But we didn’t go into the large building. We went into a plainer, but still very big, building on the left. “Mary Baker Eddy Library” read the sign. Maybe there was more for us to learn? Something we could only read in books or see in old files?
Inside, the air was cool. The walls and the floor were a sort of stone, and quotes were printed on the walls. There was a photograph of a woman with her hair parted right down the middle, tight curls close to her head, and a pleased, pleasing smile on her lips.
“Holy cheesecakes, this is the biggest library I’ve ever seen!” Tommy exclaimed. His voice echoed around the hushed hall.
“You haven’t seen anything yet,” Dr. Varden said. And she opened the doors to a world of color. We stood on a bridge. The walls around us were all glass and seemingly lit from within. They curved up and around so it was as if we were in a ball. We were in a ball! I peered down from the bridge. The whole room was a sphere!
“It’s the earth,” Mouse whispered.
She was right. We were inside a stained-glass globe.
“It’s beautiful,” Ilana said.
“It’s the Mapparium,” Dr. Varden said. “My favorite place in all of Boston.”
Amnah’s eyes were wide as she took it all in. She and Mouse leaned close together, studying the walls, the lines of each country. Dr. Varden explained that when it was built, it was meant to be changeable as borders and politics changed, but eventually they decided to keep it as is, a monument to history.
Theo tugged on my shoulder and nodded his head to the far side of the globe. He wanted Ilana and me to follow him. We tucked together on the far side of where we’d come in. “I don’t like this,” Theo whispered. “What are we doing here?”
“She wanted to show us the city,” Ilana said.
But Theo was right. This wasn’t helping Ilana, no matter what Dr. Varden said. “It is weird that she seemed to know that Julia was hurt before we even talked about it. I mean, maybe it was just making an educated guess—but still.”
“The showers and the lemonade and now this. It feels like stalling to me.”
“Me too,” I said.
“And that message she got,” Theo said. “I didn’t buy her explanation for a minute.”
“But if she’s not going to help us, why not just send us away?” I asked.
Theo glanced back in Dr. Varden’s direction. “Because she let them know we’re here.”
“Krita? You don’t really think so, do you?”
“I do. I’ve been through all the options. I laid them all out. It’s the only one that makes any sense.” He took a few steps farther until he was at the edge of the walkway, by the door. He tried to turn the doorknob, but shook his head. “It’s locked,” he said. And we all looked back across the bridge to where Dr. Varden blocked our path to the exit.
“Just take it slowly,” Theo said. “We’ll walk back in that direction. I’ll talk with Dr. Varden—distract her. And then you two get out of here.”
“And then what?” I asked. “We don’t know where we are or what will happen to you.”
“You’ll figure out where to go. And I’ll be fine. My mom won’t let them do anything too terrible to me.” He tried to force a smile. “Worst thing that happens, she gets me two nannies and they never leave my side. Benji will think I’m the luckiest kid ever.”
“Theo,” I said, but at the same time I reached down and grabbed Ilana’s hand. He was right. We needed to make a break for it, and I had to make sure she came with me. “We can’t leave you here.”
“Perhaps I should have told you …” Dr. Varden’s voice was soft, but right next to us. We all turned. She was still on the far side, by herself. Tommy, Amnah, and Mouse had moved to the middle. “The acoustics in here are such that sound travels around the edges. We can hear one another perfectly, but those in the center can’t hear us at all.”
“So you’ve been listening to us?” Theo demanded. The blue of the map’s ocean colored his face.
“Not intentionally, but yes. I suppose you have reason to doubt me. The Krita Corporation, in the person of your mother, actually, called me and let me know you had left and that they thought you might come this way. And I did promise to let them know as soon as you arrived.”
My knees felt wobbly. I leaned against the railing of the bridge.
“I didn’t,” she said. “Though I don’t know how I can convince you of that.”
It was odd to have her voice beside us, her body far away. It made her seem even more powerful.
