When daylight arrived, I was still awake. If Henry was surprised to see that, he didn't comment. I could tell he eyed me with some caution, but his wariness embarrassed me. I was completely fine.

"He knew about the Circuit," was the first thing I said to Henry. "He called it by name."

"Peale?"

I nodded. "We have to go back."

"No--Nadia--"

"What's the danger, now? Peale's gone. If anything, they've probably scattered. At the worst, they've got someone else in charge, but that person won't be Peale or anything as bad as him, not yet, anyway. I have to see if Halo came back. Or Jax--July mentioned that Jax might know something." I thought, remembered. "Something like Jax wanted them to go with Halo. So he might know something too." I grumbled. "Why didn't I think of that? Not that Jax would've probably said anything to me about it."

"Are you sure about this?"

No doubt. Had to remain focused. "Yes. We have the gun and the hoverboards. We'll go there and demand to speak to Halo and Jax. If they aren't there, we'll move on. I promise."

"Can't we just wait for them to head out into the city rather than try to approach the whole group? We know Jax's routes. We can try to catch him on his own. Plus, we could see if we can get the car back."

I looked at him, pondered his suggestion. "Yeah, all right. That's actually a good idea."

Visible relief washed over him. On my end, I was grateful for his thoughts.

"We'll fly in as far as we can before we're too noticeable. Stay close to the bank, lower than normal."

I led the way, as usual, but it wasn't long before we had to put the boards away and begin walking. Vehicles were moving; people were starting to appear. We knew that Jax tended to circulate in the area he'd found us. Whether or not he'd be out and about today, I didn't know. What would they have done after I'd killed their leader?

Henry and I spent a good deal of time wandering without seeing anyone we knew. Having gotten our money back, we were able to do a few things, but the car was gone. No doubt it'd been towed. That was unfortunate, but we'd known the risks of leaving it somewhere. No one could trace it to us; we were untraceable. We didn't even know who we were, so why would law enforcement? Neither of us spoke of what had happened the night before. I was glad for that--I didn't want to think of it ever again. What had happened to Henry was inexplicable, and what had happened to me was embarrassing. Better to forget.

The weather was growing nicer, warmer. We were able to remove layers of clothing. At some point, we ended up in a drugstore, partly looking around and partly just bored. But as much as we'd tried to find someone, it was Halo who found us.

I was standing in an aisle, looking at the sodas in the refrigerator, when a pink-haired girl approached me from the side. Being hyper-aware, I spun around and was thrilled to find the person I'd wanted the night before. She was in no way surprised to see me; she was frowning, as if she had something to say, so I waited for her to speak first.

"I heard what happened."

Her features didn't express anger or joy or anything I could recognize . . . I didn't know how to respond.

"Come talk to me."

I didn't appreciate her telling me what to do, but what was I to say? I wanted to talk to her. I followed Halo as she turned and began to walk out of the store, motioning for Henry to join me. Halo was wearing her normal cargo pants and army green attire; she had massive boots and harsh piercings and her pink hair was a strange contrast to her hard affect. I hadn't spoken to her at all since learning who she was, though I'd wanted to.

We exited the store and, after walking a ways, found ourselves in an alley behind a stretch of buildings. It wasn't a particularly nice place to talk, but it was isolated, which I supposed was what she was going for.

Crossing her arms, she stated the moment we were alone, "I'm glad you shot Peale. He was trash."

I hadn't expected such bluntness and again was left unsure what to say.

"But you've screwed me over, and that I am not happy about."

Henry hovered at my side but said nothing. "What are you talking about?"

"I was working on convincing some of them to leave, and Peale was the biggest help to that. He abused everyone; I had a lot of people starting to realize it. But now you've killed him and Jax has taken over; he doesn't even want me around, now. Knows what I'm trying to do. Was all for it until he got the power--now he wants to keep his shiny new toys."

"Okay . . ." I was disconcerted, a little annoyed. "I don't really know how any of that's my problem."

