TO SAY THAT ELLE WAS CONFUSED would be the understatement of the century.

She woke in the backseat of a school bus, not sure where she was, tucked under the arm of a boy she didn't know. His cold fingertips rested beneath her shirt, on the bare skin of her left hip, while his other hand was placed on top of her own. Elle fought the overwhelming urge to throw him off of her — something inside her knew that causing a scene would only make things worse.

There were teenagers crammed in every seat of the bus. Ninety percent of them were yelling at friends on the other side of the bus and the other ten were dead silent, listening to iPods or sleeping. Paper airplanes and spitballs flew over the seats, hitting kids in the back of the head or getting caught in girls' hair.

It seemed as though everyone was a few years younger than her: some fourteen, others fifteen. And she was...

Okay, what the fuck. She didn't even know her age.

Elle let her gaze drift to the right, past the sleeping boy, and out the glass window.

The girl who stared back at her was not Elle. This girl looked newly fifteen, with dull blue eyes and dark hair. Elle recognized those features in herself, but the possibility of Elle being fifteen...

The bus rumbled along a bumpy road. Out the windows, the desert rolled by under a bright blue sky. Elle was almost positive she didn't live in the desert. Flashes of skyscrapers and traffic jams crossed her vision. A piercing pain struck her right behind her eyes. She winced, a hand coming up to attempt to soothe the pain. A voice echoed at the back of her mind. It sounded young, male, and strangely familiar.

Shouting echoed through the classroom as an overwhelmed teacher tried to get forty fifth-grade kids under control.

In the back of the classroom, sat past-Elle. Present-Elle saw from her eyes, heard from her ears. What the fuck was going on?

A crumpled piece of paper hit her forehead and landed on the desk. Past-Elle snapped out of her daydream, unfolding the ball. Scrawled across the middle in a messy font were the words, "Wanna ditch?"

Past-Elle looked up, eyes landed on the boy across the room. He had ink-black hair and startling green eyes that stood out in the bland classroom. He had a wide, crooked smile, telling present-Elle that this boy was trouble.

She nodded to him. He grinned wider.

Elle raised her hand. "Excuse me, I need to use the bathroom."

The teacher gazed at her distractedly, too busy trying to stop the boys from pantsing each other. He waved a hand, barely acknowledging her.

"I need to as well."

"Yes, yes, be quick."

The two eleven-year-olds left class, closing the door behind them.

His smile never fading, the boy locked eyes with Elle. "It's pudding day in the cafeteria."

"Say less."

"Whoever gets there first gets the chocolate?"

Without giving the boy a chance to even blink, Elle began sprinting down the hall.

"Hey! Cheater!"

"You snooze, you lose, Percy!"

Percy. Elle knew that name. Where did she know that name?

Next to her, the boy stirred awake. The warmth of his hand on her own vanished when he lifted it to rub his eyes. He yawned the sleep away, turning his head down to see what his arm was wrapped around.

With a jolt, the boy snatched his arm off of Elle, bashing his head into the window in an attempt to put as much space between them as possible.

"I — uh... um — I..." His face flushed a deep red. "I'm sorry... I, uh... I don't—"

"Know me?" Elle finished for him.

He was about her age, with short, close-cut blond hair and bright, electric blue eyes.

He's cute, Elle thought. No, shut up. Focus.

The boy sighed with relief at her words. "Yeah, uh, sorry. I have no clue who you are. Or myself for that matter."

"Well me neither. I mean, I know my name, but that's it."

Something between surprise and relief crossed his face, though his eyes held the unmistakable look of panic. "Right, so you have no idea what's going on?"

Before Elle got a chance to answer, another voice chimed in.

"Jason, Elle, you guys okay?" The voice came from the girl sitting in front of them, who had turned around.

