Chapter 76
Miesha swipes at my shirt with one hand. Her other hand uses a cane for support. She's been awake for a few days now, but she's still shaky, her right leg numb. "There," she says, and pats my back twice. "Done." She shuffles back to look at me. "Are you sure you want to do this? You're only seventeen, Locke."
"Seventeen going on two hundred and seventy-seven. I have a lot of catching up to do."
She limps to the chair and sits down, weak from the effort.
I grab my coat from the hook on the back of the door. Miesha stares at me as I put it on. "He wasn't much older than you when he joined the Resistance."
"I'm not part of any Resistance, Miesha. I owe a favor, and I'm going to help one person. That's all."
She bites her lower lip and nods. "I'm not good at good-byes, Locke."
"I think we both got shortchanged in that department. Come on, let me help you back to your room. It's the least an uncle can do."
She smiles and lets me take her arm. When I return to my room, Allys is standing in the hall. She knocks on the open door. "Coming in, city boy."
"Don't think I could stop you," I say.
She smiles. "Smart city boy." She crosses the room and sits on the edge of the bed. "Got your purse all ready?"
"It's a pack."
"Right. I have something for you to add." She holds out a round object wrapped in tissue, and I take it from her. "A chocolate peach," she says. "It's an experience. One you wouldn't want to miss. Savor it." She stands and kisses my cheek. "Savor it all. You hear?"
Chapter 77
Besides helping the Network, I have unfinished business. In Manchester there are labs to visit. I don't want to meet a copy of myself 260 years from now. I don't want the shell of Kara to have to go on. I need to be certain that there are no more. I have more business in Andover. I never thought much of cemeteries before, but maybe those are the real places of closure, not an office where your past is swept into a trash can. And then in Boston, before I find the person who needs my help, there are cab rides to take where I will share stories about Escape and a Bot named Dot Jefferson, a Bot who had dreams and hopes. I may have started out as part of a dusty forgotten inheritance, but like Dot, I have dreams and hopes too. I want to become more.
I travel light. My few possessions fit
in the pack on my back, and I have a long way to go.
It's a journey, Locke. A long one. How was I to know how long it could be?
Jenna drives me to the station and walks me to the gate. She takes my hand and slips something into my palm. I look down at a piece of frosted green glass. "It's the other eye of Liberty," she says. "Lily said it was out there somewhere, and if we looked hard enough, we would find it. I think she'd want you to have it."
I close my fingers around the small piece of glass. "Now I just need to find the first one again, don't I?"
She smiles. Neither one of us can say more. She stands on tiptoe and kisses my cheek. I turn and walk to the platform just as the train arrives. I look back and wave. It's all I can do not to run to her. Her hand rises slowly and then closes into a fist, like she doesn't want to say good-bye either. But I know she's right. There's still so much I need to know, a world I need to live in, a life I still need to live.
Picture yourself five years from now, son. Where do you want to be? Remember that. Every day. That's how you'll get there.
Maybe in five years. I pat my pocket where my new ID is tucked away. She smiles and nods.
Focus on the goal.
I do. For Dot. For Bone. For Kara. For Miesha. For someone I haven't even met yet. Maybe even for my dad. And for me. A boy. A man. A something. I'm going to find out.
The wind of the train whips at my coat. I rub the worn piece of green glass between my fingers and tuck it into my pocket and then wave to Jenna one last time, maybe my last time ever. I can almost see Kara standing there beside her, waving back to me too. We held hands. We crossed a line. We made one another braver. They made me braver.
And I step onto the train.
Acknowledgments
A universe of thanks to:
Jessica Pearson, Karen Beiswenger, Ben Beiswenger, Melissa Wyatt, Marlene Perez, and Jill Rubalcaba, for reading many drafts and for your awesome support and wisdom--you're the best. Additional thanks to Jessica, who read chapter by chapter and mused out loud about a "third book," and though I resisted, she did indeed get the wheels turning.