Eden almost laughed because … what?
A body was only built to absorb so many tragedies, could only stand to worry about a finite number of random things.
Everyone who mattered most in her life was right here or already gone.
She stopped at the corner and deleted the app and turned her phone off and found her mom again and linked her arm through hers as they crossed under the elevated tracks. A train passed overhead as if carrying thunder. Nudging her mom in the crosswalk, Eden mouthed the words I really miss him. Her mother smiled and mouthed something back—something like “What? I can’t hear you!”—then pulled her arm free, pointed to her ears, and finally threw her hands up in the air—a shrug emoji come to life.
Eden felt like a red balloon and a thumbs-up and a flamenco dancer and a unicorn—maybe even like she had hearts for eyes. So when the train left silence in its wake, she said it again—“I really miss him”—and her mom said, “I know. I heard you,” and squeezed her hand tight as they stepped over the star of Natalie.
It was that feeling when you’re going to be okay.
I’m indebted to my editor Sarah Shumway for her patience while this idea took shape.
And to the rest of the incredible Bloomsbury team: Cindy Lo, Faye Bi, Alexa Higbee, Erica Barmash, Beth Eller, Jasmine Miranda, Lily Yengle, Phoebe Dyer, Claire Stetzer, Oona Patrick, and Melissa Kavonic.
Thanks to the fab design team of Donna Mark and Jeanette Levy, and to Tony Sahara for the cover art.
Shout-out to my Astoria, Queens, neighborhood—which is both real and imagined in these pages—and especially to the artists who either created or inspired the pieces my characters interact with at Socrates Sculpture Park: Guillaume Légaré, Andrew Brehm, and the late Devra Freelander.
My agent David Dunton @ Harvey Klinger Agency never disappoints.
And I rely heavily on the wisdom of Bob and my SC.
I better mention my children or they’ll be mad.
And Nick, at long last, this one’s for you.
BLOOMSBURY YA
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First published in the United States of America in June 2020 by Bloomsbury YA
Text copyright © 2020 by Tara Altebrando
Emoji art by HN Works / shutterstock.com Box line drawing art by nikiteev_konstantin / shutterstock.com
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Name: Altebrando, Tara, author.
Title: Take me with you / by Tara Altebrando.
Description: New York: Bloomsbury Children’s Books, 2020.
Summary: United by the requirement to take care of a mysterious electronic cube, Eden, Eli, Marwan, and llanka are driven ever further apart, and disobeying the device has life-threatening consequences.
Identifiers: LCCN 2019046003 (print) | LCCN 2019046004 (e-book)
ISBN 978-1-68119-748-7 (hardcover) • ISBN 978-1-68119-749-4 (e-book)
Subjects: CYAC: Interpersonal relations—Fiction. | Electronics—Fiction. | High schools—Fiction. | Schools—Fiction. | Family life—Fiction. | Science fiction.
Classification: LCC PZ7.A46332 Tak 2020 (print) | LCC PZ7.A46332 (e-book) | DDC [Fic]—dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2019046003
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