How We Became Wicked by Alexander Yates

Author:Alexander Yates [Yates, Alexander]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Atheneum/Caitlyn Dlouhy Books
Published: 0101-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 19

The Monster Inside

IT WAS EVENING BY THE time they finally finished searching the map and could say for sure that there was no place called Port Emory anywhere on it. But Astrid and Hank were undaunted—they returned to the archives the very next morning and set about examining the maze of bookshelves. These were stacked with dusty newspapers and magazines, as well as printouts from old websites.

Astrid rifled through them, lingering over an article about the first outbreak of the wickedness. She knew the story well. It was legendary in Goldsport. Back then the scientists had called it the Western Cape Virus, because the first known case was an American tourist in South Africa. He’d come down with something that looked like a bad cold and had gone on to kill eight other patients in his hospital wing by strangling them with a stethoscope. It caused a global panic. All travel to South Africa was banned, even for doctors and scientists who wanted to study the virus. No one had known then that the disease didn’t even come from South Africa. No one had understood that the tourist hadn’t caught it on vacation, but rather had brought it there with him. And so the wickedness spread, slowly but surely, behind a world of turned backs. By the time they realized what was happening, it was too late to stop it.

All it takes is one crack. That was the moral Astrid was supposed to take from this story, just like every other story told in Goldsport. But even when she was a little kid, she figured that the investors had it wrong. America and the other rich countries of the world had locked their doors and barricaded them. They’d shut their windows, turned off all the lights, and pretended not to be home when people outside called for help. But their walls and locks didn’t save them. The monster they were hiding from was already inside. Maybe, if there had been a few more cracks, they’d have gotten out.

The bookshelves were a treasure trove of interesting relics like that article. Astrid paged through arguments about whether or not the United States and Europe should have closed their borders, instructions for how to irrigate a home garden, and a hilariously useless recipe for all-organic mosquito repellent. Hank found a box of records from the year Goldsport was founded, including old incident reports and inventory receipts. There was even an original blueprint for the greenway. But the one thing they didn’t find was any mention of a place called Port Emory. Not a single clue pointing them in the direction of Eliza.

They had just finished when a voice rang out from the atrium behind them. “There you two are!”

Astrid and Hank shot to their feet. Two figures stood on the opposite side of a bookshelf. The first was Abigail Lee, the vice chairwoman—they could just make her out through the gaps. The second, rather surprisingly, was Klara Bushkirk. Both women wore beautiful summer dresses and brightly patterned silk scarves.

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