The Daybreak Bond

by Megan Frazer Blakemore

  “How?” I asked.

  “Opportunity plus distraction. There are eight of us working together now. We can do it.”

  “So we distract them and then what?”

  “We get her out of here.”

  “Where?”

  “Still working on that part. I have some ideas.”

  “This doesn’t sound like much of a plan,” I told her.

  “Has there ever been much of a plan?”

  Fair enough, I thought. My plan had relied on Dr. Varden, who hadn’t been able to help us. At least now we were relying on ourselves. “And hey,” I said, “we’ve got master planner Tommy McPhee on our side, so what could possibly go wrong?”

  She grinned at that. “Oh, only everything.”

  We both giggled. On my bed, the kitten stood up and stretched, and looked down at us with a mix of curiosity and annoyance.

  “Hey, Mouse, what you said to Ms. Staarsgard, about talking to people? Is it really that hard?”

  “Yes,” she said.

  “But it’s not hard to talk to me?” I asked. She had told me that way back in the car lot. “Why not?”

  “I don’t know. You’re just easy. Like Amnah—maybe even easier. But everyone else—it’s like I can feel my mouth gluing itself shut. I get all sweaty. My head pounds.”

  “You should do it, then,” I told her. “You should get the dampening.”

  “Amnah thinks it’s crazy. Barbaric, actually.”

  “What do you think?”

  “I think it would be nice to talk to everyone else like this.” She smiled at me. “Well, maybe not just like this. It will always be nicer with some people.”

  The kitten leaped down from my bed. She walked over my lap, then crawled into Mouse’s and curled up. I didn’t blame her: I’d choose Mouse over me, too. “If you help us get Ilana out, though, they may not do it for you after all.”

  “I know,” she said. “Some things are more important than yourself, right?”

  Exactly.

  In the morning, Mom told us that Tommy’s and Mouse and Amnah’s families were coming that afternoon. Ms. Staarsgard had gotten Mouse and Amnah’s mom onto an early morning flight, and they were sending a KritaCar out for Tommy’s uncle. We were all going to go to the museum to see them off. Ms. Staarsgard had arranged a special tour.

  “We’ll have to do it today,” Mouse whispered to me as we went upstairs to brush our teeth after breakfast. “I’ll get the others ready. You figure out how you’re going to convince them to let you see Ilana.”

  “Easier said than done.”

  “You can do it,” she whispered.

  Mouse and Amnah left to go over to Julia’s, and I went back upstairs to my room. Convince Ms. Staarsgard to let me see Ilana? Ha! She ran everything in this place. She wasn’t going to deviate from her plan.

  I looked at myself in the mirror. My haircut made me look older, but I was still just a little girl. That’s how Ms. Staarsgard would see me. No more threatening than my new kitten.

  But this kitten, I told myself, had snuck out of Old Harmonie. We had done something so impossible that Ms. Staarsgard felt like she had to lie about it. I watched a smile twitch on my lips. If I’d done the impossible once, I could do it again, right?

  31

  The lobby of the museum was empty of employees. There wasn’t even anyone at the welcome desk. A new fish tank had been installed, one that took up most of the wall. Theo stood by it with Benji and Tommy. I beelined for them with Amnah and Mouse right behind. The fish in the tank moved sluggishly. They twitched their lazy tails and glided through the water.

  “I got caught last night,” Theo said.

  “I’m sorry.”

  He shrugged. “No biggie. My mom did tell me I needed to stop this ‘highly embarrassing behavior.’ ”

  “Or else what?” Amnah asked. She leaned against the glass, ignoring the fish.

  Theo pushed his bangs out of his eyes. “Deportation. Disownment.”

  “You can come live with me,” Tommy said.

  “I just may take you up on that,” Theo replied.

  The door swung open and Julia and her parents came in. Her bandage was purple today, and covered less of her leg. Her long hair swung around her shoulders. Tommy swallowed hard.

  “Are you wearing makeup?” I asked when she came over to us.

  She didn’t answer. Not exactly. “I heard there might be some reporters here.”

  There were: two of them. They stood over in the corner, chatting and making notes on their tablets.

  Mouse looked at her watch.