From what Elle could see she wore a fleece snowboarding jacket, which didn't make much sense for desert weather. Then again, Elle had never been to the desert (from what she could remember — which was nothing), so maybe it was colder there than she thought. The girl's chocolate brown hair was cut choppy and uneven, with thin strands braided down the sides. Elle's attention was immediately drawn to her eyes, which seemed to change color like a kaleidoscope. As they shifted from brown to sea-green, the boy from her vision appeared in her mind. Another vision of him pulled her from reality.

"Stop!" she shouted.

"It's my turn!" the little boy yelled. It was the same boy, but significantly younger. Maybe around three years old.

Elle yanked harder on the toy kaleidoscope. "No, it's not! You had your turn!"

"Children, enough! Do I need to send you two to the office? I'm sure your mother would be very disappointed to know you were in time-out again, Percy."

Elle winced as she snapped out of her vision. Once again, pain struck from behind her eyes. Percy... who was Percy, and how do I know him?

"Elle?" The girl's color-changing eyes were filled with worry as she stared at the brunette before her.

She didn't respond, continuing to rub her forehead. Her mind was muddled. Scattered fragments of memories jumbled together in a knot she couldn't untie.

The blond boy, Jason, seemed to be in the same boat. "Um, I don't—"

In the front of the bus, a teacher shouted, "All right cupcakes, listen up!"

The guy was obviously a sports craze, with his Nike clothes and megaphone clipped to his belt. Considering their location, she assumed he was a high school gym teacher. He would've looked pretty scary if he hadn't been five-foot-zero. When he stood up in the aisle, one of the students called, "Stand up, Coach Hedge!"

"I heard that!" The coach scanned the bus for the offender. His gaze skimmed over Jason in a glare before it fixed on the brunette, and his eyes widened in shock. Panic filled his face, but he hid it well. In an instant, it was gone.

Elle shivered at his expression. She knew he could tell that something was wrong. That she — and Jason — weren't supposed to be there. And the surprise on his face, the fear in his eyes... Elle scared him, and that couldn't be good.

Luckily, Coach Hedge looked away and cleared his throat. "We'll arrive in five minutes! Stay with your partner. Don't lose your worksheet. And if any of you precious little cupcakes cause any trouble on this trip, I will personally send you back to campus the hard way."

He picked up a baseball bat threateningly, giving it a strong swing.

Jason looked at the girl in front of them. "Can he talk to us that way?"

She shrugged. "Always does. This is the Wilderness School. 'Where kids are the animals.'"

She said it like it was a joke they'd shared before.

Elle glanced at Jason as if silently asking, do you have any idea what's going on right now?

The blond gave her a subtle shake of his head in response. "This is some kind of mistake," Jason said. "I'm not supposed to be here. We're not supposed to be here."

The boy in front of him turned and laughed. "Yeah, right, Jason. We've all been framed! I didn't run away six times. Piper didn't steal a BMW."

The girl next to him blushed. "I didn't steal that car, Leo!"

"Oh, I forgot, Piper. What was your story? You 'talked' the dealer into lending it to you?" He raised his eyebrows at Elle as if saying, Can you believe her?

Looking at him, all Elle could think was: trouble. He had a mischievous smile, curly brown hair, pointy ears, and wouldn't stop fidgeting: his fingers kept moving — drumming on the seat, sweeping his hair behind his ears, fiddling with the buttons of his army fatigue jacket.

Elle shifted uncomfortably. She felt almost nauseous from the emotional overload she was feeling. She had so many questions that her skull felt as though it was about to burst.

"I have a headache," Elle whined. Her voice was younger, maybe around six or seven.

Concerned blue eyes met Elle's identical ones. A warm hand pressed against her forehead. A soft, gentle voice washed over her, giving Elle the feeling that she was being wrapped up in a warm blanket. "You have a bit of a fever. Why don't you go lay down and I'll get some medicine?"

Elle pouted, sticking out her bottom lip. "Medicine is icky!"

The woman before her smiled, eyes glinting with a loving look. "What if I said I'll give you candy and you get to watch a movie? But only if you take the medicine."

Elle stared at the woman suspiciously. "What kind of candy?"

With a smile, the woman said, "M&M's."

