Chaos on CatNet, Naomi Kritzer [bill gates books recommendations txt] 📗

see you.” She turns to me as the taxi arrives. “I do hope you’ll come down to visit during your spring break, darling,” she says just to me, gives me an enveloping hug, and presents me with a business card with her email address, phone number, and a photograph of what I assume is one of her prize-winning roses. “Just think of me as your personal sunny getaway option.”

“It was nice to meet you,” I say, and then add, “I mean, see you again,” since obviously I met her back when I was little, even if I don’t remember it.

“We’re going to Utah during Steph’s spring break,” Mom says.

“Why Utah—oh, never mind, we’ll talk later,” my grandmother says, picking up her purse and grudgingly putting on a hat and tucking it over her ears.

The door closes. Mom lets out a very long sigh, watches out the window until her mother’s in the cab, and then locks up. “I already regret reestablishing contact,” she says.

28•  Nell  •

Thing Two promised she’d call a lawyer immediately.

But I listen to her puttering around and making calls and it’s clear she is not reaching any lawyers. It’s a Sunday afternoon. They’re probably not at work. What’s actually going to happen if my mother shows up now? Today? How fast can you even get an emergency order or whatever they’d need? My father doesn’t even have visitation.

I go into my room. Glenys is on the bed, under a heap of blankets, looking almost like she’s not there. I sit down next to her and put my arm over her. “How are you doing?” I whisper.

She rolls over. “I’ve been eating even though I’m not hungry. I think I got crumbs in your bed.”

“I don’t mind crumbs.”

“I can’t stop thinking that the food’s just going to disappear again. Or they’ll find me, and then starve me some more. Isn’t that silly?”

“It’s not silly, but don’t make yourself sick, okay?”

“Do you ever feel hungry and not hungry at the same time? Like my stomach hurts from eating, but I still feel like I want more food.”

“Just trust me,” I say. “I won’t let them find you.”

“Brother Daniel said that the first wave of the Tribulation is starting this week. He told me I was running out of time, if I wanted to be allowed to stay.”

“If that’s true, then why weren’t your brothers and sisters there? I called Nicholas—well, Steph called him. The rest of your family is in Lake Sadie.”

“It’s going to start in the cities. Lake Sadie will be okay for a while.”

I wrap my arms around Glenys. There’s a hymn from church we both liked, and I sing it to her, very quietly, hoping none of the adults will hear. She closes her eyes and lets me sing her to sleep.

I nap for a while and then jerk awake with the sense that there’s some imminent danger. It takes me a few minutes to realize that my phone buzzed from a text. It’s from a number I don’t know, showing a picture of a sign saying just PREPARE.

I am relying on my father to talk to a lawyer in time to keep my mother from just taking me. No matter how good everyone’s intentions are, they’re not going to be good enough. I send a text to Steph saying just, Steph?

No response. I remind myself that Steph has a life of her own and might not be checking texts.

If I were a faithful member of the Remnant, instead of a fugitive, I could turn to the Catacombs. There’s a story people tell about a man years ago who was trying to get home to his wife in time for the birth of their child. Catacombs members shuttled him all the way from Denver, Colorado, to Tampa, Florida, each person driving for just a few hours before handing him off like a bucket in a bucket brigade. The people of God will always be there for you, was the moral of the story.

But if they shuttled me now, it would be somewhere I don’t want to go.

On impulse, I open up that other app, the Mischief Elves app, and type, “I need help.”

There’s a pause, and then the elves scurry around my screen with signs. PACK YOUR BAGS, they say. BE READY TO MOVE. WE HAVE ELVES MOVING INTO PLACE TO ASSIST YOU ON YOUR JOURNEY.

29•  Steph  •

Sunday was cold, but it was just the beginning of an absolutely brutal cold snap. Overnight, the temperature falls, then falls again, and the wind picks up. I wake up to a text from my school declaring today a virtual learning day and suggesting I not leave my house unless it’s absolutely necessary. I guess that makes things easier for Nell—she can keep an eye on Glenys instead of leaving her to figure things out on her own.

I got a text from Nell yesterday afternoon that I missed. I text her back a quick apology, and I text Rachel about my day off (she sends back, LUCKY), and then I go back to bed, since I don’t have to go anywhere. I lie awake for a while under my heap of blankets, listening to the gusts of wind against the house. I shouldn’t really be tired, but I am, probably because Saturday was so exhausting and I didn’t sleep particularly well on Saturday night. I close my eyes and snuggle back down into the mattress, thinking about how nice it is not to have to get up.

When I wake up again, it’s afternoon, and Mom is gone. I’m making myself toaster waffles when the doorbell rings. I look out and see a delivery truck driving away. “I think that’s the new robot!” CheshireCat says out loud through my phone.

“Why did you … Okay,” I say, and go downstairs to get the box. “Is it the same as the last one?”

“Yes. Because you still have the extra battery, and it’s even charged up.”

I don’t put on gloves or a coat to go down