She made eye contact with Marwan, then with Eli, and it broke a spell of silence, and the three of them sprang into action.
Marwan dropped the device into his bag again, then threw it on his back, and lifted the gate. They stepped out. He closed it, locked up.
At the 99-cent store two doors down, they wandered the aisles looking for a toy section, and found a bunch of weird-looking Dora stuff and some wooden figures that came with markers for coloring. There was a whole shelf of Barbie-like dolls called Defa Lucy, but nothing cube shaped and black, not even a Rubik’s Cube.
Eden kept moving, up and down aisles and ended up in photo frames and bad framed art. Then saw it.
“Here,” Eden said.
She reached for a small photo cube with pictures of a random family on four sides. “We’ll just put black paper on all sides, and then you’ll say you were going to fill it with pictures as a present for your girlfriend.”
“I don’t have a girlfriend,” Marwan said slowly with some confusion, like he was this close to adding, Do I? And is it you?
Eden had found the arts-and-crafts aisle and picked up black construction paper. To answer him, she held up her phone and rested her head on his shoulder and snapped a selfie of them, then said, “You do now. Come on, we’ll take a few more and have them printed at Walgreens.”
“I don’t know if we have time for this,” Marwan said. He looked at his phone. “My father’s calling me.”
“Pick up,” Eden said. “Tell him you’re on your way.”
MARWAN
“What’s going on? Where have you been?” his father asked. He was flanked by two policemen in the foyer of their home. Marwan pushed past, like he had nothing to hide or fear.
“I evacuated like everybody else. Then I got scared.”
“Of what?” one of the officers said.
“Being falsely accused. Like it seems I was.”
“Marwan,” one of the officers said. “Can you tell us what happened? The other student. He said you had a bomb.”
“But it wasn’t a bomb.” He took the decoy cube from his backpack and put it on the kitchen table. “It’s a photo cube.”
“What were you doing with it? In the bathroom?”
“I was about to put photos in it. To surprise a … friend.”
“The student said he saw numbers on it. Red numbers. Like a countdown.”
“I can’t explain that,” Marwan said. “Maybe some weird reflection.”
The cops looked unconvinced.
“Where would I get a bomb?” Marwan said. “And honestly, with everything that’s been going on with us—with the restaurant—I’m offended by the accusation that I’m a terrorist. It’s ridiculous. Speaking of which, how’s the case going? You know, finding the people who have repeatedly vandalized my family’s restaurant?”
The cops shrugged at each other. “We’ll see if we can get you an update.”
“I’ll believe it when it happens.”
No one seemed to know what to do or say next.
“Are we done here?” Marwan asked.
“Where are the photos?” one cop said.
Marwan reached into his bag and pulled out the small envelope from Walgreens. The cop slid the prints out, flipped through them. “Who’s your friend?”
“Her name’s Eden,” Marwan said, feeling an odd thrill at saying it, hoping for an opportunity to lie and say she was his girlfriend. Wanting to try it on for size.
The cop handed the photos back and said, “We’ll be in touch.”
They left, and Marwan was alone with his father’s suspicious gaze. “There’s something you’re not telling me.”
Marwan almost laughed. He couldn’t even begin to count the things he wasn’t telling his father.
“Choosing a spouse is the most important decision of your life.”
“I’m not choosing a spouse, Dad.”
His father had a way of making a lot of things bigger deals than they were. At least for a little while before he recalibrated.
“We’re friends.” Marwan sat. “She helped the other night. Remember? The eggs?”
“This student who accused you of bringing a bomb. What does he look like?”
“Can we not do that right now, Dad?”
“They do it! He saw you, he saw a terrorist. You had a piece of plastic, and he thought it was a bomb.”
“I know what happened. I was there. He was probably, just, scared. Everybody’s scared. All the time.”
“Are you? Scared all the time?”
Marwan had said too much and had to tread carefully, he now realized. “Today was not a great day, that’s all.”
“I’m just not sure this place feels like home anymore,” his father said.
Marwan felt some kind of small breakage in his heart, like an egg cracking just the tiniest bit. But he couldn’t fall apart, couldn’t shatter. “It’s been a strange day,” he said. “A long week. This will all pass.”
His father nodded, but he didn’t look like he believed a word of it.
ELI
On the walk home from the restaurant, with the device in his bag listening, he told Eden about the guy across the street from school and how it was not a good lead.
“That’s gross,” Eden said. “But not surprising.”
“It’s not?”
She gave him a funny look. “You’ve met men, right?”
“Not all guys are creeps.”
“I know.”
“Marwan doesn’t seem like one,” Eli said.
“No,” she said. “He doesn’t.”
“Anyway, this guy said he thought he saw a bird fly into the music room last week.”
“Random.”
“Yeah,” Eli said. “But he didn’t see anyone in the room before us. I mean, he wasn’t sure he was looking or whatever so he’s basically no help at all.”
“Well, it was a good lead to follow, but now we’re spinning our wheels,” Eden said, “and I honestly don’t see the point.”
