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little. Hawk would have a new Tablet before he could hardly grow to miss the old one; she was sure of it. And Liz would come around. It was all going to be fine; she just had to keep telling herself that. She took a deep breath and hit SEND on her message to Wade.
I hope you jump better than you draw daisies. What time should I be there?
    Faith continued along the path that skirted the lake, a nervous energy in her steps as she thought of who or what she might encounter. It had been a weird night in more ways than one, and she just wanted to get home and lock the door behind her.
    As she came around the final turn that would lead to her house, she saw a familiar park bench. She’d sat on it many times, drawing the lake and the birds on the pond with her finger on her Tablet. Something on the bench was fluttering softly on the breeze, though it was too heavy to be blown away entirely. Its edge lifted and fell as she arrived at the bench and realized what it was: her drawing of Green Eggs and Ham , the drawing she’d done at the librarian’s desk in the library. The bottom third of the paper was missing. Get used to living without it.
    Faith’s hand was shaking as she ran for her front door.
    How was it possible?
    How had someone gotten the sheet of paper with her drawing on it, torn off the bottom, and left the note for Hawk? And all while they were still in the library?
     
    An hour later, in another part of town, Hawk was lying in his bedroom, a small lamp over his left shoulder. There was something in his hands, but it wasn’t his Tablet. It was a little wider and taller than that, but not much. It had fit perfectly in the backpack he carried around everywhere. The pack wasn’t designed to carry much—two straps over his shoulders, a thin sheath of foam around an oblong pouch against his narrow back.
    He turned the pages of The Sneetches ever so slowly, and as he felt the coarse paper on his skin, he started to breathe a little easier.

Chapter 4
Wire Code
    It took Faith a long time to get to sleep that night, and even when she did fall asleep, it was more like a half wakefulness. She kept having dreams of things moving in her room. She dreamed the glass of water on her nightstand had tipped over; but instead of the water spilling onto the floor, it hung in the air and blew apart into a million droplets, then danced above her bed. Some of the droplets touched her lips, and she tasted the water with her tongue. It was cool and sweet, like spring, and she smiled in her dream. The drops came together again, returned to the glass, and the dream ended.
    In time someone would tell Faith Daniels the truth, but not yet.
    She wasn’t ready to know, but one day she would be told.
    What happened in her room was not a dream.
     
    Faith and Liz both awoke to the same message from Hawk on their Tablets and simultaneously realized they’d allowed a new person into their tiny, private circle.
And he’s back! How you guys doing? Miss me? Let’s do some hand-holding, ladies!
    It was no longer just the two of them; it was the three of them. Hawk’s Tablet was back, and he was becoming a fixture in their lives. Faith and Liz didn’t talk about it, this idea that they’d let someone in; but they both knew it had happened. It was like they were afraid to bring it up for fear that the other one would disapprove. The little guy was definitely growing on them.
    By 8:00 a.m., when Liz met Faith at the front of the school, they’d both been messaging Hawk for an hour.
    “This is getting a little strange, right?” Liz said.
    “More than a little. I’d say it’s getting creepy. How does a Tablet just vanish and then reappear? Who does that?”
    Faith was thinking the same thing about the drawing she’d done, but she didn’t know how to tell Liz about it, at least not yet.
    “It was just there , too,” Liz repeated what Faith already knew. “Right next to his bed, like it had never left his side. Means someone was in his house.