Chapter 1

Finals were over, my class started planning a graduation trip, and I offered to have my family's travel agency put the itinerary together.

Ten days and nine nights across five countries in Aurelia, for $999.

Everyone was scrambling to sign up until the prettiest girl in class spoke up.

"We're all classmates here. Isn't it a little gross to gouge us like this?

"I found an agency online. All of Aurelia for five sixty-nine. There are forty of us. How big a kickback are you taking off that?"

Forty hands stopped halfway through sending their deposits.

"Four hundred bucks buys a lot."

"Yeah, let's not."

The whole class turned around and booked with her agency instead. I shrugged and let them go.

At $999 all-inclusive, with airfare alone running over seven hundred, my family was already eating the difference.

I knew the company behind that $569 offer. All I could do was wish them a safe trip.

Chapter 1

"Nine hundred ninety-nine? That's way too expensive."

Bianca Lowell was the prettiest girl in our class, and her words landed on everyone like a bucket of ice water.

Every head turned toward her, confused and a little stunned.

"Agencies are all undercutting each other right now. I found a livestream selling twelve days across seven countries for five sixty-nine."

She pulled out her phone to prove it.

A promo poster filled the screen, ONLY $569 splashed across the corner in thick red type.

I didn't say anything. I just watched them.

I'd been running errands around my parents' agency since I was a kid, and I knew exactly how much of that business happens where the customer never sees it.

And nobody hands out something for nothing. When a deal looks too good to be true, that's usually because it is.

A classmate I got along with spoke up from the crowd. "Isn't five sixty-nine a little too cheap? I looked it up. The cheapest round-trip airfare alone runs over seven hundred."

Bianca lowered her phone, smiling like she'd already won.

"I asked the host about that. Their agency gets a tourism subsidy, which is why it's so low. And there's no mandatory shopping either."

That did it. People started believing her.

We were talking about a four-hundred-dollar gap. Anybody would stop and think about that.

"Riley, I'm only looking out for everyone. You're not mad at me, are you?

"Take Lily Barrett, or Marcus Dale. Their families don't have that kind of money. Nine ninety-nine is a lot to ask, and I want all of us to see Aurelia."

The kids she named really were the ones scraping by, farm families out past the county line.

I nodded. "Sure. I offered an option. Nobody's obligated to take it."

Then I added, "But five sixty-nine is impossibly cheap. You should look into it a lot harder before you hand over any money."

Bianca's smile went stiff. I'd embarrassed her in front of the whole class, and it showed.

"Give it a rest, Riley. You can fool the others, but don't try it on me.

"Everybody knows your family's agency drags people into shops and makes them buy things. It was on the news."

I turned to Mason Wexler. Our families went back years. His parents worked at Northcrest Air, and the two companies did business together.

Everyone at school knew how close we were.

Coming out of his mouth, the accusation carried weight it didn't deserve.

I watched my classmates' faces close up.

"Riley, honestly, your trip's too expensive. I'll go with Bianca."

"Just refund me. My mom told me to take the cheaper one."

The same people who'd been laughing and signing up two minutes earlier all wanted their money back.

I pulled out my phone and refunded them one by one.

The $999 package was already costing my family money. Them walking away just saved us the loss.

Chapter 2

Once they had their refunds, every last one of them handed the money straight to Bianca.

I went back to the agency.

Summer had started and business was good. We were closing big bookings every day.

"That Aurelia trip for my class is off. They think it's too expensive."

My parents stared at me. "Nine ninety-nine is too expensive? We only gave them that price because they're your classmates."

I made a noncommittal noise and told them what had happened.

"Mason pulled the rug out from under you? That little punk. Our contract with Northcrest Air is almost up, and his parents have called me three times about renewing. Maybe we just let it lapse."

My mother snorted. "That shopping mess had nothing to do with us. I can't stand people who hear a rumor and treat it like gospel."

The mess she meant started with a man who bought a designer bag overseas for the woman he was cheating with, then picked up an identical knockoff on the way home and gave it to his wife. She spotted the fake immediately.

To save himself, he swore up and down that our guide had walked him into a counterfeit shop, and the two of them came storming into our office demanding compensation.

Mason knew the whole story. I'd been miserable for days over it, and I'd sat him down and told him every detail.

And now he'd flipped it inside out on purpose and used it to smear us.

"Let them go. At least we're not eating the cost anymore. You've been asking about the Coralwind Islands for years, so let's take the three of us next month."

They could see I was down, and they were trying to cheer me up.

I gave them a vague answer. Right then a big client walked in, and they hurried off to handle it.

I checked my phone. Someone had messaged me.

It was Hannah Pierce, class president of the senior class next door. We knew each other from the school broadcast club, and she remembered my family owned an agency, so she was asking about a summer trip.

I sent her the itinerary I'd built for my own class, except I put the price back to the standard $1,299 instead of the subsidized $999.

I wasn't obligated to lose money for anybody.

She called almost immediately. I braced for her to say it was too expensive.

"Twelve ninety-nine? That's insanely cheap. Did you drop a zero?"

It took me two seconds to recover. "No, it's twelve ninety-nine. There's no mandatory shopping anywhere on the trip, and every cost is on the contract."

"I believe you. My grandma took one of your senior tours and she raved about you guys."

Hannah and I agreed she'd come by the next day to put down a deposit for her class.

My parents had already locked in the flights and the hotel rooms for the graduation trip.

If nobody used them, we'd eat the whole loss ourselves.

And now, out of nowhere, the whole thing had turned around.

I'd barely hung up when Bianca tagged everyone in the class group chat.

The entire class had signed up for her $569 tour, the money was collected, and now she needed everybody's ID information.

I was about to close the app when she tagged me directly.

