Rae Voight hurried down the long hallway leading to Oakvale Institute's group therapy room on Wednesday afternoon. She tried to breathe mostly through her mouth because the smell of the industrial cleaner they used on the linoleum floor brought back memories of being in the mental hospital. Not even memories, exactly. It was more like the harsh smell transported her right back into the hospital, back into her room with her silent roommate, back to taking pills from little white accordion-pleated cups, back to feeling like she was free falling into insanity.

But now you know you're not insane, she told herself. She was a fingerprint reader -- she touched a print, she got a thought from the person who left it. Weird. Spooky. Freakish. But not insane. She pulled in another mouth breath, the chemicals sour on her tongue. Next time I'm bringing gum, she thought.

Footsteps pounded down the hall behind her, coming right at her. Rae whirled around, her heart rate already doubling. At any time the person who'd tried to kill her in this very building could decide to try again. She was stupid to let her guard down for even a second. She stiffened, ready to run -- or just scream really loudly -- but then she saw Anthony Fascinelli, and her pulse immediately slowed back down.

"Charging after a girl who's already had one assassination attempt on her isn't the smartest..." Rae's words trailed off as she took in Anthony's expression. His mouth was tight, and his dark eyes were practically crazed with fear. Anthony wasn't a guy who looked scared very often.

"What?" Rae demanded, wrapping her arms tightly around her waist.

"I just got a call from Anna, my little sister," Anthony said. His voice came out husky, and he cleared his throat. Then cleared it again.

Rae wanted to grab him and shake him -- shake the words out of him. Instead she pulled in a deep breath and waited.

"She said that Zack ran away," Anthony finally continued. "He left a note. But what if he--"

"What if he got snatched, the way Jesse did?" Rae finished for him. Oh God, no. No. This couldn't be happening again. She and Anthony had managed to rescue Jesse Beven -- a kid in their group who was pretty much Anthony's honorary little brother. But he'd been in bad shape. If it had taken them a few more days to find out where he was being held... even thinking about it made Rae feel like her stomach was filled with worms. Live ones.

"Yeah. What if he did," Anthony answered. "I need you." He shoved his hands through his sandy brown hair. "I need you to do your fingerprint thing," he added quickly.

"I'm there." Rae was already heading back out of the institute, Anthony right behind her. She wanted to run, just tear down the hall, but that was the best way to get stopped and asked a bunch of questions. She forced herself to keep her pace to a fast walk. Maybe Zack did just run away, she thought frantically. She tried to remember how old Anthony's brother was. About fifteen. Kids that age ran away all the time. And if he ran, we'll have him back today, she promised herself.

But if he was snatched...

"Why doesn't whoever the hell is doing this just take me?" Rae exploded as she climbed into Anthony's mom's Hyundai and slammed the door. "Whoever took Jesse did it just to test me. If they still want to know more, why won't they just take me? Why go after Zack or anybody else?" She swallowed, feeling the mixture of fear and guilt rise up inside her. "It's not like they don't know where to find me," she added, tugging her jacket tighter around her. "I mean, they bugged your car, they're taking photos of me wherever I go--"

Rae shot a glance at Anthony as he pulled out of the parking lot, noticing his lethal grip on the steering wheel. Even through his T-shirt she could see how bunched the muscles in his shoulders were. She was just making things worse. She was being antihelp.

"But we don't know anyone took him. We should just wait and see," she added lamely. Anthony gave a grunt in response. It was clear he had no interest in talking, so Rae clamped her teeth together to prevent any nervous chattering and stared out the window as he drove.

Her teeth squeaked against each other as she tightened her jaw until the muscles ached. This is my fault. This is all my fault, she thought. Anytime anyone gets close to me, something bad happens to them. Not even that close. She'd never even met Anthony's brother, and now because of her--

You don't know that, she told herself. But in her gut she didn't believe it. She knew she was dangerous. She should go live in a cave somewhere, survive on berries and nuts. Except then her new little friends, the bunnies and the bluebirds and the cute baby deer, they'd start disappearing. Pipe bombs would show up in the trees and--

Give it up, Rae ordered herself. You can have a pity party -- with balloons, cake, and a clown -- later. After Zack is safe.

"This is my street," Anthony announced as he made a left turn onto a block filled with small houses crammed together. It wasn't hard to figure out which of the houses was Anthony's. A girl and two boys stood on the small front lawn. They ran to the curb when they saw Anthony driving toward them.

