Select (Select #1)(89)

Novak looked deep in my eyes, “If you think you’re capable of doing this for me, everyone will be less resistant to my vision for our future. Everything will go smoother the next time the opportunity presents itself. I’ll be going in and out for a time, since I’m the one who seems to draw them.”

“Excuse me?”

“You’re eighteen now and you’re my daughter, so I’m going to trust you. You know I’ve had visions of outsiders joining us, but one in particular has come into focus. He was the whole reason we’ve been waiting. And then that little shit Angus…I was so close. I could feel it the same way I predict everything else. It was supposed to take place soon. We were going to hear him here.” Novak touched his forehead.

“Liv or I—one of us was going to hear this person’s thoughts and know he had the potential to become one of us completely. Everyone would finally understand how we might survive. But now we have to leave.” Novak stood up from the desk in disgust.

It took me a beat to fully realize what he was saying. What that said about me. And what that said about John. We had been waiting for him. The key player Novak needed for the final Relocation was the person waiting for me just outside the property. I was the one who had brought him to us. I was the one who had carried out Novak’s prediction—the least likely person in Novak’s mind. Liv had been right. She was the only one who’d seen it.

Novak suddenly looked at me. “Did you hear anyone’s thoughts? Before you went to that school?”

Truly my father’s daughter after all, I felt a mask descend over my entire body, shielding my emotions completely. “No.” I shook my head. I felt very scared and kept still, watching to see if I could untangle our fates.

Novak shook his head like it had been a crazy idea that I could do something so incredible. “It was Angus. By breaking the rules he interfered with my vision and he altered the course. We need other people to continue our species, but this person was special. He was key to the growth of my direct line. He was meant for Liv.”

By chance or fate, I was the daughter who had found John. It was in my hands. I wouldn’t hand over his life to Novak. He’d been wrong about my mother, and people would think he’d been wrong again. Novak would never know. He underestimated me too completely.

Novak seemed to grow calm. “It will happen.” Then he gave me a quick kiss on the top of my head. “Apparently I’ve got to go. And so do you. I’ll see you there?” He didn’t wait for my answer. I watched Novak’s lanky body stride to the door and exit into the hallway, leaving me alone in his office.

I waited for a moment. I knew exactly what to do. Very slowly and methodically, I unclasped the necklace and placed it on the tabletop. Walking behind Novak’s desk, I automatically unlocked the tall window to the left and exited onto the fire escape that lay in wait, as if this moment had already been written.

Once I was outside I started moving quickly, knowing every second mattered. I flew down the metal staircase, trying to keep a light step. I got to ground level, now almost entirely illuminated in the pinkish light of morning. Head down, my heart beating out of my chest, I needed to make it to John on the other side of the gate. I rapidly walked through damp grass to the side gate. When I crossed back into the safety of the shadows, I looked up at the house in spite of myself.

Through the glass wall the living room faintly glowed and I saw the entire family together, on display. Some adults were milling around, some draped across furniture. I saw my friends gathered in a corner, heads together—the kids I’d been with my whole life. I was breaking my promise to Angus. The Lost Kids were now on their own.

I felt someone watching me and looked up, my breath catching. Liv stood at the office window.

Our eyes met. Liv turned her head—as if about to call out to someone—but then she stopped herself. Frozen, I couldn’t break her gaze, not knowing what she was going to do.

Then, very slowly, Liv lifted her hand and gave me the smallest wave good-bye. She would let me go. I stood there memorizing her, the other love of my life, for just one more moment, knowing I was breaking a promise to her most of all.

It was hard to believe this was the last time I would ever see her. I gave a small wave back, willing Liv to know how much I loved her. I broke eye contact first and walked away.

I had to let her go. If I didn’t put this vanishing world behind me, I wouldn’t be able to save myself and another person I loved.





I grew more nervous the closer we got. I knew John could feel my fear when I gave him the code to the gate. I wasn’t sure if it would work, or if I should even have been coming back to this house.

John’s parents, thinking my family had fled the country before the SEC formally charged Novak, had gone into protective-teacher mode, wanting to help me as if I were one of their at-risk students. They tried to tell me I should go to Chicago with them for Christmas, or at least stay at their house. I told them first I had to see if I still had a home. Rationally I knew that my family was long gone, but of course a tiny part of me wondered if anything was waiting for me here.

The glass house was absolutely silent. For a moment I wanted not to go in, just to turn around and drive away. I used another passcode to open the front door and didn’t turn to look at John when that code worked as well. I couldn’t look at him. I was too scared.