She'd noticed it was Alec who dropped me off rather than Rachel or Jasmin. I could tell she wasn't entirely buying my story about him having met us at the hospital, but she let me break past and go to my room. Just before I went to bed I got a single text from Jasmin. Ben? ** I woke up about noon. Mom was already gone. I threw some clothes on and stumbled downstairs. The note on the fridge was like she was reading my mind. I'll be out until later today. Stay home and get your homework done. I didn't call in to excuse you so you could play all day. I called the hospital and convinced them to put me through to Ben. "This is Ben." His voice sounded different, high maybe? "Ben, it's Adriana. Jasmin asked me to call and find out how you were doing?" "Jasmin? Is she there with you?" "No, she sent me a text." "I don't understand. Why hasn't she been returning my calls?" His voice was changing. The dreamy edge was wearing off, there was a hunger growing in it. "I'm sure she'd like to, but some stuff came up that she has to deal with." "What aren't you telling me?" My mind went back to Rachel's words from earlier.