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She could talk to Michael now, but what good was that?
She couldn t have him. It would only hurt more.
Jana could swallow a bird, if she could find one, and it
wouldn t be as painful as seeing Michael again. Being
sliced in half in a tornado didn t hurt at all compared to
being torn to little ragged pieces by love. Jana couldn t put
the pieces back together again. Her fingers, like her
thoughts, were useless, awkward things.
She was an empty house with the windows broken out.
Jana stayed on the bus.
Look, we told him, Nathan said.
We? Michael said into his cell.
Me and Sherry, Nathan told Michael. My mom went
with us, and her dad. We told the detective how it
happened. It was no big deal to him. He just wants to talk to
you. He knows it was an accident and all, just a prank. You
know, like hazing.
Hazing? Did he say that? Did he say hazing?
Yeah, I think so. You know, like no one intended anything
bad to happen. It wasn t murder or anything.
Michael cursed. Nathan was such an idiot. Hadn t he
seen what happened to those other college fraternity guys
when one of them died during a hazing? No, it wasn t
murder. It was manslaughter by reckless disregard or
something like that. They went to prison.
Oh, and Sherry told her dad about the photos on your
cell phone. Well, you know, kind of what they are. They
asked the detective about them. He told them you couldn t
show the pictures to anyone without her permission, that it
would be a violation of her civil rights or right to privacy or
something like that. Anyway, he told Sherry she could sue
you in civil court and win if you showed the pictures to even
one other person.
Listen to me, Michael said slowly. It s your word
against mine. I m telling them you did it. They got nothing on
me. You better think this through, Nathan. Tell them you
were lying because Sherry s dad was there. We ll both say
that Sherry did it. Either that or I will tell them you did.
I don t know, Nathan said. I already signed the paper
that had my statement on it.
Think it over and call me back. I mean it. I ll tell them you
did it and that you and Sherry have this thing and she ll say
anything you tell her to say. She s just a sophomore. They ll
think she s lying. And it will all go away. They don t have
anything on you or me.
I don t know.
I m getting a lawyer, you little prick. Michael seethed.
And I m telling him you did it. We ll see what happens,
Nathan. I m Ivy League, you got that? You re nothing. We ll
see what happens.
As she stared at her empty hands, pieces of Jana s broken
hope slowly gathered into a plan. There was one thing left
to do.
She got off the bus and walked into Dead School. She
walked by the Grays who monitored the halls. She walked
by the closed classroom doors. She walked by the library
windows.
No one was at the swimming pool this hour. She found
the switches. She listened to the pumps come on. She
turned on the underwater lights. Jana wanted to see where
she was going. She left the overhead lights turned off. The
water looked prettier that way. It looked pretty and deep.
There was nothing to think about. There was nothing left
to consider.
She took off her clothes. Her body felt different than when
she d been a Riser. She was warm now, for one thing. Her
body also felt a little heavier. Jana could feel the weight of
her skin, her muscles, her blood. Gravity wanted a piece of
her.
Considering carefully what she was about to do, Jana left
Considering carefully what she was about to do, Jana left
Michael s class ring on her left hand instead of nesting it
safely inside one of her shoes. She was taking what she
had left of Michael with her. As she walked to the edge of
the pool, the Virgins appeared. One after another, they
showed up out of nowhere and formed a line above the
pool. In front of her. Facing her.
Others appeared behind the first line of Virgins until they
were four or five deep. There were dozens of them in their
white translucent gowns and their white translucent skin.
The Virgins reflected the light from under the water. Flashes
of iridescent lavender and silver danced across their gowns
and faces.
Jana pushed her toes over the edge of the pool and the
Virgins came closer, as if they could stand on water. Jana
could see the looks in their eyes, the pale colors of their
eyes and hair. The Virgins held out one arm each and
waved their hands, left to right, in front of them. They sang a
harmony of one word. It was dull and flat and low.
The word was No.
Jana closed her eyes and jumped in.
Just under the surface of the water, she leaned back and
let out all her air. Her eyes open, she could see the Virgins
hovering above her.
She let herself sink. She turned her body over and pulled
herself through the water with her arms, following the current
at the bottom of the pool until she found the drain. As she
reached for it, the suction grabbed her hand and jerked it
down until Michael s ring was against the grate covering the
drain. Jana could not lift a single finger from the drain. It
held her hand like a jealous lover and would not let go.
A Slider came into class from across the hall and walked to
Wyatt s desk at the back of the room.
She s not there, he said. She got off the bus.
When? Mars asked. He stood up from his seat behind
Wyatt.
Another guy saw her. He said she walked into the school
a few minutes ago, but she s not in class.
Mars pushed the Slider aside as he rushed toward the
classroom door. Wyatt knocked over his desk getting out of
it to follow as quickly as he could. He d nearly caught up to
Mars when Mars jerked open the library doors and shouted
at Jameson to ask if Jana was there.
She wasn t.
Chapter Twenty-Nine
TIME WAS SHORT.
Turn off the pumps! Mars yelled to Wyatt as the two of
them burst into the room.
Mars didn t have time to take off his shoes. He ran
toward the pool, leaped as soon as he could, as far as he
could, and was in the water like a knife.
Wyatt hit the switches, swung his bad leg around, and
cursed when his weight caught it wrong. Despite the pain,
he kept from falling over and kept from slowing down. His
bad arm wouldn t allow him to swim well, but he could try.
Mars surfaced with Jana supine and limp in his arms.
She was more buoyant than he d realized. She d always
said so.
Stay there! he shouted to Wyatt just in time. Mars
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