“I can’t think about crushes and girls and all that right now,” Chip mumbled. “Not when I don’t even know who I am.”
“You’re Chip Winston,” Jonah said firmly. He felt like he was replaying the conversation he’d had with Katherine the night he’d gotten the second letter. Except he was taking the Katherine role.
Chip didn’t answer right away. Jonah wondered if he’d even heard him. Then, so softly that Jonah had to lean in to hear him, Chip whispered, “Can I tell you something? Even before I found out I was adopted, even before I knew Mom and Dad weren’t really my parents—biological parents, I mean—I always felt like there was something wrong with me. Something different. Like I wasn’t who I was supposed to be. Like I never belonged. Not here. Not back in Winnetka. Not anywhere.”
Jonah leaned away and squinted at Chip in distress. Kids weren’t supposed to say stuff like that to other kids. What if somebody else heard him? Jonah looked around. Marcus Gladstone was drumming his fingers on the seat in front of him. Owen Rogers was doing his math homework, muttering, “Come on, come on, multiply both sides by twelve…carry the four….” Queen Jackson was telling Nila Holcomb, “That boy is just bad news.” Jonah was pretty sure she wasn’t talking about him or Chip.
Chip hadn’t even looked up. He was still talking, his eyes trained on the seat back in front of him.
“—And it seems like, this whole adoption thing, maybe that’s my answer. Maybe once I find out everything and get an explanation, then I’ll know—”
Jonah shoved his shoulder against Chip’s shoulder.
“Hey,” he interrupted harshly. “Stop that.” He tried to remember the argument Katherine had used on him. “Weren’t you paying attention in that guidance assembly the other day? All teenagers wonder who they are. It’s part of growing up.”
Jonah couldn’t believe he’d been forced to use such a goopy line. Now he was as embarrassed for himself as he was for Chip. He hoped no one else had heard him.
“I think this is different,” Chip said quietly. He paused, as if to give Jonah a chance to say, “I know what you mean.” Or to admit, “You’re totally right. I’ve felt the same way. And not just since I turned thirteen.” When Jonah didn’t say anything, Chip went on. “And don’t you see? This is big. All these kids, and the FBI, and—and ghosts…”
“But it doesn’t make any sense,” Jonah said.
“I was working on a theory,” Chip said. He held up his cell phone. “Until our friend Daniella messed everything up.”
“So what was the theory?”
Before Chip could answer, the phone in his hand began to ring, blaring a Fall Out Boy tune. Quickly, Chip flipped it open and looked at the number.
“Seven-three-four area code…is that—” He raised the phone to his ear. “Daniella?”
“Who are you?” Daniella was evidently shouting, because this time Jonah didn’t even have to lean close to hear every word. “How did you know?”
Chip moved the phone away from his head, gave it a baffled look, then placed it back against his ear.
“I—what are you talking about?” he asked.
“We are moving!” Daniella screamed. Her voice blared from the phone. “This is so awful! My life is over!”
“I thought you said you weren’t,” Chip said cautiously.
“I didn’t know!” From the way her voice sounded, Jonah suspected that Daniella was about to cry. “My dad made this big ‘family announcement’ at breakfast—he’s taking a job transfer, and that little ‘getaway’ my parents were on was actually a house-hunting trip! They’re going to make an offer on a house today. What are you—the realtor’s kid?”
“Er, no. Actually—”
Daniella didn’t seem to hear him.
“That wasn’t funny at all, if that’s your idea of a prank,” she fumed. “Or, were you trying to talk me into thinking I was going to like the house? I won’t. My parents say it’s ‘wonderful.’” She made wonderful sound like something evil. “I bet it’s a pit!”
“Hold on,” Jonah said, struggling to catch up with all of Daniella’s fury-by-phone. “Did she say her parents are making an offer on the house today? They don’t own it already?”
Chip squinted in puzzlement.
“You’re talking about the house on Robin’s Egg Lane, right?” Chip said into the phone. He struggled to pull out the survivors list from his pocket, unfold it, and find the right number. “Um—1873 Robin’s Egg Lane? In”—he bit his lip, obviously making a guess—“Liston, Ohio?”
“Yes, yes, that’s what you asked me about. Mom and Dad saw it yesterday and just ‘fell in love with it.’” She twisted the words bitterly, so it sounded like they’d fallen into the deep fiery pits of Hades.
Jonah leaned in close and spoke into the phone: “You say they just saw the house yesterday? For the very first time?”
“Yes…,” Daniella moaned. “Yesterday, for the first time. And, just like that, they’re going to try to buy it today. I think they’re having a midlife crisis. They’re insane. Why do they have to ruin my life?” Now Jonah was certain: she was crying. Her words kept dissolving into wails. “I hate Ohio! I’m going to be miserable there! I—I—” She sniffled. “I can’t talk anymore. I’m too upset.”
The next thing Jonah heard was a dial tone.
Chip slowly lowered the phone from his ear.
“She’ll call back,” he said confidently. “She didn’t give me a chance to answer any of her questions.”
“But she answered ours,” Jonah said.