Petal's Problems by Lauren Baratz-Logsted

Author:Lauren Baratz-Logsted [Baratz-Logsted, Lauren]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

SEVEN

Pete the mechanic unbuckled his seat belt and was out of his chair and at Petal's side quicker than we had ever imagined a man with weight hanging over the top of his jeans could move.

"Petal, what's wrong?" he asked.

Then Mrs. Pete, moving quickly, was there too.

"Did you have a bad dream?" she asked, crouching down beside Petal.

"No!" Petal cried. "We're not going to France after all ... and I'm scared!"

"I can't believe you woke us all up for this." Rebecca was cross. "Of course we're going to France. We're in a plane and that's where we're headed."

"No, we're not," Petal said. "I heard... him."

"Him?" Annie echoed.

"Who did you hear?" Durinda asked gently.

"Oh no," Georgia said. "Petal's starting to hear voices. She must finally have gone completely around the bend."

"Fear can do that to a person," Marcia said wisely. "There have been scientific studies."

"I hope her cat doesn't go crazy too," Zinnia said. "Being crazy would be very hard on poor Precious."

"I didn't hear voices in my head," Petal said, sounding impatient with us. "I heard that man. The man behind the door."

She pointed, and we all followed her finger toward the front of the plane.

"That's the cockpit," Jackie said. "Do you mean the pilot?"

"Yes." Petal nodded fearfully. "Yes, that's it."

"But that's impossible," Pete said. "That door is steel and it's very thick."

"I don't think you could have heard him talking through that, dear," Mrs. Pete said gently. Then her eyes brightened, as though she'd just gotten a good idea. "Did he maybe speak over the intercom? And perhaps the rest of us didn't hear because we were so sound asleep?"

"No!" It was very rare for Petal to be so impatient, particularly with an adult, but she was now. "I didn't hear him talking to someone else. And I didn't hear him over the intercom." She paused, then went on, sounding terrified yet insistent. "I heard the voice in his head!"

In most families, if one of their members started talking about hearing voices in other people's heads, that person would probably get locked away somewhere.

But we weren't like most families, never had been, and even Georgia, who'd talked about Petal finally going around the bend, could see that such a thing might be significant.

"What was his voice saying?" Pete asked urgently.

"It said, 'I'm changing direction on this plane.'" Petal paused. "He spoke with a funny accent, although I guess sometimes we do too, but I couldn't place his. And then he said, 'I need to get back to Italia, pronto.'"

"What does that mean?" Rebecca asked. "Italia and pronto? I only speak Spanish, you see."

"You speak English too," Georgia said. "In fact, you're doing that now."

"It means 'Italy' and 'fast,'" Pete said, straightening up. "It also means I need to get to the bottom of this."

He strode manfully toward the front of the cabin.

"Oh no!" Petal cried. "I can't go to Italy! I've only just recently wrapped my mind around going to France. If I have to wrap my mind around a different country now, I'll go crazy!"

"I think you already are," Rebecca said.

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