The second Anthony stepped out of the car, the girl -- Anna, who was nine, if Rae remembered right -- rushed over to him, towing the littler boy -- Carl, it had to be, since he was the youngest -- behind her. She pulled a folded piece of paper out of the pocket of her denim jacket, a jacket that was almost a miniature copy of Anthony's. "I found this in his room," Anna announced, thrusting the paper at him. "You've got to do something. Tom's going to go ballistic."

Tom as in Anthony's stepfather. Rae knew he was Carl's natural father, and she thought Anna's, too, although she hadn't quite mastered the intricacies of Anthony's family.

"No one's going ballistic," Anthony answered. He unfolded the letter and read it slowly, his jaw muscles tightening. Rae realized how much his reading problem must be getting to him right now, when he needed the information fast.

He finally finished and passed the note to her, and she saw his fingers were trembling. So were hers. She ignored the questions the kids were hurling at Anthony and quickly scanned the page. It was short, with the usual words -- the expected words. Zack couldn't deal anymore, so he was leaving. They shouldn't look for him. It sounded like a kid who was running away. Or like someone wants us to think he ran away, Rae couldn't help adding in her head. There was nothing personal, nothing specific. Anyone could have made up this note.

She shook her head. It was time to let her fingertips do their work.

/what if he never comes back?/

Rae's throat went dry with fear. Anna's fear. She moved her fingers a little lower.

/Nothing I need here/can all piss off/

The back of Rae's neck flushed as Zack's anger jolted through her. Followed by her own relief. Zack had run. No one else was involved.

Okay, Zack, tell me where you are, Rae thought, letting out a deep breath. She ran her fingers lightly down the page. She picked up some more fear from Anna, a mix of fear and anger from Anthony, then she got another blast of pungent Zack.

/can't stand/Tom is such a/can crash in Todd's shed/

Got you, she thought. She handed the note back to Anthony. "Why don't we drive around a little?" she asked, since she couldn't exactly blurt out in front of Anthony's brothers and sister that she knew exactly where Zack was. "I bet you know a bunch of his usual spots."

"I'm coming with you," the older of the two boys -- Danny -- announced. Rae's lips twitched. Danny didn't look anything like Anthony -- he had longish curly blond hair and blue eyes -- but his attitude was clearly something he'd picked up from his big brother. Even his tough-guy stance, feet planted apart, reminded her of Anthony.

"You are staying here," Anthony shot back. "All of you," he added before Anna or Carl could get in some begging time. "If Zack gets back before I do, you three sit on him, okay?"

He didn't wait for an answer. He climbed back in the car and slammed the door. Rae scrambled in the passenger side, shut the door, and fastened her seat belt.

"He really did run away," she told him. "He's all right." She watched as Anthony's whole face relaxed, the terror easing out of his expression.

"So where is he?" he asked.

"You know a friend of his named Todd?" she replied.

Anthony nodded, already pulling back onto the street.

"Did you get any idea why?" Anthony asked Rae after they'd gotten some distance from his house. He hadn't trusted himself to speak for a little while there, afraid he'd go all mushy on her for letting him know his brother wasn't in danger.

"Not much," she answered. "A little burst of anger at Tom."

Anthony snorted. "Big freakin' surprise."

"Did they have a fight recently?" Out of the corner of his eye Anthony saw Rae adjusting her glittery dragonfly hair clip. He didn't know why she bothered to wear those things. They pretty much got lost in all that curly red-brown hair of hers.

"Recently?" Anthony repeated. "Would you call breakfast recently? Or last night? Or last weekend?"

"That bad, huh?" Rae let out a long sigh.

"Tom's a jerk. End of story," Anthony said. At least it was the end of the story he was telling Rae. He cut a glance over at her. How much had she noticed about his house? Had she been too caught up in the minidrama to take in much? He hoped so, because compared to where he lived, she and her dad had a friggin' mansion.

"This is Todd's," he told her, pulling into the driveway of a house that didn't look too much different from his own. "Wait here, okay? I need to talk to Zack alone."

Rae nodded. He hoped she wouldn't touch anything in the car since she wasn't wearing the waxy stuff she sometimes used to block out her fingerprint thoughts. He knew she wouldn't go rooting through his head on purpose. But it was easy to touch something -- the radio, the dashboard -- without actually deciding to. As if she'd find out something that she doesn't already know, Anthony thought as he headed up the front walk. He punched the doorbell. After almost a full minute's wait Todd answered. One look and Anthony knew Todd was going to give him some line of crap.

"I know he's here," Anthony said before Todd could get a word out. "I want to talk to him. Now."

Todd was almost as tall as Anthony, but he was a featherweight, pretty much no muscle of any kind. It had to be clear to him that Anthony could pulp him in a second. Todd backed away from the door and pointed to the living room. Then he disappeared into the kitchen.