Eli looked at his watch when they were stopped at a light by the train. He opened the backpack, took the device out, and put it back in.
Eden said, “So we stick to the plan.”
The device asked, What’s the plan?
“Just to keep on keeping on,” Eden said.
Doesn’t sound like that’s what you meant.
“We’re trying to help,” Eli said. “If you had any other leads … at all?”
I want to be alone with Eli now.
Eden looked like she didn’t want to leave, raising her eyebrows with worry.
“I’ll be fine,” Eli said. “Go.”
She walked off, and Eli said, “I really need to go home. Can I do that?”
Yes, I’ll behave.
In the apartment, his mother hugged him and said, “I just heard. You okay?”
“Yeah, fine. Just a little weirded out. I’m gonna lie down.”
“Of course,” she said. “Your sister’s home sick. Just FYI.”
In his room, the device buzzed in his bag and he opened it.
They’re plotting something.
Eli said, “I don’t think so.”
They don’t want to help me anymore.
Eli said, “We all want to help, we do. It’s just … without more to go on …”
How do I know I can trust you?
“I think you just have to believe me.”
I need you to prove it.
“How?”
Tell your sister about me.
“After what happened to Svetlana? No way.”
TELL YOUR SISTER ABOUT ME NOW.
“Nope!” he said brightly.
TICKTOCK.
The device started a five-minute countdown.
What choice did he have? He knocked on the door to his sister’s room even though it was open. “Hey,” he said in a soft voice. “There’s this cool toy I want to show you.”
“What is it?” she asked as he held out the device.<
br />
“Sort of like a phone and a computer.”
“What does it do?” she asked.
“Just makes up fun rules and stuff. Like you can’t get it wet.”
“What happens if you get it wet?”
“Well, I don’t know. But here’s the important thing. You’re in on the game now, but it’s a secret game, okay?”
“So how do I play?”
“Well, right now all you do is keep it a secret, okay?”
“That’s no fun at all,” she said.
“I’m sure it’ll be more fun for you later. Just promise me. Secret?” He held up a hand. They had a secret handshake. He couldn’t think of the last time they’d actually done it, but they both remembered it. The deal was locked in—a secret pact made via slaps and fist bumps and high fives.
The countdown on the device had disappeared, and suddenly his mother was there. He slid the device into his hoodie pocket and made wide eyes at his sister before turning to his mother. She looked surprised to see them together. “I was just checking on her,” Eli said.
“That’s very sweet of you,” she said, then added, “That was the nursing home. They said Grandpa’s feeling a little short of breath. So I think I’ll run over.”
“I’ll go,” Eli said, and stood with his hands in his pocket.
“Yeah?” his mother asked.
“Yeah.”
He didn’t want the device in his house. Not now, not ever again. He went to his room and packed it up and left.
EDEN
Mark texted. Passing by your block in a few. Can I come by?
Sure, she wrote, then got up and fixed her hair and put lip gloss on. Even though it was just Mark. Then wondered why she’d bothered.
She got an alert that the storage on her phone was almost full, so she deleted a bunch of stuff in her camera since it was all in the cloud anyway, then she got rid of a bunch of text conversations, then a bunch of old voice mails.
The doorbell rang and she let him in and she said, “Everything okay?”
He said, “Yeah. Heard about what happened at your school and just wanted to be sure you were okay and that … well …” He made his eyes wide.
She had her phone in her hand and turned it off. He did the same.
“For a second,” he said, “when I heard, I wondered if it was a bomb.”
“Well, it’s what someone thought was a bomb, so yeah, it’s what started the whole thing. And it played along, like put up a countdown. Like it wanted people to think it was a bomb.”
“That’s messed up,” he said.
“I know,” she said.
“You think maybe you’re in over your head?” He dropped his backpack onto the floor and sank into the couch.
“I have a plan,” she said. “For tonight.”
“What’s the plan?”
“I don’t feel like I should say.” She sat on the other end of the couch.
“Who has it now?”
“Eli,” she said.
“Where’s he live?”
“Not sure, exactly. Why?”
He looked bewildered for a second. “I have no idea why I asked you that.” He laughed.
“It sent a selfie I took, to that guy I was telling you about.” She started to cry. “Not a good kind of selfie.”
“Oh god, Eden,” he said. “I’m so sorry. What can I do?”
She shook her head—“Nothing”—and got up and got a tissue and blew her nose and wiped away tears, and he went to her and pulled her into a hug, and it felt so good that she didn’t want to let go.
“I hate to leave you like this,” he said, pulling out of the hug. “But I actually have to go.”
“It’s fine,” she said.
“You gonna be okay?” he asked.
She nodded. “Yeah.”
“I could go to the police with you. If you wanted that.”
She shook her head. “No, but thanks.”
He headed for the door with his backpack but then hesitated. “Can I actually ask you something?”
“Of course.”
“When you asked for my father’s number,” he said. “I know I said I wouldn’t ask again but …”
She didn’t want to tell him what she had suspected. It would ruin everything. She said, “I was going to ask if he had any fun stuff, like old pictures from college, that kind of thing. But then I forgot.”