An excited gasp escaped Elle's lips as a grin spread across her face. "Okay!" she chirped, turning and darting off down a hallway.

"Anyway," Leo said, not noticing Elle escaping another vision (although Piper did, judging by the worried gaze), "I hope you've got your worksheet, 'cause I used mine for spit wads days ago. Why are you two looking at me like that? Somebody draw on my face again?"

"I don't know you," Jason stated bluntly.

Well, that's one way to do it.

Leo gave him a crocodile grin. "Sure. I'm not your best friend. I'm his evil clone."

"Seriously, he doesn't know you. Neither do I." Elle wasn't sure how to explain it to Leo and the girl — Piper, was her name? — without them freaking out or getting her and Jason in trouble.

"Leo Valdez!" Coach Hedge yelled from the front. "Problem back there?"

A grin worked its way onto Leo's face. He winked at Elle. "Watch this." He turned to the front. "Sorry, Coach! I'm having trouble hearing you. Could you use your megaphone, please?"

Coach Hedge grunted like he was pleased to have an excuse. He unclipped the megaphone from his belt and continued giving directions, but his voice came out like Darth Vader's. The kids cracked up. The coach tried again, but this time the megaphone blared: "The cow says moo!"

The kids howled and the coach slammed down the megaphone. "Valdez!"

Piper stifled a laugh. "My god, Leo. How did you do that?"

Leo slipped a tiny Phillips head screwdriver from his sleeve. "I'm a special boy. I can't take all the credit though. Ellie was the one that gave me the idea."

Elle pulled a face. "I did?"

It sounded like something she might do, but she had no memory of doing it.

"Guys, seriously," Jason pleaded. "What am I doing here? Where are we going?"

Piper knit her eyebrows. "Jason, are you joking?"

Elle answered for him. "He's not joking. I swear, neither of us has any fucking clue—"

"Aw, yeah, they're joking," Leo said. "They're trying to get me back for locking them in Jason's dorm, aren't they?"

Before Elle had the chance to unpack that sentence, Jason turned to her with a blank stare.

"Any idea what they're talking about?"

"None," Elle said with a shake of her head.

"No, I think they're serious," Piper responded unsurely.

Elle sighed, fed up with all the uncertainty. "Look, Jason and I are serious. We have no idea who you are, where we are, or what's going on. All we know is that we woke up on this bus in a position far too comfortable for two strangers to be in. So would you please stop doubting us and help?"

"That's it!" Coach Hedge yelled from the front. "The back row has just volunteered to clean up after lunch!"

The rest of the kids cheered.

"There's a shocker," Leo muttered.

But Piper kept her eyes on Elle like she couldn't decide whether to be hurt or worried. "Did you hit your head or something? You really don't know who we are?"

"Did you not listen to anything I just said?" Elle exclaimed with frustration. "No!"

Jason just shrugged helplessly. Although confused, he stayed calm, unlike Elle, whose fingernails were digging into her clenched palms. "It's worse than that. We don't even know who we are."

♆

The bus dropped them in front of a big red stucco complex like a museum, just sitting in the middle of nowhere. Maybe that's what it was.

"The hell is this?" Elle murmured to Jason. "The National Museum of Nowhere?"

The blond flashed her a small smile. His head was still reeling too much to be able to find humor in anything.

A cold wind blew across the desert. Elle hadn't paid any attention to what she was wearing, but it wasn't nearly warm enough: denim shorts and white Converse high-tops, an orange T-shirt, and a blue zip-up sweatshirt.

Shivering, Elle zipped the jacket and shoved her hands in her pockets for extra warmth. Her fingers brushed across something long and plastic. Confused, she pulled the object from her pocket. Her eyebrows furrowed at the sight of it: a pen. Why was she carrying around a simple ballpoint pen? As Leo came up behind them, Elle placed the pen back into her pocket and turned her attention to him.

