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forgotten that we had a math test the next day.
    Maybe this will help me forget about reaching Mom for a while, I thought. I tried to concentrate on the math problems. But it wasn’t easy.
    Later, it took me hours to fall asleep. I lay covered up to my chin in the twin bed, staring at the ceiling. Thinking about Mom. And Beth. And listening to Jada’s steady, shallow breathing in the bed across from mine.
    I don’t know when I finally fell asleep. But I was awakened by a rustling sound in the center of the room.
    I blinked one eye open, then the other. Half awake, I squinted through the darkness at Jada’s bed. Empty. The covers had been tossed back. The pillow hung over the side.
    For a moment, I thought I was dreaming.
    But then I saw a figure moving near the dresser. I was still half asleep, half awake. My eyes wanted to close.
    I forced them open. I struggled to focus.
    Jada. I realized it was Jada standing across the room in the dark. Staring hard, I could see her pulling a sweater down over her head.
    She was getting dressed. Silently. Without turning on any lights.
    I turned to the bed table clock. Just past two in the morning.
    She had lied about getting a drink of water. She is sneaking out again, I realized. Why? Where wouldshe go at two in the morning?
    A tree branch tapped at the windowpane. I could hear the wind howling around the side of the house.
    “Jada?” I tried to call out to her. But my voice was clogged from sleep.
    I saw her bend to pull on her boots.
    Then darkness rolled over me. Heavy and silent.

15
    I guess I fell back to sleep.
    I had several strange dreams. Colorful, loud dreams. I remembered someone chasing me. And falling, falling for miles.
    The loud buzz of the alarm clock snapped me awake. I sat up, eyes wide open. I shook my head hard, shaking away the memory of the dreams. Then I turned to Jada’s bed.
    Still empty.
    Did she really get dressed in the middle of the night and sneak out of the house? Or was that a dream too?
    It had to be a dream—right?
    I pulled on a clean pair of straight-legged jeans and an oversize sweater. Then I brushed my hair, put on my shoes, and hurried down the stairs.
    I smelled coffee brewing in the kitchen. And I heard my aunt and uncle talking. “That burglary was just two blocks from here,” Uncle Will said.
    “Wow. And was it the same weird guy?” Aunt Janet asked.
    “Yeah. A neighbor saw him. The guy wears a blue cape and mask. Like it’s Halloween or something,” Uncle Will replied. “And he leaves a little card. With a blue weasel on it.”
    Aunt Janet laughed. “A blue weasel? This guy is freaky!”
    “It isn’t funny,” my uncle muttered. “He’s real dangerous.”
    I stepped into the kitchen. Uncle Will sat at the table with the newspaper and a mug of coffee. Aunt Janet stood at the sink, sipping from her coffee mug.
    And Jada sat across from her father, a bowl of cereal in front of her. “Good morning,” all three of them greeted me at once.
    “Morning,” I muttered.
    My aunt poured me a glass of orange juice. As I took my seat, Uncle Will jumped up. “I’m late,” he said. He emptied his coffee mug. Then gave us a quick wave and hurried away.
    Aunt Janet hurried into the hall, carrying a stack of envelopes for him to mail.
    Jada and I were alone in the kitchen. She spooned up cereal with one hand, twisted a strand of her blond hair with the other.
    I leaned across the table and whispered, “Where did you go last night?”
    She lowered her spoon and glared at me. “Excuseme? What are you talking about?”
    “In the middle of the night,” I whispered. “Did you get up?”
    “Of course not,” she replied sharply. “Are you starting that again?”
    “I…I thought I saw you getting dressed in the dark,” I said.
    She snickered. “Dream a lot?”
    I took a sip of orange juice. “Sorry,” I muttered to Jada. “I had a lot of weird dreams last night.”
    “Face it. You’re weird,” Jada said. She raised the