  “They should be here any minute,” Amnah said.

  “Do you think Ms. Staarsgard will talk to them right away?” Mouse asked. “About the dampening?”

  “Why don’t you ask them about it?” Amnah snapped. “Why don’t you explain that you want these doctors to mess up your brain.”

  “It’s not a mess-up—” Julia began.

  “Whatever,” I interrupted. “Listen, Mouse and I have a plan.”

  But I didn’t get a chance to share it because the door opened and two strangers walked in. Mouse, Amnah, and Tommy ran to them. Tommy’s uncle wore a too-small button-down shirt that slipped out of the waistband of his pants as he wrapped his arms around his nephew. “Tommy, you’re a right jammy fool!”

  “I know!” Tommy replied. “But look! Look where we are!”

  The reporters snapped pictures with their tablets, jostling each other with their elbows to get the best angle.

  A small elegant woman folded Amnah and Mouse into her. Tears streamed down her cheeks, but she smiled wide and fierce. It reminded me of the bronze trees, and I couldn’t help but smile, too, as she whispered into their hair.

  Ms. Staarsgard crossed the floor, her heels click, clicking. Those shoes would fill my nightmares.

  “Welcome, welcome,” Ms. Staarsgard said.

  “What do you mean you have a plan?” Theo whispered to me while his mother went on with general pleasantries.

  “We’re getting Ilana out,” I whispered back.

  That’s when I noticed Dr. Varden. I hadn’t seen her when I’d first come in, but now I saw her perched on a bench to the right of the welcome desk.

  “Come now,” Ms. Staarsgard said. “Let’s have a quick tour. I always love a chance to showcase the wonders of Old Harmonie.”

  Was she going to take us to the Animal AI exhibit? She couldn’t possibly! She pushed open a door next to the fish tank and we entered the botanical exhibit hall. I breathed in deeply. The smell of pine and flowers filled my nose.

  “We try to live as sustainably as possible here,” Ms. Staarsgard explained. “And we realized long ago that our plant species were our lifeblood. We have this display here, but we also have a secure seed bank.”

  Tommy’s uncle nodded. “Like at the Arnold Arboretum.” His accent was even stronger than Tommy’s. “Your aunt used to work there.”

  “Precisely,” Ms. Staarsgard said. “There are seed banks all over the world in case of emergency.”

  The words stung me. I looked up at the flowers of a dogwood tree and tried to blink away tears.

  “If you’ll just come this way, here is what I was hoping to show you. It’s a new exhibit.” When she opened the doors, we were in a field of wildflowers. A breeze bent their stems softly. We were still inside. The ceiling and the lights were far above us. But they’d managed to make it seem like we were outdoors.

  Dr. Varden held her hand to her chest. She squeezed at a pendant there.

  “They did a wonderful job, didn’t they, Agatha?” Ms. Staarsgard asked. “The historians mined all the documents and photos to get a perfectly accurate representation.”

  The field! It was Old Harmonie before all the villages had been built. It was the photo that Dr. Varden had shown us, out where Oakedge was before the forests grew.

  Around us, holograms of trees appeared. The split oak I shared with Ilana grew up from a sapling into the mighty
tree it had become. I went to touch it, but of course my fingers went right through.

  “This way,” Ms. Staarsgard said. We moved around the giant room the same way we would move around our cul-de-sac. There was number 9, restored and new-looking. Outside, two women worked the garden. Dr. Varden and Baba! They laughed and passed each other trowels. Beyond them were Dr. Varden’s beehives.

  They were all holograms, too, top-of-the-line ones that looked solid.

  The real Dr. Varden had tears streaming down her face. “What is this?” she practically moaned. She seemed distraught, but what I wouldn’t have given for a memory like this, a world with my best friend that I could step back into.

  My mother moved closer to the hologram. “It’s just like her,” she murmured. “Just the way I remembered.”

  “Your history is the history of Old Harmonie,” Ms. Staarsgard explained. “We’ve captured it here. It covers the whole development of Old Harmonie.”

