enough to measure the full weirdness between us.
“I told Mona—Dr. Ghali—the physicist I was talking about. And actually, I told Ben Kenobi. I showed him drawings. He’s the one who, well, anyway …”
“Ethan,
what?
What happened?” I am getting nervous and impatient. I don’t know where this is going, what it has to do with me, or just how much trouble I am potentially getting us into, and yet I can’t seem to hold back.
“Just this strange kind of … disturbance in the air over the river. Really hard to describe, and then …” Still that searching look.
“What?”
He shakes his head. He looks tired and uncertain. “You really don’t remember, do you?”
Mr. Robert calls twice before dinner and I don’t pick up. This is not okay. The cell phone I carry is for his convenience more than mine, though he would never say so. You can sometimesget away with a couple of standard excuses: I’m so sorry—I lost my charger and now my phone is dead. OMG, my phone didn’t even ring, isn’t that weird? But I am at the very outer limit.
I go over to Katherine’s house right after dinner. My mom gives me a heavy look as I walk out the door. The windows at Katherine’s house are dark. Katherine and her dad aren’t go-out-at-night people. I try to think of comforting excuses on the way home. It’s not curriculum night or college night or science social night at school, is it? Could be, right?
“Mr. Robert called,” my mother tells me as soon as I walk in the door.
“I misplaced my phone,” I say lightly. “I must have left it in my locker at school.”
“Make sure you get it tomorrow,” she warns me.
“I will.”
“He wants you to stay put for the rest of the evening and come home directly after school tomorrow, and I assured him you would. He said he’d be in touch about speaking in person before your next scheduled session.”
I am already halfway up the stairs.
“Prenna?”
“Uh-huh?”
“Everything okay?”
I need to say something. She needs to feel like she’s doing her job. “The homeless guy from the parking lot at the A&P said a bunch of weird stuff to me because he’s crazy, and Mr. Robert wants to follow up. That’s all.”
Later on I sort of, oops, drop my phone out the back window of my house. Before I do, I make sure it’s not supposed torain. It lands among the daffodils that I myself planted. Now my phone really is misplaced. Darn.
I think about what Ethan said. I try his words a hundred different ways. A thousand. There is no way I am going to sleep tonight.
Katherine is not in school the next day. I am starting to panic. What am I going to do? I am in agony. I wait by Katherine’s locker between every class, hoping I am wrong. Hoping she’ll show up. Maybe she just had a sore throat or something.
I can’t stand the idea of going home after school, especially because of being ordered to. It occurs to me: I could wait for Mr. Robert to find me, or I could go find him.
He’s not at his office the first time I check. The second time he is.
“Prenna. Just the girl I’ve been trying to reach,” Mr. Robert says, opening the door for me.
Without thinking, I go and plant myself on his couch as I’ve done for the last four years. “Where is Katherine Wand?”
He sits down and creaks around in his swivelly office chair. He adjusts his glasses, no hurry at all. “Katherine has decided to complete the semester at a terrific boarding school in New Hampshire.”
I glower at him. “
Katherine
has decided?”
“Please watch your tone, Prenna.”
I take a deep breath. “Why did she decide that?”
“Frankly, Cynthia and her father encouraged her,” Mr.Robert says evenly. “Among other things, we felt perhaps the two of you needed a break. I think you are putting her in a difficult position, discussing inappropriate subjects with her and demanding her secrecy. She is very loyal to you.”
I am translating as he goes: they wanted information from
“I told Mona—Dr. Ghali—the physicist I was talking about. And actually, I told Ben Kenobi. I showed him drawings. He’s the one who, well, anyway …”
“Ethan,
what?
What happened?” I am getting nervous and impatient. I don’t know where this is going, what it has to do with me, or just how much trouble I am potentially getting us into, and yet I can’t seem to hold back.
“Just this strange kind of … disturbance in the air over the river. Really hard to describe, and then …” Still that searching look.
“What?”
He shakes his head. He looks tired and uncertain. “You really don’t remember, do you?”
Mr. Robert calls twice before dinner and I don’t pick up. This is not okay. The cell phone I carry is for his convenience more than mine, though he would never say so. You can sometimesget away with a couple of standard excuses: I’m so sorry—I lost my charger and now my phone is dead. OMG, my phone didn’t even ring, isn’t that weird? But I am at the very outer limit.
I go over to Katherine’s house right after dinner. My mom gives me a heavy look as I walk out the door. The windows at Katherine’s house are dark. Katherine and her dad aren’t go-out-at-night people. I try to think of comforting excuses on the way home. It’s not curriculum night or college night or science social night at school, is it? Could be, right?
“Mr. Robert called,” my mother tells me as soon as I walk in the door.
“I misplaced my phone,” I say lightly. “I must have left it in my locker at school.”
“Make sure you get it tomorrow,” she warns me.
“I will.”
“He wants you to stay put for the rest of the evening and come home directly after school tomorrow, and I assured him you would. He said he’d be in touch about speaking in person before your next scheduled session.”
I am already halfway up the stairs.
“Prenna?”
“Uh-huh?”
“Everything okay?”
I need to say something. She needs to feel like she’s doing her job. “The homeless guy from the parking lot at the A&P said a bunch of weird stuff to me because he’s crazy, and Mr. Robert wants to follow up. That’s all.”
Later on I sort of, oops, drop my phone out the back window of my house. Before I do, I make sure it’s not supposed torain. It lands among the daffodils that I myself planted. Now my phone really is misplaced. Darn.
I think about what Ethan said. I try his words a hundred different ways. A thousand. There is no way I am going to sleep tonight.
Katherine is not in school the next day. I am starting to panic. What am I going to do? I am in agony. I wait by Katherine’s locker between every class, hoping I am wrong. Hoping she’ll show up. Maybe she just had a sore throat or something.
I can’t stand the idea of going home after school, especially because of being ordered to. It occurs to me: I could wait for Mr. Robert to find me, or I could go find him.
He’s not at his office the first time I check. The second time he is.
“Prenna. Just the girl I’ve been trying to reach,” Mr. Robert says, opening the door for me.
Without thinking, I go and plant myself on his couch as I’ve done for the last four years. “Where is Katherine Wand?”
He sits down and creaks around in his swivelly office chair. He adjusts his glasses, no hurry at all. “Katherine has decided to complete the semester at a terrific boarding school in New Hampshire.”
I glower at him. “
Katherine
has decided?”
“Please watch your tone, Prenna.”
I take a deep breath. “Why did she decide that?”
“Frankly, Cynthia and her father encouraged her,” Mr.Robert says evenly. “Among other things, we felt perhaps the two of you needed a break. I think you are putting her in a difficult position, discussing inappropriate subjects with her and demanding her secrecy. She is very loyal to you.”
I am translating as he goes: they wanted information from
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