"So, a crash course for the amnesiacs," Leo said, in a helpful tone that made Elle think this was going to be anything but helpful. "We go to the 'Wilderness School'" — Leo made air quotes with his fingers. "Which means we're 'bad kids'. Your families, or the court, or whoever decided you were too much trouble, so they shipped you off to this lovely prison — sorry, 'boarding school' — in Armpit, Nevada, where you learn valuable nature skills like running ten miles a day through the cati and weaving daisies into hats! And for a special treat, we go on 'educational' field trips with Coach Hedge, who keeps order with a baseball bat. Is it all coming back to you now?"

"No." Elle glanced at the other kids. There were maybe twenty guys, half that many girls. None of them looked like hardened criminals, but she wondered what they'd all done to get sentenced to a school for delinquents. She wondered what she'd done. Maybe it was something cool, like arson. Elle just prayed it wasn't as basic as vandalism or petty theft.

Leo rolled his eyes. "You're gonna play this out, huh? Okay, so the four of us started here together this semester. Ellie-Belly and Piper are, like, best friends and you and I are tight. You do everything I say and give me your dessert and do my chores—"

"Leo!" Piper snapped.

"Fine. Ignore that last part. But we are friends. Well, Ellie's a little more than your friend, if you know what I mean—"

"Leo, stop it!" Piper insisted. "If they don't even remember themselves they're not gonna remember dating! Look, they're uncomfortable."

Elle and Jason were extremely uncomfortable. At least this explained the position they had woken up in earlier.

How could I just forget dating someone? Especially someone as good-looking as Jason.

Elle cursed herself. Focus!

"They've got amnesia or something," Piper said. Elle resisted the urge to roll her eyes — No shit. They'd been trying to tell her that for twenty minutes now. "We've got to tell somebody."

Leo scoffed. "Who, Coach Hedge? He'd try to fix them by whacking them upside the head."

The coach was at the front of the group, barking orders and blowing his whistle to keep the kids in line; but every so often he'd glance back at Jason and scowl. Occasionally, Elle would catch his eyes nervously watching her, as if waiting for her to pull a weapon out of her pocket and attack everyone.

"Leo, Jason and Elle need help," Piper insisted. "They've got concussions or—"

"Yo, Piper." One of the other guys dropped back to join them as the group was heading into the museum. The new guy wedged himself between Jason and Piper and knocked Leo down. "Don't talk to these bottom-feeders. You're my partner, remember?"

The guy had dark hair combed into a curly mullet and teeth so white Elle was sure they were fake. He wore a Dallas Cowboys jersey, Western jeans, and boots. In short: his appearance was laughable. He looked like a wannabe cowboy.

Elle suppressed saying such.

"Go away, Dylan," Piper grumbled. "I didn't ask to work with you."

"Ah, that's no way to be. This is your lucky day!" Dylan hooked his arm through hers and dragged her through the museum entrance. Piper shot one last look over her shoulder, staring desperately at Elle. 911, she mouthed.

Elle wasn't sure how to help Piper, so she turned to Leo instead, holding out her hand. He took it, pulling himself up and brushing himself off. "I hate that guy." He offered Jason his arm like they should go skipping inside together. "'I'm Dylan. I'm so cool, I want to date myself, but I can't figure out how! You want to date me instead? You're so lucky!' He would probably ask out Ellie-Belly too if he wasn't afraid that she would kick his ass into next week."

Elle snickered at Leo before flashing him a confused glance. "Why would he think that? Am I scary?"

Leo shrugged. "You don't look scary, like, at all. You can be scary though. Like this one time, Dylan tried to grab you but you caught his wrist and dislocated his shoulder."

Elle's eyes went wide at Leo's babbling. "I did what?"

"You broke his arm," Leo repeated nonchalantly. "It was totally badass. Like, Wonder Woman. Or Black Widow."

Elle blinked at him in shock. Telling Dylan off was one thing, but dislocating his arm? Elle couldn't tell if it was cool or terrifying.

"Valdez and company! Keep up!" Hedge snapped.

The Latino flashed a grin at the brunette. His fast-paced footsteps carried him away, leaving Jason and Elle behind.