“As for how I can help, in case you haven’t noticed, I’m a very old lady. My help is limited and dubious.”
“Then let us go!” I said, loud enough so that some sound traveled to Amnah, Mouse, and Tommy, though each of them looked in a different direction. Amnah watched me.
Theo stepped closer to me. He pushed on my back, urging me and Ilana forward. He still wanted us to try to escape.
“You’re free to go at any time, of course,” Dr. Varden said. “But be certain that’s the best choice. And remember, I didn’t say that I couldn’t or wouldn’t help. I was expecting this. I have pieces put in place, and I’ve toppled over the first domino. Now I just need to make sure the rest of them will fall the way I want them to.”
“Just say what you mean,” I begged. “Please.”
“There are people ready to help us. It’s a big risk for all of us. We’re stealing in the eyes of the law. So forgive us if we have our ways and means, our little quirks.”
“Is being here part of the plan?” Ilana asked.
“It is,” Dr. Varden answered. They faced each other over the long expanse of the bridge. LED lights shifted and highlighted a different part of the map, casting Dr. Varden in shadow.
“Go,” Theo whispered.
Dr. Varden reached out her hand as if beckoning us toward her. Ilana took a step.
Behind Dr. Varden, the door burst open.
23
They wore jumpsuits. Gray ones with reflective visors. They swarmed the bridge and grabbed us all. Dr. Varden first. They sucked her right back through the entrance. Then Tommy, Amnah, and Mouse. Amnah swung at them and tried to break Mouse free. It took two of the jumpsuits to hold her.
Screams and footsteps echoed around us. They came from every direction. Above, below, all sides.
Ilana and Mouse huffed behind me. Theo scrambled against the glass, looking for another door. There was none.
As the jumpsuits got closer, I turned. There was a door, but it was locked, so I pounded against the glass with my fists. It was more than a century old and just as strong. Not a movement. Not a crack. And then the arms were around me, too. Strong arms. Heavy breathing that I could hear but not feel. My arms were pinned at my sides, so I kicked out my legs. I tried to grab on to rails of the bridge with my feet. It was no use. The jumpsuits could grab Theo easily. They could take Ilana. How could I expect to fight them?
I didn’t stop, though.
I kept fighting.
I kept fighting as they dragged me through the door I didn’t even know was there and as they pulled us into a building with no windows.
I kept fighting until I realized I was the only one still trying.
In this new room, the lights were dim. We sat on the floor.
Dr. Varden.
Theo.
Tommy.
Amnah.
Mouse.
Me.
Ilana was gone.
“Tell us where she is!” I begged the jumpsuit. She wasn’t in a jumpsuit anymore. She wore the uniform of Krita security: a dark green suit and mirrored sunglasses. The fluorescent lights hanging from the ceiling in this prison of a room cast a strange glow over her skin.
“Information will be given in a time and manner deemed appropriate.”
She had a gun crossed against her chest. I wasn’t sure if it was a stun gun or something more serious. She held it tightly in both hands.
“My mother will be furious when she finds ou
t how we’re being treated!” Theo said. “I demand to talk to someone in charge right now!”
The jumpsuit smirked at him.
He shook his head at me. We sat back down with the others. Mouse lay with her head in Amnah’s lap. The gray floor was hard and cold. Our neutral clothing from Dr. Varden made us look like a faded landscape.
“I’m sorry,” I said to them. “I had no idea it would end up like this. I’m so, so sorry.”
“It’s okay,” Mouse whispered.
“Yeah,” Tommy said. “Totally.”
Amnah didn’t say anything.
“I wish they would tell us something. Anything,” Theo said. He tugged at his hair. “It’s infuriating being in here.”
Dr. Varden stood up and walked to the far corner of the room. Then she started pacing the perimeter. The room wasn’t very big, maybe ten feet by twelve feet. Around and around she went.
“You don’t think she told them, do you?” I asked Theo.
“I don’t know. Maybe.”
