Part 26 (1/2)

”Oh. I wonder if my other messages ever even got to him.”

”Doubt it. Come on.”

We pa.s.sed the other cabins, and then heard the distant sound of cheering.

”Perfect,” said Lilly. ”Everyone's at flagpole.”

I could see them out there in the midday sun, a blur of T-s.h.i.+rt colors and skin. One of the cabins seemed to be standing up in front, probably doing a skit about something. All of them so unaware of the world they were really in. And yet it still felt weird to be outside of that group. Not like I wanted to be over there, pretending to be in a happy little camp, except maybe I did a little.

The flapping of the flag caught my eye. The Eden logo was whipping hard. Northwesterly, up around fifteen knots Northwesterly, up around fifteen knots, I thought. We'll need secondary thrust to fight that- We'll need secondary thrust to fight that- ”Hey, snap out of it.” Lilly pulled me along as we left the paths and cut through the woods, working our way around toward the dining hall. We emerged from the trees by the building and we were two steps out when I saw the kids coming up the path on the far side.

”Around back!” Lilly hissed, and we ducked and ran for the side of the building.

”Think they saw us?” I asked.

”Probably not,” said Lilly. We ran through the underbrush by the wall, out to the dirt road. We checked for people, didn't see anyone, and crossed over toward the offices. We paused at the door, listening. It didn't sound like there was anyone inside.

”Owen!”

I turned and there was Beaker, running toward us from the dining hall's back door.

”Get out of here!” I hissed at him, waving my hand like he was a stray dog.

”I snuck away from our table!” he said, either not hearing me or ignoring me. ”I saw you when we were coming up the hill, but don't worry, n.o.body else did!”

He reached us, panting, his little chest leaping. He had a big purple bruise below his right eye.

”What happened to your face?” I asked.

”Oh, yeah, that. The guys had me stuffed in a cubby for an hour yesterday.”

”Leech,” I muttered. ”He's such a-”

”It wasn't him. He wasn't around. It was Jalen, because I told him to stop calling Bunsen a bed wetter and maybe I threw a dodgeball and hit him in the face. But it's fine, 'cause we have to stand up for each other, you know?” He looked at me like he was my soldier, waiting for my approval.

”Sure. Listen, Beaker,” I said as nicely as I could, ”get out of here.”

”But where have you been?” he asked. ”Everybody's been looking for you! We heard that you were off with-” He stopped, almost like he'd just noticed that Lilly was there, and he jumped back at little, like she was an alien. Then his eyes narrowed. ”Are you guys okay?”

”Yes, we're fine,” I said. ”Just go back inside.”

”And don't tell anyone you saw us,” Lilly ordered.

Beaker looked down. ”Oh, okay. But... can I help? I mean, we heard you got attacked by Nomads, and then you ran off, and the Arctic Foxes said that, this one time, they saw you out in the morning acting all weird, and-”

I glanced around, then cut him off. ”Look, I know, but the way you can help most is to go back inside before someone notices you're gone.”

”But what's going on? What happened to you?”

”I can't tell you. Sorry.”

Beaker's face fell. ”You're not coming back to the cabin, are you?”

”I don't think so.”

”Well, that stinks. I mean, whatever, but...”

I hadn't realized that Beaker thought I was, whatever he thought, his friend or something. Then again, maybe I had. That to Beaker, I was his CIT. He'd seen me take on Leech and it inspired him to stand up for himself. But now I was abandoning him.

I wondered if there was something I could tell him. ”You know what,” I said, ”if you want to help, here's what you can do: go back inside and tell our cabin, and especially Todd and anyone else who's around, that you were just outside and you saw the two of us running across the fields like we were heading toward the docks. Can you do that for me?”

”Okay,” he said uncertainly, but then his face brightened. ”Like a diversion... I can do that!”

”Thanks, Pedro.”

”Yeah,” he said. He kept standing there.

”Okay, go!”

”Right!” He ran back toward the dining hall.

”You know you're his hero,” said Lilly.

”I don't know how that happened,” I said.

”Come on, Mr. Swimming-into-temples-ancient-Atlantean. You might need to get used to being a hero.” Lilly rubbed my shoulder. I felt a surge of electricity from her touch. Finally, some connection between us again.

I smiled at her and turned back to the door. ”Okay, let's go in.”

We stepped into the lobby area. All the doors were closed. We headed into the infirmary. The hall was quiet, but Paul might be back at any time. We ran to the red door.

”No sign of Evan,” said Lilly, peering into each exam room as we pa.s.sed.

We reached the door and I pulled out the little orange case. I punched the five numbers written on the top into the keypad. Locks turned. A hissing sound. The red door swung open an inch. We pushed through.

Beyond the door was a metal hall, its sides draped in plastic. A single long light beam stretched along the ceiling, s.h.i.+ning down cold, harsh light.

The hall led to a room. It was dark, low-lit in blue and white. It was almost like the light of the siren and the skull down in the temple, only this flickering came from modern devices, not ancient: monitors and sterile lights. The floors and walls were all covered in plastic.

There was another door at the opposite end of the room. To our left was a desk. It stood atop the plastic, as did the other objects in the room. Its top was covered in a gla.s.s monitor. Behind that was a long counter, lit in pale white light. It was covered with steel machines, and a set of refrigerator cases with racks of vials inside.

The wall to the right was paneled with flat gla.s.s monitor screens, showing views of other rooms, other labs almost identical to this one. One screen was black, the one labeled South, just like up in the Eye.

”So, all the Edens have labs like this,” I said quietly, looking at the similar rooms. Even though there was no one here, something about this place made me want to keep my voice low.

The labs on the screens were mostly empty. In one, a white-coated technician seemed to be working with a set of vials, putting them in some round device that started to spin.

”This is not very summer campy,” said Lilly. ”So, this means that all the Edens are up to the same thing, yes? Are they searching for Atlanteans at these other sites, or what?”

”Something like that, I guess.”