lucky. I assure her I got home safely and am with my mom.
I attempt to go about my normal routine until the news conference starts. Changing my clothes. Brushing my teeth. It’s only when I pick up a comb and begin to yank it through the blond snarls that my mom comes over. She takes the comb from me and sits me down, pulling each and every tangle out one by one until they’re all gone.
“Maybe I should get a tattoo, also.”
Her words catch me halfway into a trance state. I’m sure I’ve heard wrong. “What?”
“A tattoo.” She touches it. “We could both have one.”
I laugh at the absurdity of my mother getting a tattoo. I wonder how
“Maybe we could get matching ones. Mother and daughter. Together forever.”
All hopes of my mom relaxing disappear. “That sounds more like something saved for couples,” I say. “Not mother and daughter.”
She holds the comb steady, feeling each tine with her fingers. “We’re an exception, Piper. You’ll always be my little girl.”
“I’m eighteen now, Mom.”
She moves the comb to her own head and runs it through her hair. Even when it catches on a tangle, she keeps her eyes on me. “Eighteen is only the beginning, Piper. We have our whole lives to be together.”
I decide not to respond. There’s nothing I can say to agree with her. I want my own life, but the impasse is she wants it, too. My silence prompts her to kiss me on the forehead and turn back to the tube. The news conference will start in minutes. But there’s something I need to ask my mom.
“Mom, do you know what a phoenix is?”
She freezes, and I see she’s stopped breathing. She knows. As surely as I know Randy Conner’s death is my fault, she knows what a phoenix is.
“It’s a bird.” She makes it sound casual like everyone in the world should know.
“What kind of bird?”
“A bird that only exists in legends, Piper.”
I don’t get a chance to say anything else, because, at that moment, the news conference starts. My teeth grit when Councilman Rendon comes on, standing at a makeshift podium there in Chloe’s dome. He’s supposed to give some speech about how the domes were activated by accident which I know is a lie. If there was any devastation behind him, it’s gone now. The area is lit up like midday, and new trees are planted in the ground. He gives his signature smile and motions with his hand for the crowd to be quiet. He announces he’s going to be speaking and won’t be taking any questions. Of course, questions come anyway.
“Councilman, how could the domes be accidentally activated?”
“Is it true growth materials were refilled today?”
I think of the sand I saw being poured into the metal struts.
“What’s being done to remove the glass from the domes that didn’t shatter?”
The news reports showed these domes. Chloe’s was the only one to crack and fall, but the other operational domes only grew about one-third of the way closed. If I lived under that glass, I’d be freaked out, too. One gust of wind, and the glass could all come crashing down.
My mom’s staring intently at the tube next to me. Her lips are pressed thin, and I think she hates this man.
He starts a prepared speech, but when the questions don’t stop, he gives up and starts with the answers.
“The accidental activation occurred due to a programming error,” he says. “I can assure you it won’t happen again.”
My mom stiffens next to me. “Lies,” she says. “Flat out lies.”
He goes on to deny growth materials being refilled today even though I myself saw the work crews dumping the sand. But his last lie is the worst.
“I can assure the city of Austin with all faith that there is no risk of glass shards continuing to rain down on the city. Sealant has been sprayed from above.” He gives a small laugh like he’s trying to win over the crowd. “The real question will be: how do we get the glass down now that it’s up?”
“Lies,” my mom says again.
The questions from the crowd start fresh, but they’re halted at the sound of metal groaning on metal. I recognize the sound the second I hear it, and I know what will happen even before it does. The groan waxes, and then there’s a cracking sound. And we watch as a single shard of glass comes careening down from above and strikes Councilman Rendon directly through the head.
Chapter 29
Dinner
The day after Councilman Rendon’s death on national news, school is canceled. Crews have been cleaning up the city nonstop, but for the day, there is not supposed to be any travel to or from Chloe’s dome. We text back and forth a couple times, and it’s weird because she doesn’t even remember the hurricane. She just claims she’s tired, that she’ll see me tomorrow at school. She acts like she didn’t ask me to leave.
When I look outside the Botanical Haven, the Global Heating Crisis is back in full force. Temperatures are over one hundred and eight, and my mom’s been called in for an emergency city council meeting.
“Don’t let them elect you to be head of the council,” I say because I’m trying to gauge her reaction. Is she still convinced we’ll be moving? Since the hurricane and Councilman Rendon dying, she hasn’t mentioned my father.
“That is one thing you’ll never have to worry about.” Which I know is true. The head of the council gets far too much publicity.
My mom gives me a kiss on the forehead and makes me promise to lock the door behind her. She leaves, and I lock the door. I text Chloe again, but she sends me a text that stops me short.
“have a date. tell u about it l8r. ttyl”
A date? She can’t be with Reese. My fingers hover over the keypad, but I can’t bring myself to respond. Has Chloe been seeing Reese, and I’ve been too caught up in my own world to notice? I start and stop typing five times, and then give up entirely. Chloe and I need to have a long conversation. But I can’t do it if she’s with Reese. So I grab my tablet and pretend to read for the rest of the day even though my mind doesn’t focus on a single word. Chloe and Reese. I try to put it out of my mind.
My mom finally gets home close to five.
“They’re taking down the domes,” she says.
“Taking them down?”
“Deconstruction will start this weekend.” She walks upstairs and I follow her.
“Why?” I ask.
My mother almost smiles when she answers. “Some underground terrorist group delivered a threat. Said if the council didn’t stop destroying the atmosphere, they’d blow up the dome structure.”
I put this together in my mind. “So instead of waiting for the domes to be blown up, the city’s taking them apart first.”
My mom nods.
“What about the missiles?” I ask. If a terrorist group is against the domes, then they’re certainly against the missiles.
My mom grabs her hairbrush and starts pulling it through her dark hair. She brushes it first behind both ears, then only behind one.
“The missiles will still be on standby,” she says.
