He looked at Daniel the way a person looks at a stranger asking for directions on a busy interstate.

He didn’t look at the expensive suit or the silver watch.

There was no protective anger in the boy’s face anymore.

There was no sadness.

There was simply a void, a complete absence of recognition.

Daniel tried a different approach.

“It takes a lot of focus to beat an elite private academy,” Daniel said.

Owen looked past Daniel’s shoulder, watching a maintenance worker push a large yellow cart down the distant hall.