Etherworld (20 page)

“I'm coming . . . with you,” Josh says, trying to sit up. He moves his legs slightly so they hang off the bed, and he tries to stand, but his legs begin to shake and he flops back down on the mattress.

“Josh, you're weak,” I say.

It takes all his strength to push himself up again. “No one's . . . going anywhere . . . without me.”

He stands up and takes a wobbly step. Avery and I both reach out to him before he falls, but Patrick is there in a blink of an eye, grabbing Josh and propping him up in one quick motion. He takes Josh's arm and flings it around his shoulder, helping to steady him, and I do the same.

“Will you take my stuff to the car?” Patrick says to Avery.

She retrieves his quantum and tab off Josh's dresser, then dashes out of the room, her boots clunking against the floor.

Patrick and I help Josh out of the room, our legs moving in unison, one step at a time.

UNCORRECTED E-PROOF—NOT FOR SALE

HarperCollins Publishers

..................................................................

JOSH AND I ARE SCRUNCHED IN THE BACK of Patrick's car as it idles twenty feet in front of the long glass-encased bridge, its two red barriers preventing us from going any farther. In our rush to get or here, we completely forgot that getting across would require having the appropriate clearance.

“What are you stopping for?” Avery says. She's sitting in the front with Patrick, leaning forward with both hands on the dashboard, ready to jump out and find Nora herself.

“There's no way to get over the bridge without residency codes, remember?” A horn wails behind him, so Patrick presses a button and his window comes down a little. He waves the vehicle around us.

“Well, can't you make a few calls or something? You're famous, for Christ's sake. You can pay off somebody in bridge security, or maybe someone who lives here,” Avery says, shoving him in the shoulder.

“Stop it, Avery. You're not helping,” Josh says, his voice still faint. I can tell his strength is slowly coming back to him, though, just by holding his hand. His grip is getting tighter around my fingers; his arm muscles feel less slack. The redness is beginning to fade from his eyes a little too, but his halting speech suggests he has a way to go before he's back to normal.

Avery turns around in her seat and glares at Josh, her cheeks flushed with fear. “How did Nora get here, anyway?”

She has a point. It's a private island with a private bridge. There are no special access tunnels leading here, and swimming across the canal is out of the question. Even though it's not as polluted as the river, the water still has toxins in it that could kill anyone who might accidentally ingest it.

Josh looks like he's about to say something, but before he can, Avery twists around, facing me directly. “The semiconductor chip. Do you still have it?” she asks, looking at me through her dark-rimmed glasses.

Of course, the passcard. If it can unlock any door, maybe it can get us through the bridge's sensors.

I take it out of my sweater pocket with my free hand and give the card to Avery, who holds on to it like it's some kind of crystal ball that will show her where exactly Nora is and how she's doing.

“Where did you get that?” Patrick asks, his blue eyes flicking back to me in the rearview mirror. The blotches on his neck confirm what I've already assumed—he's upset with me again. This is the second time I've broken the law this week, and while I know I had no other options, it's clear Patrick doesn't understand just how far I'm willing to go.

“Does that even matter?” I ask, tipping my head at Avery, trying to be reassuring. “We can try and use it to get across the bridge.”

Josh squeezes my hand and I turn to him.

“It . . . matters,” Josh says, swallowing hard. “If the chip . . . isn't compatible . . . it could cause—”

“A huge shortage that could shut down the power grid on the island—which would be yet another felony to add to the list,” Patrick interjects. He's still staring at me through the mirror, and I see how he's sweating. “There are cameras everywhere, too, so chances are we'll get caught if this doesn't work.”

“I don't care how many laws we break,” I say.

“Me . . . either,” Josh says.

“That makes three of us,” Avery chimes in. She practically flings the card at Patrick, who catches it in his right hand, and stares him down.

“Fine,” he says, putting the car into gear.

We slowly advance toward the red barrier. Patrick raises the passcard right before the wheels roll to another stop, just a few inches away from the bridge's entrance. A yellow beam of light flashes down from a sensor embedded in the barrier and fixates on the passcard.