The brunette sent Jason a hesitant glance. "Is it all coming back to you?"

Jason shook his head. "Nope."

"Yeah, me neither."

♆

The two met up with Leo, and they walked with the class through the building, stopping here and there for Coach Hedge to lecture them with his megaphone, which alternately made him sound like a Sith Lord or blared out random comments like "The pig says oink."

Other than the fact that Elle had no interest in the National Museum of Nowhere, she was too distracted by her thoughts to pay any attention to the exhibits. She'd briefly caught a fact about the Hualapai tribe, who owned the museum. She'd also come to realize they were at the Grand Canyon, which was helpful.

"Museum field trips suck." A dark-haired boy stood beside her as the class of sixth-graders watched their tour guide drone on about the sculpture behind them. It was the same dark-haired boy, Percy.

"It could be worse," Elle whispered back. "Imagine if Mr. Brunner wasn't here."

Percy just scoffed, crossing his arms moodily.

The feeling of Leo's hand grasping her elbow jolted Elle out of her vision. She realized she'd fallen behind the rest of the class, who'd moved onto an exhibit a few yards away from her.

"Are you good? You're not going psycho on me, right?" He grinned at his own joke. "Besides, if you fall behind Hedge will put you on garbage duty again."

He began to walk away, still holding her arm, dragging her back toward the class. Elle let him pull her toward the group, still dazed from the visions clouding her mind.

Some girls kept looking over at Piper and Dylan and snickering. Elle assumed these girls were the popular clique. They wore matching jeans, tube tops, and a shit ton of makeup.

Elle was reminded of a group of girls — maybe fourteen? — laughing at her. A blurry image crossed her mind: she lay on the ground, an older girl laughing after shoving her, only to be pushed to the ground by a now-familiar Percy.

"Hey."

Elle jumped, spinning to face Jason with wide eyes.

He looked worried, his hand placed gently on his shoulder. "Are you okay?"

Elle closed her eyes for a long second before nodding. "I'm fine."

Her headache was growing stronger and the visions were becoming more frequent, but it's not like she could tell him that. Rubbing her eyes, Elle's attention landed on the clique of popular girls.

A girl with long blonde hair and wide brown eyes snickered among her friends as she shot Piper a sickly sweet smile.

"Hey, Piper," she taunted, "does your tribe run this place? Do you get in free if you do a rain dance?"

Racist bitch.

The other girls laughed. Even Piper's so-called partner Dylan suppressed a smile. Piper's snowboarding jacket sleeves hid her hands as she clenched her fists.

"My dad's Cherokee," she said. "Not Hualapai. 'Course, you'd need a few brain cells to know the difference, Isabel."

Isabel widened her eyes in mock surprise, letting her mouth fall open. "Oh, sorry! Was your mom in this tribe? Oh, that's right. You never knew your mom."

A voice echoed in Elle's head. Her eyesight blurred, trying to pull her back into a vision. But Elle pinched her left forearm sharply, and her eyesight focused again.

Piper charged at her, but before a fight could start, Coach Hedge barked, "Enough back there! Set a good example or I'll break out my baseball bat!"

The group shuffled on to the next exhibit, but the girls kept calling out little comments to Piper.

"Good to be back on the rez?" one asked in an overly happy voice.

"Dad's probably too drunk to work," another said with fake sympathy. "That's why she turned klepto."

Piper ignored them, but unchecked anger filled Elle's stomach. Who did they think they were? Those awful bitches.

She stepped forward, ready to start throwing punches, but Leo caught her arm.

"Be cool," he said. "Piper doesn't like us fighting her battles. Besides, if those girls found out the truth about her dad, they'd all be bowing down to her and screaming, 'We're not worthy!'"

"Why?" Jason asked. "What about her dad?"

"Is he, like, a god or something?" Elle made a lame attempt at a joke.

Leo laughed in disbelief, glancing between the two. "You're kidding? You don't remember that your best friend's dad—"

"Look, dude, I don't know how many times I have to say this, but I don't remember shit, alright? I wish I did, but I don't even remember myself, much less her or her dad."

