But it wasn’t Junebug. It was Eve.
She crouched beside my cot, her eyes wide with concern. “When you and Alex were gone, it was awful,” she whispered. “Patrick did his best, but he had the mask on and the tank, so he could only do so much.”
Her gaze lifted past me, and I turned to follow it across the gym. By the double doors, Ben sat watch, alert as ever, a shaft of moonlight falling across his eyes. When I turned back, I was surprised by the fear in Eve’s face.
“Chatterjee couldn’t control Ben,” she said. “He’s getting worse and worse. What’s gonna happen to the rest of us if all three of you are gone?”
“What do you mean?” I asked. “Where are we going?”
Disappointment flickered across her eyes. “Oh, Chance,” she said. “You really can’t tell?”
“No.”
“You’re so amazing sometimes, but then you’re also so … young.” Eve leaned forward and gave me a peck on the cheek. Before I could respond, she scurried off toward her cot, keeping her profile low to the ground so Ben wouldn’t spot her.
My cheek tingled where her lips had touched. I lifted my fingers to the spot, my thoughts churning. It took half the night, but I finally worked out what Eve was talking about. Perhaps I’d known all along.
Alex said it first.
It was the next day. She, Patrick, and I were on northeast-quadrant lookout in Tomasi’s room. Alex hopped off the desk, landing strong on her feet. She stretched her left leg to the side and pulled it up, testing the muscle.
“I’m not gonna let happen to them what almost happened to me,” she said.
Patrick bobbed his head in agreement. I wondered if it was something they’d discussed or if it was something they didn’t have to discuss. Maybe it was one of those couple things where one just knew what the other was thinking.
Then Patrick said what we always said: “We got work to do.”
“The kids at the cannery?” I asked.
Alex didn’t respond; she just kept testing that leg, her gaze far away. I thought about my hushed conversation with Eve last night and the worried expression Chatterjee had been wearing more and more often. It seemed he also knew he’d be unable to keep control once we left.
“What about the kids here?” I said. “If we go, Ben’ll take over.”
“Do we protect a few kids from Ben here?” Alex said. “Or all the kids out there from having unimaginable things done to them?”
It wasn’t a question. It was an argument.
I said, “What are you proposing?”
When she looked at me, her gaze was alarmingly steady. “Kill the Queen.”
My throat felt dry, so I forced out the word. “How?”
“Remember what we found in that cabin?” she asked.
I did. I remembered the polished walnut stock. The perfect balance in my hands. The mounted scope.
I nodded.
“If we go,” I said, “we might be taken ourselves. Or killed.”
“That’s right,” Patrick said. “But what does it mean about us if we don’t go?”
“We can’t just stand by and do nothing,” Alex said.
“It’s probably a suicide mission,” I said.
Dezi Siegler and another of Ben’s lackeys sidled into the classroom, relieving us for the next shift.
Alex slid past me on her way to the door. “I’m okay with that,” she said.
*
After darkness fell, I crept through the cots and shook Eve awake just as she’d done to me the night before. She stirred, looked up into my face, and smiled. Then she saw that I was fully dressed and her expression shifted.
“You have to keep an eye out for JoJo,” I whispered. “You’re the only one I trust.”
She rubbed her eyes. “Of course I will,” she said.
“Tell her I talked to you, that I knew you were the best one to look out for her.”
Eve nodded. “What about Dr. Chatterjee? Is he okay with this?”
“Patrick talked to him. He said he can keep Ben under control until we get back.”
She pushed herself up and reached for me. I leaned into her, and we hugged, her arms extra tight around my neck.
“What if you don’t come back?” she whispered, her lips right at my ear.
I kissed her on the cheek and pulled away. Across the gym I could see Patrick and Alex waiting for me.
For some reason it struck me that it was Halloween, a time for ghosts and ghouls, sugar buzzes and scares. I thought about how much fun tonight should have been for an eight-year-old girl. And what it was instead.
I said, “Take care of JoJo.”
ENTRY 42
It was worse than we thought.
Two nights later, after a grueling journey, Alex, Patrick, and I found ourselves perched in the tree-studded hills above the cannery, gazing down at the compound with shock.
The factory had been repaired using the construction materials stacked around the area. The walls had been built out thicker and a security fence erected. The Hosts progressed with their grisly work on the assembly line, feeding bound children through the hatch in the factory wall to the Queen beyond.