Chapter 2

Job Cobb, my childhood friend.

The night the SATs ended, he confessed to me, and I said yes.

But right now, I have no idea what we are to each other.

"It really is you?"

Job looked angry.

Before I could get a word out, he grabbed my hand and started dragging me toward the entrance of the complex.

"Why won't you just stay gone? Get lost, and fast. If you upset Roberta, you'll find out exactly what I'll do to you."

The way I remembered it, he never once had a kind look for Roberta.

Now, it seemed, he'd changed quite a bit.

"Let me ask you something. This is my home. Where exactly am I supposed to get lost to?"

Job's expression nearly cracked.

"I don't care where you go, as long as it isn't anywhere near Roberta."

"Besides, weren't you off living it up abroad with some man? That's your home now. What did you crawl back here for?"

So that was it.

I'd been wondering. A living, breathing person vanishes for three years, and no one on the outside notices? Impossible.

Turns out the story they'd fed everyone was that I'd run off with a man, all the way overseas.

But time was tight now, and there was no point tangling with him any longer.

"Listen to me. I'm not going to do anything to Roberta."

Job was thrown by how plainly I said it.

"But you have to agree to one condition. You don't tell a single person I'm back."

I meant to use these three days to give them a gift they'd never forget.

He agreed fast, and after that I went to the supermarket.

Stocking up with my mother before had taught me a few things. I grabbed only long-shelf-life instant food and, above all, water.

I bought a whole mountain of it in a frantic rush, red in the face. The clerk clearly took me for some fool who'd read one too many apocalypse novels, and at checkout even kindly asked if I wanted it delivered to my door.

I glanced at the time. It was still a while before they'd be home, so delivery couldn't have been better.

The new supplies, plus what was already left over, weren't just enough for three months. Three years, and I'd still have plenty to spare.

Beyond the supplies, I brought in a technician to check the insulation equipment in the room.

The materials we'd used back then were the best money could buy, but three years had passed, and I wasn't about to take any chances.

Once I'd seen the technician out, I didn't dare waste a single minute.

I dug out every document that could prove who I was and walked into the Department of Education, straight to the head of the department in charge.

"Hello. I'd like to report that someone stole my place at college by impersonating me."