Anthony moved quickly to the living room, releasing a short breath when he spotted Zack in front of the television.

"What do you want?" Zack muttered, not taking his eyes off the tube as Anthony plopped down on the couch next to him.

Anthony didn't answer. He pretended he was just as interested in watching Comedy Central as Zack was. Even though they'd both seen this Chris Rock wanna-be's act at least five times.

"So are you supposed to drag me home?" Zack finally asked, eyes still glued to the TV even though a commercial had come on.

Anthony stretched out his legs. "Nah. I was thinking of moving in here myself," he answered. There were only two ways to get Zack out of this house -- an explosion or making him think it was what he wanted to do.

They watched the TV in silence. Todd poked his head into the living room for a second, then scurried away.

The Chris Rock wanna-be's act ended, and a half-hour Richard Lewis deal came on. About ten minutes into it Zack actually looked at Anthony. "Tom is such a freakin' idiot."

"You're not gonna get any argument from me," Anthony answered. "Maybe Mom will finally realize that herself and trade up. She's got to be getting itchy by now." His mother and Tom had been together for about four years, living together for over eight months -- almost a record for her. She usually treated guys like Kleenex. Or maybe it was more like they treated her that way. It was hard to tell.

"So, what, I'm just supposed to be a good little boy? Be respectful until he gets the boot -- if he ever does?" Zack demanded.

"I do it," Anthony answered. "I keep my head down so I can live there until I finish high school 'cause there's no way I could do that if I was working enough hours to pay rent and buy groceries. Next year I graduate. Then I'm out of there. And you're right behind me."

Anthony couldn't believe he was sitting here, giving the rah-rah speech. But he was telling Zack the truth. He didn't like it much more than Zack did, but it was the truth.

Todd stepped back into the living room. "My mom's gonna be back soon. You should head out to the shed. And make sure she doesn't know you're out there."

"Screw it." Zack stood up. "See you later," he told Todd. Then he headed for the door. Anthony followed him. That hadn't been nearly as hard as he thought it would. Although Zack liked his electronics. It was hard to picture him as shed boy.

"This is Rae," Anthony told his brother when they got in the car. He turned to her. "I've just got to drop him off, then I can take you home." He didn't really want to give Rae another look at his house, but there wasn't a way out of it.

"No prob," Rae answered. She twisted her fingers together in her lap.

Anthony flipped on the radio. It seemed like the best way to fill the silence. Almost too quickly, he was turning back onto his street.

"Crap," Zack burst out. "Mom and Tom are home."

Not just home, but standing in the driveway.

"Anna must have called them when she called me," Anthony said.

"Little snitch," Zack muttered.

Anthony reached back with one hand and flicked Zack on the forehead. "She was worried about you, moron." He parked along the curb. Rae climbed out before he could say anything to her. As if there was anything he could say to prepare her for his mom and Tom. They were nothing like her college professor dad. Probably nothing like any adult in her little prep school life.

"No point in sitting here," he told Zack. Then he climbed out of the car and slammed the door. Zack got out a second later. And their mom was all over him. "Honey, what were you thinking?" she cried, her voice way too loud as usual. None of the neighbors would have to be straining their ears to hear what was going on.

"He wasn't thinking, period," Tom cut in, hitching up his pants before they could fall off his bony hips. "He's just like his father. If things get a little tough, just bolt."

Oh, crap. Tom would have to play the father card two seconds after Anthony managed to get Zack home. He shot a glance at Zack. A dark red flush was creeping up his neck. Anthony knew exactly how he was feeling. Whenever Tom started going off about Anthony's father, Anthony felt like any second he'd go volcanic.

"Although I don't know what's so tough about your life," Tom continued. "Free food. No rent. All those video games your mother keeps buying you. What's your complaint, Zack? That you have to take out the trash once in a while?"

"Zack does a lot around here. How many times do you two leave him to watch the kids while you're out partying?" Anthony demanded. If Tom wanted a fight, Anthony would be the one to give it to him.

"Yeah, watching a couple of kids once in a while is way too much work for Sam Plett boy to take on," Tom shot back.

"My dad--" Zack cried.

"What do you do that's so hard?" Anthony asked Tom, interrupting Zack. He squared off with Tom, keeping Tom and Zack apart. "You paint some houses if anyone is dumb enough to hire you and your buddies. You fill in at the hardware store if good old Bob is feeling sorry for you. And what else? Oh, yeah. You spend a lot of time picking your butt."

