Fox Forever (Jenna Fox Chronicles 3)

Jenna sits on the sofa near me. “Now that you’ve rested and the others are gone, do you want to finish your story?”

I look at her confused. Did I babble a story while I was unconscious?

“Before passing out you told me he’s alive,” she says. “I assume you meant Karden. How do you know? Did you see him?”

At the time it seemed so clear. Almost like he was calling out to me. As if he knew I was searching. Even weirder, like our breaths were in sync. With sight and sound stifled in that dark tunnel, it was like I was sensing him in another way, maybe the way I sensed Kara when we were trapped in the dark. But explaining what I don’t understand is impossible. I don’t have words for what I felt, except for the word my dad laughed at whenever my mom mentioned it. Intuition.

I shake my head. “No, I didn’t see him, or hear him, or touch him.” I adjust my back against the chair. “Maybe I was just caught up in the moment.”

“Tell me what happened.”

I stare at the floor trying to remember. “Shortly before I was attacked I got this overwhelming sense. I felt close. It was like another part of me took over. Not my eyes. Not my ears. Something else. I was standing there in the darkness and…” It’s ridiculous, but I say it anyway. “I just knew. Not very scientific, is it?”

Locke.

I look up, her silent voice reaching me.

“Lots of things aren’t explainable. Yet. That doesn’t make them unscientific. I remember before I destroyed the copies of you and Kara, I heard you both calling out to me, begging me to hurry. I didn’t understand it, and my father said it was impossible, but it didn’t make it any less real.”

I remember Gatsbro telling Kara and me the same thing, that it was impossible for our voices to reach through our digital netherworlds to each other. But somehow they did and his denial didn’t make it any less true for us.

Jenna leans forward, taking both my hands in hers. “Look what’s happened to us, Locke. Our entire brains scanned. Everything. Even the farthest corners. Who knows what skills and senses left over from our Neanderthal days have become like a useless appendix because we haven’t used them? Maybe some hidden dormant abilities—like a sixth sense—don’t know they’ve been retired and now our Bio Gel has given them a second life.” She smiles. “I believe you. Even if it isn’t something you can totally understand or rely on, it still isn’t something to ignore.”

And that’s the thing about Jenna.

In all the world she’s the only one who understands what I’m going through. She’s like me. I look down at her hands, still holding mine. She pulls them away and stands. “And now I need to get you some dinner. My job is to get you back on your feet so I better do it.” She pauses halfway to the kitchen. “I’m sorry I yelled at you this morning. You are doing something important, Locke. Something that matters, just like you told Miesha. I know that means sometimes there are risks.” She goes to the kitchen and I listen to her hum as water runs, cupboards open and close, and dishes rattle.

I’m about to call out to her to see if I can help when my iScroll ripples in my hand. Come on, Carver, give it a rest for—

I look at my palm. It isn’t Carver.

It’s Raine.

Panic hits me. She can’t see me like this. But I want to talk to her. I need to, except I don’t remember how to accept a call without the vidcast. I take a stab and say, “No video. Accept call.” Come on, Percel, help me out here.

Raine’s image looms in front of me. She looks confused.

“Locke?”

“Raine.”

“I can’t see you.”

Thank you, Percel. “I just got out of the shower. Video’s off.”

“What’s the matter with you?” she asks. “Your voice sounds strange.”

Is it the medication Jenna gave me? Or do I simply sound weak? I make an effort to speak slowly and clearly.

“Must be the echo in the bathroom.”

“I heard your mother isn’t well. Is that why you didn’t meet me last night?”

“That’s right.”

“And you can’t come to the meeting tonight either? Is there something I can do?”

“No, it’s only one of her bouts. She’ll be fine. I need to stay home tonight and help her out but I’ll be at tomorrow’s meeting.”