Suddenly there's a beeping sound, and the barriers open wide so that we can drive onto the bridge. Avery lets out a joyous yelp that fills the car with a surprising sense of hope, which we all desperately need. Patrick floors the gas, the canal passing below us in a hazy green-brown blur.

“Do you know the address?” he asks Josh, keeping his gaze on the road for now.

“Lakeshore Road,” Josh says through a cough. “The only red . . . house on the block.”

“Plug the street name into your tab. Reporters have hacked into everything I've got, including my AutoComm,” Patrick tells Avery, who does exactly what he says.

I lean back in my seat, tugging on Josh's arm and signaling that he should do the same. “How are you feeling?”

“Better,” he says. “My legs aren't as numb . . . as before.”

“Do you think we'll be able to get to Nora in time?” I whisper, not wanting to worry Avery more than she already is.

Josh looks at Avery and whispers back when he sees that she's preoccupied with getting directions. “I hope so. The Alaskan Shore Escape was huge. We couldn't find the triggers . . .”

“We have to get her out before she leaves Elusion. We can't pull people out of Etherworld,” I say.

“It's possible she's still there. There aren't that many of us left, so it's taking us longer to destroy the Escapes,” Josh says, lowering his eyes. “We've destroyed about half of them . . . but we've lost so many people. They've all been sent back . . . just like Claire.” He leans forward, his forehead touching mine. “Do you know what happened to her? Or the others?”

“Claire didn't . . . she didn't make it.”

His face falls, the grim truth seeping in. “I was so scared that you'd . . .” He closes his eyes. “But you're okay.”

“Yes,” I say. I touch my fingers to his cheek and then pull back a little, remembering that Patrick can see us in the rearview mirror. I know it must be hard for him to watch Josh and me together like this, but I'm so happy that Josh is okay, it's hard to restrain myself.

The car crosses the island and onto Lakeshore Road, which travels north toward Hennepin Point, where large Victorian homes and remodeled summer estates dot the coastline. Avery almost has her nose pressed against the window in anticipation, waiting for a red house to come into view. Josh shifted his gaze to the passing the scenery as soon as I told him what happened to Claire, and my stomach is twisting into a knot.

And it only twists tighter as Avery shouts, “There it is!”

Patrick pulls the car in front of a partially refurbished red colonial-style house with a huge wraparound porch. There's a tarp over the roof, as if the house in undergoing renovations.

“Doesn't look like anyone lives here,” Patrick says.

Josh jumps out of the back without any assistance, his legs a lot sturdier than when he got into the car twenty minutes ago. But before anyone can run toward the steps, Josh walks around the car and moves in front of Avery, blocking her.

“You should wait outside,” he says firmly.

“Are you kidding? No way,” Avery says, turning toward the house.

Josh grabs her arm. “Just do it, okay? It's what Nora wants. She told me she's hurt you enough. She doesn't want you to see her like this.”

I glance at Patrick, wondering if he has any idea what's going on, but he only shrugs.

“I'm going to hurt
you
if you don't get out of my way. And it won't be too hard—you're an easy target,” Avery says, her jaw clenched.

Josh backs off, and we follow Avery up the porch stairs. She turns around at the front door and waves her hand at Patrick.

“Gimme the passcard,” she says.

He hands it over and Avery holds it in front of the lockpad, and after a few seconds the tiny green light on the front blinks.

Avery barges inside, mindlessly calling out Nora's name even though we all know there's no way she can respond. We follow her, glancing around the foyer and heading into the expansive kitchen filled with all the latest appliances. As soon as we see that Nora isn't there, we file into the living room, where the furniture is covered in drop cloths. There's no sign of Nora.

“What's this?” Avery asks as she grabs a dusty photocube off the mantel. She shakes it, revealing a flurry of pictures of a family, including a person who is all too familiar—to everyone but Patrick, that is.

