Fox Forever (Jenna Fox Chronicles 3)

“I’m telling you now.”

Carver walks around the room rubbing the back of his neck like I’m directly causing a huge pain in it. He whirls to face me. “The end of the week. That’s it. Three days. If you don’t have a location by then, we go to Plan B.” He heads for the door and then turns. “And that’s assuming you pull it together by tonight and make it to the meeting. Those little bits you mentioned need to add up to something big soon.”

He leaves, his words bits and soon still hanging in the air. The room is quiet. Livvy sighs and goes to the kitchen looking for coffee. Like me, she didn’t sleep much last night. Is she lying awake at night seeing the likelihood of her children becoming sixth-generation Non-pacts?

Xavier clears his throat. “Do you mind?” he says to Jenna.

She pauses, studying Xavier for several uncomfortable seconds, and finally stands, turning to me. “We should change your bandages and reapply the salve in another hour. I’m going into the other room to call Allys and Kayla, and maybe get some rest.”

I nod and for the first time notice that Jenna’s probably as tired as any of us. I wonder if she’s slept at all in the past twenty-four hours.

She leaves but Xavier remains quiet.

“Go ahead,” I say. “Get it out. Everyone else has.”

He leans forward, his arms resting on his knees. “Just one question.”

One question. But not just. “Okay.”

“Why did you go? You were only supposed to get the location. You knew it was me who was supposed to go down into the tunnel.”

“Sometimes plans change. The unexpected happens.”

He stands and crosses the room, tilting the shutter blade to look out. “Yes, I suppose it does.” He looks back at me and finally smirks.

“And?”

“The first time I met you I thought would be my last. We get a lot of violators trying to Escape. You and that girl were no different. We give Escapees new IDs and send them on their way. Most I never see again. I like to think they make it somewhere but I never know for sure. I always tell them we don’t take repeats to scare them. I want them to try with everything they’ve got because this isn’t a place with a lot of second chances. Not even firsts.”

“Are you saying I’ve u

sed up all my chances?”

“Not even close, kid. Just a simple statement. I never expected to see you again. I never expected that you’d be the one we’d ask to help us. I never expected that you and Raine—” He stops and snatches his maintenance hat from the table as he walks toward the door. “Let’s just say, the next time the unexpected happens, call me. We’re all running out of chances.”

Needing to Know

Jenna and Livvy work with me throughout the day, walking me, giving me time to rest, helping me practice going up and down the stairs, and of course, changing bandages. The oozing has mostly stopped thanks to Jenna’s skill, but more so than blood, there are still traces of the bright blue BioPerfect on the white bandage on my hip. Livvy tries not to act surprised but I see it in her eyes every time Jenna removes the bandage—blue evidence that I’m not one of them, but it doesn’t slow her down in helping me to move from one end of the apartment to the other.

As I try to walk without limping I remember how I was so cocky at Raine’s apartment that night—deftly slipping out of the room, sliding down the rope, learning the Secretary’s and LeGru’s secret plans, even heading off Hap with my smart-aleck cockroach excuse—and then heading down into the tunnels. Don’t let the enemy push you before you’re ready. But I’m not sure who was doing the pushing. I guess for that night at least, I did think I was immortal.

“Don’t hunch,” Livvy says. “Stand tall. It will help your ribs.”

I’m not feeling immortal now.

By afternoon Jenna has reapplied the salve four times. That and my BioPerfect are working. Clothing will cover most of my wounds and Jenna says she can cover the fainter ones on my face and hands with skin paint, which is like makeup, but a couple of deep gashes on my right hand and the gash on my lip and cheekbone will still show.

“You’ll have to make an excuse for those—or put off going for another day.”

I shake my head. “I’ll make an excuse.”

“A better one than cats and stairs, I hope,” she says, rolling her eyes.

Livvy raises her brows.

“Why don’t you go home, Livvy,” I say. “I’m doing better and I still have four hours before I have to go.” I lift my arms and smile, trying to convince myself as much as her. “Look at my progress. And Jenna’s here if anything comes up.”

Livvy hesitates but leaves, glad to be on her way home to her family. When she’s gone Jenna goes into the kitchen to check in with Allys and Kayla again and I go my room to—