But in the end, she took only one detour. On her way to the crash site, twenty minutes from the end, Liz turned onto an exit ramp and drove to the state park.
She didn’t get out, only stared at the very tip of the scenic tower peeking over the trees. She thought of all the wishes she had made up there. She thought of her father racing her to the top, letting her win. She remembered how desperately she had once loved the sky, and finally she said those two small words that had been fighting to reach the air for so long now.
“I’m sorry.”
CHAPTER SEVENTY-SIX
And Then Things Fall Apart
Lennie is still there when the beeping begins.
Soon there are doctors and nurses rushing into the room, saying things that Kennie doesn’t understand, and she’s sobbing because something terrible is happening and she doesn’t know what.
The nurse with the pink dinosaurs takes Kennie’s hand and pulls her out of the way.
“What’s happening?” Kennie sobs, hysterical. “What’s going on?”
The nurse folds Kennie into her arms and says, “Oh, honey. Her heart is failing again. It . . . it doesn’t look good.”
“No,” Kennie blubbers, fighting out of the nurse’s grip. “It isn’t true. Liz!” she screams. “Liz, you are not fucking doing this to us. You will pull through this. Liz. Liz!”
CHAPTER SEVENTY-SEVEN
Two Minutes Before Liz Emerson Crashed Her Car
She remembered me.
She remembered the little girl she once was, the one who believed in magic and love and heroes, the one who held funerals for worms she found dried out on the driveway. She remembered a time when she was happy and the world was bright, and she remembered the imaginary friend she once had.
Since this was the end anyway, she imagined that I was in her passenger seat. She imagined that my hand was over hers, that it was warm over her cold one, that it was holding hers steady.
In those last moments, she was not alone.
CHAPTER SEVENTY-EIGHT
Voices
“Someone get Dr. Sampson on the phone. Tell him that her pulse is erratic—”
“What happened? She was fine a second ago—”
“Well, she isn’t now, is she? Get that blood—he must have overlooked something, something’s hemorrhaging—”
“Oh, for the love of god, get her out of here!”
Someone takes Kennie by the arms and drags her away.
UNCORRECTED E-PROOF—NOT FOR SALE
HarperCollins Publishers ..................................................................
CHAPTER SEVENTY-NINE
The Crash
For the last time, Liz Emerson wished to fly. There were no snowflakes or dandelion seeds this time, but as she closed her eyes and jerked on the wheel, she made her wish.
She did not fly.
She fell.
She thought, Hello, gravity, and tried to spread her arms so that it would catch her.
Hello, good-bye.
But the world did not fade completely.
CHAPTER EIGHTY
Silence
“What’s going on?” Monica flies out of her chair, and the room erupts as three male nurses drag Kennie into the waiting room. Julia looks up. Her heart drops through her body and keeps going.
One of the nurses pulls Monica aside and tells her what has happened. The rest of the room is quiet, watching, and when they see Monica’s face crumple, they hug each other and grab tissues and begin to cry.
Except Kennie. Kennie goes to Julia and grips her hand with all her might.
CHAPTER EIGHTY-ONE
Before Everything Fades
Mr. Eliezer concluded their review on Newton’s laws of motion like this: “Right. Remember, all of Newton’s laws are about the theory of motion. In this class, we’re assuming that friction, air resistance, and all other factors are negligible, but very rarely can Newton’s laws be wholly applied in the real world. Things just aren’t that simple.”
And when the class had yet again expressed its indignation that they were studying something that couldn’t even be applied, Mr. Eliezer just smiled and said, “There’s more to life than cause and effect.”
Things just weren’t that simple.
In that moment, everything clicked.
And Liz Emerson closed her eyes.
CHAPTER EIGHTY-TWO
The Waiting Room Again
The nurses hurry back to Liz’s room. Monica comes over and puts her arms around Kennie, and Julia holds her hand as though she never means to let go.
The rest of them watch. They wait for an ending. They wait for a world where Liz Emerson does not exist.
Jake Derrick sits quietly in a corner, his head in his hands. Of course, he had been sitting like that ever since the hot nurse had left and people had started pointing at his black eye, but when the news about Liz came, his head dropped a little lower.
Matthew Derringer goes outside and reorders the flowers he had canceled earlier.
Liam sits frozen, steam drifting up from his coffee.