"Anthony! You apologize!" his mother exclaimed. She tried to squeeze between him and Tom, half falling out of her low-cut top in the process. Her nauseatingly sweet floral perfume filled his nose, then went down his throat until he could feel it burning in his lungs.

Anthony caught Zack's eye and jerked his chin toward the house. Zack disappeared inside, then joined Danny, Anna, and Carl at the living-room window.

"I'll apologize. I'll be happy to apologize. If he apologizes to Zack," Anthony shot back.

"The last thing that little punk needs is an apology. Do you know how worried your mother was--" Tom began.

"And Anthony got Zack back," Anthony's mother cut in. "Happy ending. Let's just say that everyone has apologized to everyone." She gave Tom a little push with one hand, Anthony a harder push with the other. Reluctantly they both backed a step away from each other.

"Good boys. Now, Anthony, I see you brought a friend home. That's wonderful. I'm always telling you to bring friends home," his mother said as she headed over to Rae. Anthony's mother adjusted her breasts so her shirt better covered them. Anthony couldn't decide if that was classier than just leaving them alone.

Rae stepped forward awkwardly. "Hi, I'm Rae," she introduced herself.

"Well, Rae, you come on in. We can't stand out in the front yard all day." Anthony's mother led the way inside.

"Welcome to Springerville," he muttered to Rae as he fell in step beside her.

"You guys would never make it onto Springer," Rae whispered back. "You wouldn't even make it onto Maury."

The girl was cool. He had to give her that. If anybody had to see his family, it might as well be Rae.

"Everybody sit down," Anthony's mother said as she threw a stuffed bear off the sofa and picked a bowl of crusty cereal off the coffee table.

"Rae can't really stay that long--" Anthony began.

"She has to stay a little while," his mother protested. "I don't know any of your friends anymore." She winked at Rae. "Anthony hasn't brought a girl home since the second grade."

"Rae goes to Sanderson Prep," Anthony volunteered, just to shut his mother up. If he let her go on another minute, she might start hauling out a photo album.

"Great football team," Tom said as he sank down on the couch. "A lot of those kids go on to play college ball."

"Yeah, that's true. Football is a huge deal at Sanderson," Rae answered. She touched Anthony's arm. "Anthony plays, right?"

"He messes around sometimes, yeah," Tom answered. "He's actually not bad. Maybe even good enough to play for your school."

Okay, where's the punch line? Anthony wondered.

"Except that you have to be smart to go to one of those prep schools. And Anthony inherited his brains from his old man," Tom added.

Slough it off. Slough it off, Anthony ordered himself. He didn't need to get into round two with Tom. Not with Rae watching.

"You never even met my dad," Anthony said quietly.

"Yeah, well, I've heard plenty from your mom," Tom answered. "She never runs out of stories about what a loser Tony Fascinelli is."

Even though Rae wasn't touching one of Anthony's fingerprints, it was like his feelings were her own. Anger, shame, hatred, and the desire to slam a fist into the closest wall jangled through her body.

"You ever hear the Fascinelli story about the--" Tom began.

"Rae, come help me get some sodas for everyone," Anthony's mom interrupted.

Rae didn't want to go. She wanted to stay and... and protect Anthony. But he'd hate that. He wanted her to go. She could see it in the quick glance he threw her way.

"Sure," Rae said. She obediently followed Anthony's mother into the kitchen, where Zack was doling out peanut butter sandwiches to the other kids.

"Thanks, baby," Anthony's mom said. She reached out -- maybe to kiss him on the forehead -- but Zack reared away. Anthony's mother pretended not to notice. She pulled a can of powdered iced tea mix from the cupboard. "I think I'll mix us up a pitcher," she told Rae. "You want to get some glasses?" She nodded at the dish drainer.

Rae grabbed four of the clean glasses and set them on the table while Anthony's mom dumped a scoopful of the tea powder into a plastic pitcher and added water. "Don't take Anthony and Tom too seriously," she said as she stirred the mix. "They're like bulls, you know? Fighting for dominance. Snorting and charging at each other."

"Uh-huh," Rae murmured. But she knew it was much more than that. At least to Anthony. The one time they'd made fingertip-to-fingertip contact, she'd been almost overcome with his longing to know his father, to find out if he was anything like his dad.

He should know the truth, Rae thought. Not the garbage Tom kept spewing at him. But how was that supposed to happen? Only a mind reader could figure out where Tony Fascinelli was....

Um, earth to Rae, she realized with a jolt. She was a mind reader. Well, a fingerprint reader, at least. So maybe there was a way she could help Anthony find his dad.