Leo whistled lowly. "Whatever, Ellie. We have to talk when we get back to the dorms."

They reached the far end of the exhibit hall, where big glass doors led out to a terrace.

"All right, cupcakes," Coach Hedge announced. "You are about to see the Grand Canyon. Try not to break it. The skywalk can hold the weight of seventy jumbo jets, so you featherweights should be safe out there. If possible, try to avoid pushing each other over the edge, as that would cause me extra paperwork."

The coach opened the doors, and they all stepped outside. The Grand Canyon spread before them, live and in person. Extending over the edge was a horseshoe-shaped walkway made of glass, so you could see right through it.

"Man," Leo said. "That's pretty wicked. Right, Ellie-Belly?"

"Uh... sure," the girl mumbled. That was a lie. Elle did not think this was wicked. She felt her face grow pale as she gripped the railing so hard her knuckles turned white.

"Don't tell me you're afraid of heights," Leo joked.

Another vision struck Elle so suddenly she felt as though he slapped her across the face.

"JUMP!"

Elle was hurtling to the ground so fast that the scenery around her was blurring. Her right hand was tightly grasping the hand of another. She turned her head to the side just enough to see the blurred silhouette of a boy. Suddenly, she was submerged in cold, murky water.

"Hey, are you okay?"

Elle's body jerked as a hand landed on her arm. Her head snapped to the side, blue eyes meeting blue. It was strange that their eyes could be classified as the same color. Hers were dull and dark, like the depths of the ocean, while his were icy and electric, like the sky. Or lightning.

Jason stared at the girl in concern, unsure of what was happening. "Are you okay, Elle?"

Startled, Elle blinked several times before her brain finally comprehended his question. She distractedly replied, "Uh, yes, I'm fine. Thank you."

"Uh... okay." Jason removed his hand from her arm. The two stood in awkward silence, Elle with her eyes screwed shut, and Jason wincing as another pain struck behind his eyes.

"You two all right?" Leo asked. He cracked a grin. "You're not going to throw up over the side, are you? 'Cause I should've brought my camera."

Elle grasped the railing. She was shivering and sweaty, but whether it was from the vision or the height she wasn't sure. She blinked again, and the pain behind her eyes subsided.

"I'm fine," Jason managed. "Just a headache."

Elle noticed the way Leo's eyes lingered over her. He probably thought she was insane. She didn't blame him. She was starting to think so too.

Thunder rumbled overhead. A cold wind blew, much stronger than wind should've been. It knocked her sideways right into Jason's side. He grabbed her by the shoulders, helping her stay upright.

Elle's face flushed. "Sorry," she mumbled.

"That's alright," Jason said. "You're okay?"

"I'm okay."

"This can't be safe." Leo squinted at the clouds. "Storm's right over us, but it's clear all the way around. Weird, huh?"

Elle looked up and saw Leo was right. A dark circle of clouds had parked itself over the skywalk, but the rest of the sky in every direction was clear. Anxiety ate at Elle's stomach for every second she stared at the sky.

"All right, cupcakes!" Coach Hedge yelled. He frowned at the storm as if it bothered him too. "We may have to cut this short, so get to work! Remember: complete sentences!"

The storm rumbled, and Elle's head began to hurt again. Instinctively, she reached into her sweatshirt pocket and pulled the pen out again. Twirling the plastic between her fingers, Elle examined it closely. It appeared to be a normal ballpoint pen with a clear plastic tube and a black cap. She could buy one at the store for a dollar. Deciding that it was nothing of importance, Elle returned the pen to her pocket.

"Dang, is that gold?" Leo asked, drawing Elle's attention away from herself. "You've been holding out on me!"

"Gold?" Elle looked over at Jason.

Jason slipped a gold coin back into his pocket, not meeting either of their eyes.

"It's nothing," he said. "Just a coin."