“She’s in here with us,” Tommy said.
“That could be a cover,” Theo said.
“What does it matter?” Amnah asked. “We’re in here, and Ilana’s somewhere else. It doesn’t matter how it happened.”
Dr. Varden’s pace slowed.
“All this way,” I moaned. “All this way and this is how it ends?”
Mouse put her hand on top of mine. Her hands were tiny and warm and it was such a kind gesture that I couldn’t hold in my tears anymore. I started to sob. Big, messy, gross sobs. Theo put his arms around me and hugged me. I got snot on his shirt, but I didn’t care. I felt another arm around me. And then another. And another.
24
“You’re leaving,” the jumpsuit told us. Maybe it was a new one. They seemed to rotate through. It was hard to tell with them all dressed in their uniforms, their eyes hidden.
“Where are we going?” Theo asked.
The guard didn’t answer.
We were gathered up, brought outside, and stuffed into waiting KritaVans. We were split up. Amnah and Mouse climbed into one van, Theo and Tommy into another. Dr. Varden was ushered into mine. The lights at the front were on, but we didn’t move.
“Do you think …,” I began, but I didn’t know how to finish the sentence. Dr. Varden didn’t know any more than I did. She sat against the tinted window of the van. Her feet barely touched the floor. The creases around her eyes had grown deeper in the day I’d known her. She was an old, old woman. I had known that. But still, I had thought she could help. I thought she had some power she could use to save Ilana.
She couldn’t even save herself.
“Lucy would be very proud of you,” she told me.
“Why?” I asked. My eyes still burned from all the crying.
“You tried.”
I laughed. A bitter, painful laugh. “What good did it do her?”
“It’s not over yet,” she replied.
“What do you mean?”
Before she could answer, the doors of the van slid open. My parents pressed in. “You’re okay, you’re okay, you’re okay,” Mom said, over and over.
“Are you hurt?” Dad asked. “Did anyone hurt you?”
“We’re bringing you home,” Mom said.
A nurse got in behind them, wearing a white jumpsuit with a red cross. At least I could see his white freckled face and red hair. He slid the door shut. We began moving almost immediately.
The nurse shined a light in my eyes, took all my vitals. “Good, good,” he said. He had kind green eyes. “Tough kiddo,” he said to me. “But you’ll be okay.” He cut my hair. A snippet from the back.
“Just cut it all,” my mother said. So he did. Right to chin length. The extra pieces fell to the floor of the KritaVan.
Dr. Varden watched me as we drove back toward Old Harmonie. My parents ignored her. We took a different road back than the one Tommy had driven. This one was bigger, and the cars all moved in rapid, silent synchronicity.
When we came up to the main gate, I started to cry. There were two stone pillars, one with an owl and one with a lion: the symbols of knowledge and wisdom. I’d never seen the gates from the outside before, but in drawings they’d always seemed so serene. Now they felt ominous.
“Nothing bad will happen to you here,” Mom said.
“I’d always thought it was beautiful here. I always thought it was perfect.”
“It is perfect,” Dr. Varden said. “It’s just not for everyone. It never was.”
“Enough,” my mom told her.
A jumpsuit opened the door. “Mori Bloom, you need to come with me.”
My mom tried to hold on to my hand. She said, “We’ll see you as soon as we can.”
“Be good, Mori,” Dad said.
The decontamination showers were as bad as I had expected. Stripped down. Hot water. Cold blasts of air. Bright flashes of light. A mist that smelled of lemons but something dark and fake underneath.
I looked for my friends but didn’t see them.
Then I was dressed in a pale pink jumpsuit like the kind they put new babies in. It was soft, at least.
My glasses were taken, scrubbed clean, but my body kept moving, passed from station to station. I couldn’t have seen any of my friends if they were there, but I was pretty sure they were not, that we were being kept apart.
And then my glasses were back on my face and I was in bed, back in the white, stagnant world of the hospital. Back in my bubble where the fear had all begun. Alone.