She gave me a look of surprise, as if maybe she was expecting me to apologize. "Well it is if you want to talk to me, because I heard a rumor that you were looking for me last night, that it was why you went back and almost got yourselves killed."

"That's true. I want to know what you know about the Circuit." No point in being evasive, now.

Halo cocked her head, raised her eyebrows. "I don't know what you're saying. Never heard of it."

"You're a terrible liar. I know you know. I know you were the one trying to sneak people away. You were a mole," (I wanted to call her a scab but was afraid that would draw her suspicion). "I don't care about any of that--I just want in. You understand? We want in the Circuit. Can you get us there?"

Biting her lip, trying to decide whether to take me up on the offer no doubt, Halo's response was terse: "Why?"

It meant she knew about them, at least! "We--Henry and I--we're tired of being on the streets. We've heard about the Circuit, a word here or there . . . rumors. And it sounds like a fit for us. Please. We just want to stop thinking for ourselves all the time. We want to feel safe. And," I added for effect, "neither of us has any family at all, anymore. We're all each other has."

She scrutinized us both; the wait was almost insufferable. But at length, she nodded, said, "All right," and told us to meet her at three AM at a particular street corner.

Then she left, and I watched her go before turning to Henry with excitement. "We did it! We're in!"

His face appeared even longer than usual with the frown he wore. "Are you sure this is the right thing to do?"

"Are you serious? Henry, it's what we've been trying to do for weeks."

"It's what you've been trying to do."

"So . . . you have opinions, now? Because if I remember correctly, I've been begging for months for your ideas, and now all of a sudden you have them?"

"Maybe almost dying affected me."

I stared at him, amazed. "Henry . . ." His eyes caught mine momentarily, but he quickly shifted away. I thought I'd seen something, there.

"You keep saying we have to find the Circuit so we can get my memories or that medication for the memories, but what if . . . What if I don't want them back?"

I thought I hadn't heard him correctly. Shook my head, opened and closed my mouth a few times to say I didn't know what. Was he saying that he didn't want to remember me? What we'd been through? But I realized what he meant and calmed down. "You don't want to remember what they did to you--is that it? What happened all that time they had you?"

"Yes. I don't want to know any of that."

He'd been a little too quick, too affirmative in his response, but I was sure he was being truthful. Whatever torture they'd put him through--I wouldn't want to remember it either. "You're right, Henry. I've been selfish. I've wanted so much to have you back, the person I remember, that I didn't think about all that you've been through. About the fact that you might not want to remember. It's true that--at least when I've had it--the draloline is unpredictable." Lucas got the memory he wanted from me; how'd he do that? How'd he help me recall that one moment out of all the others that must be buried? "I don't know what you'd remember. But your memories aren't the only reason I want to find them, Henry. The Circuit is connected to whoever has done this to us. I don't know if they work together or for each other . . . I just know that they'll lead us to each other. And that's the only way we're ever going to understand who we are, or what we are, for that matter."

"What if we just leave . . . what if we just try to go as far away as we can, me and you?"

I sighed. Shook my head sadly. "I thought, once, that that was possible. But you yourself told me they'd never stop looking for us."

He sat down on an overturned trash can. "Don't you think they'll recognize us when we go back? It's not as if we can hide who we are. We can't just walk in there and ask questions."

"I know." I leaned back against a telephone pole. "I've been thinking about all of that. There's no way to really change our appearances enough, and no doubt everyone's on alert to look for us. I figured I could just threaten them."

"All of them? I can't remember them, but if this organization is as big as you say, do you really think they're going to let us in to wander and ask questions?"

"Ugh! Henry, stop being so pragmatic. I know all this. I'm just making it up as we go. I don't know how to create a long-term plan, because it won't work out, anyway. These people, whoever they are, don't make any sense. I've given up trying to figure out their motives a long time ago. Every time I've thought I was beginning to get ahead, they'd do something crazy. I can't just sit around and wait for the perfect moment to act, or the perfect plot. It doesn't exist."

