I felt almost envious of Lucas and Amirah when we got back; they were standing next to each other, leaning on the fence separating the boat pond from the rest of the park, waiting for us. Henry let me get off the boat first, and I immediately walked down the dock, not waiting for him. I felt the others' eyes on me and looked up to catch Lucas's gaze. There was a question in it, but I passed them both and went into the nearby restroom.

I went to the sink, ran some cool water over my hands, and then brought them to my cheeks, to bring down the heat that had gathered in them. I didn't even have to go to the bathroom; I needed only to separate myself from them all so I could regain my composure. I wanted to cry. The only good thing I had in the world--Henry--I'd pushed away. Without him, what was the point of anything? I didn't even want to go back out and face them. Catching my reflection in the mirror, I wanted to smash it into pieces. The face I'd never felt I'd known, the image of someone who disappointed me over and over. And then, all of a sudden, there were two of me. Amirah had come into the bathroom and was standing behind me. I was startled but pretended to be washing my hands to hide it.

She walked toward me, slowly, and I said nothing--didn't know what to say--as she came to stand beside me, the whole while looking at my face in the mirror. "Did he say something to upset you?" she asked me, her voice my own come from outside me.

I didn't know her, didn't owe her my thoughts just because she looked like me. "No. I'm fine. Just felt a little warm."

Someone in a stall behind us flushed a toilet, came out, washed her hands, left; the two of us stood in silence until she was gone, Amirah giving her enough evil eye to make her move fast. Then my twin leaned against the wall, crossed her arms, looked squarely at me. "These boys are dumb," she said matter-of-factly. "You and I--we have to have each other's backs. We have to be here for each other."

"Why? I don't know you." I watched the two of us in the mirror, dried my hands.

She raised her eyebrows, smiled. "That's my sister."

"I'm not your sister."

"Close enough. You don't remember any of our time together, do you?"

I turned to face her. "Nope."

Still leaning casually against the wall, grinning with a distinct scorn, she shook her head. "Oh, we have so much to talk about. Now that we're finally together again, I'll make sure you know how valuable you are. Those idiots couldn't put two and two together between them."

No way was I buying it. Returning her expression, her posture, I said, "I have no reason to trust you."

"You used to trust me. We were all each other had. Well, we had those two, but they were never much use. You don't remember, but I know all of it, lying in the sun on the beach, telling each other stories and sharing our dreams, stealing snacks out of the kitchen at night and running down to the water so we could play in it while we ate them. So many good memories."

I didn't feel any of what she said. Her recollection of our past at that beach house was entirely discrete from my recent experience at it, from what I'd heard Lucas and Henry say about it. "Sounds like a perfect childhood," I replied, no appreciation behind my words, "but it doesn't mean anything to me. I can't recall any of it."

"Hmm. Well. That's sad, but it can be fixed. Now I've found you, I won't let you leave my sight. I can help you get anything you want."

What I wanted was Henry, back to the way we were a few days ago, but she couldn't give me that.

She leaned in toward me. "You don't want him, out there. Not really. Besides, I can give you something neither of those two can."

"Oh yeah? And what's that?"

Her eyes lit up slyly. "Your name."

My heart leapt. My name! Could she really? Did she know it? Did she remember? But I contained my excitement. I couldn't show any vulnerability. "Not interested," I lied, and then I walked past her and out of the bathroom, proud of myself for feigning disinterest.

As I exited back into daylight, I looked around for the others and after a moment spotted Lucas and Henry over by the arcade. They were near the entrance, away from people, and they appeared to be talking. They didn't see me approaching; I was coming up on the side, but they were angled so I could see both of their faces, Henry looking upset and Lucas indifferent. As I neared then, I caught some of their conversation and purposely slowed my steps, attempted to remain unseen, so I could listen:

"She knows that I knew. She's angry at me." That was Henry. "Why'd you tell her? And Paolo? That too?"

"She has a right to know." That was Lucas, his response belated and nonchalant.

Then a pause from Henry; I could see his features, skeptical, as he replied, "It's unnecessary, maybe dangerous for her to know." He shook his straight hair, his voice lowered so that I barely heard him. "I don't care what your feel--"

"Nadia!" Lucas greeted me loudly, a bit too assertively, catching sight of me at last as I got within several feet of them.

I looked from one to the other, but neither said anything else. In fact, both seemed uncomfortable. But I had no patience for either of them and their cryptic conversation about me. More dissemblance. More lies. Let it go. I needed nothing from either at the moment, and besides, I was still glowing inwardly with the potential of rediscovering my name.

