The School for Whatnots by Margaret Peterson Haddix

Author:Margaret Peterson Haddix
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: HarperCollins
Published: 2022-02-10T00:00:00+00:00

Thirty-Five

Max and Nurse Beverly and . . . One Other

“This is totally freaking me out,” Max complained, his steps faltering as he walked into the darkness. Didn’t Nurse Beverly remember that he’d been afraid of the dark when he was little? He didn’t want to make it sound like he was still afraid now, but . . . “Can’t we turn on a light?”

“Let me check,” Nurse Beverly said. She began tapping away on her phone again.

“Seriously, who are you texting?” Max asked. “That’s freaking me out, too. If you’re just telling Mom or Dad—”

“I’m not,” Nurse Beverly said. “I’m not telling them anything. I’m pretty sure they would fire me if they knew I’d brought you here.”

“What?” Max cried. “They can’t fire you. We should go back!”

He turned around, but Nurse Beverly laid a hand on his arm.

“Max . . . don’t you know my days are numbered with your family, anyhow?” she asked. “You don’t still need a nanny even now. As you get older . . . well, eventually I’ll need to go help some other family.”

Max’s parents had tried to take Josie from him last night—and now Nurse Beverly was saying she was going to leave him, too?

“Then I don’t want to grow up,” Max said. Once again, he was conscious of how sulky and childish he sounded. “I don’t want to lose you and Josie and, and . . .”

“Max, I promise you—there are good things about growing up, along with the tough parts,” Nurse Beverly said. “And I think this little trip is worth the risk. In spite of whatever consequences we’re going to face.”

“I—” Max began. Then he caught a flash of movement off to the side, coming down another dark corridor. He turned and saw a stairway he’d somehow never noticed in his six years of attending the school. Hadn’t there been just a wall there before?

And in the shadows, he could just barely make out a figure climbing the stairs toward him. The figure was about the same height as Josie, and for a moment he felt a glimmer of hope.

Then he saw what the figure was wearing: a shapeless dress that stretched below her knees, a matronly oatmeal-colored shawl around her shoulders. An outfit that looked like it came out of Nurse Beverly’s closet.

Max’s hope flickered, but didn’t vanish.

“You’re having me meet with Josie’s nanny?” Max asked. “She’ll be able to take me to Josie, right?”

The figure began shaking her head. Or—its head.

Because the figure was close enough now for Max to see its face. And though most of its face looked like a human’s, the right cheek and one section of the forehead was pulled away, revealing computer chips and colorfully coated wires.

This “nanny” was an android.

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