One news report shook Zack to the core, a nostalgic look at the reconstruction of Manhattan. In the wake of the Cataclysm, the world’s greatest engineers came together to design a second-draft city, one that would carry the island into the next century and beyond. The present-day New York was a marvel to look at, with brilliant glass spires of all shapes and colors, tempic tubes that connected buildings at the highest floors, ethereal ghost billboards, and ten different levels of aer traffic. The images reduced Zack to wet-eyed wonder.
As August turned to September, the others began to notice a change in Zack’s behavior. His once relentless wit died down to the occasional lazy quip. He spent more time alone in his room. When asked if he was okay, he merely replied with one-word answers. Sure. Yup. Spiffy.
On September 3, David and Mia played an impromptu game of “red hands” in the lobby, giggling as they attempted to thwart each other’s palm slaps. Zack watched from his drawing chair, stone-faced, until he suddenly dropped his sketchbook and marched upstairs to Quint’s office. For once the cartoonist met him with a serious face.
“You remember our deal, Sterling? About the money?”
“Of course. A thousand dollars for each of you. For each week of your continued cooperation.”
“Right. Tomorrow it’ll be six weeks.”
Quint’s stomach lurched. “And your point in bringing this up?”
“You know why,” Zack replied. “Get your cash together. I’m leaving.”
—
The Silvers’ next meal was a loud one.
“For God’s sake, Zack! Why?”
He’d announced his upcoming departure with drab triviality, as if he were merely changing e-mail addresses. The others weren’t so blasé.
“I mean, what will you do when the money runs out?” Hannah asked. “Street caricatures? You gonna go door-to-door offering to freshen up vegetables?”
Zack smirked. “I like that. I’ll start a whole business. They’ll call me the Wandering Juve.”
“This isn’t funny! This is the rest of your life!”
“Right. My life. My decision. And I decided enough is enough. Every day I stay here, I feel more and more like Quint’s house cat. I eat his food. I lounge on his chairs. I beg for information about the world when I should be out there seeing it for myself.”
“But where will you go?” Mia asked.
“I’ll make my way to New York. If it’s anything like my hometown, it’s still Alien Central, which means there’ll be people hiring under the table. I’ll work for a living. And when I’m not working, I’ll look for my brother.”
The dining room grew quiet as the others retreated into thought. David came back first.
“Zack, I’m going to be blunt with you in a way you won’t like. I say this because I respect you—”
“Just spit it out already.”
“You won’t find your brother,” David said. “Even on the slim chance that a handful of people in New York received bracelets like we did, there’s no guarantee Josh is one of them. And even if he was, you’re not going to find him in a city of eight million people. It’s just unrealistic.”
Zack tensely shrugged. “I suppose it is. But if there’s a chance, even a small one, I have to try.”
“And to hell with us, right?”
From the moment he dropped his news, Zack had simmered in the heat of Amanda’s harsh green glare. Her cast had come off an hour ago. She held her mended wrist, wiggling her fingers as if she were playing an invisible trumpet.
“I don’t enjoy the thought of leaving you guys,” Zack insisted. “In fact, anyone who wants to join me is more than welcome.”
“Bullshit. You never asked. You never even tried to convince us.”
He looked at Amanda in flummox. “Wait. You’re mad because I didn’t ask you to come with me?”
“No, I’m mad because you decided to leave us all without a second thought. You’re the most adaptable one out of all of us. Maybe we need you. Maybe you need us. Maybe it would hurt you to lose the only people you know from your world. Did any of that occur to you? Or does none of it matter because you’re feeling antsy?”
“If you think I came to this decision lightly—”
“That’s exactly what I think.”
Sitting silent and rigid at the far end of the table, Theo awkwardly scanned his companions. He’d been an erratic presence in their lives over the last two weeks. Some days he’d join them for all three meals. Other days he’d never leave his second-floor sanctum. He wished today had been one of those other days. He felt like a guest at a family brawl.
Hannah held Zack’s wrist. “Look, we get your decision . . .”
“She doesn’t,” he snarled, in Amanda’s direction.
“She wants you to stay. We all do. We just don’t understand the rush. Why can’t you wait a month or two?”
“You think we’ll be any more prepared? It’s been two weeks since Quint’s presentation. Have there been any follow-ups? Where’s the net-accessible computer he promised us ten days ago? Wake up, Hannah. He wants us to stay clueless. He wants us to be scared and dependent on him, because we’re his meal ticket.”
Mia anxiously twisted her napkin. She agreed with everything Zack said and hated the fact that Quint’s scheme was working. The thought of facing the outside world still terrified her.
“I’d go if we all went,” she meekly offered.