Amirah soon returned. I suggested the four of us go somewhere calmer to work something out. This fun park just didn't seem the place to do it. There were too many people, too much excitement, too much color and laughter and noise. We didn't fit--or, at least, Amirah definitely didn't, and Lucas didn't really, either. They looked like miscreants who were more likely to steal money out of a food truck or vandalize the batting cages than play a round of mini-golf. But Amirah suddenly claimed to be hungry, so I sat with Henry and Lucas while she went and looked around at the available food. The three of us didn't speak for some moments. Henry and I had argued, and if we had felt inclined to attempt reconciliation, we wouldn't have done it with Lucas there. He, on the other hand, stood a bit apart, entirely withdrawn, not even looking our way. Once or twice, my glance met Henry's, but in each case, one of us turned away. It was infuriatingly juvenile, but my pride was too inflamed, and I supposed his was as well. After all we'd been through, to let a silly argument get between us was an embarrassment, but if he wasn't going to tell me the truth, I had to remain firm in my indignation.

After a bit of a wait, though, our quietude began to grow a little untenable. Henry and Lucas had tension between them; Henry and I had tension between us. But I had no issues with Lucas, at the moment.

Standing, I went over to him, and though he'd been off in his own thoughts, he didn't appear immediately irritated that I was interrupting him. "How did you meet back up with Amirah? You said they brought her to you?"

"I told you that."

"Was she . . . what you expected?"

He gave me a piercing look.

"I'm sorry. She's not what I expected, that's all. She's bold, and sort of mean . . . and a little scary. But she said we used to spend a lot of time together, back when we--before we were split up. So I wondered if, maybe, she talked about that time with you. Maybe you can tell me more about her." I realized all of a sudden that Lucas wasn't looking at me as I spoke to him but at Henry, who had to be aware of our conversation but was certainly doing his best to ignore it. "Where were they, when you and I were taking care of the Circuit leaders?"

He finally turned to me. "Taking care of the Circuit base."

I wasn't sure what he meant. "As in . . . what do you mean?"

"It's gone. They . . . she blew it up."

"Wait--how is that possible?"

"Threw something down into the tunnels, I suppose. Imploded it. Cave in."

"But all the people got out, right? The trainees?"

His shrug was not reassuring.

"But they were just teenagers, homeless kids, like--like me and Henry were. And Mac, and Slim . . . she just blew it up with all of them down in there?"

"Probably."

My mouth was half-open in shock; I must've looked ridiculous. But I was trying to comprehend the gravity of what Lucas had just told me. That had been a massive underground complex, with tunnels and rooms and weird offices and . . . it was incomprehensible. But more incomprehensible was the idea that she'd just murdered everyone down there. I mean, sure, Lucas and I had killed some people, but they'd all been awful. A bunch of homeless teenagers? Jaxx, maybe? Halo? People like them and even younger, like the girls I'd stayed with when Henry and I had been there?

I glanced at Henry, who had his head down on the table as if napping. "Do you think he did it, too?"

Lucas laughed. "No. I don't think he could have."

Relief flowed through me. Lucas was right, of course. Henry wasn't the sort of person to do such a thing, even if I might have been.

Amirah came back with a burger and fries and a big soft drink. I returned to my former seat at the table, Henry rising and going to stand by an arcade game as I did so, and she swung her legs over the bench and sat across from me, grinning devilishly. I couldn't help but be in awe of her self-assurance, her audacity.

"Wait and see," she said.

I thought I hadn't heard her correctly, asked her to repeat herself.

"Wait and see, I said."

"That's what I thought you said." I frowned. "Wait and see about what?"

She took a bite of her burger, holding it in one hand while waving her index finger at me as if to imply patience.

We're about to have some fun, she thought at me, and I noticed her wink in my direction.

Suddenly anxious, I looked left to right, behind, but saw nothing out of the ordinary. Henry picked up on my motion, though, and grew serious. "What--what is it?"

My look of concern was enough for him to come back toward me, attempt to somehow act (though on what neither of us could've known), but Amirah distracted us both with a brief laugh, and then she began to countdown from five: " . . . four . . . three . . . two . . ."

Before I could comprehend any of what was happening, several massive, rumbling blasts sounded around us, so that we all covered our ears save for Amirah, who continued to eat her meal. Screams echoed through the air, which began to cloud with smoke, and when I finally gathered my wits I realized that behind us, three of four food trucks were in flames. Two were on their sides, and even in the chaos, people were rushing toward them, presumably to help whoever undoubtedly was inside. I began to head over as well when my mind echoed with her voice again:

Not yet! Watch for number four . . .

And before the thought was over, a fourth explosion rocked the last of the standing food trucks.

