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  “Change isn’t always good. That’s why people are so afraid of it.”

  “Do you think it’s possible to stay the same way forever? To stick to who you are so well that nothing can change you?”

  “No,” Sunny answered. “The only way a person could stay the same forever, would be to lock themselves up in a room for their entire life.” She looked around 62’s bedroom. “I hope that’s not what you’re doing. I know things are hard right now. We’re all struggling, in one way or another. But, if we keep getting up and helping one another, we’ll figure out a way to make it past our problems somehow.”

  62 was quiet, letting Sunny’s words sink in. He finished the soup while he thought, and tipped the bowl to his lips to get the last dregs of broth. The last drink caused a long, wet, slurping sound that roared through the quiet room. The rude noise made 62 blush as he lowered the bowl. “Thanks for the soup,” he said. He handed the empty bowl back to Sunny. She retracted her arm from around his shoulders, took the dish, and stood up. 62 licked his lips and wiped his mouth with his sleeve. He looked at Sunny, searching for a piece of who she used to be somewhere in her gaunt frame. “I bet you were a great teacher,” he said finally.

  “I was,” she said with a nod. “And maybe I will be again, one day.” With that, she let herself out of the room.

  CHAPTER 16

  62 didn’t feel brave enough to leave his room until the day after Sunny’s visit. Two days after that, 00 came down from the computer room to tell them he saw movement on the desert floor. The four jailhouse residents climbed the stairs to peer out the windows, hoping they could make out who, or what, was coming toward them. 62’s gut tumbled with each step he took. He was certain he was about to learn the results of Mattie’s meddling.

  He’d still managed to keep his dream a secret, even from Blue. The older Boy had asked a couple of times if 62 was still trying to connect with Mattie. Each time he’d brought it up, 62 had shrugged his shoulders and muttered that he couldn’t sleep. Blue urged him to keep trying. Now, 62 was faced with the worry that Mattie’s help was marching to their front door. His chest tightened as he took another step upward. What if what 00 had seen was the first sign of an army of people arriving to carry Sunny away? It was all his fault.

  Once they got to the top floor of the building, Sunny and 00 gathered by the window in the computer room. Blue and 62 crowded the glass of 00’s bedroom next door. When they first moved in, they’d thought it odd that 00 wanted these rooms so far from the rest of the building. Now, they were glad that he had. Far down below them, there was a small, black blur in the middle of the otherwise brown and gray landscape. At first, 62 thought the thing was stuck in place. After watching for a moment, it seemed to shift. He realized that the thing must be moving.

  “00’s right,” Blue said. He grabbed the window’s bars in both hands and leaned his face against them. “Somebody’s coming. I wonder how long it’ll take them to get here?”

  62 had seen enough. He leaned against the wall and slid down until he was sitting on the floor. “I don’t know. How long did it take us?”

  “Part of an afternoon, I think. But we were hauling all our stuff and those computer parts. Whoever that is might move faster if they don’t have a lot of gear.”

  62 pulled his knees to his chest and wrapped his arms around them. He buried his face in his folded forearms. People were coming. They’d be here soon, and Sunny would find out what he’d done. She was going to hate him. She might even hate him as much as that Woman Joan, who’d demanded he be forced out of Hanford. Maybe even as much as his perfect brothers in Adaline hated him. He’d broken Sunny’s trust, and soon she’d find out. A rattling sigh tore through him. He felt just like when 71 was taken. His old friend was removed from Adaline because 62 had led Defense to him. And now, it was happening all over again.

  Blue didn’t look away from the window. “D’ya think they’re coming to tell us we can go back to Hanford?”

  62 peeled his head from his forearms and looked up at his friend. The sun streaming through the window created a warm glow over Blue’s skin and hair, surrounding him in a halo of gold. “Do you think they’d do that?”

  Blue pulled back from the window and looked at 62. “Before we left, I told Mattie to come get us if it was safe for us to come back to town. Maybe it’s her.”

