After an eternity, Hailey got to take her seat. It was first class, at least, but it was definitely not worth all the hassle. Even the ability to relax and get out of the cold wasn't an improvement. Not even slightly.

"Thanks for bumpin' me up," said Jeremy, as he fell into the seat across from hers and immediately reclined it back. "I can't get travel funds anymore."

"You sure you wouldn't rather just fly for free?" she asked, glancing over Jessica out the window. "This thing is so cramped."

"I like this cramped tube, thanks." He closed his eyes. "I've seen you fly."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"Means I ain't fuckin' built to take my feet off the damn ground."

"...So what do you call this?"

"Fake ground."

Hailey sighed. She leaned back too, pulling out her phone to check for messages. "Mom's got some marketing people on the case. Apparently they're all very excited to work with me."

"That was quick."

"Mom works super quick. And it's Friday. They're already wrapping up for the week, she's got time."

"Huh." Jeremy shrugged. "Told me to fuck off on a Friday because she was too busy to talk."

"...I forgot, you actually met my mom, didn't you?"

He snorted, opening his eyes. "Yeah, she's a real bi… piece of work."

Hailey glowered. "Watch it."

Jeremy waved down the attendant and ordered a drink before he spoke again. "Nothin' against her, honest. In her line of work, that's a fuckin' asset. But I think she hates the livin' shit out of me."

"...Do you deserve it?"

"Probably." He shrugged again. "I leaned on her pretty damn hard tryin' to get answers. Her and Thomas Laushire, since they were the two highest profile family relations."

"You went after Kendra's dad?" she asked, surprised. "I heard he's really intense."

"Huh. He was a mess. Could barely get through our first couple interviews without breakin' down in tears." Jeremy sighed. "Of course, then he decided to sic his fuckin' goons on us for 'inflicting emotional distress'. Got into a shoutin' match in the middle of London."

Hailey laughed. "No way. I can't even imagine Kendra or anyone related to her shouting."

"Yeah, well, her dad had some fuckin' pipes. I almost knocked his teeth out. Lani had to pull me off 'im. Got in some real trouble since we were outside the country on special permit."

"Lani's your partner, right?"

"Yeah… Speakin' of Lani," he added, throwing her a sidelong look. "He took off sometime last weekend. Left me a note sayin' he's 'tryin' to find answers' and vanished."

"Is he okay?" Hailey vaguely remembered something about Jeremy's partner getting shot by one of Brian's people. It sounded awful. Another reason why we can't just be inviting anyone to join in on this… Even trained FBI agents are getting hurt.

"He can take care of himself… but I'm pretty sure he booked it out to Rallsburg or somewhere 'round there. I can't get ahold of him." Jeremy frowned. "And that forest ain't the safest place to be lately."

Hailey nodded. "I can ask Cinza's people to watch out for him."

"Appreciate that, thanks." Jeremy closed his eyes again. "Now if you 'scuse me, I'm gonna take a quick nap."

"But… it's like an hour and a half to Portland."

"Take every nap you can get," Jeremy muttered. "You never know when someone's gonna fuckin' kidnap you in the middle of the damn night."

Hailey wondered what that was supposed to mean, but Jeremy looked like he'd already fallen asleep. The plane started to taxi out onto the runway, and Jessica was watching through the window like an excited little kid. Hailey sighed again, leaning back in her seat. Personally, she'd really have preferred to fly down herself, but she couldn't reliably carry the two of them — Jeremy outright refused the idea anyway — and she didn't know anyone down in Portland either. Since Jeremy didn't have a car, and the train would take nearly three times as long, Hailey reluctantly agreed to the plane.

After the sixth or seventh stop in the terminal, berated and adored in equal measure by random groups, Hailey was about ready to ask Jessica to just make them invisible and sneak onto the plane. Thankfully, Jeremy put a stop to it, flashing his badge to skip through the lines and keep people off them.

With nothing better to do for the moment, she decided to text Weston.

Hailey: You're in Seattle?

Wes: Tacoma actually

Hailey: Not to sound rude but… why?

Wes: I came to help

Hailey: With?

Wes: There's a fight coming

Wes: I can't stand by this time

Hailey: We're trying not to fight, you know.

Wes: I hope we don't have to

Hailey: Where are you staying?

Wes: Well…

Hailey: You didn't.

Wes: I decided to come kind of last minute…

Hailey: Ugh.

Hailey: Well.

Wes: What about you?

Hailey: I live with Jessica and her parents.

Hailey: And no, you can't stay with us.