"Henry!" I cried to him, but he was already running toward the inferno.

Lucas came to stand by me, and his features were constrained with some emotion, though its nature I couldn't tell. I wanted to run to Henry, but Lucas took hold of me. "We have to get out of here," he muttered. "She'll keep going until we leave."

I turned to Amirah, who was licking the ketchup off a French fry. And I caught sight, under her arm, of a gun that she held with her other hand. It was one of our near-silent air guns, and watching the moving people out of the corners of her eyes, she suddenly fired it, and a young man about thirty feet away cried out and fell to the ground. Those moving near him stopped, confused, and went to help him, but Amirah fired again, and another person fell.

I couldn't believe what I was seeing. Wrenching free of Lucas, I rushed to Amirah. "What are you doing? What is wrong with you?" I was practically screaming, but the fire and smoke and chaos drowned my words.

Have some fun with me, sister, she grinned up at me. I know how much you enjoyed murdering all those people in San Judo.

There was no time to wonder at her and I certainly wasn't going to talk or think to her; as she took aim discreetly under her arm again, I lunged at her and went for the weapon. She agily avoided me, and instead I clutched the bench.

"Amirah, now. Let's go!" Lucas insisted, yelling above the crackle and roar, having approached us and seen how poorly I was faring.

She held up her burger. "Not done yet!" she shouted.

Lucas's distraction gave me the opportunity to go for her gun again, and this time, I managed to grasp it and wrest it free of her fingers, which she loosened a little too quickly. As I shoved the gun into my jacket, she gave me a grotesque smile, as if nothing at all were going on, and waved me off.

Go on. Get that stupid boy.

I passed Lucas a meaningful glance, then rushed toward the chaos Amirah had created. It was far too dangerous to get close to the food trucks, now--they were burning at such a high heat, and smaller explosions within them sounded every so often. People were everywhere, grown people shoving children back and away from the catastrophe, other adults and young people attempting to figure out how to help. But there was little anyone could do, at that point. Anyone inside those trucks was dead, now. I found Henry standing closer than was safe, hands in the air, shouting to someone about something, frantic, wanting to help but knowing there was no way. He just needed to come with me, to get away from there. We couldn't do anything.

Then, piercing the rage of the fires, a siren sounded. Multiple sirens. We had to leave.

I went in front of Henry, tried to gain his attention, but he just looked at me with his lucent, frenetic eyes and shook his head. I wouldn't leave him, though. I had to get him away from here; we all had to go. So I lifted my hands and put them on his chest and just pushed him, backward. He stumbled a little, startled, but then seemed to emerge as if from a haze, and he saw the urgency in my face and form. The two of us rushed away from the pandemonium, back to Amirah (she was just finishing her food--Lucas was nowhere to be seen), and when she saw us, she got up and wiped her hands with a napkin. Then, as casually as if nothing were going on, she tossed the napkin on the ground, left her tray on the table, and started to head toward the fun park gate.

Not knowing what else to do, we followed her out and into the parking lot, which was fast filling with emergency vehicles.

"Where the hell is Lucas?" I yelled at her.

"He's there, Nadia--" Henry pointed toward a car that looked identical to the one I'd driven in San Judo, the one I'd found the night we'd met Halo and that Henry had made me ditch after I'd killed Andres. Lucas stood at the passenger side of it. I felt surprising relief, but Henry grabbed my shoulder and held me back. "We don't have to go with them," he whispered fiercely, Amirah's back to us as she strode toward the car.

Before I had any chance to reply to him or even really think about what he'd said, Amirah spun about and pointed a hand toward us. "Oh yes, you do," she said, as if she'd heard what Henry had whispered to me.

"We'll take our chances here," Henry insisted, his voice firm, and then he and I began to turn away, but before I could take a step, a sharp sting in my lower back, close to my right side, made me cry out in pain and stumble to my knees. Henry immediately stooped to help me, took hold of me, but I couldn't understand what was happening enough to tell him what to do or what I was feeling. The sting radiated ribbons across my back and around to my stomach, made my muscles tighten to the point where I couldn't speak, couldn't respond to Henry's frantic questions.

Amirah was suddenly standing over me, saying something to Henry, and he seemed to yell something to her, argue, maybe threaten her—I couldn't tell. I was in too much pain to comprehend what was going on. Everything around me started to blur: parked cars and running people and flashing lights and black smoke and yelling and the ground and the sky, all of it blended and solidified into one sharp needle of pain aimed at me, at my entire torso. My world was only that pain, but through it, I heard one clear thing:

Layla. Your name is Layla.