anything three-headed or dead; I’m not really sure. But when I get to the library, she’s not there.
I figure she’s late, but five minutes later, she’s still not there. So I get out my FON and call her. Nobody answers the first time so I leave her a message, but then I dial again, and she finally picks up on the third ring.
“Piper?”
“Hey, Chloe. Where are you?”
“I’m at home.”
“It’s a school day. Are you still sick?”
Chloe seems to hesitate. “Maybe. I feel really lightheaded, Piper. My brain’s in this total funk.”
I think of Shayne’s comments on near-death experiences. About how they can change people. “I’m sure it’ll pass,” I say.
Chloe lets out a laugh that sounds like she’s about to cry. “I hope so. I keep doing really screwed up things.”
My breath catches, and I’m almost afraid to ask. “Screwed up like what?”
A pause. “Like I unplugged everything in the house yesterday.”
“That doesn’t seem so weird,” I say to minimize it, and I try to laugh.
But Chloe only sounds more frantic. “Every single thing. And then when my mom plugged everything back in, I broke the light bulbs.”
“All of them?”
“All of them,” Chloe says. “There were a hundred and thirty-four if you count the ones in the stove and refrigerator.”
“Why?” I ask.
There’s panic in Chloe’s voice. “I don’t know. It’s like I keep getting these weird urges, and I can’t control them.”
“Maybe you’re just in shock, Chloe,” I say. I’m trying to convince myself, too. “Is your mom there?”
“She just went out to fill a prescription for me,” Chloe says. “And all I want to do is get the hammer and drive nails into the mirrors.”
“Don’t, Chloe.” I glance at my watch. There’s no way I can get to her house and back before Study Hall is over, but I don’t care. “I’m coming over.”
I can almost see her shake her head. “No, Piper. I’m fine.”
I scowl even though she can’t see me. “You’re not fine. Just wait there for me.”
In the FON, I hear someone talking.
“It’s okay, Piper. My mom just got home.”
“Can I talk to her?” I ask.
Chloe actually laughs. “No. I’m fine. Really. I’ll take some medicine and take a nap, and I’m sure I’ll feel much better.”
Still, I don’t want to let it drop. “Can I come by later?”
“How about I call you, Piper?”
“I could just stop by after school,” I say.
Chloe blows out a breath. “I’ll be asleep. Seriously.”
“Are you sure?”
“Totally. Anyway, I gotta go.”
At least her mom is there which is some consolation. She should be able to keep Chloe from doing anything destructive. “I’ll see you tomorrow?” I say.
“Yeah,” Chloe says. “Tomorrow.” And she disconnects.
At least Chloe is alive.
My mom doesn’t come back that day. Nor does she call me or text me or anything. I must call her and text her twenty times, but I don’t get any response. And other than that I have no idea how to reach her. She didn’t even tell me where she was going. And I wonder if somehow, by wishing she’d go away forever, I’ve made her do just that. Though I know I should miss her, the emptiness of the Botanical Haven fills me with freedom. And if she never comes back, I know I’ll have this freedom forever. I’m a horrible daughter for feeling this way, but my feelings persist.
My heart sinks Tuesday when I walk into Social Sciences. Shayne’s still not there. I stare at his chair for probably the entire hour, wondering when he’ll decide to show up. But wondering doesn’t help. Mr. Kaiser spends the lecture talking about alternatives to the missiles and underground groups that are fighting against the city, but the class feels dead; I don’t even want to listen, but I force myself to.
He starts with a list like he always does. I manage to come up with the Japanese air diverter option, and someone else mentions the reverse tornadoes they’ve been dreaming up in South America. But I swear for each item listed, Mr. Kaiser has at least three reasons why it does more harm than good. Finally, I can’t take it anymore.
“So what’s your solution then?” I ask. All he does day after day is give us a million reasons why nothing will work.
Mr. Kaiser sets the orange dry erase marker down and leans back on his desk. “For starters, we stop everything we’re doing.”
“Everything?” someone says.
“Everything.” He points at the list. “Let’s imagine that none of these tactics had ever been tried. Where would Earth be then?”
“Dead?” someone suggests, and I have to admit it’s a valid point. One severe heat bubble and our entire city would have been wiped out.
“Not so.” Mr. Kaiser slams his fist down on the desk. “That’s exactly the kind of propaganda the city council has been feeding you. But who’s to say the heat bubbles would even still be a threat?”
“Councilman Rendon,” I say. He’d say the bubbles would still be around.
“Right,” Mr. Kaiser says. “Councilman Rendon and others like him will continue doing anything and everything they can without enough long-term experimentation. And when they keep it up, the only viable solution will be for everyone to move underground.”
Underground. I actually have to suppress a smile at this. We’ll be underground one way or the other. Either everyone will be dead and in the Underworld, or everyone will be alive and living in an underground city. Like somehow the worlds will be merged no matter what happens.
At least Chloe’s in Study Hall. She’s at our table when I get there, and I pull out my chair, dropping my backpack on the ground.
“How are you?”
She’s wearing a red bandana today, crisp and ironed, like she’s taken extra care in making sure it’s folded perfectly. She looks up, and I notice how pale her face still is. But worse, her skin seems to carry a thin layer of yellow mucus just like the pomegranate tree. It stays there even when I blink.
“My mom told me I was sick.”
I smile and try to get her to relax. “Yeah. It was the heat.”
Chloe shakes her head. “That’s what my mom told me. But I don’t remember it. It’s like the last three days have been a blur.”
I decide not to bring up our FON conversation from yesterday. Maybe if she doesn’t remember breaking light bulbs, it’s for the best. I take her hands, and the second we touch, the mucus disappears. But her hands feel like dead, clammy fish in mine. “But you’re better now. That’s what matters.”
But even as I say it, Tanni’s haunting words telling me
But Chloe didn’t die. She’s here in front of me. She’s cheated death, and Tanni’s horrible words will never come to pass.
I realize my face has frozen into a frown, and I’m sure Chloe’s going to call me out on it, but she doesn’t seem to notice.
“Is your mom back yet?” Chloe’s words snap me back to the present.
I shake my head. “It’s weird. She hasn’t called or anything.” And even though my mom and I have our