Sleeping Jenny (15 page)

Jax reached out and grabbed the fencing around a terrace. Lasers shot around me, one of them singeing my hair. I felt my ear just to make sure it was still there.

“Hold on.” Jax threw me over the railing and I landed on firm, solid ground. Wilted plants surrounded me, their soil dried and their leaves falling off. A single sour tomato dangled in front of my nose. Jax climbed in after me and disconnected the hook. I thought the ordeal was over, but he pulled me up. “Come on. It won't take them long to figure out which window we went in.”

I scrambled up, dizzy and sick, and followed him into an apartment filled with trash. A putrid scent wafted up from the floor and I covered my mouth with my sleeve. Jax pulled out a flashlight. Pillaged garbage stood in heaps. A plastic couch had been gutted, the cushions ripped to pieces. Old food waste grew mold along the arms. At least that's what I thought it was. Strange objects, like old dolls and pots and pans, dangled from frayed wires along the walls.

Jax pulled me forward toward the front door. We spilled out into the hallway, gagging. Now I knew why they had condemned the building. Climbing over heaps of trash and old clothes, we managed to locate a stairway. Jax yanked the door open and we slipped in. He took a few steps down.

“Aren't you going the wrong way?”

“They're swarming the building. The only way to escape is to go farther down.”

My stomach pitched. The farther down I went, the worse it got. “We don't have much time.”

I had nowhere else to go. I had to trust him. Taking a deep breath, I followed Jax down the stairs. The darkness was absolute, and the cold worked its way under my clothes to prickle my skin. Jax's small flashlight was the only beacon of hope in an endless rush of trash, muck, and stench. How could people live in such filth? I was disgusted and horrified at the same time. In the years I'd been asleep, poverty had increased while the select few lived in the upper levels with the dwindling resources Earth had left. I couldn't imagine what the third-world countries had been reduced to. Probably unlivable desert. Suddenly, Jax's mission to Paradise 15 didn't seem so farfetched.

We reached a door, covered in rust, that looked like it hadn't been opened in ages. Jax threw away an old mattress propped against the handle. “This is it. Level one.”

Before I could protest, he kicked the door open and we ran into an alley between buildings. Twilight hung over the city. Had I missed curfew? If Valex and Len called Maxim's apartment, I was so dead.

The alley between the buildings was so narrow that I could spread my arms across it and touch both walls. Hovercrafts crisscrossed in the sky overhead. So many people in the upper levels lived in denial of the filth they lived on top of. It was mind-numbing.

“This way.” Jax led me down three blocks and into a larger alleyway, big enough for cars, if they had still existed. He brought out his miniscreen as sirens wailed behind us.

“What are you doing?”

“Calling for help.”

Men shouted down the alley from which we'd come. Anxiety bubbled in my veins. I bounced up and down on my toes and grabbed at his arm. “They're gaining on us. We have to move.”

“Just wait.”

What? Did he have some type of cloaking device? If so, why hadn't he used it back in the room, before we went flying through the air?

The men's footsteps grew louder and I backed away from the corner, ready to make a run for it without Jax if I had to. The wind roared above my head as a hovercraft lowered from the sky. Cans skittered in the whirlwind and my hair whipped around my face as the craft hovered over us. A hatch opened from the side and the guard from the meeting lowered a rope. Jax grabbed on and gestured for me to join him.

Some men rounded the corner and started firing at the hovercraft. I ran and grabbed onto the rope. Jax grabbed the rope with one hand and slid the other around my waist. The hovercraft rose in the sky as someone pulled us up. Below me, the men grew smaller until arms grabbed onto me and pulled me inside. My heart beat frantically as the roaring wind turned into deafening silence. Panting, I rolled on my back and closed my eyes.

“Geezum hell, are your meetings always like this?”

CHAPTER TWENTY

Resemblance

“
N
o. Our meetings are usually much more prosaic.” Jax laughed with a crazy edge to it as he recovered beside me. “Here, Jennifer.”

I opened my eyes. The guard from the meeting offered me a bottle of water. I accepted, gulping. My throat was parched. “Who were those people?”

Jax sat up against the hull and took a swig of water. “Mercenaries. Hired by rich people in the high-rises to steal our information.”

“What do they want to do with it?”

“They want the planets for their descendants.”

I wiped the water from my chin. “Why can't everyone just live on Earth?”

“You've seen it. This planet won't last much longer. When the end comes, it's gonna be bad. Everyone wants to secure a future.” Jax capped his water bottle and stuck it in his pocket. Who knew ninja suits could hold so much?

“With so many people after you, how did you know to trust me?”

He rolled up his sleeves. There was a tattoo of a rose and a name scrawled in loopy letters:
Sophie
. Who was Sophie? It wasn't a futuristic name. “Martha's been our informant for many years.” Jax's eyebrows twitched. “She would have made a good scout, except she decided too late and didn't pass the cryo tests.”

“So she told me.”

Jax leapt up like we'd just had a picnic in the park and he was about to fetch the dog. “We have to get you home before your parents worry.”

“They're not my parents.”

“I know.” Jax gave me a steady look as if to say he understood my pain, all in one glance. “Where do you live?”

I closed my eyes and recited the letters and numbers, glad I'd taken the time to memorize them.

“Good. Stay here. You'll be home in no time.”

Jax walked to the front of the ship, and I sat by myself, wondering what the hell had just happened and what I'd gotten myself into. I'd met real people who shared my dream. At what risk? Part of me wanted to hole up in my room and watch those old videos for the rest of my life, and a more rebellious, adventurous part of me wanted onto that scout ship.

The hovercraft slowed and the hatch opened on the platform where the hoverbus usually dropped me off. Jax snuck back and offered me a hand, helping me off the ship. “I hope all this didn't scare you away.”

