before getting serious again. "We need to talk to Eagle," she said.

"Okay, whoa, yeah, that is absolute nutter-crazy," Hal said. "Art's in solitary confinement. If we get caught, you want to know where we'll be headed? It sure as heck won't be detention."

"Well, someone might say that jail is just really long detention," Silence said with a little smile. "Seriously, though, I'm serious."

"Silence, this is a terrible idea," Hal protested. "I mean, not only would Guardian probably kill us, but if he doesn't, Storm definitely will! She strictly forbade me from getting involved in any of this."

The door opened, and all three turned guiltily. They were about to be in deep trouble. "I've changed my mind." Storm stood there, fully dressed, unlike the three teens. "It's time for you to get involved."

"Wait, really?" Well, at least Hal wouldn't have to worry about Storm killing him. "Why the sudden change of heart?"

"Because Silence is right," Storm said flatly. "Guardian did something to Diana today, while she was meeting him. I don't exactly know what it was, but he did something. I don't appreciate him attacking my recruits and my husband to boot."

"At least someone agrees with me," Silence muttered.

Brick held up his hand and made odd rasping sounds. Silence rolled her eyes and waved a hand, enabling her brother to speak again. "How do you plan on getting in to talk to him?" he asked.

"Well, I'm not walking through the front door again," Storm replied. "You saw how well that ended. Which means I'm going to have to break in."

"B-break in? Are you crazy?" Hal's voice cracked. To his surprise, neither Brick nor Silence seemed oppose to the idea. "You are! You're all crazy! Absolutely bonkers! This is a sure way to end up in solitary with Art! And I thought I was the ridiculous one. I mean, c'mon, guys! Are you nuts?"

"You seem to think we are," Storm said with a trace of amusement. "Judging from the fact that you accused us of it several times."

Silence tapped his shoulder. "C'mon, Phoenix, it'll be fun," she said teasingly.

"Fun?" Hal repeated. "I don't think this is gonna be fun."

"Make no mistake, it will be dangerous," Storm warned. "However, I should think that the three of you care about Delphi enough to risk it. At the moment, either she's being controlled by Guardian or she's been replaced. Either way, she's in trouble, and I aim to help her, since I blame myself for letting her get into this situation in the first place."

Hal blushed. Everyone seemed to think he had a crush on Diana, when he really didn't. Still, she was his friend—she'd helped him out in geometry too much to be anything but that—and he knew he had to help her. If breaking into prison was how to do that, well, he guessed that he was breaking into prison. Heaving a sigh, he looked up at Storm. "I don't like this," he said simply.

"Neither do I," Storm admitted. "Trust me. This hurts me far more than it hurts you. But if I'm right, then Haven isn't the safe place that I've been lead to believe it is."

Silence and Brick looked at each other, askance. Hal thought he knew why—their parents had assumed they would be safe there. If that was a lie, who knew what else was? Bitterly, Hal thought about how Art and Storm had promised he would be safe in Haven. So much for that. He looked up at Storm again. "I don't see how we have any choice, do we," he said, purposely not phrasing it as a question.

"If you want to help Diana, then, no," Storm said. She looked at the other two, her hands on her hips. "If we do this, we might brand ourselves traitors to Haven. To do so would mean to be held in contempt by all the supers here. Supers believe Guardian can do no wrong. To go against him is practically a sin, in their eyes."

"Isn't that a bit extreme?" Silence asked tentatively.

Storm shook her head. "Not in their eyes. I wouldn't ask you to do this unless ... unless I knew it was the right thing," she said, a steely look in her eyes. "Guardian might be as bad as United. I need to show the people that so they stop following him blindly. He offered us a place to go after Solar died. He offered us safety. And now, it seems, he's planning a move against us. What that is, I don't know. But that's what I'm going to find out. I cannot let Solar's sacrifice ... what he did over the years ... be in vain."

It was the first time Storm had really mentioned Solar, and that made Hal wonder. She seemed to really care about him. What could it mean? There was something about Solar that nobody was telling him. However, no matter how he tried to puzzle it out, nothing made sense to him.

"We're with you, Thorn," Silence piped up, apparently coming to a decision.

Brick nodded. "Yeah. Haven needs to be safe for all supers, not just those who bend to Guardian's will."

They all turned to look at Hal, who blinked back at them. As much as he really didn't want to, he knew what the technical right thing to do was. Heaving a sigh, he ran a hand over his hair and nodded. "Okay, okay, fine. I'll do it. When do we start?"