on the list of demands, but pretty cool, anyway). In all, ten more demands had been met during CIS’s radio silence, and several more were in the works. It was clear the world wasn’t done yet.
* * *
Marisa leaned over once again to grab her marker, tears welling in her eyes the way they had when the Protectors had first jumped in front of her to shield her from flying objects. No emotion wreaked more havoc on tear ducts than hope.
* * *
Ms. Duli watched Marisa breathe through the simple act of drawing lines through the newly met demands. Her heart soared. Over the past few days she’d seen Marisa cross a couple of items off and felt nothing other than the slight joy and relief she associated with completing an errand. This felt different.
* * *
A murmur broke out in the foyer. Maizey Krokic had just arrived breathless from the stairs. She was doubled over from the sprint, having, like Amira and so many others, not kept up with her conditioning over the past week. When she finally caught her breath, she sounded equal parts scared, excited and confused. “Jordi Marcos is going to break the glass upstairs.”
It was Pok Tran, who immediately responded, as would be expected, with a mocking, “Yeah, yeah.” They all knew about the shatterproof glass, and CIS’s paranoia. Which of course Maizey had predicted. She pulled out her phone to show them the video she’d recorded, just as Marisa capped her marker again, wondering why she couldn’t celebrate good news for one single second before someone barged in yelling about some fresh new hell.
* * *
There was a mad scramble up the stairs. Students wanted to see Jordi hurl himself at the glass. They wanted to be the one to stop him, tackle him and restrain him. Maya and Michael and all those who loved Marisa (and maybe Peejay a little) wanted to do it for her, for the reefs. Teachers rushed up, wanting to make sure no one else got hurt, curious as they hopped up the stairs two or three at a time whether the glass had really been so vulnerable this whole time.
* * *
Omar raced upstairs, too, sent by Peejay to check on whatever was happening and put those athletic, plastic-collecting muscles to good use. Of course, a bottleneck formed at the roof garden’s entrance, caused both by the sheer number of people trying to squeeze in at once and the fact that the first who’d arrived froze a few feet from the door, watching the spectacle that was Jordi Marcos throwing himself full force at the same glass pane over and over.
In pain, he’d stopped sprinting the whole way, instead hauling himself to his feet and taking a few steps back before launching himself again. A few more cracks had appeared, oozing rainwater like a wound. Soon, he thought. It would all be over soon.
* * *
Amira watched the scene unfolding and felt an urgency to be there. She wished she’d never left. “Amira?” someone to her left said. She didn’t want to turn toward the voice. She wanted to slink back into the crowd’s anonymity and make her way to the basement door, where she would reenter the building and go take care of whatever was going on upstairs on Marisa’s behalf.
Then a hand fell on her forearm, and she knew it was too late.
* * *
The bottleneck broke, mostly because Omar broke through. His love of basketball had waned over the past week, but not his muscles, or the way students revered his athleticism. Ms. Duli was making her way up the stairs, too, her diminutive stature ensuring she’d miss the day’s second traumatic injury.
Omar, tall and near the front, could see it happening. Clearly before anyone else, or at least he saw more clearly that Jordi was about to need some help. He sprinted.
* * *
Jordi picked himself back up, aware now that he had a crowd, and the boy who’d stopped his punch was headed his way to try to stop him again. He wasn’t going to let that happen. His shoulder was sore as hell now, but he was a goddamn bulldozer, not a speed bump.
* * *
Downstairs, the police, having cleared the crowd away, brought in the battering ram with which they intended to break the door down. Someone had to run toward them and explain that there was a child on the other side of the door. They shrugged and moved to