Part 27 (1/2)

All over.

He held out a book to her. ”I found this in my dad's stuff.”

She took it from him and read the t.i.tle, and he said, ”It was written before we were taken,” and felt like she was back on that cliff of her life.

This time, her existence was . . .

. . . an A B Y S S.

”Hey,” he said.

Catching her.

She flipped to the back and read.

Futuristic . . .

Eliminate childhood . . .

Memory-wiping . . .

Countdown . . .

”Where did he get this?” She felt her whole body wake up in a new way, all those lights going back on at once. ”What does it mean?”

I'm going on a trip.

To the leaving.

Had she seen this book-read this book?

When she was five?

”I don't know,” Lucas said. ”I don't know how he even heard about it or where he found it. There's hardly anything about it on the web. And of course everything about us comes up first. But the author lives in Florida.”

”We can't possibly have been in pods this whole time,” Scarlett said.

Pods on Earth was arguably a worse theory than alien pods.

”Not literally, no,” Lucas said. ”I don't think so. It's really only the concept that's the same. They start with six kids as test subjects before the whole thing goes wide.”

”And they don't remember anything when they come back?” Scarlett asked.

”No, they remember. But they remember an awesome childhood. An entirely fake childhood. And there are sort of hints that these new types of kids-ones who've been to The Leaving-when they come back, they just can't cope with reality, even though they seem like they have it all together. So the book is about how if you sanitize childhood, society will implode. Oh and the kids all know they're going; they know before that it's happening.”

”Like I did.”

She wanted to call for Tammy, but wasn't allowed to call her Tammy. She had completely mastered avoidance of the direct address.

”Come with me.”

She went out to the backyard where Tammy was sitting on a folding chair with her feet in an inflatable kiddie pool shaped like a fish. ”Have you ever seen this?” Scarlett held the book out.

”No,” Tammy said. ”Why?” She spied Lucas and sat upright.

Took her sungla.s.ses off.

”It's really you,” she said.

”It's really me,” he said.

Tammy stood and went to hug him. ”I still can't believe it,” she said. ”That you're back. That Will's gone.”

Lucas seemed receptive to the hug, and Scarlett hated to ruin the moment but . . .

”Have you ever seen this?” She held the book out again, more firmly.