Willow slipped it right back off.
Lake let out a sound halfway between a laugh and cry. She was more afraid now than ever. Afraid that if she left the sim, Willow wouldn’t follow. Afraid that if Willow did, it would only be to the same conflict and chaos they’d found in the sim.
We can’t escape ourselves.
She looked down at the gray skin covering her arm. Angel of Death.
“I’m hungry,” Willow said.
“There isn’t any…” Lake’s voice trailed off. The ship was only a simulation, and she could make it what she wanted. Couldn’t she?
She closed her hand into a tight fist. Then she opened her fingers.
A bright globe of fruit sat on her palm.
Willow marveled at it. “Where did you get that?”
Lake couldn’t take her eyes from it, even as she gave it to Willow. “There’ll be more, in the place we’re going.”
Willow bit into the fruit, and the sweet smell filled the air. Lake almost couldn’t enjoy it for the anxiety twisting her stomach. Angel of Death.
But I’m not an angel.
“Are we finally going?” Willow asked.
Lake studied her, uncertain. She didn’t know if this was goodbye.
She stood and pulled Willow up from the chair. “Yes. We’re going.”
Lake traced an X on the door with her finger, turned the handle, and ushered Willow through while her heart nearly burst with hoping.
33
LAKE
Lake woke. Alone as always.
She lifted the lid over her bed and then froze, startled by the sight of her unmarked skin. The stain of the tar had vanished. No gray skin. She went dizzy with relief, and then confusion. She was still struggling to wake from the deepest dream she’d ever had.
She struggled out of the bed, weak and unsteady. Her stomach empty and cramping, her mouth dry. She leaned against the wall, gathering her strength. Too many thoughts were crashing through her head, but one escaped through her lips. “Please don’t let me be alone here.”
She finally managed to slide the door of the chamber aside.
There was Ransom, leaning against the wall, blinking at her with the startled gaze of a newborn creature.
“Ransom? I thought…” Lake pulled him into her, wrapped her arms around his waist. Pressed her head into the hollow of his shoulder. He seemed no different from before. She watched his pulse beat in his neck, listened to the hum of his breathing. Same boy who brought her shells on the beach, who built bridges out of toothpicks, who played imaginary pianos.
“I told you,” he said, “I wasn’t stuck in the sim. You were.”
“But you were always there.” To be with me, she realized. And to hide from his guilt at whatever had happened in the lost world. “And you always had such a hard time moving through the sim.”
“Going back into the sim is harder than you think.” He cracked a smile. “Everyone’s heading to the shuttles. I already sent out a beacon to the government ships. They should be able to follow us here. The shuttles are stocked with supplies to hold us over on the surface of the planet until then.”
“You’ve been busy.”
“When I wasn’t sleeping.” His smile was easy for once.
Lake let go of him. “Is she here?”
But she could tell from his hesitation that he didn’t know.
And then, from down the row of stasis chambers, a voice called, “Lake?”
Lake turned. A million suns rose inside her. “Willow.”
* * *
In the shuttle, Lake clasped her hand around Willow’s. The planet filled their view-screen: A swath of purple-blue, marbled by white clouds.
A new world.
Bright in the light of its star. Bright as a gem, a treasure that pressed them into silence. A gift, Lake thought, coming fully awake for the first time since her long sleep in the sim.
A gift more weighty than any she’d ever received.
She squeezed Willow’s hand. We’re so lucky, Will.
So lucky, and so very, very rich.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Thank you to …
My editor, Ali Fisher, whose guidance and insight helped me find the most interesting territory this story had to offer.
My agent, Ammi-Joan Paquette, who helps me navigate the maze of publishing and believes in my most labyrinthine ideas.
My tireless team at Tor, in particular Devi Pillai, Saraciea Fennell, Becky Yeager, Liana Krissoff, Rafal Gibek, Steven Bucsok, Lesley Worrell for the jacket design, and everyone else who worked to make this story into a book.
Launch Pad Astronomy Workshop, where I learned so much more than I was able to fit into this story, and SFWA for funding my participation in the workshop. Also to Charles Hotchkiss for consulting on some of the scientific aspects of this story. (Any mistakes are my own.)
All those who offered story critiques and helped me find my way out of tricky plot corners, including Emily Henry, Traci Chee, Danielle Behr, and Gwynne Breidenstein.
My local writing friends, whose support keeps me going, particularly Stacey Lee, Kelly Loy Gilbert, and Randy Ribay, along with the rest of my local writing community, whose friendship means so much to me.
My local Bay Area bookstores, especially Hicklebee’s, for promoting my books and also for being great places to hang out in.
My family, especially Jason and Toby Peevyhouse, for being awesome.
ALSO BY PARKER PEEVYHOUSE
Where Futures End (a novella collection)
The Echo Room
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
PARKER PEEVYHOUSE lives in the San Francisco Bay Area and works at Hicklebee’s Children’s Bookstore. Parker is the author of The Echo Room and a critically acclaimed collection of novellas for young adults, Where Futures End. Parker is likely trying to solve a puzzle at this very moment while enjoying In-N-Out fries, admiring redwood trees, and quoting movies about sentient robots.
Website: ParkerPeevyhouse.com, or sign up for email updates here.
Twitter: @parkerpeevy
Instagram: @parkerpeevy
Goodreads: Parker Peevyhouse.
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Contents
Title Page
Copyright Notice
Dedication
1. Lake
2. Lake
3. Lake
4. Lake
5. Taren
6. Taren
7. Hailey
8. Taren
9. Lake
10. Taren
11. Taren
12. Lake
13. Lake
14. Lake
15. Taren
16. Lake
17. Taren
18. Lake
19. Taren
20. Lake
21. Ransom
22. Lake
23. Taren
24. Lake
25. Lake
26. Taren
27. Willow
28. Eden
29. Taren
30. Lake
31. Lake
32. Lake
33. Lake
Acknowledgments
Also by Parker Peevyhouse
About the Author
Copyright
This is a work of fiction. All of the characters, organizations, and events portrayed in this novel are either products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously.
STRANGE EXIT
Copyright © 2019 by Parker Peevyhouse
All rights reserved.
Cover photographs: door © Mark Boss on Unsplash; landscape © Shutterstock.com
A Tor Teen
Book
Published by Tom Doherty Associates
120 Broadway
New York, NY 10271
www.tor-forge.com
Tor® is a registered trademark of Macmillan Publishing Group, LLC.
The Library of Congress has cataloged the print edition as follows:
Names: Peevyhouse, Parker, author.
Title: Strange exit / Parker Peevyhouse.
Description: First edition. | New York: Tor Teen, 2020.
Identifiers: LCCN 2019041384 (print) | LCCN 2019041385 (ebook) | ISBN 9780765399427 (hardback) | ISBN 9780765399441 (ebook)
Subjects: CYAC: Virtual reality—Fiction. | Computer simulation—Fiction. | Science fiction.
Classification: LCC PZ7.1.P444 (print) | LCC PZ7.1.P444 (ebook) | DDC [Fic]—dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2019041384
LC ebook record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2019041385
eISBN 9780765399441
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First Edition: January 2020
Strange Exit Page 20
