Mania by J. R. Johansson Page B

are you doing?” I sat her water bottle on the ground beside her and twisted the top off of mine.
    My phone chimed in my pocket. I pulled it out and groaned. Parker’s message was cryptic. I hoped whatever he wanted was important. When I put the phone away, Chloe finally answered my question.
    â€œI think … I think I might have something.” She looked up at me, but her face was guarded like she was afraid to hope again. In front of her was a pile of the shredded paper she must have gathered from the box. A couple of larger pieces were in her hands, and they shook as she held them out toward me.
    I squinted and knelt beside her, trying to make out the words I could already tell were repeating over and over. I was ready to dismiss it as part of Dad’s plan to mislead whoever set off the explosion, but then I thought of the gravity of the task he’d given me. He wouldn’t have wanted what he’d written to be lost forever just because some Taker had gotten here before I could. I focused on his words, in that handwriting I would never be able to forget.
    The second’s skull contains the key—
The second’s skull contains the key
    My mind locked on the words, trying to decipher their meaning.
    Chloe’s phone went off, and when she read the message she laughed and held it out to me. “Your brother sure is persistent.”
    This is Parker. I have questions and I think you might have the answers I need. Can you come over?
    I laughed softly and shook my head. Persistent was the perfect word to describe him … sometimes to a fault.
    â€œI’ll answer him in a minute.” Chloe tucked the phone back in her pocket.
    I nodded but kept my eyes on the shredded papers she still clutched in her other hand.
    Chloe read the words aloud, and then asked, “What does it mean, Jack?”
    â€œI think it means we can still find the answers we need.” I stood up and stretched my back before putting on my sunglasses. “It’s just going to be a lot harder now.”
    â€œI’m sorry.” She got to her feet beside me and this time looked me straight in the eye. “That was stupid. I should’ve waited.”
    I looked back at her, surprised by her sincerity, and realized that despite going through two explosions together, I knew very little about her.
    As I turned back toward the van, I responded. “You’re right. You should have waited, but I’m not ready to give up either.”
    â€œWhere are we going?” She picked up her water and jogged to catch up, then climbed into the passenger seat.
    â€œMy brother wants us to come back, so we’re going back.” I glanced over at her and said, “Besides, you know how it refers to ‘the second’ in the message?”
    â€œYeah?”
    I shoved the van into gear and put my foot on the gas. “That’s what my dad used to call Parker.”

    As I gripped the handle to Parker’s front door, I hesitated. Since I’d left with all of my stuff this morning, I technically didn’t live here anymore. A pang of sadness hit me at how much of my family was gone. I was like a plague—anyone who got too close wound up dead. Given this, Parker and his mom were probably safer without me around. I shook off that morose train of thought and jabbed in the doorbell.
    I heard footsteps, and when the door opened I was surprised to see Parker’s Mom, Mrs. Chipp. One thing I’d learned while staying with them was that she really wasn’t home very often, at least not nearly as much as she wished she could be.
    â€œHi Jack!” She smiled and held the door open, but there was still a bit of hesitation behind her expression.
    Ever since Parker had told her everything about Dad and who I really was, she’d gone out of her way to be kind, but there was still that knowledge in the back of her mind that I was her husband’s kid with another woman. From the