Olympia knows this is true. And Tom’s not the only one with his eyes open.

She watches her brother pore over the pages he’s taken from Malorie’s bag, the census papers that excite him more than any other written word she’s ever seen him hold.

“Indian River,” he says. “Did you read about that place? Did you read about Athena Hantz? These people are unreal.”

Olympia doesn’t answer. She’s looking in the mirror. The man Dean was right; this is a nice space. The bench, the bed, a high ceiling even. But the sensation of moving without using her own two feet is so foreign that she places her fingers on the counter, for balance.

It almost feels like she’s holding on to the only life she’s known. Because Olympia has no doubt things have changed. Whether Tom knows it or not, they’re never going back to Camp Yadin.

“Listen to this,” her brother says, crouched over the papers right beside Malorie’s open bag so he can shove them back in the second they hear her coming. “Athena Hantz claims to have lived with one for two years. You hear that, Olympia? Two years! She told the census man that the thing never bothered her. It just ‘stood in the corner of the kitchen for a while, then did the same in the living room.’ Unreal!”

Olympia doesn’t like when Tom talks like this. It’s not just that Malorie would freak out if she heard it. It has something more to do with herself. The way she sees the world. On her own. She likes that he’s excited by something, anything. She’s read about enough characters who need moments like these in their lives. Yet, hearing Tom, it feels like she’s not only on a train, but that there’s a second one, barreling toward her, an incident on its way.

“Why not go through the papers with Mom?” she asks.

“Are you kidding? She’d be afraid the letters are shaped like a creature. She wouldn’t get this at all.”

“But she brought the pages. Did you think of that? Her parents’ names are in there.”

“I hear you, but no. Ha. Not a chance. She doesn’t get it like I do. That’s just so not…Mom.”

Olympia doesn’t argue this. But she wants to. There’s a part of her that just wants the two of them to sit still until the end of this experience, all the way to Mackinaw City. There, Tom can say all the crazy stuff he wants to, and Malorie can either get upset with it or not. But if anything jeopardizes Malorie’s chances of seeing her parents, finding out if they really are alive, Olympia might go mad herself.