The Echo Room
Page 26
That’s not how it works, Rett thought. But if he and the pilot didn’t know, Rett wasn’t going to tell them. It was as good a story as they were going to get, and it might just be enough to keep the pilot from looking for them.
Rett jammed the rock back into his pocket and pulled Bryn up as Sanders slid a window open for them. “There’s water and ration bars in the boat,” Saunders told them. He grabbed Rett’s arm. “Don’t tell anyone I did this.”
Rett nodded. He and Bryn climbed out into the sunlight, sending up dust when they landed. They skidded down the embankment toward the wet dirt along the river.
“Stay close to the embankment,” Bryn said. “Maybe it’ll cut off the view from the windows, and the pilot won’t see us.”
She pulled his arm around her shoulders so he could lean on her while they walked. They turned along the bend of a river, and the boat came into view in the distance, humped with the supplies Sanders had mentioned. Drinking water, food. Rett felt properly hungry. The churn of nausea and dread had finally calmed.
“Scatter will find out, sooner or later, what we did,” Bryn said. “Let’s hope that by then, everyone who’s working against Scatter is ready to deal the final blow.”
The clouds moving behind the distant ridges left streaks like white flags, like banners. Rett stopped to admire the sight. “It’s over. The wasteland, its poison. It won’t spread anymore.”
He pulled the rock out of his pocket. The sun flashed on veins of silver. “I bet I know a conspiracy theory website that will want a look at this.”
“Dark Window?” Bryn stopped in surprise. “Nice of you to join in my hobbies.”
“We’ve got enough people taking Scatter down from the inside. Maybe this will take them down from the outside.”
“The rock that kills Goliath? I like it. But right now I just want to get down that river, find the interstate, and get as far from this place as possible.”
“Maybe if we write to Walling they’ll send us a bus ticket,” Rett joked.
In answer, Bryn leaned down to reach into her boot. When she straightened, she had in her hand a thick shard of silvery metal. “It came off the device when you smashed it on the rocks. I hid it in my boot when they were coming for us.”
Rett stared, transfixed by the shine of the metal. “It’s got to be worth thousands.”
She held it out to him. “We’ll find out.”
He slipped it out of her hand to marvel at it, bright against the dirt of his palm.
“I want to share it with you,” Bryn said. Her eyes were gray, shadowed with uncertainty.
Uncertain about what? Rett wondered. That we’ll be okay? Or that I want to be with her?
He leaned close and kissed her. She kissed him back. It came with the same jolt of electricity it had last time, but this time Rett knew for sure she didn’t do it for any reason other than that she wanted to.
He broke away, shot through with a feeling too close to the panic he had felt at Scatter 2. When those two dark hungry shapes had loomed. When he had held that device over the sharp canyon rocks and had forever destroyed his chance of going home.
“All those kids are safe now,” he said, as much to himself as to Bryn. “Scatter can’t make them time travel anymore. They can go back to their families.”
His voice caught on the last word.
Bryn circled his waist with her arm. “That’s all thanks to you.”
“Thanks to both of us.” Rett managed a smile that must have looked awful on his weary, dirt-streaked face. “Anyway, it felt good to smash something.”
Bryn smiled back, and Rett’s heart fluttered. So rare, that smile.
He leaned on Bryn and they made for the boat, the sky overhead stretching endlessly in every direction, bright ocean blue.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Thanks to Ammi-Joan Paquette for championing this story and finding it a great home.
Thanks to Ali Fisher, Tom Doherty, Kathleen Doherty, Seth Lerner, Rafal Gibek, Jim Kapp, Heather Saunders, the Macmillan sales force, the Tor/Forge marketing and publicity team, the Macmillan Audio team, and the rest of the Tor team for working to bring this book to life.
Thanks to Katie Silvensky and Charles Hotchkiss for answering my questions about all kinds of unlikely scenarios. (Any mistakes are mine.)
Thanks to Emily Henry, Jo Whittemore, Traci Chee, Regan Kirk, Heather Bouwman, and Gwynne Breidenstein for reading and helping with early drafts.
Thanks to Jennifer Noble for helping me get unstuck.
Thanks to all my Bay Area writer friends for their encouragement and support (and sandwiches and board games).
Thanks to all the amazing Bay Area booksellers who have cheered me on and promoted my work.
And thanks to Jason Peevyhouse and the rest of my family for being awesome.
ALSO BY PARKER PEEVYHOUSE
Where Futures End (a novella collection)
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
PARKER PEEVYHOUSE lives in the San Francisco Bay Area and works at Hicklebee’s Children’s Bookstore. Parker’s critically acclaimed collection of novellas for young adults, Where Futures End, was named a best book for teens by the New York Public Library, Chicago Public Library, and Bank Street. Parker is likely trying to solve a puzzle at this very moment, probably while enjoying In-N-Out fries, admiring redwood trees, and quoting movies about sentient robots.
Visit Parker online at ParkerPeevyhouse.com and on Twitter and Instagram as: @parkerpeevy, or sign up for email updates here.
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CONTENTS
Title Page
Copyright Notice
Dedication
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
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.
THE ECHO ROOM
Copyright © 2018 by Parker Peevyhouse
All rights reserved.
Cover art by Shutterstock.com
Cover design by Faceout Studio, Jeff Miller
A Tor Teen Book
Published by Tom Doherty Associates
175 Fifth Avenue
New York, NY 10010
www.tor-forge.com
Tor® is a registered trademark of Macmillan Publishing Group, LLC.
The Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is available upon request.
ISBN 978-0-7653-9939-7 (hardcover)
ISBN 978-0-7653-9941-0 (ebook)
eISBN 9780765399410
Our ebooks may be purchased in bulk for promotional, educational, or business use. Please contact the Macmillan Corporate and Premium Sales Department at 1-800-221-7945, extension 5442, or by email at MacmillanSpecialMarkets@macmillan.com.
First Edition: September 2018