Leo shrugged, switching topics. Maybe his mind had to keep moving as much as his hands. "Come on," he said, grinning at his supposed best friend. "Dare you to spit over the edge."

Elle scrunched up her nose. "Gross."

♆

They didn't try very hard on the worksheet. For one thing, Jason was too distracted by the storm and his mixed-up feelings. For another thing, Elle couldn't read the worksheet, the letters swirling on the page and flipping themselves backward. For a third thing, Leo was no help. He was too busy building a helicopter out of pipe cleaners.

"Check it out." He launched the copter. Elle figured it would plummet, but the pipe cleaner blades spun. The little copter made it halfway across the canyon before it lost momentum and spiraled into the void.

"How'd you do that?" Jason asked.

Leo shrugged. "Would've been cooler if I had some rubber bands. Hey, Ellie-Belly, you got a hair tie?"

Elle's hand drifted to her right wrist. On it was a leather rope, a piece of green sea glass tied to the front. Her fingertips brushed over the bracelet before reaching up to find the same leather wrapped around her neck. Instead of sea glass, she found five clay beads.

"Ha! Look!"

Percy shoved a small bead in front of her face. Elle's eyes focused on it, realizing in his attempt to draw a triton, he had drawn a blob closely resembling a penis.

She rolled her eyes. "You're so immature."

The boy shrugged, dark hair falling into his eyes. "Whatever. You just have no sense of humor."

"Elle?" Elle wasn't sure if it was Leo or Jason that spoke, but it didn't matter, because they were both staring at her.

"Yeah, yeah, I'm good." Elle blinked twice, snapping out of her vision. She reached to her left wrist, pulling off a simple black hair tie. "Here, Leo."

Leo began to recreate his helicopter, while Elle's fingers stayed glued to the bracelet, trying to remember where she got it from and what its significance was.

"Seriously," Jason inquired, watching Leo work, "are we friends?"

"Last I checked."

"You sure? What was the first day we met? What did we talk about?"

"It was..." Leo frowned, fingers faltering. "I don't recall exactly. I'm ADHD, man. You can't expect me to remember details."

"But I don't remember you at all. I don't remember anyone here. What if—"

"You're right and everyone else is wrong?" Leo asked. "You think you and Ellie just appeared here this morning, and we've all got fake memories of you?"

"That's exactly what we think," Elle stated.

It sounded crazy. Everyone acted like she and Jason were part of the class... except for Coach Hedge.

A sudden spout of genius struck her. "Take the worksheet." Elle handed Leo the paper. "Jason, get up. We'll be right back."

Before Leo could protest, Elle grabbed Jason by the arm and began to pull him along the skywalk.

"Hey!"

"Look," Elle explained, "Coach Hedge is the only person who knows we don't belong here. If anyone can help us right now, it's him."

As Elle and Jason strode across the skywalk, Elle let her eyes wander, trying to take in as much as she could.

Their school group had the place to themselves. Maybe it was too early in the day for tourists, or maybe the weird weather had scared them off. The Wilderness School kids had spread out in pairs across the skywalk. Most were joking around or talking. About fifty feet away, Piper was trying to fill out her worksheet, but her stupid partner Dylan was hitting on her, putting his hand on her shoulder and giving her that blinding white smile. She kept pushing him away, and when she saw Elle she gave her a look as though asking, Murder this guy for me.

Jason motioned for her to hang on.

Elle mouthed, Push him off the canyon.

Jason and Elle walked up to Coach Hedge, who was leaning on his baseball bat, studying the storm clouds.

"Did you do this?" the coach asked sharply.

Jason took a step back. "Do what?" It sounded like the coach had just asked him if he'd made the thunderstorm.

Coach Hedge glared at him. Coach's beady eyes glinted under the brim of his cap. "Don't play games with me, kid. What are you doing here, and why are you messing up my job?"

"You mean... you don't know me? Don't know us?" Jason said.

"Never seen you before today." Hedge paused before hesitantly speaking up again. "Well... I know her."

Hope blossomed in Elle's chest. "You do?"

