And Run

chapter two

When Zaf arrives, Trey's standing on her head in the living room with her textbook upside down. "Looks like she's really gone off her rocker," he comments, dropping his bag on the floor. Zaf walks over to Trey and pokes her gently in the side. She falls over, and Zaf continues, "So, what's going on? A prank or something?"

Trey rolls her eyes, recovering from being toppled over. "Orchestrated by...Devon? The boy's got no imagination. His pranks are, at best, a 'Who farted? You farted.'"

"I haven't played pranks since I was a kid," Devon says.

Zaf ignores the two bickering. "What's your plan, then?"

"Play video games," Trey says, yawning. "I'm tired of studying."

Zaf and Devon look at her incredulously, then share a look. This girl is getting death threats and all she cares about is video games? Sounds like Trey, alright.

Despite that, they don't take much convincing, and the three jump onto Trey's bed a few minutes later. They sit facing an empty wall, which they project the game onto - it doesn't take much effort because they've done this before. Seconds later, the game appears on the wall, thanks to Trey's imagination. (Trey considers her sad, empty walls as the only perk of dorm housing because they at least allow for projection. Better than her room at home, covered with the distractions of awards her so-called parents "won" for her.)

While Devon's bad at this game in particular, Zaf is the opposite. He brings out Trey's competitive spirit, even though she can never quite manage to beat him. And it seems like the only time Zaf smiles is when he's busy kicking Trey's ass in-game. She furrows her brow, about to pull ahead of Zaf when his phone rings, breaking Trey's concentration. Zaf wins. Trey demands a rematch, and Devon decides to go to sleep.

***

Devon sleeps in Trey's bathroom overnight. He's not sure which is less comfortable: this or seeing his parents. Surprisingly, Trey looks even worse; she has bags under her eyes, and Devon almost forgets he's the one that slept in the tub. There are candy wrappers scattered on the floor, where Zaf is passed out, drool all over his cheek. "Where are you going?" is the question Devon decides to ask. Then he nudges Zaf awake and points to the bathroom.

"Out." Trey's voice is low, the way it is when she hasn't gotten enough sleep.

"In pajamas?" Devon inquires, letting himself fall onto Trey's bed.

"What's so bad about that idea?"

"You did that once and got kicked out. After that, I don't think they'd let their fake daughter go out in public without changing into something more presentable."

"I'm a figurehead daughter, Dev. It doesn't matter."

Devon ignores her comment and steers Trey back into her room. "Change. Five minutes." He closes the door.

Five minutes later, Trey emerges looking...acceptable. Zaf's also out of the bathroom. Both of their stomachs growl, so the trio go to check out what's open.

***

They order from a different food truck with the same kind of food. There's two of them, but the guy accidentally gives them three fortune cookies. Trey cracks one open, half-expecting another threat-fortune, but the slip shows nothing out of the ordinary. She takes Devon's cookie and throws his fortune at him.

Devon stares at the fortune, blinks, then stares at Trey. This goes on for quite a while, but Devon doesn't say anything. Finally, Trey snatches the fortune back from him. It's another note, this time directed to Devon.

"What the hell?" Trey mutters. She reaches into her pocket - thankfully, it's there - and compares the two slips. Meanwhile, Devon opens the third fortune cookie. Instead of a fortune, there's a piece of paper folded over itself multiple times. Trey's surprised it even fit in the cookie.

Devon unwraps the paper to reveal the most detailed but tiny map they'd ever seen. "You sure this is normal?" he says, but the joking edge to his voice isn't there.

"So we keep collecting cookies," Trey says, turning gears in her head. "Better than ignoring it."

"That's not what you said yesterday."

Trey flicks his forehead, and Devon shuts up. He's about to reply when something plops on Trey's head. A weird-looking dove flies above them tauntingly.

"Did that bird just shit on me?" Trey narrows her eyes at the bird, and it makes its escape before she can do anything more. She pinches the bridge of her nose. "Let's go home and figure this out."