  A sharp grunt cut through 62 and he gave a sarcastic shake of his head. “You really think that they’d come get us so soon? They may have wanted to get rid of me fast, but I don’t think Joan and the council are going to make up their minds about wanting me back without a lot of time and convincing.”

  “Maybe something happened,” Blue said in a low voice. His brow wrinkled with worry. “Maybe Mattie needs our help. Or,” he paused, “maybe they made her leave because she’s friends with us.”

  62 couldn’t help but throw a mischievous glance at his friend. “You’d like that, though. I don’t think you’d mind if she lived out here with us.”

  “What do you mean by that?” Blue asked in a curt tone.

  “Come on,” 62 said, rolling his head against the wall. “We all know you like her. Admit it, you miss her.”

  “I do not. She’s always arguing with everything I say, and she treats me like an idiot. Plus, all she ever does is read those stupid books. What good would she be out here?” Blue blew out a breath and waved a hand in the air. “Oh, I suppose she could read us bedtime stories. That’d be great.”

  62 shook his head. “You can keep pretending she drives you crazy as long as you want. But we all know the truth.”

  “I’m the only one who knows the truth. You’re all crazy,” Blue answered in a biting tone.

  “Maybe it’s Mattie,” 62 supposed, ignoring Blue’s glare. “But if it isn’t, who do you think it is?”

  Blue shook his head. “Don’t know. Could be anybody, I guess.”

  00 entered the room, and Sunny leaned in the doorway behind him. 00 plopped down on the edge of his bed hard enough for the mattress springs to bounce him a bit as he got himself adjusted. 00 asked the group, “So, whaddya think?”

  “I think someone’s coming,” Blue answered sarcastically.

  “And I’m too tired to think,” 62 said.

  “00 says I should hide when they get here. I can go to my room for the night and lock the door. When they leave, you can come get me,” Sunny said.

  00 nodded. “We’ve also got to shut down N302. We should probably take it apart, too. It’s not gonna like it, but if anyone finds it, we don’t want them to think it’s anything more than a scrap of junk we found.”

  “What if they don’t leave right away?” 62 asked.

  “Then we’ll have a problem,” 00 replied. “We’ve got to figure out what they want as soon as they get here, and convince them there’s no reason for them to stay.”

  “Blue thinks it might be someone coming to tell us we can go back to Hanford,” 62 said to Sunny. “I don’t think it is, but if we do have to leave with them, how will you know we’re gone if you’re locked in your room?”

  “Maybe I could switch rooms,” Sunny suggested. “If I was on this side of the building, I could see you hiking down the hill.”

  “You shouldn’t be on the same floor as N302,” Blue told her. “We want to keep all our secrets spread out as far from one another as possible.”

  “We could move you to a room on the floor below us,” 00 said to Sunny, pointing to the floor. “You’d still have a pretty good view from there. We can bring up some food for you real quick, too. That way if they stay and you can’t come out right away, you’ll be set up to wait them out for a day or two.”

  “We need a code word,” Blue said thoughtfully. “Something we can use that only we know. Just in case they are trying to force us to do something we don’t want to do, so we can let one another know.”

  “Two code words,” 00 said, lifting a pair of fingers in the air. “One for if we’re in trouble, another one for when every
thing is okay.”

  “How about ‘brussels sprout’ for if something’s wrong?” Blue suggested.

  “Brussels sprout?” Sunny asked, one eyebrow raised.

  “Yeah. They’re terrible. There’s no way I’d forget something that tastes like feet means something bad.”

  “Fine,” 00 said. “What’s our second word?”

  “Fritter,” 62 offered.

  “What’s a fritter?” Sunny asked. She looked around at the others. Blue and 00 looked just as confused.

  “It’s a little cake,” 62 said.

  “I don’t know how to use that word in a sentence. Sorry, we can’t have a code word that none of us knows how to use,” 00 said. “Any other suggestions?”

  “How about ‘new boots’?” Sunny offered. “There aren’t many things that I’d like more than a pair of new boots.”