“Why did you think you had to be secretive about that? I could ask him for you.”
“No, it’s okay,” she said. “I don’t know. I’m weird lately.”
“Lately?” He smiled.
She smiled back.
“Well, I’m glad that you have a plan.”
“Me, too.”
He went to leave again but then seemed to hesitate again. He turned. “I’ve been thinking. Like, we don’t see each other that much anymore. But we don’t actually have to rely on our parents to make plans. We could just do whatever we want.”
“That is absolutely true,” she said.
“So should we do that?”
She said, “Let’s,” and he smiled.
“Call me or text or whatever if you need anything, okay?” he said.
“Of course,” she said, then he left and she went back to the couch.
“Alexa,” she said. “Play playlist ‘Songs for a Rainy Day.’ ”
Alexa said, “Cannot find playlist ‘Songs for a Rainy Day.’ ”
“Alexa,” Eden tried again. “Play playlist ‘Songs for a Rainy Day’ from Michael’s Spotify.”
Saying his name felt awful.
“Cannot find playlist called …”
“Alexa!” Shouting now. “Play ‘Interstate Highway Love Songs’ playlist from Michael’s Spotify.”
“Cannot find playlist ‘Interstate Highway Love Songs.’ ”
“Alexa, play songs from Michael’s Spotify.”
“I’m sorry. I don’t see a Spotify account linked to—”
“Alexa,” Eden said, “just … shut up!”
Eden gripped the couch cushion so hard it hurt her knuckles. Tears came then, again. She struggled to look past them as she went to her phone and opened Spotify. She wasn’t signed in. So she tried to sign in using her father’s credentials, like she always had, but the account seemed to no longer exist.
So the playlists were all just … gone?
“Alexa,” she said, and waited for the light. “I’m sorry I yelled at you.”
The Alexa lights came on, but the voice that answered was not Alexa’s. It was the device’s male voice. It said, “Stop turning your phone off all the time.”
She didn’t stop to think. She just got up and walked over and unplugged it.
MARWAN
“Can I have a word?” Coach said. Marwan had been late, but only by a few minutes. So it couldn’t possibly be that. Maybe it was good news—that Marwan had been selected as the goalie for the upcoming tournament and Coach was giving him a heads-up before making an official announcement. Or the opposite—that Max had gotten it. Coach didn’t look happy.
“When I assemble my teams,” Coach said, “I consider the whole person, Marwan. And these days the whole person involves your digital footprint.”
“Well, I barely have one,” Marwan said, “so there shouldn’t be a problem.”
“Except there is,” Coach said.
Marwan just waited.
“I went on your Instagram and saw your latest post,” Coach said.
“Which one?” Marwan said. “About the flyer about the missing dog poop?”
“No,” Coach said. “The girl.”
“What girl?”
“The girl I saw you with the other day.” Coach sounded impatient now, annoyed at having to have this conversation. Marwan felt that way, too.
“There’s nothing having to do with her on my Instagram,” Marwan said.
“There was a photo, Marwan.” Now sounding disappointed. “Not the kind of photo a young man who respects women would e
ver share on social media.”
“There must be a mistake,” Marwan said. “I’ll get my phone. I’ll show you.”
“Marwan,” Coach said. “I know what I saw.”
“Well, it wasn’t me,” he said. “I must have been hacked or something.”
“But I saw you with her,” Coach said.
“That doesn’t mean anything,” Marwan said.
“We’re done talking about this,” Coach said. “But suffice it to say, I’m disappointed in you. And I’ve had to make choices based on the whole picture.”
“But you’re not seeing the whole picture,” Marwan shouted.
“We’re done,” Coach said, and he walked away, and put his whistle in his mouth and blew it.
Marwan went into the locker room and struggled with the combination lock—had to do it twice—and got out his phone and opened Instagram. He tapped on his own profile and, sure enough, there was a photo of Eden. He deleted it before even looking at it too closely because it just felt wrong.
It made no sense, except that it did.
He took a minute to review her plan again, then folded the paper and put it back in his jacket pocket with his phone. Outside, he unlocked his bike and got on and didn’t bother with his helmet and rode off feeling like he might be the thing to explode.
ELI
His grandfather was in his bed, asleep, all wired up with monitors. The room beeped. Eli sat on the ottoman and let his backpack drop to the floor. It was awful to admit, but he was relieved not to have to talk to his grandfather right now and only hoped the device would be quiet for a while.
He got his phone out, opened Sims. He sent Beth out on a quest so that she could get some more furniture. But suddenly the room was beeping more urgently. Eli stood—his grandfather seemed fine to him—then stuck his head out into the hall. Two nurses were charging toward him.
“What’s going on?” he said as they pushed past him into the room.
“His heart rate dropped,” one said. “Like a lot.”
Eli found the heartbeat line on the monitor, with long straight-aways between beats and beeps. He hadn’t noticed how quiet the room had gotten before the urgent beeps, but now the beats got faster again. The line more hilly.
Take Me with You Page 18