  The holograms shimmered slightly, but otherwise were so real. There was my baba, digging in the dirt, growing a garden and a new, more beautiful world. Just like Ilana and I had tried to do. Would Baba even recognize Old Harmonie now? Would she want to be here? I didn’t think so. And that made me more certain that I had to get Ilana out, and once she was safe, I had to keep working to make Old Harmonie what Baba had meant it to be.

  Ms. Staarsgard stepped between me and the holograms. “Right now the scene is set to the Nashoba area, but we can visit any location, any time.” She raised her chin. “Simulate Center Harmonie circa 2000.”

  The field fell away and we were in a parking lot. A strip of stores with strange names was in front of us. One of the car doors opened and a woman got out with her child. Heat radiated up off the tar of the parking lot, and my nose filled with the smell of gasoline. Benji coughed. His parents put an arm over him. “Perfectly healthy,” Ms. Staarsgard said. “It’s a psychosomatic reaction he’s having.” She spread her arms. “Suburban sprawl was starting to take over the countryside. Your work out here, with the help of Krita, of course, saved this place.”

  Amnah sniffed, but Mouse grabbed her hand. We couldn’t get Ms. Staarsgard angry. Not today.

  “Is there anything else you’d like to see, Agatha?” Ms. Staarsgard asked.

  Agatha tilted her own head back. “Simulate Forge Pond, circa 2006.”

  Ms. Staarsgard smiled.

  The tar and buildings fell away and now we stood on the shore of a beautiful lake. People paddled canoes and kayaks. In one of the canoes, people were fishing. Up close, though, two women splashed in the shallows. Baba and Dr. Varden again. The world grew still as we watched them.

  “I’m sorry,” Dr. Varden whispered. “I’m sorry I left you, Lucy. This wasn’t my home anymore. You would always be.”

  I looked away from her grief. Mouse caught my eye. She was right. This was my moment.

  “Ms. Staarsgard,” I whispered.

  She looked down at me. “Yes, Mori?”

  I cleared my throat. “I wanted to apologize for the other day. I was upset and I didn’t mean what I said. I know you were trying to help us. I know you are.”

  Ms. Staarsgard put her hands on my shoulders. “Of course, Mori. We were all very upset by the events of the past weeks. I’m sure many of us said things we didn’t mean.” She glanced over at Theo. I wondered if that was a confession or an accusation.

  “I miss her so much is all.” Tears welled in my eyes. I nodded toward Dr. Varden. “They never got to say good-bye. I just want to say good-bye to her.” My voice hitched as I started to sob. It wasn’t an act.

  Mom had crossed over. She leaned in. “Tova, please. Can’t the children say good-bye?”

  “Friends move away. We’ve all dealt with it,” Benji’s mother added. “If the children could have some closure by saying good-bye, I feel this whole transition would go more smoothly.”

  Ms. Staarsgard hesitated.

  “Please, Mom,” Theo asked. “Please?”

  Ms. Staarsgard closed her eyes. “Yes.”

  32

  The elevator was massive, big enough for all of us—kids and grown-ups alike. It was made of glass, but as we slid down, the shaft grew dark. We had walked over to the main research headquarters for Krita, the place where the biggest and most profitable work took place.

  Mouse worked her way over next to me. “You did your part,” she whispered.

  “Almost,” I said.

  Down and down we went. Mom put her hand on my shoulder, soft and reassuring. “Thank you,” I said. “Thanks for letting me see her one more time.”

  She wiped a tear away. “Mori, I don’t know what to say.”

  I wrapped my arms around her, trying to comfort her while knowing full well I was about to betray her trust again. She’d broken my trust and I’d broken hers. I had to believe that each time we broke it, we could build it back again.

  We came to a soft stop and the door slid open.

  We were underground, I felt sure of that. The hallway was narrow and the ceiling was lower than on the previous floors.

  The clicking of Ms. Staarsgard’s shoes echoed as we went down the hall.

  Mouse wove around the people. That was the benefit of being small and quiet—of being a mouse. People didn’t notice as she slipped pieces of paper into my friends’ hands.

  Dr. Varden walked next to me. “Do you remember what you said?” I asked. “About playing dominoes?”

  “Of course,” she said. She had told us she’d been lining up pieces and was waiting to see how they would fall. She had made contacts outside, people who could help her to help Ilana.