Hedge nodded. "I do. And I know for sure, you should most definitely not be here."

Jason was so relieved that it looked like he was about to cry. At least they weren't going insane. They were in the wrong place. "Look, sir, I don't know how I got here. I just woke up on the school bus. All I know is I'm not supposed to be here."

"You got a powerful way with the Mist, Jason," Hedge said. "If you can make all these people think they know you. And you," his attention turned to Elle, "I don't have any idea how it's even possible you're here."

Elle sent Jason a worried look. He simply shrugged in response.

"I've been smelling monster for days now," Coach Hedge continued. "I knew we had an infiltrator, but you don't smell like a monster. You smell like a half-blood. So who are you, and where'd you come from?"

Another sharp pain pierced Elle from behind the eyes. She let out a sharp wince, as her hand flew up to rub her forehead.

"Would someone please tell me what the fuck a half-blood is?" Elle snapped.

A blonde girl stood before her. She sighed, rolling her gray eyes and crossing her arms across her chest.

"That's not an answer!"

"Elle!" Jason was gripping her shoulder again.

"I'm okay," came Elle's quick response.

Jason sent her one last concerned glance, before returning to his conversation with the coach.

He made the smart move and responded honestly. "We don't know who we are. We don't have any memories. You've got to help us."

Coach Hedge studied his face like he was trying to read Jason's thoughts.

"Great," Hedge muttered. "You're being truthful."

"Of course I am! And what was all that about monsters and half-bloods? Are those code words or something?"

"Look," Coach Hedge said, "I don't know who you are. But I do know what you are, and it means trouble. Especially with her around. Now I have to protect four of you rather than two.

"Are you the special package?" Hedge added as an afterthought. "Is that it? Or is she?"

"What are you talking about?" Elle demanded. "What's going on?"

Hedge looked at the storm. The clouds were getting thicker and darker, hovering right over the skywalk.

"This morning," Hedge said, "I got a message from camp. They said an extraction team is on the way. They're coming to pick up a special package, but they wouldn't give me details. I thought to myself, Fine. The two I'm watching are pretty powerful and older than most. I know they're being stalked. I can smell a monster in the group. I figure that's why the camp is suddenly frantic to pick them up. But then you two pop up out of nowhere. So, are you two the special package?"

The pain behind Elle's eyes got worse than ever. Half-bloods. Camp. Monsters. She blinked several times, doing everything she could do to fight off another vision. Her nails pinched at her skin, and she felt drops of warm blood on her fingertips.

She didn't know what Hedge was talking about, but the words gave her a massive brain freeze — like her mind was trying to access information that should've been there but wasn't. It was all eerily familiar to her.

She stumbled, and Jason caught her. Again. He helped steady her before dropping his arms back to his sides.

Even Coach Hedge looked worried. And scared.  "Whoa, there, cupcake. You say you two got no memories, huh? Fine. I'll just have to watch you both as well until the team gets here. Jason, we'll let the director figure things out from there. As for you..." he observed Elle cautiously. "That's not for me to decide."

Before Elle could say anything, Jason's questions interrupted her.

"Director?" he asked. "What camp?"

"Just sit tight," Hedge told them. "Reinforcements should be here soon. Hopefully, nothing happens before—"

Lightning cracked overhead. The wind picked up with a vengeance. Worksheets flew into the Grand Canyon, and the entire bridge shuddered. Kids screamed, stumbling and grabbing the rails.

"I had to say something," Hedge grumbled. He bellowed into his megaphone: "Everyone inside! The cow says moo! Off the skywalk!"

"I thought you said this thing was stable!" Jason shouted over the wind.

"Under normal circumstances," Hedge agreed. "Which these aren't. Come on!"

a/n: first chapter! i know this is really long, so i apologize for that. if this book ends up getting some readers and those readers prefer short chapters, i'll make the future chapters much shorter. this one is long because i followed the same chapter length rick used (and i will keep doing that until i get complaints about it).

anyway, thanks for reading!