"@Riley Fairmont you still haven't paid. This is our class graduation trip. Refusing to come means you're tearing this class apart."

Chapter 3

Reading that on my screen, I almost laughed out loud.

I'd never once said I was going. They'd decided for me, and now they were pinning that on me too.

"You said it was voluntary when you organized this. So I'm voluntarily opting out. Drop it."

I sent that and left the group.

We'd already graduated. There was no reason for the chat to exist anymore.

The next day Hannah showed up right on time, and my mother and I sat down with her ourselves.

"The twelve ninety-nine covers round-trip airfare, visa processing, a guide with you the whole way, lodging, meals, and admission to most of the major sites. Your class doesn't have to think about a thing. Just follow the guide."

Her eyes got brighter with every page.

The last page was a stack of reviews from past clients, all of them real, most of them good.

The handful of complaints weren't about anything we'd done. They were the usual gripes anyone has about traveling in a group of forty.

I emailed her the file, she forwarded it to her class, and her phone started chiming and didn't stop.

"This is great. Everybody wants in. We can pay right now."

My mother and I exchanged a look, and she pulled out the parental consent forms.

Most of the class had turned eighteen after finals, but their parents were the ones paying, so looping the parents in was non-negotiable.

Hannah took the forms with her and came back three days later with the full payment and every signature.

I was walking her out when I spotted a familiar figure down the block.

Mason came straight at me, practically vibrating.

"Bianca just told me the agency's giving our class a free spot because we booked so many. Everybody voted to give it to you. You can come and it won't cost you a dime."

I could not work out what I'd ever done to these people that they needed me on that plane so badly.

It made me start wondering what else was going on that I didn't know about.

My voice went flat and cold. "I don't want it. I'm not going on that tour. Let it go."

Mason lost his temper. "How ungrateful can you get? Bianca saved everyone money. Not like you, ready to sell out your own classmates for a profit. You're getting Aurelia for free and you're still complaining."

It was never about the five sixty-nine. My reason was a lot simpler.

I didn't want to die.

Once you're on the other side of the world, who exactly is going to keep you safe?

"Your parents don't know you're going, do they? Come near me again and I'll tell them you booked a bargain-bin tour."

Mason's family had money, and he was their only child. They'd never sign off on it.

Sure enough, he went quiet.

After a long pause he said, "Fine, Riley. You'll regret this."

Hannah had watched the whole thing. "Why don't you want to go with them?"

"They found that tour online themselves. Five sixty-nine. I'd like to stay alive, thanks."

She laughed. "Five sixty-nine? They'll take everyone's passports and lock them in a shopping mall until they buy their way out. That's some nerve."

I didn't answer. Forced shopping was the least of it. The worse setups don't want your money at all.

Chapter 4

For the next several days my mother and I practically lived at the agency, handling the airline, the hotels, and every ticket across Aurelia ourselves.

Booking admissions for forty-odd people ate two full days on its own.

On the third day Hannah came in with the signed forms and the money.

The full $1,299 a head, paid up front. My mother and I couldn't stop grinning.

Departure was set for the following month, which happened to be the same day Bianca's group was leaving.

Once the contracts were signed I went home and slept like the dead.

Departure day came fast. I had nothing else going on, so I decided to head to the airport and see Hannah's class off.

I opened my front door and found several people I hadn't invited standing on my porch.

"What are you doing at my house?"

I looked past Mason at Bianca, my guard all the way up.

They were supposed to be flying out that morning. Why were the two of them on my doorstep with half a dozen classmates?

Bianca stepped up and took my hand like we were close.

"Riley, we came to invite you to Aurelia with us. You're part of this class. It isn't the same without you."

I pulled my hand back. I didn't bother hiding my disgust.

"Do none of you understand the word no? I told you, I'm not going."

She backed off a step, wounded. "I know you're holding a grudge because the class went with another agency, but I was thinking of everyone else.

"So to make it up to you, we went ahead and registered you without telling you."

I stood there while cold sweat crawled down my back. It took me several seconds to understand what she'd said.

"That's not possible. You need a passport and travel authorization to leave the country. How could you register me?"

Mason answered, pleased with himself. "You handed me your passport on that trip our families took. I took a picture of the ID page.

"Don't thank me, thank Bianca. The surprise was her idea."

I gripped the door handle so hard my knuckles ached, rage climbing up my throat.

"Come on, Riley, quit being ungrateful. It's a free trip to Aurelia."

"Bianca handed you something people would kill for. Stop making a scene."

The rest of them started talking over each other.

Bianca's gift looked generous from the outside. That didn't mean I had to take it.

"I said no. Get off my porch before you miss your flight."

Every face in front of me darkened at once.

Mason came toward me one step at a time. "We drove all the way out here to pick you up, and you're still acting like we owe you something.

"Whether you're coming isn't up to you."

He flicked a hand and several of them grabbed me and started dragging me toward the street.

My parents had left for the agency at dawn. There was nobody in the house.

I fought them while my mind raced.

"Let go of me. Fine, I'll go. Just let go."

The hands on me loosened. Mason narrowed his eyes. "What are you trying to pull?"

"With all of you standing right here? I need my passport."

He followed me inside and didn't take his eyes off me for a second, so I couldn't try anything.

I picked up the passport and left with them.

In the car I quietly slid a hand into the pocket I'd put it in.

The airport was packed with summer travelers and freshly graduated seniors.

"There she is. Riley, the whole class has been waiting on you."

Our classmates spotted us from across the terminal and swarmed over.

I made myself smile while my eyes swept the terminal for a way out.

"Save it. Get to the counter and check in, we're running out of time."

The whole crowd swept toward the airline desks. When my turn came, the agent handed my passport back.

"I'm sorry, but this document isn't valid. I can't check you in."