  “Okay,” Blue said with a nod. “Brussels sprouts if we’re in trouble and it isn’t safe, and new boots if everything’s okay. Now what?”

  00 got up from the bed and looked out the window. Everyone else followed. The black dot wasn’t just getting larger, it had split down the middle. The obscure figures merged together and split apart, most likely independent bodies moving around obstacles on the trail.

  “Now, we get moving,” Blue said. “Let’s get Sunny moved and get that computer taken apart. Whoever they are will be here real soon.”

  CHAPTER 17

  00, 62, and Blue sat at the window, watching the figures move closer. They’d become well enough defined that it was clear there were three of them. There wasn’t much else they could tell about the mysterious visitors. If it weren’t for their deliberate movements on the trail, the three strangers could have been mistaken for misshapen animals crawling through the desert.

  The Boys waited until the visitors disappeared at the bottom of the hill, hidden on the winding trail behind its boulders. They left 00’s room and made their way through the building. They stopped on their way downstairs to check on Sunny, letting her know they were going to open the front door to the strangers. She’d covered half her window, dimming the sunlight without blocking her view of the world outside. The makeshift curtain threw shadows around the room. Her bed was covered in the obscure shade, a jagged stripe of dimness thrown by the blanket hung up on the bars. It looked like she’d already been under the covers, allowing sleep to whisk time away.

  They said goodbye to Sunny and listened as she latched the door behind them. In silent apprehension they dropped down the remaining floors to the main entry of the old, worn building. While they waited, they prepared the detox room for the visitors. It was a good thing they’d thought to go through the room, too, because as they were collecting clean smocks and setting them in the dressing stalls, 62 found a forgotten computer cable sitting on a counter. There wasn’t time to go all the way back upstairs with it to lock it up, so he dashed off to the kitchen, hiding the wire in the back corner of the pantry behind a bag of salt.

  Once everything was ready, the Boys put on their masks and headed outside. They sat on the stoop, waiting to see who’d come calling. They chatted nervously about the weather; it was a remarkably clear day, despite the wind. Their small talk halted as the first traveler emerged. The other two strangers weren’t far behind. The travelers stopped at the top of the trailhead, taking in the windblown structure. 62 knew what a surprise the building was when first coming off the trail. Years of wear caused it to blend into the rocky hillside so well, it seemed invisible until you were right in front of it.

  One of the travelers, in a dark green mask, noticed the Boys on the stoop and raised their hand in a sweeping sign of greeting. The two smaller travelers’ white and pale purple masks nodded. If they said anything, their voices were lost beneath the filters of their masks and the whistling of the wind. 62 thought back on the dream he’d shared with Mattie. The table they’d sat at had been placed right where the strangers were now standing. In the dream, they’d had little trouble understanding the voices of the dream-people at the front door of the building.

  “Dreams make the impossible, possible,” 62 muttered to himself. His voice was so quiet that the words were lost in his mask, and no one heard him speak.

  The travelers crossed the flat open area at the front of the building. They moved slowly, as if they were utterly exhausted from their trek. The trio stopped at the edge of the concrete stoop, and one of them raised their hand from under their poncho to wave again.

  “Hello, Boys,” a thick male voice said.

  “Hi,” Blue answered. 62 waved and 00 nodded his head. Blue stood up, crossing his arms. “Who are you, and what do you want?”

  “We’re happy to see you, too,” the Man said. He pointed at himself, and then the two others as he said, “I’m Parker. This is Dr. Rain and Dr. Hazel.”

  “Parker?” 62 stood up. His jaw dropped, stretching the mask around his surprised face. He was glad for the thick head covering. It hid the shock of his expression and gave him a moment to pull himself back together. “What are you doing here?”

  “You’ve been up here a while. We figured we should check up on you. Do you mind if we come in? That hike might not be much for wiry guys like you, but we’re old and worn out.”

  “Speak for yourself,” Dr. Hazel said. “I’m happy to keep going if anyone wants to explore.”

