Avery did. In fact, he had many ideas, some of them Gladys’s (her fear was like a rat running on a wheel in the middle of her head), some of them entirely his own.
Once they were through the door marked AUTHORIZED PERSONNEL ONLY, it was a little warmer, and in the tatty lounge where Dr. James was waiting for them (her white lab coat misbuttoned, her hair in disarray, a big goofy smile on her face), it was warmer still.
Avery’s shivering slowed, then ceased, but the colored Stasi Lights came back. That was all right, because he could make them go away any time he wanted. Zeke had nearly killed him in that tank, in fact before Avery passed out he thought he was dead, but the tank had also done something to him. He understood that it did stuff to some of the other kids who went into it, but he thought this was something more. TK as well as TP was the least of it. Gladys was terrified of what might happen because of Luke, but Avery had an idea that he, Avery, could terrify her of him, if he wanted.
But this wasn’t the time.
“Hello, young man!” Dr. James cried. She sounded like a politician on a TV ad, and her thoughts were flying around like scraps of paper caught in a strong wind.
Something is really, really wrong with her, Avery thought. It’s like radiation poisoning, only in her brain instead of her bones.
“Hello,” Avery said.
Dr. Jeckle threw back her head and laughed as if Hello were the punchline of the funniest joke she’d ever heard. “We weren’t expecting you so soon, but welcome, welcome! Some of your friends are here!”
I know, Avery thought, and I can’t wait to see them. And I think they’ll be glad to see me.
“First, though, we need to get you out of those wet clothes.” She gave Gladys a reproachful look, but Gladys was busy scratching at her arms, trying to get rid of the buzz running over her skin (or just under it). Good luck with that, Avery thought. “I’ll have Henry take you to your room. We have nice caretakers here. Can you walk on your own?”
“Yes.”
Dr. Jeckle did some more laughing, head back and throat working. Avery got out of the wheelchair, and gave Gladys a long, measuring look. She stopped scratching and now she was the one who shivered. Not because she was wet, and not because she was cold. It was because of him. She felt him, and she didn’t like it.
But Avery did. It was sort of beautiful.
8
Because there was no other chair in Mr. Jackson’s living room, Tim brought one in from the outer office. He considered putting it in front of the boy, then decided that would be too much like the set-up in a police interrogation room. He slid it beside the La-Z-Boy instead, sitting next to the boy the way you’d sit with a friend, maybe to watch a favorite TV show. Only Mr. Jackson’s flatscreen was blank.
“Now, Luke,” he said. “According to Annie, you were kidnapped, but Annie isn’t always . . . completely on the beam, let’s say.”
“She’s on the beam about that,” Luke said.
“Okay, then. Kidnapped from where?”
“Minneapolis. They knocked me out. And they killed my parents.” He swiped a hand across his eyes.
“These kidnappers took you from Minneapolis to Maine. How did they do that?”
“I don’t know. I was unconscious. Probably in a plane. I really am from Minneapolis. You can check that out, all you have to do is call my school. It’s called the Broderick School for Exceptional Children.”
“Which would make you a bright boy, I’m assuming.”
“Oh, sure,” Luke said, with no pride in his voice. “I’m a bright boy. And right now I’m a very hungry boy. I haven’t had anything for a couple of days but a sausage biscuit and a fruit pie. I think a couple of days. I’ve kind of lost track of time. A man named Mattie gave them to me.”
“Nothing else?”
“A piece of doughnut,” Luke said. “It wasn’t very big.”
“Jesus, let’s get you something to eat.”
“Yes,” Luke said, then added, “Please.”
Tim took his cell phone from his pocket. “Wendy? This is Tim. I wonder if you could do me a favor.”
9
Avery’s room in Back Half was stark. The bed was your basic cot. There were no Nickelodeon posters on the walls, and no G.I. Joes on the bureau to play with. That was