Chapter 2 You are Ava Rhodes

Ava stared at the second notification without touching her phone. The arena seemed to disappear around her, the cheering crowd, the shouting coaches, and the players racing across the ice becoming distant sounds that barely reached her, her attention remaining fixed on the screen. Another message had arrived, and she swallowed hard before finally opening it.

You should have stayed away from Northwood.

Her fingers went cold. Jace watched her face carefully. "What does it say?"

Ava hesitated, since she did not know this boy and did not trust him, yet something about the concern in his eyes told her that whatever was happening was not a coincidence, and she turned the phone toward him.

Jace read the message, and his expression changed instantly. "You need to leave."

Ava frowned. "Excuse me?"

"Leave Northwood tonight."

She almost laughed from disbelief. "You do not even know me."

"I know enough."

"No, you do not," Ava said, pulling her phone back. "You saw me for the first time tonight, accused me of being dead, and then told me you knew my brother. Now you are telling me to leave. You need to explain yourself before you tell me what I should do."

Jace's jaw tightened. "I cannot explain everything here."

"Then explain something."

Before he could answer, a loud voice cut through the arena. "Jace!" Their coach stood beside the rink, his face furious, and the game had resumed while Northwood was losing its advantage. Jace glanced toward the scoreboard before looking back at Ava. "I have to go."

Ava folded her arms. "Running away?"

His eyes returned to hers. "You have no idea what you have walked into." Then he turned and hurried back toward the rink.

Ava watched him disappear among his teammates, and though she should have left, she remained where she was, staring at the message on her phone. Someone knew her name, and someone knew she had come to Northwood, and somehow that person knew enough about her intentions to warn her.

Ava slipped her phone into her pocket and looked toward the ice, where Jace had returned to the game, though his concentration was gone, and he kept glancing toward her between plays, as though he expected her to disappear. She wondered why. Then the crowd suddenly erupted, because Jace had scored, and his teammates surrounded him, though he barely celebrated, his eyes immediately searching for Ava. She was still standing there, and for a moment, their eyes met across the rink, neither one looking away.

Ava did not understand why the captain of Northwood's hockey team looked at her as though she were a ghost, and she did not understand why her brother's name had changed his entire expression. Most importantly, she did not understand why someone had warned her to stay away. She had come to Northwood because Caleb had disappeared, and she had promised herself that she would uncover the truth. Then her phone vibrated again.

Ava froze, and this time the sound seemed louder than the entire arena. She slowly reached into her pocket, her fingers closing around the phone, and she pulled it out and stared at the screen. Another message. For several seconds, she could not bring herself to open it, and then Jace looked across the rink and saw the expression on her face. His smile disappeared. Ava looked at him, and Jace stopped moving, because whatever was waiting on her screen had changed everything.

Ava looked down at her phone, her thumb hovering over the notification for several seconds before she finally tapped it open.

Do not trust the boy wearing number seven.

Ava's eyes widened, and she slowly looked across the rink, where Jace was still watching her, his jersey carrying the number seven across his back. A chill moved through her as she looked down at the message again, wondering whether someone was playing a cruel joke on her, since there was no name attached to the number, only the warning. Do not trust Jace. She had barely met him, yet somehow whoever was sending these messages already knew exactly who had approached her.

Ava locked her phone and slipped it into her pocket. Jace remained where he was, his eyes fixed on her, until the referee blew the whistle, pulling everyone's attention back to the game, and he turned toward the ice, though before joining his teammates he looked at Ava one more time. She could not shake the warning from her mind. She had come to Northwood because of Caleb, expecting questions, rumors, and perhaps a few uncomfortable conversations about her brother, but she had not expected someone to know she was coming, and she had certainly not expected someone to warn her about Jace.

Ava moved away from the entrance and found an empty seat near the back of the arena, hoping she could watch the game from there without being noticed. Jace returned to the ice, and his teammates shouted instructions as the puck moved rapidly across the rink, though he seemed distracted, glancing toward Ava twice before she quickly looked away.

The final minutes passed with Northwood maintaining its lead, and when the referee finally blew the final whistle, the arena exploded into celebration as students rushed toward the rink. Ava remained seated, wanting to leave before anyone could approach her, but something stopped her when a shadow appeared beside her. She looked up to find a girl about her age standing there, holding a Northwood scarf.

"You are Ava Rhodes, right?"

Ava nodded cautiously.

The girl smiled. "I am Mia." Ava returned the smile politely. "I have heard about you."

"Already?"

Mia laughed. "Everyone has. You are the girl Jace walked away from the championship game for."

Ava felt uncomfortable. "I did not ask him to do that."

"I know," Mia said, lowering her voice, "but people are already talking."

Ava glanced toward the rink. "What are they saying?"

Mia's smile faded. "They are wondering why Jace looked at you like that."

Ava's stomach tightened. "Like what?"

"Like he had seen a ghost."

Before Ava could respond, Mia suddenly looked past her, her expression changing. "What?"

Mia did not answer, simply staring toward the arena entrance, and Ava followed her gaze to find a man in a dark jacket standing near the doors, watching her. The moment their eyes met, something inside Ava shifted. She did not know him, or at least she was certain she did not, yet the sight of his face sent a strange pain through her head. Rain. Headlights. Someone shouting her name. Then darkness.

Ava blinked, and the memory vanished, the man already gone.

"Ava?" Mia asked.

Ava touched her temple. "I do not know who that was."

But somewhere deep inside her, a terrifying thought had already taken root. Maybe she had seen him before.