Vicarious by Paula Stokes

Author:Paula Stokes
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781466876200
Publisher: Tom Doherty Associates

CHAPTER 22

“What are you doing?” Jesse taps me on the shoulder.

I open my eyes. Immediately my bedroom overlays on Andy Lynch’s neighborhood, and a burst of nausea assaults me. I pause the recording and curl onto my side, slowly breathing in and out through my nose until the urge to vomit dissipates.

“I thought you never vised,” Jesse says.

After our talk last night, I can’t bring myself to lie to him. “I’m playing my sister’s recordings.”

He kneels down and brushes my hair back from my face. “Are you going to throw up?” He reaches out and grabs a small trash can from the corner of my room.

I shake my head slowly. “I just need a minute.”

“Where did you get Rose’s ViSEs?” he asks.

“I found the originals in her room.” I sit up slowly and show Jesse the heart-shaped music box.

He paws through the memory cards. “How many are there? Is this all of them?”

“There’s nineteen, but that doesn’t seem like very many. Maybe she only recently started saving them.”

“How many have you played?” Jesse’s fingers skim across the memory cards again.

“Eight. It’s slow going for me.” I show him my notebook. “Even when I try my best, the overlay still makes me sick.”

“You should give them to Gid. Let him and Baz go through them for clues.”

“I will,” I say. “After I finish playing them. No one knew Rose better than me. I might be able to pick out things no one else can.”

Jesse nods to himself as he consults my list. “Can I help? I could play some of them for you. Maybe the ones that would make you … uncomfortable?”

“Sure.” I have no desire to experience my sister grinding up against drunk frat boys on the dance floor or making out with total strangers at switch parties. “Look at this,” I say, removing my headset and handing it to Jesse. He loosens it slightly and then slips it over his ears. “Just start from where I paused it. You see the guy in the bushes?”

Jesse leans back against the wall, closes his eyes, and plays a few seconds of the ViSE. “It looks like Baz.”

“It does. I think he’s the guy in the hat and coat I’ve seen on three of Rose’s ViSEs now. Pretty sure that was him at Zoo last night too.”

Jesse pauses the recording and opens his eyes. “You know we could’ve gotten killed, right? You scared me a little.”

“I scared myself a little. I’m not sure what came over me.”

Jesse closes his eyes and fidgets with the headset again, his mouth scrunching up in a frown. “But why would Baz run from us? Why would he be following us in the first place?”

“No idea.” I hop to my feet and start pacing back and forth across my room. “What reason would he have to hurt Rose? They barely even knew each other.”

“Should I play this from the beginning?”

I flush. “Not unless you want to hook up with Andy Lynch.”

Jesse snickers. “Maybe before he went all choke in the national championship.

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