Every detail was the same as I remembered. The way the overhead lights both shined through and reflected off the plastic. The way it made a sticking-squelching noise when I moved. The room around the bubble, all white and static. There was a window on my left, but the blinds were never up. There was a television, but it was never turned on. And so I drifted in and out of sleep.
My parents arrived and stood outside the bubble and cried. “Am I sick?” I demanded.
Dad said nothing, just shifted his eyes—angry eyes?—away from me. Mom shook her head, but I didn’t know if she meant that no, I wasn’t sick, or that she couldn’t talk about it. I didn’t feel sick. “Am I sick?” I asked again.
“It’s complicated,” Dad replied. His voice was thin and so I knew he was angry. Angry at me? Well, of course. I had run away. What a mess that must have made for both of them. Still, I had thought he would understand. I had thought he would see that I had done it out of friendship.
“If I’m not sick, then why I am in here? Why am I in this bubble?”
“There are other people involved. We need to check everything.”
Other people. “Are they okay?”
“We’re still assessing,” Dad said.
“When will I go home?”
“Soon,” Dad said.
“Soon’s not a precise answer,” I told him.
This, at last, made him smile. “My dear, there aren’t exactly protocols for this situation.”
My hands looked so small and useless lying on the pink blanket. I had a new watchu strapped around my wrist. This one had a deep red band with gold flecks. Very stylish. Julia would be jealous, and Ilana would say it was …
My parents had stopped crying, but their eyes were still damp looking and had dark circles. “I want to go home,” I told them.
“We want you home, too,” Mom said. “But for now you need to rest.”
And like they were turning off a switch, I fell asleep.
Maybe they had.
An orderly pressed her fingers against my IV line and I blinked my eyes open. She came into hazy focus in her pale yellow hospital scrubs.
I asked for paper and pen, and the orderly passed them to me through one of the access holes in my bubble. She stood there for a moment, watching me, so I said, “Am I sick?”
She shook her head, but then she said, “Not for me to say.” Her voice sounded like she was speaking through a paper tunnel as it traveled from her outside world into my coco
on.
I wondered why nobody would tell me if I was sick or not. I didn’t feel sick. Only tired. So very tired. But maybe that was the boredom of lying inside a plastic bubble inside a white room.
“The others?” I asked.
She looked over her shoulder. She wore a tight cap that went almost down to her white eyebrows. “The girl with the bite, she’s fine. She went home. The boy that was with her—”
“Benji?” I gripped my pink blanket tightly.
“They got his lungs working again.”
My stomach turned. It had never even occurred to me that something might have happened to Benji.
“Allergic reaction,” she said, as if anticipating my question. “Something out there that we don’t have in here. A little airborne particulate matter, it would seem.”
“But he’s okay?”
“He’s on the mend. Asking to be let out.” She smiled. “You all are tough cookies.”
“Theo?”
“Theo Staarsgard? Not much could slow down that boy. He’s been asking to see you. They said no visitors, though. Him and those outside kids, they’ve all been by to see you more than once. Stubborn crowd, every single one of you.”
“If they come again, tell them …” But I wasn’t sure what I wanted to say to them. Certainly nothing that could be passed on from me to this orderly to them like some kind of game of telephone. “Tell them thank you.”
“I’ll do that,” she agreed. She checked over her shoulder again.
I didn’t want to get her in trouble, but I had to know. “Ilana?” I asked.
“I’m not allowed to tell you anything about her.” I watched her face. Something flickered there, but I didn’t know her well enough to read it.
Some stray puff of air moved the bubble and it crinkled around me.
“Do you know when they’ll let me out?”
Another shoulder glance. I imagined the hallway behind her as never-ending. There’d be door after door after door that hid another one of Old Harmonie’s mistakes. Projects that didn’t pan out. Girls who disobeyed.
“You didn’t hear it from me, but it looks like tomorrow.”
The Daybreak Bond Page 16