of feet from near his desk, and his first thought was that one of the caretakers had come to take his laptop, because they had been monitoring him all along, and he’d been stupid to believe otherwise. Maximo retardo.
Rage filled him like poison. He did not get out of bed so much as spring from it, meaning to tackle whoever it was that had come into his room. Let the intruder slap, punch, or use his goddam zap-stick. Luke would get in at least a few good blows. They might not understand the real reason he was hitting, but that was all right; Luke would know.
Only it wasn’t an adult. He collided with a small body and knocked it sprawling.
“Ow, Lukey, don’t! Don’t hurt me!”
Avery Dixon. The Avester.
Luke groped, picked him up, and led him over to the bed, where he turned on the lamp. Avery looked terrified.
“Jesus, what are you doing here?”
“I woke up and was scared. I can’t go in with Sha, because they took her away. So I came here. Can I stay? Please?”
All of that was true, but it wasn’t the whole truth. Luke understood this with a clarity that made the other “knowings” he’d had seem dim and tentative. Because Avery was a strong TP, much stronger than Kalisha, and right now Avery was . . . well . . . broadcasting.
“You can stay.” But when Avery started to get into bed: “Nuh-uh, you need to go to the bathroom first. You’re not peeing in my bed.”
Avery didn’t argue, and Luke soon heard urine splattering in the bowl. Quite a lot of it. When Avery came back, Luke turned off the light. Avery snuggled up. It was nice not to be alone. Wonderful, in fact.
In his ear, Avery whispered, “I’m sorry about your mumma and your daddy, Luke.”
For a few moments Luke couldn’t speak. When he could, he whispered back, “Were you and Kalisha talking about me yesterday on the playground?”
“Yes. She told me to come. She said she would send you letters, and I would be the mailman. You can tell George and Helen, if you think it’s safe.”
But he wouldn’t, because nothing here was safe. Not even thinking was safe. He replayed what he’d said when Kalisha was telling him about Nicky fighting the red caretakers from Back Half: Knocked it out of his hand. Meaning one of the zap-sticks. She hadn’t asked Luke how he knew that, because she almost certainly knew already. Had he thought he could keep his new TP ability a secret from her? Maybe from the others, but not from Kalisha. And not from Avery.
“Look!” Avery whispered.
Luke could look at nothing, with the lamp off and no window to admit ambient light from outside, the room was completely dark, but he looked anyway, and thought he saw Kalisha.
“Is she all right?” Luke whispered.
“Yes. For now.”
“Is Nicky there? Is he all right?”
“Yes,” Avery whispered. “Iris, too. Only she gets headaches. Other kids do, too. Sha thinks they get them from the movies. And the dots.”
“What movies?”
“I don’t know, Sha hasn’t seen any yet, but Nicky has. Iris, too. Kalisha says she thinks there are other kids—like maybe in the back half of Back Half—but only a few in the place where they are right now. Jimmy and Len. Also Donna.”
I got Donna’s computer, Luke thought. Inherited it.
“Bobby Washington was there at first, but now he’s gone. Iris told Kalisha she saw him.”
“I don’t know those kids.”
“Kalisha says Donna went to Back Half just a couple of days before you came. That’s why you got her computer.”
“You’re eerie,” Luke said.
Avery, who probably knew he was eerie, ignored this. “They get hurty shots. Shots and dots, dots and shots. Sha says she thinks bad things happen in Back Half. She says maybe you can do something. She says . . .”
He didn’t finish, and didn’t have to. Luke had a brief but blindingly clear image, surely sent from Kalisha Benson by way of Avery Dixon: a canary in a cage. The door swung open and the canary flew out.
“She says you’re the only one who’s smart enough.”
“I will if I can,” Luke said. “What else did she tell you?”
To this there was no answer. Avery had gone to sleep.
ESCAPE
1
Three weeks passed.
Luke ate. He slept, woke, ate again. He soon memorized the menu, and joined the other kids in sarcastic applause when something on it changed. Some days there were tests. Some days there were shots. Some days there were both. Some