Her eyebrows raise. “Looked like it.”
“I can.” I brush the dirt from my hands, sitting up. “I was just about to push him down the hill.”
“Sure you were.”
Skandar grabs the antigravity ball, switches it off boomerang, and tosses it from hand to hand. “Where’d you even come from, Eva? I swear, you’ve got a sixth sense or something.”
She sighs. “In case you didn’t realize, August Bergmann isn’t the most subtle person in the world. They probably heard him cursing all the way down in the library.”
I pull myself up, rubbing the side of my head. “Maybe next time you should just stay where you are instead of rushing in to help me. I’m gonna go get some ice.”
She grabs my shoulder, stopping me. “Jesse.”
“What, Eva? What else do you wanna do to embarrass me?”
“It’s not to embarrass you.”
I turn around, meeting her face to face. “Then what is it? Because I don’t see you stepping in and saving any of the other guys.”
“You’re not any of the other guys,” she says.
“Yeah,” I reply, “because I’ve got my own personal babysitter. Look, you’re a girl. I don’t expect you to understand.”
“You’re my teammate, Jesse.”
“August is never gonna let me live this down,” I mutter, ignoring her.
“We’re responsible for each other.”
I shake my head. “Saved by a girl. What a freaking wimp.”
She sighs. “You’re not a wimp.”
“Just… next time, please stay away.” I start off toward the field, but three steps in, something stops me. A tug at my consciousness. A sudden awareness.
“Guys,” Skandar points at the sky, squinting, “what’s that?”
Eva’s gaze follows the path of his finger. I raise my head to stare at the blanket of blue beyond our ship. It doesn’t take me long to notice it. Something bright above us, and not a star.
“A Pearl,” Eva says, a grim frown on her face. “It’s falling. Fast.”
We run down the hill to get a better look. I keep my eyes focused on the green dot, growing bigger and bigger with each second that it hurtles toward Earth. “Can you tell what direction it’s headed?”
Before anybody can answer, a dull alarm sounds around the park, followed by three clear warning chimes. Everybody in the Academy knows the drill. We practice it each semester.
“It’s heading right for the park,” Eva says. “It’ll smash through the dome as soon as it hits.” She takes off through the field, shouting back at us. “Emergency tunnels. Now!”
Skandar and I sprint behind her, heading to a darker patch of grass beside a plot of flowers. Eva digs between the blades, finding the handle of an invisible trapdoor. “Skandar, help me with this.”
Skandar moves to her side, grabbing hold of the handle and pulling. The alarms sound again, followed by three more chimes.
I spin around and stare up at the Pearl. It hurtles down at us like an out-of-control bowling ball. Two years ago, one came three feet away from smashing into the top of the Central Tower. This one’s headed straight for the dome, and there’s no changing a Pearl’s course once it gets started.
“Jesse!” Eva shouts behind me, tugging my arm. “Get in the tunnel!”
I ignore her, transfixed by the bright jewel in the sky. Skandar jumps through the trapdoor. Eva positions herself halfway down, pulling at my ankle. “Jesse, the oxygen will disperse if it hits!”
Her words are muted by a ringing in my ears-not from the alarms, but from the Pearl itself. It’s like I can hear it piercing the atmosphere as it draws closer. My heartbeat increases, thumping faster and faster the nearer it falls.
I stretch out my arm, pointing two fingers and shutting one eye until I’ve framed the Pearl between my fingernails. My hand buzzes with static. The hair on my arm stands on end.
I blink.
The Pearl rockets to the side, shoved off course by some invisible force. I watch as it shoots to the left and disappears beyond the row of trees bordering Lookout Park.
Seconds later, the alarms shut off. I drop my arm to my side.
Eva crawls out onto the grass, scanning the skies and muttering something in Spanish. “What were you doing?” She swallows, whispering to herself. “Pearls don’t change course.” I rub my fingers. The electricity leaves my arm.
She’s right. Pearls aren’t like antigravity balls. I’ve never once seen one move even the slightest inch from its predetermined path.
Eva shakes her head, blinking twice before breaking from her stunned trance. “I don’t… I… ” She pauses. “I’m going to the library.” She lays a hand on my shoulder before heading to the nearest staircase. Skandar’s already retreated to the emergency bunker below the grass, along with everyone else. An uncomfortable silence falls over the park as I stand in the middle of the field, alone.
I sit down, cross-legged, and pick at the grass. Every once in a while I glance up at the sky, wondering if I imagined the whole thing. After a few minutes, people start filtering back up to the park-August and his friends, a group of adults jogging along the outer perimeter. I trace the lines on my palm, feeling for anything out of the ordinary. It’s a coincidence, that’s all. I just happened to blink when the Pearl shifted course. Yeah.
Could happen to anybody.
12
Clutching Avery’s well-worn note, I punch in the six-digit code to unlock the transparent door to the library. It’s secured after six o’clock, but now that I’m an official trainee I can get in whenever I need to for studying. Not that there’s going to be any studying going on tonight. I hope.
I think back to what Skandar said at Lookout. She’s gotta have a reason for wanting me up here so badly. Considering all of the different possibilities kept me going through Dr. Hemming’s two-hour History of Pearls lecture in astronomy this afternoon.
Half of the lights inside the circular room are turned off. A few adult agents huddle around a table by the computers playing chess. They glance up as I enter, probably wondering why a kid would want to spend his evening in the library.
I walk past a display of black-and-white Surface photographs. Heavy wooden tables sit neatly arranged on the main floor in front of me. Circular staircases hug the walls, leading up to the second and third levels, the highest of which juts up into Lookout Park like a secret underground house. They poured a lot of money into this place. Too bad I get mass distracted whenever I come in here to work. Maybe if they forced me to study in a white room with no windows or furniture or anything I’d actually get something done and ace a test for once.
I peer down the rows of bookshelves, looking for Avery. Other than the group of agents, the place is deserted.
Someone grabs my shoulder and spins me around.
“There you are, stranger.” Avery grins.
I stare at her in silence for a moment before holding up the piece of paper. “I got your note.”
“Crumpled.” She smiles. “Is that what you think of me, Fisher?”
“No, no.” I lay it against my knee and attempt to straighten it out. Instead, I end up ripping off the corner. “Oops.”
“Cute.”
I wince, stuffing the pieces back into my pocket. “Where did you come out from? I didn’t even see you.”
She shrugs. “I was hiding behind a shelf. Thought I’d sneak up on you.”
I try to keep a straight face but it’s hard. She’s too weird. “Okay, then.”
She grabs my hand, sending sparks through my skin up to my chest where they explode like fireworks. “Come on. Let’s get going.”
“Where are you taking me?”
“Oh, just wait. Tonight’s the best yet. I’ve got something to show you.”
I sigh. During the past year, Avery and I have covered every inch of the Academy together. She loves sticking her head where it shouldn’t be. And she asks more questions than any person I’ve ever known. No wonder they didn’t make her a bonafide agent.