Page 51 of Five

“Fuck,” I say, pounding my fist on the steering wheel. The canyon is a dead zone. And the signal won’t come back until I’m on the other side, which is where the farm is.

So I let it go. I don’t know what’s going on with Tera and Cliff, but the answers I need won’t come from them.

Five is the word of the day today. Five is the man of the hour. Five. Five. Five.

He’s the one with all the answers.

I pull into the driveway ten minutes later, the tires making an ungodly loud crunch on the dirt and gravel in the still, dark night.

There’s no lights on anywhere. Not the pool house. Not the main house. Not the shop.

I stop the car in front of the house, turn it off, and sit in silence as I look at my phone and find Five’s contact.

I press send.

“Hello,” he says, picking up on the first ring.

“I’m back,” I say.

“I know. I heard you drive up.”

“Where are you?”

“Upstairs.”

In my room, he means. That’s the only place he could possibly be if he’s upstairs.

“How did you get in without my dad calling the police from a thousand miles away?”

“I have my ways,” he says.

And even though I know what Five does, what he’s capable of—I’ve seen it all first-hand growing up, the apps he makes, the computer code he writes, the way his genius mind always finds a solution to every little problem that comes his way—it’s the way he says this that sends a shiver up my spine. Because it’s different now. Those words are different. They mean something else.

He sounds dangerous.

And maybe he’s always been this guy? Maybe he’s always been hiding all these secrets from me? Maybe I’m just too stupid and naive to have seen it before.

But I don’t think so.

Something about him has changed.

“Did you find Cliff?” he asks.

“Mmmhmm,” I say.

“What did he tell you?”

And there it is. What did he tell you? Not, How did it go? Or, Did you set him straight?

“Not enough,” I say.

“Hmmm,” is all I get back from that response.

“Five, what’s going on?”

He’s silent for a few seconds. So silent I have to check the phone to make sure we didn’t lose the connection.

“Five?” I ask, looking out at my dark, empty farm. It’s so weird to see it like this. Knowing we’re the only two people here. “Are you still there?”