“Maureen,” I murmur, as an image of a girl hugging a German shepherd puppy floats in front of me. She's the same girl we found with Nora's tab inside an abandoned house in the Quartz Sector a few days ago. The same girl Avery took to the hospital and waited with while she was rushed into brain surgery.

And then another photo rises to the surface. One of Nora and Maureen, in the very room we're standing in, their arms around each other, laughing.

“Is that someone you know? From Etherworld?” Patrick asks me.

Avery's eyes begin to water as she turns to Josh. “Is this Maureen's house? Was Nora staying here with her?” When he doesn't answer, she shouts, “Tell me, Josh!”

“It's not what it looks like,” he says. “They're just friends. They met each other through this Stealth group and got hooked on Elusion together. They used to hijack their Equips here, that's all.”

Avery looks at him, shaking her head. It's the first and only time I've ever seen her at a loss for words. I know she's wondering the same thing I am: Maybe Nora ran away for a reason. Maybe she was cheating on Avery.

Avery starts shaking, and the photocube drops to the floor. I need to defuse the situation before Avery has a meltdown. All that matters right now is that we find Nora and bring her home.

“Let's start with the top floor,” I say. “We can worry about everything else once we make sure she's okay.”

Avery still can't bring herself to say anything, so she follows me up the stairs to the second floor in silence. There are at least five open doors, so we all split up, with me running down the hall toward the very last room and Josh taking the first one, limping as he walks.

As soon as I enter, I hear Patrick calling out to us, “She's not here!”

“I've got nothing!” Josh shouts from the other end of the hallway.

I'm about to say the same thing, since all I see is a bare mattress on a platform-bed frame and an InstaComm wall. But then I walk in a little farther and see that there's a suite off to the left. A big inhalation for courage, and I turn the corner.

The emaciated girl lying on the gray couch barely resembles the Nora I met in Etherworld. She's dressed in jeans and an old T-shirt; her hair is longer than it was in Elusion. A dusty visor covers her eyes, resting against her sunken cheeks, and there's an empty IV on the floor, the needle from the tube taped to the inside of her wrist. There's a tab lying near her right leg, and even from here I can see the blue status bar zipping along the bottom. It's still active.

There's a chance we can help her.

“She's here!” I yell at the top of my lungs.

A thud of footsteps echoes from outside the room, as I walk toward the couch and sit beside Nora, gently picking up her hand to look at her wristband. It reads:

Error.

I grab the beat-up silver tab and check it, too.

ELUSION© Escape 010402 is experiencing difficulties.

Please try again.

“No, no, no,” Avery cries, her voice full of anguish as she enters the suite alcove and heads toward Nora. Josh grabs her by the shoulders, restraining her. Patrick follows close behind, stopping short when he spots Josh's sister.

“She's still in Elusion,” I say to him. “You can get her back, can't you?”

Patrick pulls out his tab and begins typing. “I need the Elusion access control number. Can you read that to me off her tab?”

“That's not Nora's tab,” Avery mumbles. “Maureen had it. We don't know why.”

Josh gives me a look of affirmation that's become second nature to us.

He knows why.

“It doesn't matter. I need the access code from the tab she's using,” Patrick says.

Avery kneels next to Nora, gently taking her lifeless hand. “Wake up,” she says quietly. “Please wake up.”

Josh crosses his arms, his eyes never leaving his sister. I place both my arms around his waist, as if trying to absorb some of his pain.

After a few moments, Avery looks at Patrick. “What's happening?”

“I've identified the weakness, so it should be a matter of simply—” Patrick stops midsentence. He leans in toward his screen, his brow creased in confusion. “This isn't possible,” he murmurs.

“What's wrong?” I ask.

“The hole in the firewall. The code that I used to get through it—it's, it's . . .”

I let Josh go and he and limps over to Patrick, staring at the screen. “What kind of programming language is that?”

“I don't know. I've never seen it before. It's as if the hole has been repaired and the code rewritten. What's even weirder is that I can see chunks of my original code, like the new code was written right over it.”