need to buy some antacids the next time we stop.
While Sam drives we debate Henri’s letter and talk about how cool Sam’s dad is for not only helping the people of Lorien but also for giving Sam a riddle to find the transmitter device in case anything were to happen to him. And still I’m going back and forth between Sarah and Six in my head.
We’re two hours from Paradise when Six asks, “But what if it’s nothing, though? I mean, what if there’s nothing down in that well but some weird birthday present or
“Trust me,” Sam says. He drums his thumbs on the steering wheel and turns up the stereo. “I’ve never been so certain of anything in my entire life. And I get straight As, thank you very much.”
I think the Mogadorians are there waiting, in far greater numbers than what we faced in Florida, watching everything that might lead them to us. And if I’m going to be honest with myself, the only reason I’m willing to take this risk is because of the possibility of seeing Sarah.
I lean forward in the backseat and pat Sam’s right shoulder. “Sam, no matter what happens with that well and sundial, Six and I owe you big-time for what your dad did for us. But I really, really, really, really hope that it leads to a transmitter.”
“Don’t worry,” Sam says.
Highway lights come and go. Bernie Kosar’s floppy ears fall from the edge of the seat as he sleeps. I’m nervous about seeing Sarah. Nervous about being so close to Six.
“Hey, Sam?” I ask. “You wanna play a game?”
“Yeah, sure.”
“What do you think Six’s Earth name is?”
Six whips her head over her shoulder, her raven hair slapping her right cheek, and she frowns at me in mock anger.
“She has one?” Sam laughs.
“Just guess,” I say.
“Yeah, Sam,” Six says. “Guess.”
“Um, Stryker?”
I laugh so hard Bernie Kosar jumps up to look out the nearest window.
“Stryker?” Six yells.
“Not Stryker, then? Okay, okay. I don’t know, something like Persia or Eagle or . . .”
“Eagle?” Six yells. “Why would I be Eagle?”
“You’re such a badass, you know.” Sam laughs. “I just figured you would be like a Starfire or like Thunder Clap or something really badassy.”
“Exactly!” I shout. “That’s totally what I thought, too!”
“So what is it then?” he asks.
Six crosses her arms and looks out the passenger-side window. “I’m not telling you until you make a real guess with a real girl’s name. Eagle, Sam? Give me some credit.”
“What? I’d name myself Eagle if I had the chance,” Sam says. “Eagle Goode. That sounds pretty awesome, right?”
“It sounds like a brand of cheese,” Six says. We all laugh at that.
“Okay. Uh, Rachel?” Sam says. “Britney?”
“Ew, yuck,” she says.
“Fine. Rebecca? Claire? Oh, I know. Beverly.”
“You are insane.” Six laughs. She punches Sam’s thigh, and he howls and rubs at it dramatically. He hits her back, a couple of knuckles on her left bicep, and she feigns severe pain.
“Her name is Maren Elizabeth,” I say. “Maren Elizabeth.”
“Aw, you gave it away,” he says. “I was going with Maren Elizabeth next.”
“Yeah, right,” she says.
“No, I was, I was! Maren Elizabeth’s pretty cool. Do you want us to start calling you that? Four goes by John, right Four?”
I scratch Bernie Kosar’s head. I don’t think I could get used to calling him Hadley, but maybe I could get used to calling Six Maren Elizabeth. “I think you should take on a human name,” I say. “If not Maren Elizabeth, then something else. I mean, at least for when we’re in front of strangers.”
Everyone grows silent, and I reach behind me into the Chest for the velvet bag holding Lorien’s solar system. I set the six planets and the sun in my palm and watch them hover and glow to life. As the planets begin to orbit their sun, I find that I am able to dim the brightness of their glow with my mind. I intentionally lose myself in them, successfully forgetting just for a few moments that I might be seeing Sarah soon.
Six turns to look at the faint solar system that floats in front of my chest, and then she finally says, “I don’t know; I still like the name Six. Maren Elizabeth was when I was a different person, and right now Six just feels right. It can be short for something if someone asks.”
Sam looks over. “For what? Sixty?”
I set out seven mugs and a kettle on the stove. While waiting for the water to boil, I crush three of the pills I stole from Hector’s mother into a fine powder with the rounded back side of a metal spoon. Ella stands beside me watching as she always does when it’s my turn to make the Sisters’ nightly tea.
“What are you doin’?” she asks.
“Something I’m probably going to regret,” I say. “But something I have to do.”
Ella flattens a piece of crumpled paper on the table and places the tip of her pencil on it. Immediately she’s drawing a perfect picture of the seven teacups I’ve lined up. From what I can get out of her, she met with a couple in Sister Lucia’s office who said they had “a lot of love to give.” I’m not sure how long the meeting lasted, but Ella says they’re coming back tomorrow. I know what it means and I pour the boiling water from the kettle as slowly as I can, trying to prolong my time with her.
“Ella? How often do you think about your parents?” I ask.
Her brown eyes grow wide. “Today?”
“Sure. Today, or any other day?”
“I don’t know . . .” She trails off. After a pause, she adds, “A million times?”
I bend down to hug her, and I don’t know if it’s because of how sorry I feel for her or how sorry I feel for myself. My parents are dead, too. The victims of a war I’m supposed to continue someday.
I scoop the crushed pills into Adelina’s teacup, regretting that I’ve resorted to drugging her. There’s no other choice. She can stand by and wait for death if that’s what she chooses, but I refuse to give up or to go down without a fight, without doing everything within my power to survive.
With the tray teetering in my hands, I leave Ella at the table and make my rounds. One by one I hand the tea out around the orphanage, and when I’m ushered into the Sisters’ quarters to deliver Adelina her tea, I carefully shove her cup towards the front edge. She takes it with a polite nod. “Sister Camila is feeling ill this evening and I have been asked to sleep in the children’s quarters tonight for her.”
“Okay,” I say. As I think about the possibilities of Adelina and me being in the same room tonight, I watch her take a long sip from her teacup. I can’t tell if I just made a huge mistake or helped my cause immensely.
“I will see you soon then,” she says. Then she winks at me. I’m taken aback, almost dropping the two remaining cups from my tray to the floor.
“O-okay,” I stutter.
When curfew comes a half hour later, nobody falls asleep right away, and instead many girls whisper to one another in the dark. I lift my head every few minutes to look at Adelina lying on her bed across the room. Her wink has left me confused.
Ten more minutes pass. I can tell most everyone is still awake, including Adelina. She’s usually quick to fall asleep when she’s on duty, so the fact that she’s still up tells me that she’s also waiting for everyone in the room to fall asleep. Now I think her wink definitely meant she wanted to resume our conversation. The room falls silent, and I wait before I lift my head. Adelina hasn’t moved in the last half hour, so I move the left legs of her bed off the ground and tip her slightly. Suddenly she raises her left arm above her like a white flag of surrender, and she points to the doorway.
I toss the covers aside, stand, then tiptoe from the room. When I reach the hall I slink a few paces into the