I needed to talk to my dad.

There was so much to discuss: Mom, Charlie, the house, where I should live, what I should do next. I also needed him to tell me what to do about Maggie’s health situation.

“I’m going to hit the sack,” I announced.

“You are?” Maggie said. “Okay.”

“Sorry,” I said. “Just really tired.”

I thought of planting a slow, wet one on her right then, but I couldn’t do it with her mom there. I wished their floors didn’t creak so loudly; otherwise I’d consider sneaking up to Maggie’s room after her mom had gone to bed. But Maggie didn’t have her own room; she and her mom shared one big space upstairs. I was on a cot in the larger of the examination rooms. I appreciated that Maggie and her mom made room for me, given how small their living space was. I also was glad I didn’t have to sleep on the metal table where the dogs and cats were examined.

As I lay on the cot and gazed at the blue walls, I thought about Charlie and how his bedroom had been painted a similar color. I’d looked in on him before I went out to stargaze with Maggie. He’d gone to bed thinking he was starting first grade in the morning. He was so excited and bouncy. Then he was tightly tucked in and asleep, letting out a whispering whistle with each breath. His arms were flung up above his head as if he were doing the Wave. That was his sleeping position since he was a baby. I ruffled his hair and kissed the top of his moppy head, and he let out a happy little sigh. He had no idea how much his world—our world—would change over the next couple of hours.

Now he had no bedroom, no school, not even his favorite toy. I ached to see my little buddy again.

I waited till I heard Maggie and her mom disappear upstairs. Then I opened my window and slipped out.

CHAPTER 22

Maggie

MOM SEEMED TO have recovered from my Bud Winkle shot and was smirking about Jordan and me as we got upstairs.

“You two …” she said.

I ignored her.

I was so glad I’d told Jordan my secret. I had to. I knew he would keep it. I could tell he was kind of freaked out, but he also was cool. My mom would not have been. She would’ve become an emotional mess. She might have been pragmatic when it came to animals, but not with me. She’d been over-protective of me since I was little, maybe because it was just the two of us. If it drove me crazy that at this point I couldn’t do anything but wait, it would have driven her completely batshit. She would have been relentless in banging her head against those walls. Neither of us needed that.

I turned on the computer and remembered for the zillionth time that the internet was down.