First We Were IV by Alexandra Sirowy

Author:Alexandra Sirowy
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers

19

I stayed in my room Saturday morning, planted on my desk, watching the Pacific. Each wave rushed in darker, something ominous gathering. I snapped Polaroids, placing their unformed vignettes in single file across my desk. When I finally studied their captured moments, it was clear. The sea knew what we were planning.

Our third rebellion had been aimed at Carver and Denton. Intended to frighten and unnerve them. Pictures circulated. People gossiped. That boy lied about the bloody noose and the girl about the X marking her door. The mayor was forced to respond to the whole town in her statement. My own parents locked our windows, which were usually thrown open to the breeze. All that blood gnawed a little at the myth of the utopian Seven Hills.

The fourth rebellion would have a wider scope. We would aim revenge not just at Carver and Denton, but at those we knew hadn’t helped Goldilocks. Maybe there were more whose indifference cost Goldilocks her life, or at least justice. Our next rebellion wouldn’t target them all directly, but I hoped they’d get the message of our scattershot. You are not safe.

But we were small in number, and though our group was a universe to me, there was a limit to what we could do.

The Order had one invisible hand. With Amanda and the others, we would have many. All invisible. Omnipresent. Vengeful gods capable of endless aftershocks.

When Harry arrived Saturday evening to take me to homecoming, Mom and Dad had their cell phones out, Dad being sneaky about snapping shots and Mom instructing us to pose. I set my jaw and withstood the happy parent routine. Thus far, there was no evidence that the flowers delivered to Ina had caused the flourish of town gossip I’d expected.

“You look beautiful,” Harry told me in the car.

I smiled at him. “You do too.” I hadn’t seen Harry in a suit since eighth-grade graduation. I remembered him looking like a coat hanger in his jacket. Since then, Harry had done a lot of broadening.

“This used to be my dad’s.” Harry pinched the fabric of his jacket cuff.

“It’s perfect.”

“Green is my favorite color,” he said of my sleeveless dress.

The fabric was thin and delicate, pooling around my strappy sandals. “It’s silk, I think.”

“I like silk.”

He opened the moonroof. It was a balmy night, moisture in the air making my wavy hair wavier. I rested my head back and looked starward. “It’s really clear. The stars are so bright.”

Harry glanced up from the road. “When I was way younger, I was obsessed with astronomy.”

“Did you ever have those glow-in-the-dark constellation stickers when you were little?”

“They covered my bedroom ceiling. You?”

“My closet. I used to tear all the clothes off the hangers to stare at them from the floor. Sometimes I’d make Graham or Viv sit and I’d talk like we were at the planetarium.”

“That sounds—”

“Like I was a huge dork.”

His eyes cut to me. “Like something I would have done. Are they still there?”

“No way. After we discovered the meteorite, we were all really into space.

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