The Adoration of Jenna Fox (Jenna Fox Chronicles 1)

Choose, Jenna.

I scream. Loud and long. I cry out.

I listen.

I hear doors bang. Swearing. A yell. Footsteps.

I scream again. ‘No … stop … help!’ Loud so it vibrates from the walls.

Two pairs of footsteps pound up the stairs calling, ‘Jenna!’

Two pairs of footsteps running down the hall. Seconds from my door and an empty bed.

Father curses the light that is out.

Seconds.

Through the door. To the bed. An empty bed.

And I slip out.

The door slams behind me. Lily jumps from the darkness and, in a swift, practiced movement, inserts and turns the key.

The locked door that was supposed to shut me in just in case now holds them, just in case.

‘Hurry,’ Lily says, handing me another key. ‘You may not have much time. I’ll try to explain, calm them down. But you know how they are. Your father may rip this door from its hinges.’

The banging and yelling have already started. I touch the door. ‘Try to understand,’ I say.

‘Jenna! What are you doing? Let us out!’

‘Are you okay? What’s wrong? Jenna!’

The door quivers with my father’s shoulder.

‘Go,’ Lily says. ‘Hurry.’

I take the stairs two at a time, my clumsy feet stumbling twice, my hand gripping the railing to keep me from a free fall. I tumble to the floor at the last stair, scrambling on all fours as I right myself. I run down the hall and grab the crowbar just inside Lily’s door that she left as promised, and then I burst into Mother and Father’s room, letting the door bang into the wall. My fingers shake as I try to maneuver the key into the closet lock. It won’t go in! Is it the wrong one? Mother’s and Father’s pounding rattle the house. I can hear Mother as clearly as if I were standing next to her. Her orders, her pleading, and finally her frantic realization, stab at me. My legs weaken. Hurry, Jenna!

‘God, let it fit!’ I cry, shaking and twisting the key. It slides in. I sob and turn the lock, and the door swings open.

‘I’m here, I’m here,’ I say, feeling perilously out of control. Think. Slow down.

I lift the crowbar like a club. Which one first?

I lower the bar and slide it beneath the bracket on the first backup. Kara. It doesn’t budge. Please. I heave my full weight on it, and the rivets pop loose. The bracket flies into the wall and down to the floor.

The second one. Locke. Three tries, and the rivets break loose.

And finally the third one. Jenna. I touch the top of the backup, and a dizzy wave overwhelms me. Hurry, Jenna! Now! I slide the bar beneath the bracket, and with all my strength, I bear down with a single swift push. The bracket flies loose on the first try.

I remember every detail Father told me about the backups. Once I remove them from their power docks, they will only stay viable for thirty minutes. The special environment that holds them will stop spinning and will let them go.

Let them go.

Where?

Can I do this? What if…