Revealed (19 page)

“Yeah, and maybe they're looking for her, too,” Callie said, adding, “Looking in a bad way.”

“Yeah, a Bragg way,” said Nia with a shudder.

“We'll figure out what we can post. We can do that.” I hoped I sounded more confident than I felt. How could we find Amanda before the other people who were looking for her? They had the chief of police on their side. Doctors. Hospital guards. All the adults I'd been taught to think I could rely on and trust—they were all working for whatever dark, evil people were hunting Amanda.

This was impossible.

No sooner had the horror of what we were up against hit me than I felt Callie's fingers slip into mine. “We have Amanda,” she said quietly. “They may have a lot on their side, but we have her. We have her, and we have each other.”

Into the silence of Callie's words, a car horn beeped twice.

Cisco.

Callie squeezed my hand and I squeezed hers. A second later, I felt Nia press her shoulder into mine.

“Come together,” she said.

“Right now,” added Callie.

“Over me,” I finished.

And even though we knew Cisco was waiting for us outside, for a long moment we just sat there in the silence, leaning on one another.

You guys should have seen the fireworks when Nia saw my first version of the story. “Finished?! What do you mean, you're finished? Where's your list of references?” I looked at her like she was crazy—it's not like I had written a research paper. Still, as she none-too-gently reminded me, I have to give credit where credit is due. Especially since we couldn't have gotten this far without everybody at The Amanda Project posting leads, discussing clues, and making sure we never, ever give up. It's you guys we have to thank for helping us solve the mystery of the secret room at Endeavor (http://www.theamandaproject.com/clues/the-key-to-the-secret-room), which clued us in to the possibility of a secret room at the Braggs' house, which was where we found Amanda's box, which had all that stuff about her family, which . . . you get the picture.

Bottom line is, even though we could only do a tiny number of individual shout-outs, we want all of you to know how impressed we are with the community you've helped us build on TheAmandaProject.com.

Dem_94

Cecile Reeve

Gracie Hayes

urban_hippie

Rachiebaby

AwesomeAnna93

ChelleAtwood

Emily.K

PoppyGloom

Mrs. Hayworth

Wispofacloud

Samthy

Soccerfanatic

The Midnighter

NightmareGirl

Sol Rosa

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Luvlcx3

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Gemma Stone

Amanda Poem

Once upon a time, there was a girl named Amanda, the physical and emotional equivalent of a glass of sparkling champagne. And one day, Amanda dropped into Nia's life, jumbled it around, shimmered it up, and forced her to look at life from a totally new perspective. Then Amanda disappeared without a word.

And Nia's fairy tale turned into a nightmare.

Hello, faithful readers, Nia here. It's finally my turn to take over. Not that I don't trust Hal and Callie's accounts, but we all know who's the most on top of things around here. I thought I would start off with the above. Because it explains exactly what Amanda did. She took my life, upended it, and vanished. To be fair, she did leave me with friends I never expected to have and, well, a ME I never expected to be, but that is all in the story. Shattered. Look for it.

What happens next? I can't tell you too much more, but the contents of Amanda's box definitely hold the key to her past. And after our most recent encounters with the menacing, shadowy people chasing her, I can see why she's gone underground. But fear not. There is no lead we won't run down. And that, my friends, gets us closer to Amanda every day.

Until then, keep sleuthing, and see you on the site.

     —Nia

Peter Silsbee has published five young adult novels, including The Big Way Out and Love Among the Hiccups. Peter also has a band, The Haywood Brothers. He lives with his wife and family in Brooklyn.

This is the story of Amanda Valentino. She makes things happen for her own reasons.

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Revealed

Text copyright © 2011 by Fourth Story Media

Illustrations copyright © 2011 by Fourth Story Media

All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the nonexclusive, nontransferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, decompiled, reverse-engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins e-books.

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