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the first place.
    “Dan . . .”
    The tone in her voice was one of discovery, but right at this moment, he didn’t care if Abby had noticed something he hadn’t, he just wanted to be quiet and forget—to find a way to let go of his frustration before it sabotaged the trip.
    “What?” he forced out.
    “There’s something on the back of this map,” she said.
    “I know.”
    Dan watched as they both looked at the message, handwritten in black marker and double-underlined.
    FIND THEM
    “So you think Professor Reyes wrote this? I still don’t understand what she wanted with your parents,” Jordan said, frowning and studying the map.
    “She didn’t want them, necessarily. She just wanted a living member of the warden’s bloodline,” he said. “I guess I was easier to find. Hell, I practically fell into her lap last summer.”
    He watched his friends share a look, and he answered before the questions started pouring out.
    “So that’s part two. I know we’ve joked about it in the past—how the weird connection between me and the warden went a little beyond your usual great-uncle–great-nephew relationship. But what I never told you guys is that Professor Reyes was after me because she thought I could see things from the past. Like, things related to the warden.”
    Silence.
    Then, finally, Jordan asked, “And . . . can you?”
    “Sometimes, yes.” There was really no sugarcoating it. “I don’t know what brings it on; it’s not something I can control. Last summer I would get these waking dreams, almost like I was seeing things from the past through the warden’s eyes. At the time I thought it was part of my disorder somehow. But then at Halloween, I saw things the warden couldn’t possibly have seen.”
    Abby drummed her fingers on top of the family tree, looking as if she was thinking very carefully about how to respond.When she spoke, it was not the reaction Dan was expecting. “Is this why you applied to NHCP to begin with? To find out about your family? It’s not like I can throw stones—I was there looking for my aunt. But since we’re being honest, I have to say, ever since you told us about being related to the warden, I’ve wondered if you didn’t go looking for him last summer—if these visions you’re talking about weren’t part of some plan to bring him back.”
    “What? No! I swear to both of you, I didn’t know anything about the warden or my parents when I first got to NHC,” Dan insisted. “I don’t know if it was coincidence or fate that brought me to Brookline last summer, but I was there, and I just . . . I don’t want to get to a place ever again where I’m keeping secrets from you guys because I’m scared, okay? So there’s something else I need to tell you. The third and final part.”
    He pulled out his phone and quickly brought up the message, shuddering when he found it was still there in his inbox. A part of him had been convinced it would be gone the next time he went looking.
    “Here,” he said. “Look at this.”
    “Holy shit,” Jordan whispered, almost dropping Dan’s phone when he glimpsed the message. “That’s messed up.”
    “I think I saw Micah, too, just before we left NHC. It was so quick; I hoped it was my mind playing tricks. I hoped it was over.”
    Abby leaned across to make use of the lamp, taking the phone from Jordan and gasping. “But how is this possible? I thought they locked down accounts of . . . of those who have passed.”
    Dan could tell she was about to say “of dead people” but felt it was too harsh. Harsh or not, it was the truth.
    Abby hugged her knees to her chest. “Unless you’re saying you think this has something to do with your visions? But then how could we see it, too?”
    “Exactly. It has to be a prank, right?” Dan asked, maybe emphasizing that desperate little right too much.
    “It certainly could be,” Abby said sternly. She couldn’t take her eyes away from the phone. “Someone’s sick idea of a