I looked into his face, wondering how old he really was. Nineteen? Twenty? Old enough to be my older brother but not old enough to be my father. What was his story? Why did he risk so much?

“Nah. When you've been frozen, everything else is like a dream.”

He took his hand back and stepped into the hovercraft. “Or like a nightmare.”

He was so right, but I ignored it. Now wasn't the time to whine. “Are you going to contact me about the next meeting?”

His eyes lit with surprise, as if he didn't think I had what it took. “It will take us a while to recover from tonight, but yes, I'll be in contact.”

“Thanks.” I turned and started walking. “Jennifer.”

I whirled around. “Yeah?”

“Thank you for saving my life.”

Me? The hero? More like he saved mine times ten
.

Before I could respond, the hatch closed and the hovercraft drifted away. I walked back into the apartment feeling like I'd just been thrown into an episode of CSI.

The next day, I awoke to my miniscreen beeping like an oven with the timer going off. I rolled over and slapped the enter button, thinking it was some type of alarm. Maxim's face flashed on. “Jenny? Are you okay?”

Damn! Why didn't it tell me it was an incoming call?
I shot up in bed. “Maxim? What time is it?”

“It's ten. What? Did you party all night long?”

More like I ran for my life all night long, but if I told him that he'd never cover for me again. “No, I had trouble sleeping.”

“I wanted to check on you to make sure you were okay.”

I ran my hand through my hair and stuck chunks of tangles behind my ears, not even wanting to know how messy it must have looked.

“I'm fine. How are you?”
Really? Is that all you can come up with?

Maxim rested his chin on his hand. He hadn't shaved. A line of stubble added to his allure. He looked so hot that I had to look away and think about soyloaf to cool down.

“When are you going to tell me where you're going?”

A knock came at my door and Len's voice drifted in, “Jennifer, the last stack of soycakes is going cold.”

Saved by soycakes. Who would have thought?

“Coming, Len.” I shouted over my shoulder, then turned back to Maxim and shrugged. “You heard her, I can't talk right now. I have

to go.”

“Is it a guy?” His voice dripped with jealousy.

I thought of Jax and his blue hair, nose rings and upturned mushroom nose.
Totally not my type
. “No. Definitely not.” Maxim had no right to be jealous. It wasn't like I was his.

Maxim sighed. “All right. I'll stop pestering you. I'm just glad to see you're okay. I was worried about you all night.”

My cheeks warmed and I pulled my hair out from behind my ears to hide it. Maxim thinking about me all night made my body hot all over. Then Exara came to mind and his apartment with his entire family hanging on the line. Guilt eclipsed my hormones.

“Don't worry about me, okay? I can take care of myself.” My words came out a little harsh and I wished I could take them back, but I had to push him away.

“Sure.” He blinked, looking away as if I'd slapped him. Emotion flooded his face and he swallowed it down. “Bye, Jenny.”

The screen went blank and my heart sank like the Titanic. Why did I feel so jilted? He cared about me, even called me, and yet the whole conversation felt empty. Like a promise he couldn't keep.

Another knock on my door startled me out of my sad haze. “Jennifer, are you coming?” Pell kicked the door impatiently with her little foot.

“No. I'm not hungry.” I slumped on my bed. “Tell your mom to put them in the fridge. I'll eat later.”

“Mom!” Pell scampered down the hallway toward the kitchen.

Sure, I felt guilty bailing on them for breakfast, but after the conversation with Maxim, I couldn't bring myself to get out of bed.

Like the last few nights, I turned to my videos to take away the pain. Popping the next one in, I waited for the screen to flash on and curled up on my bed.

Angela laughed and waved at the camera. She wore a graduation robe in the deep navy-blue of Ridgewood Prep, with a gold cord tied to her cap for being on the honor roll. “Hi, Jenny! I can't believe so much time has passed and I haven't made a video for you.” She stuck out her lower lip. “I feel so guilty. I haven't forgotten about you. Not at all.”

Angela turned the camera toward a newly planted tree in the rows leading up to Ridgewood. “The senior class got together, raised some money, and planted this in your memory.”

Great. A tree. That helps me so much
. I rolled my eyes. Where was this tree now? Buried by skyscrapers? Still, the thought of everyone getting together to plant it in my honor gave me chills.

At the base of the tree, she focused the camera on a golden plaque.
Jenny Streetwater 1995-
. The other date was left blank.

Usually a memorial had two dates, which made it seem so unresolved. I wondered how long the tree stood and how many students passed by it saying my name.

Angela held up her left hand, the leaves rustling above her fingers. “Every time I walk by it, I think of you.”

The diamond on her left hand glittered in the sunlight.
No. It can't be
. I leaned over to get a better look, but Angela brought the camera back to her face. “There's something else I have to tell you.” She bit her lip and gazed up at the sky, smiling at a delicious secret. “Something big.”

I sat up on the edge of my bed, hugging my miniscreen in my lap. There were no comforting stuffed teddy bears to hug in the future.

She flashed the ring. A princess cut with two sapphires on each side. “Chad asked me to marry him. I know it's so soon after graduation, and we have college coming up. We're both going to USM. After we graduate…well, you know what.”

I bolted up on my feet and pressed pause. Angela's smiling face stared back at me, frozen in time. It wasn't her perfect white teeth that caught my attention. I traced a lock of her curly dark hair. The same color as… My chest tightened. I needed to find C-7.

Running from my room in my PJs, I bumped into Len.

“So, you're up for those soycakes after all?”

“Um…sure.” I could have agreed to eat soycakes for every meal for the rest of my life. Anything to get her out of the way. I pushed by her and into the kitchen where C-7 loaded the dishwasher.