CHAPTER 1

The end-of-school bell blasted everyone from their seats.People loosened their ties, slapped shut books, shoved foldersand pencils into backpacks. A buzz of conversation nearlydrowned out the teacher as she yelled reminders about tomorrow'sfield trip. Addie was almost out the door when I said

Addie said, pushing her waythrough the hall. Our history teacher always gave us looks likeshe knew the secret in our head, pinching her lips and frowningat us when she thought we weren't watching. Maybe I wasjust being paranoid. But maybe not. Still, doing poorly in herclass would only bring more trouble.

The school rang with noise - lockers slamming, peoplelaughing - but I heard Addie's voice perfectly in the quiet spacelinking our minds. There, it was peaceful for now, though Icould feel the start of Addie's irritation like a dark splash in thecorner.

"Addie!" someone shouted, and Addie half-turned.

"Addie - wait up!"

We'd been so lost in our argument we hadn't even noticedthe girl chasing after us. It was Hally Mullan, one hand pushingup her glasses, the other trying to wrap a hair tie aroundher dark curls. She shoved past a tight-knit group of studentsbefore making it to our side with an exaggerated sigh of relief.Addie groaned, but silently, so that only I could hear.

"You're a really fast walker," Hally said and smiled as if sheand Addie were friends.

Addie shrugged. "I didn't know you were following me."Hally's smile didn't dim. But then, she was the kind of personwho laughed in the face of a hurricane. In another body,another life, she wouldn't have been stuck chasing after someonelike us in the hallway. She was too pretty for that, withthose long eyelashes and olive skin, and too quick to laugh.But there was a difference written into her face, into the set ofher cheekbones and the slant of her nose. This only added tothe strangeness about her, an aura that broadcasted Not QuiteRight. Addie had always stayed away. We had enough problemspretending to be normal.

There was no easy way to avoid Hally now, though. She fellinto step beside us, her book bag slung over one shoulder. "So,excited about the field trip?"

"Not really," Addie said.

"Me neither," Hally said cheerfully. "Are you busy today?"

"Kind of," Addie said. She managed to keep our voicebland despite Hally's dogged high spirits, but our fingerstugged at the bottom of our blouse. It had fit at the beginningof the year, when we'd bought all new uniforms for highschool, but we'd grown taller since then. Our parents hadn'tnoticed, not with - well, not with everything that was happeningwith Lyle - and we hadn't said anything.

"Want to come over?" Hally said.

Addie's smile was strained. As far as we knew, Hallyhad never asked anyone over. Most likely, no one would go.

Aloud, Addie said, "Can't. I've gotto babysit."

"For the Woodards?" Hally asked. "Rob and Lucy?"

"Robby and Will and Lucy," Addie said. "But yeah, theWoodards."

Hally's dimples deepened. "I love those kids. They use thepool in my neighborhood all the time. Can I come?"

Addie hesitated. "I don't know if their parents would likethat."

"Are they still there when you arrive?" Hally said, andwhen Addie nodded, added, "We can ask, then, right?"

Addiesaid, and I knew I ought to agree. But Hally kept smiling andsmiling, even when I knew the expression on our face was get-ting less and less friendly.

I saidinstead.

Addie had her friends, and I, at very least, had Addie. Hallyseemed to have no one at all.

"I don't expect to get paid or anything, of course," Hallywas saying now. "I'll just come keep you company, you know?"

I said.

"Well ..." Addie said.

"Great!" Hally grabbed our hand and didn't seem tonotice Addie flinch in surprise. "I have so much to talk to youabout."

The TV was blaring when Addie opened the Woodards' frontdoor, Hally following close behind. Mr. Woodard grabbedhis briefcase and keys when he saw us. "Kids are in the livingroom, Addie." He hurried out the door, saying over his shoulderas he went, "Call if you need anything."

"This is Hally Mul—" Addie tried to say, but he was alreadygone, leaving us alone with Hally in the foyer.

"He didn't even notice me," Hally said.

Addie rolled her eyes. "I guess I'm not surprised. He'salways like that."

We'd been babysitting Will, Robby, and Lucy for a whilenow - even before Mom had reduced her hours at work to carefor Lyle - but Mr. Woodard still had moments when he forgotAddie's name. Our parents weren't the only ones in town withtoo much work and too little time.

The living room TV was tuned to a cartoon featuring apink rabbit and two rather enormous mice. Lyle used to watchthe same thing when he was younger, but at ten, he claimedto have outgrown it.

Apparently seven-year-olds were still allowed to watchcartoons, though, because Lucy lay on the carpet, her legswaving back and forth. Her little brother sat beside her, equallyengrossed.

"He's Will right now," Lucy said without turning around.The cartoon ended, replaced by a public service announcement,and Addie looked away. We'd seen enough PSAs.

At the old hospital we'd gone to, they'd played them on aloop - endless rounds of good-looking men and women withfriendly voices and nice smiles reminding us to always be onthe lookout for hybrids hiding somewhere, pretending to benormal. People who'd escaped hospitalization. People likeAddie and me.

Just call the number on the screen, they always said, displayingperfect white teeth. Just one call, for the safety of yourchildren, your family, your country.

They never said exactly what would happen after thatcall, but I guess they didn't need to. Everyone already knew.Hybrids were too unstable to just leave alone, so calls usuallyled to investigations, which sometimes led to raids. We'd onlyever seen one on the news or in the videos they showed us inGovernment class, but it was more than enough.

Will jumped up and headed for us, casting a confused andrather suspicious glance at Hally. She smiled at him.

"Hi, Will." She dropped into a squat despite her skirt. We'dgone straight to the Woodards' from school, not even stoppingto change out of our uniforms. "I'm Hally. Do you rememberme?"

Lucy finally looked away from the television screen. Shefrowned. "I remember you. My mom says—"Will jerked on the bottom of our skirt and cut Lucy offbefore she could finish. "We're hungry."

"They're not really," Lucy said. "I just gave them a cookie.They want another one." She climbed to her feet, revealing thebox of cookies she'd been hiding from view. "Are you going toplay with us?" she asked Hally.

Hally smiled at her. "I'm here to help babysit."

"Who? Will and Robby?" Lucy said. "They don't need twopeople." She stared at us, daring someone to say that she, atseven, still needed a babysitter.

"Hally's here to keep me company," Addie said quickly.She picked Will up, and he wrapped his arms around ourneck, setting his tiny chin on our shoulder. His baby-fine hairtickled our cheek.

Hally grinned and...