Burn by Sarah Fine

Author:Sarah Fine [Fine, Sarah]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9780399160684
Amazon: 039916068X
Publisher: G.P. Putnam's Sons Books for Young Readers
Published: 2015-05-11T23:00:00+00:00

THIRTEEN

I WAKE SLOWLY TO MORNING SUNLIGHT FILTERING through the curtains. “Shit!” I bolt upright and scrabble for the phone by the bed, frantically checking the time. It’s nearly nine. There’s a note on the pillow next to me. Went to breakfast with Leo, but wanted to let you sleep.

A jolt of frustration makes me crumple the paper, but then I notice something written on the other side:

Please don’t be mad ~ C

My fingers trace the initial she used to sign off, realizing, as I look again at the date display on the phone, that it’s Sunday morning, and our prom was last night. That was where we were supposed to be, laughing and dancing and being stupid with our friends. And instead of getting a hotel room and hoping for the best, I was here. Christina was with me, but it wasn’t exactly the romantic scenario I’d envisioned.

This last week has stolen all my hopes for a normal, carefree end to my junior year. What it hasn’t stolen is how I feel about Christina. That’s only stronger every time I look at her, which makes it both awesome and terrible that she’s here.

I get up and shower quickly. As I dress in some of the clothes my father left in the drawers, I remember all the simmering tension of the night before, the hair-trigger suspicion of the Black Box guards, the way they collared her just for being a stranger, the way they looked at her when they discovered she was H2. As I walk to the main building, where the cafeteria is located, I call my mom. She doesn’t pick up, so I leave a message. “Just checking in. I hope everything’s all right.” I wonder if she ever left the morgue last night.

The guards at the main entrance don’t scan me, and I’m not sure what that means.

I make it to the cafeteria in time to catch Leo and Christina finishing their food. Christina gives me a nervous look, but when I smile, she relaxes. They’re at a table with Angus, Race, and Congers, and for a moment I pause, struck by the weirdness of that sight. Christina still has stitches in her head because one of Race’s agents shot her last Tuesday. And now she’s listening politely to something he’s saying while she sips her coffee.

I grab some cereal and milk and join them, noticing that the scanner is sitting in the middle of the circular table like a centerpiece. “Why aren’t we scanning people as they enter the building?”

Race wipes his mouth with his napkin. “Everyone on the compound was located and re-scanned by six this morning. Now it’s a matter of priorities. There’s a lot we don’t yet know about the device, and we’re wondering if our time wouldn’t be best spent trying to figure out whether it has additional capabilities.” He runs his fingers down the side of the scanner, across those little ports. He’s noticed them, too.

Congers, his hair neatly combed with a perfectly straight part, looks around at the people in the cafeteria.

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