Hailey: Are you okay telling somebody you're awakened?

Wes: It's going to come out sooner or later

Wes: Wherever you think is best

Hailey: Hang on a second.

She sighed. It was so Weston to just rely on Hailey to handle things for him. She'd always done everything when they were dating, too. Now she had to figure out who he could room with? What was she supposed to do, just call up Alden's parents and ask if they were cool with a stranger taking the spare room? Or should she send him out to live in the Greywood with Cinza?

She could just pay for him to stay in a hotel, but who knew how long he might be sticking around? That could get expensive fast. Hailey didn't really have an income, since Kendra's money was sucked away supporting the whole group. Her mom's off-book donations helped, but they were basically breaking even, with a little bit stored away for emergencies. They had to pay extra for everything, since they were only paying cash to avoid records and identities.

Hailey was now very much a public figure, but the rest of the awakened agreed they weren't ready for such a step yet. Speculation was rampant on which Rallsburg residents had survived, based on the final list of unidentified remains the FBI had published. There were plenty of calls for Cinza to appear — half of the publicity offers Hailey received every day involved her friend as well — but Cinza adamantly refused.

Probably smart, after what happened to me… Even if Hailey had started to come around on just how bad that interview had turned out, she still didn't trust a single reporter. Not after Russ had so casually turned around and stabbed her in the back like that. She'd put a blanket ignore on every single request, ghosting the whole lot of them. She'd go back into the public eye soon, but she had a few things to take care of first.

Hailey: Hey.

Rupert: Hello.

Rupert: How's Portland?

Hailey: How'd you know? Keeping tabs on me?

Rupert: The world is, love.

Rupert: It's actually quite hard not to.

Hailey: Not actually there yet, still on the plane.

Hailey: I hate planes now.

Rupert: Hah.

Rupert: Did you need something?

Rupert: I imagine you're quite busy.

Hailey: I need a huge favor…

"So you're sendin' your ex-boyfriend to live with your current boyfriend?" said Jeremy, pulling off the highway in the rental car they'd picked up. "You crazy?"

"What?"

He shrugged. "Just sayin', I've been there. Two guys I dated, livin' together for a bit. Didn't end well."

Hailey shook her head. "They're both adults. It'll be fine."

"Yeah, I thought so too." Jeremy swung around a turn way tighter than she expected. He was a really intense driver. "Sorry. You okay back there, Jess?" he added, glancing back and giving her a thumbs-up. She returned it, looking totally fine.

"It's not like this is typical at all. Weston's here to help keep people safe from Brian's guys."

Jeremy nodded. "About that."

"What?"

"I ran into the motherfucker."

"You did?" Hailey tried to control her excitement. "Where? How many guys did he have?"

"Slow it down, Hailey," Jeremy interrupted as they turned off into a neighborhood. "I didn't get anythin' useful. He's in the forest still, probably near Rallsburg, but I've got fuck-all otherwise. He's playin' it safe."

"Are you okay?"

"Yeah, thanks. He just wanted to talk. Guess I'm not a valid target since I ain't awakened."

"Thank god," Hailey muttered. She winced, realizing what she'd just implied. "I mean— It's totally cool if you wanted to—"

Jeremy laughed. "Chill, girl. I don't, it's fine."

"Okay." Hailey winced again. "I just had a really different conversation this morning…" She shook her head, clearing the memory away. "Anyway. So what did he want?"

"Tried to convince me to help kill all of you." Jeremy shrugged. "I can see why you're scared. Guy like that with those fuckin' monsters under his control… Jesus."

As they rolled into the neighborhood, there was a camera crew waiting outside the Nelson house. Hailey shrunk down in her seat. "Why are they here?"

"Shit…" Jeremy kept driving, rolling past before they were noticed by the press gaggle. "They must have guessed what we were doing."

"But how did they know where she lives?"

"Hell, I'm not the only one who can find people's addresses, Hailey. They saw you get on a flight to Portland and someone connected the damn dots." Jeremy pulled around the corner, out of sight of the cameras, and waited. "You still want to do this?"

"Can you get them to leave?"

"Not quietly." Jeremy sighed. "This is my fault. Sorry. Shouldn't've taken the fuckin' plane."

Hailey shook her head. "It's okay. We didn't invite them." She opened the door, then turned and opened the back door for Jessica. Jessica got out, and an instant later, she vanished, ready to act as backup no matter what happened next. Hailey took a deep breath, then — with Jeremy a few steps behind — started down the sidewalk toward the small crowd.

No distractions from what she was really here to do.