"Um, do Anthony and his father ever see each other?" Rae asked, even though she knew the answer.

"Not since Anthony was a baby," Anthony's mom answered. She plunked the long spoon into the sink. Rae wandered over, trying to look casual, and picked it up--

/Tony/Tom shouldn't/Why won't Anthony/

"Oh, you don't have to bother washing that," Anthony's mother said. She plucked the spoon out of Rae's hand and dropped it back into the sink.

Well, that didn't get me anything useful, Rae thought. Nothing that would help her track down Anthony's father, if she was actually serious about this.

She tried to shake off the mix of fear and annoyance and lust and protectiveness that the thoughts had brought up inside her. Anthony's mother was filling the glasses with the tea. Rae didn't have much time. She was going to have to go fingertip to fingertip.

Rae reached out and grabbed Anthony's mother's free hand. "I want to thank you for making me feel so at home," she said. It was corny, but it worked okay. Anthony's mom gave Rae's hand a little squeeze, and Rae positioned her fingertips over Anthony's mom's.

Immediately a hard knot formed deep in her stomach -- the fear of getting older, of ending up alone. A craving for the burn of alcohol streaked down her throat. And the powerful, primal love for her children overwhelmed everything else.

Tony, Rae thought. What about Tony? She tried to allow herself to go deeper into Anthony's mother's thoughts, even the thoughts she didn't know she had. Slimy guilt for words said that couldn't be taken back. Weariness. An iron spike of anger. And the sweetness of a first kiss. Back in Fillmore High -- Anthony's school. At a dance with crepe paper streamers. With one of Tony Fascinelli's hands inching toward her butt.

Anthony's mother pulled away, giving Rae a forced smile. "Let's get these drinks in to the bulls," she said. Rae grabbed two of the glasses, getting nothing off the clean surfaces. At least I found out that Tony and Anthony's mom went to high school, she thought. It was a place to start.

She followed Anthony's mother back into the living room. As Rae handed one of the glasses to Anthony, she realized there was a streak of numbness running up her right arm, from her wrist almost to her shoulder. She rubbed it, but it didn't go away.

"Are you cold, honey?" Anthony's mother asked.

"No, I'm fine," Rae answered. She pressed one of her fingernails deep into her skin along the numb streak. And felt nothing. Maybe it's just some holdover from going so deep with Anthony's mom, she thought. But Rae'd never felt anything like it before.

She took a sip of tea. She was probably just stressed or something.

"We've got to go," Anthony said abruptly. He put his untouched glass on the coffee table.

"Aren't you even going to let Rae finish her--" Anthony's mother began.

"We should see if we can still catch the last part of group," he interrupted. Then he took Rae by the wrist and hurried her out of the house.

"Group will definitely be over by the time we get there," Rae told him after they got in the car.

Anthony raised an eyebrow. "You're telling me you wanted to stay?"

"Well, you know, Tom was kind of turning me on," Rae answered, going for a cheap laugh. He didn't get it. "You know what he was saying about you and the Sanderson football team?" she plunged on. "I bet he was right. I bet you are good enough to be a Sabertooth. And that's what you said you wanted during that what-are-your-hopes-and-dreams exercise we had to do in group."

"Did you forget what else he said?" Anthony shot back. "About how I'm too friggin' stupid?"

"But he doesn't know how much you've been working," Rae protested. "God, Anthony, do you have any clue how much better your reading is? You told me your teacher even mentioned it."

"Yeah -- I'm really smart. For a moron," Anthony answered. "And anyway, why are we talking about me? You're the one who never coughed up a real answer during that hopes-and-dreams crap."

Rae felt like asking him why he was bringing it up if it was such crap. But it was obvious why. He was looking for a subject change, and any subject would do.

"Okay, a dream." Rae thought for a moment. "Since the fingerprint thing started up, I really like taking baths. It's one place where I don't pick up anything. Every thought is mine. So, a dream would be that I could swim. I bet that would feel amazing."

"You can't swim? I thought all girls like you took swimming and ballet and all that," Anthony answered.

"I had a bad experience with a defective water wing, okay?" Rae responded. "The idea of being in water where my feet can't touch the ground freaks me out. Which makes the whole swimming dream kind of difficult."

"You're meeting me at the Y tomorrow," Anthony said. "I'll teach you how to swim. I owe you, anyway." He paused. "You know, for the reading thing."

I say I want something, and just like that, he tries to get it for me, Rae thought. He'd put himself on the line for her in so many ways, big and small.

I'm definitely finding his dad for him, she promised herself. And maybe, just maybe, there's something else I can do for him, too.