He stooped over, elbows on knees, eyes on the ground. "I know you're probably right. I just don't want to go back to where we came from."

I was quiet for a moment, then noticed a bit of dark red coming through Henry's jeans, on his shin. "Did you hurt yourself?"

Looking to where I pointed, he saw what I meant and rolled his pants up. There, on his shin, was a gash about three inches long. It looked deep, and it was beginning to seep blood.

"What--Henry--when did that happen?"

"Last night," he said with less concern than I liked. "I thought it'd closed up, but it must've reopened."

I crouched down in front of him, grabbed my bag. "I'm pretty sure there's first aid stuff in here. Lucas had everything. Half of it I can't even figure out." Finding the first aid materials, I bandaged up the gash, being careful not to actually touch him. Even as I neared his skin, though, I felt that electricity--a faint static, really--and I wondered if he felt it as well. I didn't ask him for fear he'd tell me no. When I was done, I stood up, and he rearranged his clothes. "That happened last night, and you're just telling me?"

"I didn't even notice it until earlier today," he explained, and it looked like it'd closed up. Must've reopened."

"But you didn't feel it?"

"I did, but I ignored it. I . . . had more important things to think about last night. The river must've washed most of the blood out, anyway."

"Let's go find someplace to stay, Henry. We aren't near a motel, but I think we can splurge on a hotel room. I want to shower and be warm for a while. Maybe get some good food, too. And you should rest that leg"

"You think a hotel will let us in looking like this?"

"Fine. Let's buy some clothes, too."

Within two or three hours, we were checking into a decent hotel. It wasn't anything super fancy, but after all the places we'd stayed, it felt like the Ritz. We'd gotten a few looks, but nobody questioned, probably because we paid cash for the night, even the deposit, which I didn't intend to get back. We'd gone to a real store for clothing this time, too, not a thrift shop. We looked like preppy suburbanites, not homeless kids. Whether or not we smelled as fresh . . . well . . . that was what the showers were for.

I threw my bag on a chair and my jacket on the bed, and then I went straight to the bathroom, telling Henry I'd be awhile. I didn't think there was much I loved better than a hot shower. Most likely this was because I seemed to go too long between them, these days. We'd sort of used the river when we'd been with Peale's group, and when we'd had the car, Henry and I had sneaked off to the trucker gas station that had pay showers, but I still never felt clean enough. So I was in there a long while.

I tried to do what Henry had asked--think of some plan for what we'd do when we met with Halo. Presumably, she was a scab; since we'd been willing to go, I didn't know if she'd try anything like Andy had, like using a sleeper on us. When Slim had found me and Henry, he'd just brought us right in--he hadn't tried anything underhanded. So I hoped that Halo would recognize that she didn't have to use any tricks. She'd probably take us somewhere, wherever the Circuit was now operating. I wondered where they'd moved. They'd originally been underground, but after everything had happened with me and Henry long ago, they'd had to relocate. But they were obviously still operating out of San Judo . . . so where had they gone? And when we did get wherever that was, they'd recognize that Henry and I were who we were. Even if we could disguise our appearances in some way, Halo knew our names, and even more telling, we had no fingerprints. When they went to scan us, they'd recognize that, and they'd know we were already involved somehow. Not only that, but most likely, the same people who'd been running it when we'd last been in were probably still running it now (besides Ms. Indelicato . . . they'd killed her for some reason unknown to me); of course they would recognize us.

It wasn't as if I hadn't thought of these things; I just hadn't really worried about them because the prospect of finding the Circuit had seemed so far away. But now I'd need to figure things out within a few hours, and Henry wasn't going to be any help at all.

Maybe I'd try to talk to him, anyway. I dressed and left the bathroom with a fluffy towel, drying my hair, half beginning to speak as I rounded the wall, but much to my absolute shock I found him speaking with someone at the door to our room, someone who, when she saw me, pushed past him and toward me, squealing with far too much excitement.