  “You would be up for a longer hike,” Dr. Rain said in a curt tone. “I’m with Parker. Let’s head inside.”

  The Women went into the detox room first, Parker hanging behind with the Boys. Parker had been carrying the bulk of the gear, and he dropped it on the top step of the front stoop with a groan of relief. He stretched himself up, supporting his back with his hands, twisting his neck to loosen his weary muscles.

  “It feels good to put that down. I’m looking forward to a few days without it.” Parker bent over at the waist, touching his toes and then standing up again. The lenses of his mask glittered in the sun as he moved.

  “A few days?” 62 asked. “So, you’re not leaving today?”

  Parker leaned over to one side, then the other, stretching his arms overhead as he went. He shook his head. “No,” he said in a painful croak. He straightened himself up again. “Believe it or not, we didn’t come all this way just for a hello and goodbye. Although I have to get back to teaching, and the doctors have to return to the hospital, we’re going to rest up before turning tail back into the desert.”

  “Why’d you come?” Blue asked. His sky-colored mask tilted curiously.

  Parker rolled his shoulders. “Auntie decided someone should make sure you made it up here in one piece. She’s gotten all in a huff over making sure you have enough supplies. I told her we planted a bunch of stuff in the greenhouse a few months ago, but she reminded me that just because we plant seeds, that doesn’t mean they grow. So, I’m here to do maintenance on the greenhouse. The doctors came to do checkups and make sure none of you have picked up radiation poisoning.”

  “Why’d Auntie send you?” 00 asked. “I mean, I understand why she wanted someone to come, but why you? Why not a couple of greenhouse workers?”

  “Nobody else wanted to come,” Parker admitted. “Auntie convinced the council that it was worth sending someone to make sure you hadn’t burned the place down, but when they put the announcement out, nobody volunteered. I figured since I was the one who got 62 sent here, it was my duty to come and check up on him. Dr. Hazel showed up when I was packing up to leave. She said she’d rescued 62 from the dirt twice already and if he’d fallen in a pit somewhere, she may as well be the one to quarantine him again. And Dr. Rain met up with us at the gate. I’m still not sure why she came. She’s been pretty quiet the whole way, aside from complaining about absolutely everything.”

  62 absorbed the information. Maybe Mattie and Auntie hadn’t told anyone about Sunny, which was a relief. But he wished that Parker hadn’t been the only volunteer. He liked his teacher, but now they’d have to deal with Sunny’s emotion
s when she found out he was here. 62 wasn’t sure how she’d react, but he had an idea that there’d be tears involved. The thought of her weeping forced him to close his eyes and breathe deep. It was going to be a long few days.

  “Thanks for coming,” 00 said cheerfully. He held his hand out to shake Parker’s. “It’ll be good to have more people to talk to. These guys have been incredibly boring.”

  “Boring?” Blue cried out in indignation. “You’re the one sitting up in your room all day and night. Seriously, if anyone’s been a bore, it’s you.”

  62 looked at Parker and shook his head. “See what I have to put up with? 00’s right, it’ll be nice to have more people here, even if it’s only a little while.”

  Dr. Hazel opened the door. Her long limbs stretched out the ends of the medical scrubs the Boys had set out for her. She was taller than Dr. Rain, though she still looked petite compared to Parker. The dampness of her wet hair made it look black, and she’d tamed the curled tresses in a long braid that hung between her shoulders like a piece of living rope. She held a loose mask to her face as she peered out through the open doorway. “Come on, Parker. Your turn.”

  The Boys went inside. They took off their masks as they passed through the main entry and tossed them into a bin inside the detox room. While the Boys hovered near the door, Parker headed into the room where he’d strip his clothes and go through the cleaning procedure.

  “We’ll see you when you’re finished,” 62 called. Parker waved a hand in farewell. The Boys went back out into the main lobby where Dr. Hazel waited. She didn’t waste any time putting the three youngsters into their places.

  “Exams start in twenty minutes,” she announced. “I need a clean room with a table, good lighting, and an electrical outlet.”