Part 10 (1/2)

Lilly's one hand began skinning the other again, fingers digging up white cuticle edges and tearing. ”Well, what if they're trying to create a new race?”

”A new race?”

”Or more like a new species,” said Lilly. ”Look, you know about evolution and survival of the fittest and all that? They probably teach you that stuff out at Hub.”

”Yeah.”

”And how, like, it's genetic mutations that make animals adapt to survive.”

”Sure,” I said, ”but it takes millions of years.”

”Right,” said Lilly. The furrow had left her brow now, her eyes lighting up with excitement at this topic. ”But,” Lilly continued, ”sometimes, when conditions get dire, mutations happen faster. It's called ... oh, right: selective pressure. But even that's too slow for right now. So I think Eden is forcing it: trying to create a human species that can survive out there when the domes fail.”

I pictured the landscape outside the dome. ”How are gills going to help us in the desert?”

”Not right outside,” said Lilly, ”and not up north either. The HZ is already full, and the border area is a mess. Plus”-she waved her hand toward the city-”none of those people up there are going to want a bunch of spoiled rich folks who spent the last fifty years living the good life in here showing up on their doorstep. There's a lot of resentment, isn't there?”

”Kinda, yeah,” I said.

”And probably even more for the Cryo kids whose mommies and daddies could afford to reserve them slots.” It sounded like this concept bothered her, even though she was one of them.

”It's about the same.”

”Okay, well, anyway,” said Lilly, ”Eden's got to figure out where else we can all go where we can actually survive. Maybe the only way to do that is to change ourselves. What if humans could live in the New Everglades down in Virginia? Water blocks a lot of the harmful solar radiation.”

”The mosquito strains down there are lethal,” I said.

”So, maybe they'll try to have us grow fur or something. I mean, who knows? Gills are probably only the start.”

A weird thought crossed my mind. This is only the beginning. This is only the beginning. Who had said that? Lilly, but also that vision I'd had underwater. That siren thing. That had been a few days ago now. She'd probably just been a dream, or a hallucination while I was drowning. Who had said that? Lilly, but also that vision I'd had underwater. That siren thing. That had been a few days ago now. She'd probably just been a dream, or a hallucination while I was drowning.

”So,” I asked, ”how do you think Eden is doing this?”

”I don't know,” said Lilly.

”It's definitely the bug juice,” said Marco. He and Aliah were pulling themselves back up onto the raft.

”Uh-oh,” Aliah huffed. ”Are you talking theories again?”

”Yes, and who cares how how?” said Lilly.

”I do,” Marco said proudly. ”I haven't had a sip of bug juice yet this session.”

”The point is,” said Lilly, ”Eden needs to experiment on someone. Who better to do their tests on than a bunch of clueless camp kids, especially Cryos who have no parents to complain to?”

”That doesn't explain Owen,” said Marco.

”It doesn't explain a lot lot of things,” added Aliah. of things,” added Aliah.

”Well then, please speak up with all your better ideas,” said Lilly. She turned back to me with a look like, What do you think? What do you think?

”It makes sense,” I said right away. I wasn't really sure that it did, but I wanted to agree with her, and there definitely had to be something going on to cause the gills. But that also meant that our secret club was actually a collection of lab rats.

”Woo!” Evan burst out of the water back by the dock, spiking high into the air and doing two somersaults before landing.

Lilly rolled her eyes and shouted to him. ”You're like a trained seal!”

”Arf!” Evan called back.

”Can we pleeease pleeease stop talking about all this heavy stuff for tonight?” Aliah asked. stop talking about all this heavy stuff for tonight?” Aliah asked.

Lilly sighed. ”Fine.” She looked at me. ”Tandem?”

”What?” I said.

She stood up and offered her hand. ”Tandem jump, dummy.”

”Oh, sure.” I got up and moved to the center of the raft, trying to have good balance, to seem st.u.r.dy, but then I stumbled. Lilly grabbed my shoulder and held me up.

”All right, let's do this. On three,” she said, starting to bounce.

The worries of our conversation melted away. As we bounced higher, I stopped thinking about whether we were test subjects, whether this place really was some kind of giant, deadly lab. Those questions could wait. For tonight, I just wanted to ignore them, and instead focus on air, and height, and who was beside me.

”One!” Somehow, over the course of two nights, I had become Lilly's tandem partner, her confidant of secret theories.

”Two!” No longer the earthbound, cramp-twisted cabin turtle. No longer the quiet kid in outer orbit, who was never quite part of the group.

”Three!” We arced high over the water, and as we did, I realized that I was also no longer the forgettable, unnoticed one, because I saw that, far over on the dock, Evan stood with his arms crossed, watching us closely.

Chapter 9

AT BREAKFAST THE NEXT MORNING, I WAS REALLY feeling it. Tired. Sluggish. These nights with only three hours of sleep were really starting to catch up to me. And yet, despite the way my eyes felt brittle and dry, my brain fuzzy, and how I could barely taste my pancakes, it was something like amazing to be sitting there while my cabin played their roles in the never-ending little drama of hurting one another and trying to look good for the Arctic Foxes, and to feel separate from it, above it, or maybe beneath, the sea creature watching the hapless surface swimmers with their flailing and splas.h.i.+ng. feeling it. Tired. Sluggish. These nights with only three hours of sleep were really starting to catch up to me. And yet, despite the way my eyes felt brittle and dry, my brain fuzzy, and how I could barely taste my pancakes, it was something like amazing to be sitting there while my cabin played their roles in the never-ending little drama of hurting one another and trying to look good for the Arctic Foxes, and to feel separate from it, above it, or maybe beneath, the sea creature watching the hapless surface swimmers with their flailing and splas.h.i.+ng.

Things were a little more tame this morning, though, because Leech hadn't shown up yet. He'd been gone again when I got back to the cabin at dawn. By the time flagpole was over, his minions were wondering where he was and looking lost.

When the bug juice came around to me, I thought of Marco and his theory, and pa.s.sed along today's neon-green variety without taking any.

While the cabin headed down to Craft House, I walked over to the infirmary. After last night's conversation, I felt a little paranoid going in there, a fish swimming too close to the net. But I also had to do this, had to keep playing my role as normal Owen, so I didn't arouse any suspicion.

The waiting area was empty, all the doors closed. I was almost across the room when I heard a raised voice from Paul's office. He sounded angry. I moved closer to his door, leaned my ear against the frosted gla.s.s, and listened.

”I know the readings, I saw the report! Don't worry, we're covering that.”

A voice replied, monotone and tinny, like it was coming over a connection, but it was too low for me to hear.

”That's... Yes, we're still on schedule. Everything-Of course, but these things have to be handled a certain w-”