Part 28 (2/2)

”A skull from Atlantis,” Lilly said matter-of-factly. Marco looked at her. ”No time for all that,” she said. ”We're getting out of here, but we have to move. Can you guys walk?”

”We can try.” Marco started pus.h.i.+ng himself up the wall. He helped Aliah.

”Guh, what happened?” Evan's eyes blinked open. He saw me and frowned. ”Last thing I remember, I... you...” He squinted at me. ”Isn't that my s.h.i.+rt?”

”Yeah,” I muttered, and switched topics. ”Paul brought you here and tested you,” I said. ”To see if you were like me and Lilly. But you're not.” I couldn't help feeling a little bit of satisfaction saying that.

”What does that mean?” Evan asked. He slowly got to his feet, too.

”It means,” said Lilly, ”that Paul and Eden have been looking for someone with a lost genetic code that connects them to Atlantis.”

”Atlantis?” said Aliah. ”Wait, you mean like Plato and the sunken city and all that stuff?”

Everybody just looked at her.

”What? I read my cla.s.sics in school.”

”Something like that,” I said.

”Point is,” said Lilly, ”they've been looking all along. It's why we were selected as Cryos. And...” She bit her lip, inhaled slowly like she was gathering strength. ”I need to show you guys something.”

She took Evan's arm and put it around her shoulder. I felt a knot form inside to see them like that, but this moment, what Lilly had to show them, it was theirs, not mine. I had to respect that.

I stayed where I was as Lilly led the CITs over to Anna. I heard Aliah gasp. Heard Marco curse. Then they were silent. I heard a kissing sound and saw Lilly take her fingers away from her lips and reach into the plastic tent. The others did the same. Then they whispered their good-byes and turned away.

”Paul never had to study us,” said Lilly, leading Evan toward the stairs. ”He had his lab rat in Anna. So he left the rest of us alone and just watched, to see what we'd do. Watched until the real Atlantean arrived.”

Evan looked at me. ”You mean him him?”

”Yeah,” said Lilly. I felt their eyes on me as we headed back up the stairs. Lilly gave them the short explanation about the temple, the skull, Dr. Maria, and the Nomads, as we returned to the lab and then the cheery infirmary hallway. At each door, we paused, looking warily for Security Forces, but there were none.

We left out the front door, squinting against the bright daylight. There was a distant din of plates and forks. Lunch was still in progress. We headed around the dining hall and back down through the woods. The CITs slowly regained their legs, and we moved faster, rejoining the trail to the cabins.

”Hey, look.” Marco was pointing out toward the fields. A squad of Security Forces was jogging down the path toward the boathouse.

”Good job, Beaker,” I thought aloud.

We ran on until we reached the first cabins.

”We need to turn south,” said Lilly.

”So, we're just heading out into the barrens of Radland in our bathing suits?” Marco asked.

I looked down at Evan's s.h.i.+rt. ”We can stop by my cabin. Some of those clothes should fit everybody. And you can have your s.h.i.+rt back.” I pulled the subnet phone from my pocket and checked the time. ”We have to hurry, though. I told Aaron a half hour, and it's already been twenty minutes.”

”So,” said Aliah as we jogged over to the Spotted Hyenas cabin. ”I have to wear sticky boy clothes? And by the way, I'm totally kidding, but still...”

We entered the front door. The subnet phone beeped. ”This is Aaron.”

”Hey,” I answered.

”I am not seeing you on the wall cameras. Are you at the door yet, or what? Everything is set.”

”Yeah, we'll be there, maybe a couple minutes late.”

”Okay, well”-Aaron's mouth turned down like I was something bitter tasting-”a couple minutes is going to be shaving it real close, especially when it comes to the neck that is stuck out to help you, that being mine. Make it fast, got it?”

”Got it,” I said, stuffing the phone away.

”Man, dude, this place completely smells,” said Marco as we entered the bunk room.

I looked around. It seemed like forever since I'd been here. I hurried to my bunk and changed into a s.h.i.+rt and jeans. I stuffed an extra s.h.i.+rt, underwear, socks into Dr. Maria's backpack. It was too full to add any more.

Marco and Aliah were digging jeans and long-sleeved s.h.i.+rts out of cubbies and throwing them on. I tossed Evan his s.h.i.+rt.

”Anybody see a pullover that's not gross?” Lilly asked as she rummaged around.

”Here.” I gave her mine, then considered the other cubbies. I remembered Wesley having a fairly nice sweats.h.i.+rt, and he was about my size. I rounded the beds in the middle of the room and checked Wesley's cubby. It wasn't there. His bunk was below Leech's. I looked there and found the sweats.h.i.+rt lying among other clothes and his blankets. It didn't smell terrible.

I stood up, slipping it over my head. As I did, I caught a glimpse into Leech's bunk. The things he'd taped to the wall: his Trilobytes poster (they were a super-popular band that toured the Edens and the Northern Federation), and his signed photo from the previous camp session with a big pink heart drawn in the corner around Paige's name. There was also a drawing in black ink, with the t.i.tle The Preserve: Secret Routes. The Preserve: Secret Routes. It was a map showing the whole Preserve in amazing detail. It had all the trails, animal pens, and here and there, dotted lines and arrows that were labeled with things like ”good shortcut” or ”ambush spot.” So, that was how he'd known where to leave the trail. He'd been keeping track from his previous games. The map even had a compa.s.s rose in the corner. And there were funny things, too. Like, he'd drawn a little bear in its enclosure that was standing on its hind legs, fangs bared, holding a terrified camper in its paws. There was a curving monster like a sea serpent in the little pond where the CITs had surprised us. It was a map showing the whole Preserve in amazing detail. It had all the trails, animal pens, and here and there, dotted lines and arrows that were labeled with things like ”good shortcut” or ”ambush spot.” So, that was how he'd known where to leave the trail. He'd been keeping track from his previous games. The map even had a compa.s.s rose in the corner. And there were funny things, too. Like, he'd drawn a little bear in its enclosure that was standing on its hind legs, fangs bared, holding a terrified camper in its paws. There was a curving monster like a sea serpent in the little pond where the CITs had surprised us.

The drawings were really good. Maybe that shouldn't have been a surprise, since he'd often had that sketchbook with him, but I guess I hadn't wanted to think of Leech as having any talents other than being a jerk. Did knowing this change how I felt about him?

”We good?” said Lilly. I turned to see her by the doorway. The others had left.

”Yeah.” I took a step.

But I stopped. I turned back to the wall.

The map. Leech's map. Something about it was sticking in my brain. Something familiar about that little sea monster...

And then I knew. The black cylinder case he took on his trips with Paul. It wasn't a fis.h.i.+ng pole.

”Oh,” I said quietly.

”Owen, what?” Lilly asked.

Everything was swimming. I thought about sitting down. Or, falling over. But there it all was. He'd been here the longest... his injured hand that one morning... he and Paul finding me in the water by the Aquinara.... They hadn't been fis.h.i.+ng at all.

I stared at the little map on the wall, and said, ”I know who the third Atlantean is.”

Chapter 24

”WHAT?” LILLY ASKED. SHE STEPPED OVER TO MY side. ”You do?” side. ”You do?”

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