  “Did you ever get them set up the way you wanted them to?” I asked.

  “As best as I could,” she replied. “Dominoes are tricky. But they always fall, one way or another.” She put a hand on my shoulder and squeezed.

  “Okay, then,” I told her. “I think it’s time to set that chain in motion.”

  We passed two more doors and then Ms. Staarsgard stopped. “It will be a brief visit, children. Supervised, of course.” All business again. She pushed open the door.

  Ilana sat on a cot, a stack of books at her side. Her bright eyes caught mine and she jumped to her feet. We crashed into each other as we held on tightly. Maybe, I thought, maybe I could just never let her go. Maybe that could be our plan.

  “Are you okay?” I asked.

  “Are you?” she replied.

  I laughed. “I’m fine now that I can see you! I’ve been so worried. No one would tell us where you were or what was happening.”

  “They won’t tell me, either.”

  “I’m really sorry,” Theo said. He stood just inside the doorway of the gray room.

  “It’s not your fault,” she told him. “All you did was help me—all of you.”

  “Still,” Julia said. “We’re sorry.” And we knew what she was sorry for. Sorry that it had amounted to nothing. Sorry that Ilana was in this tiny room by herself while we were eating blueberry pancakes in the sunshine, hanging out on the playground, visiting the museum.

  Out in the hallway, our parents stood in a huddle. It was like we were in a play, and they were the audience. Mouse, Amnah, and Tommy stood in front of them. Ready.

  Our plan couldn’t possibly work, could it?

  Dr. Varden stepped into the room.

  “They didn’t need to keep you in the dungeon,” Benji said. “I mean, geez, this seems over-the-top.”

  “It’s so they don’t have to look at me. No one has to,” Ilana said.

  “No one likes to look at their mistakes,” Theo told her.

  Ilana cracked a smile. “Gee, thanks, Theo. Now I’m a mistake?”

  Theo reddened. He took a step closer to us. It was better when he was by the door, keeping it open. “That’s not what I meant—”

  Ilana kept smiling but she sat down on the cot. “It sort of is true, though, right? I’m the mistake they need to fix.”

  Meryl and Greg Naugh
ton looked at the ground. So little to say for themselves. Without the sunlight, the swirling colors of Meryl Naughton’s clothes lost their glamour.

  “It’s not you that’s wrong,” I said.

  “Thanks,” she said with a small grin.

  “No, I mean, people aren’t freaked out by you. They’re freaked out by themselves. You just remind them of it.”

  “Are you freaked out by yourself?” she asked.

  “A little,” I admitted.

  “Mori’s not getting her latency,” Julia blurted. “Isn’t that crazy?”

  “Don’t be stupid, Mori,” Ilana said. “Don’t do that for me.”

  “I’m not doing it for you. I’m doing it for me. I want to find out who I really am without all this—” I waved my hand around the air. She knew what I meant.

  “Okay,” she said. “Okay, that makes sense. You’re pretty perfect already, if you ask me.”

  “Hardly.”

  She looked down at her feet. “Anyway, I don’t think there’s a latency for what makes you so great. So it would just be a waste.”

  Tears stung my eyes and I let them fall.

  “Is there anything more you children need to say to one another?” Ms. Staarsgard asked. “I know you think I’m being harsh, but drawn-out good-byes can be rather cruel.”

  “I got the book, Ilana,” I said. “In case of emergency.”

  “I knew I could count on him,” she said with a smile.

  “I’ll study it,” I said. “So I’ll be ready. I’ll know all the plants. I’ll keep our garden growing in here.”

  “And I’ll have one out there,” she said. “And then someday—” Her voice cracked.

  “Someday,” I agreed.

  I hugged her again. And when I did, I whispered in her ear: “There’s going to be a distraction, and when it comes, you run.”

  She looked at me with her green-blue eyes. A faint shake of the head. “You run,” I mouthed to her.

  Ms. Staarsgard cleared her throat.

  Mouse rubbed her stomach. “Oh!” she said.

  Theo turned around. “You okay, kid?”

  “Just a stomachache,” she whispered.