The Sinister Secrets of Singe by Sean Ferrell

Author:Sean Ferrell [Ferrell, Sean]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Holiday House
Published: 2023-06-06T00:00:00+00:00

Noah was certain all the air had left the room. It must have. He couldn’t breathe. When Elijah had pushed Winona and him from the Abbreviated, it hadn’t occurred to him that he might not see his companion again. It wasn’t until he was alone for long enough that the worry crept in. Now, the idea of being lost forever without his friend lay on the table along with the robot boy.

“What did you do?”

His father’s lenses clicked slowly as they spun from high to low, his eye getting smaller with every switch. “I created a test,” he said. At last, his eye was unmagnified, though still behind a lens. It was, Noah thought, how this man saw the world: through a distorting glass he kept on his own face. It was the way this man chose to view the world.

“He doesn’t deserve this.”

Alton didn’t respond at first. He bit his lip and his eyes shifted. He suddenly darted away from the table, as if distancing himself from a mess he didn’t want to be blamed for.

“Deserve.” The word slid from Alton’s mouth. “Does anyone deserve anything?”

Noah walked toward his friend. He put a hand on a cold, metal arm and looked into Elijah’s face. The snail was on the other eye now. He’s had this done to him because I wanted to come here. The arm felt as if it were getting colder. “No one deserves to be treated like a plaything. Or to be punished for others’ mistakes.”

Alton muttered under his breath, pacing the far side of the room. One flesh finger was in his mouth while the mechanical fingers tapped at the side of his face and temple.

“Deserve…deserve…no…no one…It…it’s done now. You’ll do it. I know…I hope you can do it.” There was only Noah there, and still Alton didn’t look his way.

Is he talking to me, or himself? Noah had spent so much time alone with Elijah. He wondered how he might sound talking to himself if he hadn’t had the robot with him. After all, Alton Physician had been that alone for as long as Noah had been with Elijah.

The pacing stopped. “It’s done. This is the test. I…hope to see you pass.” Alton seemed to shrink a bit. His loneliness was like a weight, and it made him smaller as it settled into place.

Alton left the room, and for just a moment, Noah listened to the uneven steps upward into the tower. His father’s single robotic leg made each footfall with solid confidence. It was the human leg that seemed to drag.

On the table waited Elijah. The snail waved its antennae and slowly moved on from Elijah’s face.

Noah wished his robot friend could say something. Elijah’s support would be helpful now. Especially now. “Ironic,” he said to his motionless friend. “I need you now, more than ever.” He leaned forward and intently scrutinized the recently corroded face. The greens and blues gave Elijah an ancient look.

Noah pulled at a dried piece of seaweed that had adhered to Elijah’s cheek.

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