Lies: A Gone Novel by Michael Grant

“Maybe it’s nothing but man-eating dinosaurs over there.”
    â€œDinosaurs? You’re going with dinosaurs?”
    Peace was coming across what had once been a perfectly manicured lawn and was now on its way to becoming a jungle. She had a distinctive walk, knees together, feet takingtoo many short steps. She had glossy black hair and worried brown eyes.
    Sanjit steeled himself. Peace had been watching Bowie.
    â€œCan I give Bowie another Tylenol? His temperature is going up again,” Peace said.
    â€œHow high?” Virtue asked.
    â€œA hundred and two. Point two.”
    â€œA hundred point two or a hundred and two point two?” Virtue asked a bit impatiently.
    â€œThat one. The second one.”
    Virtue shot a look at Sanjit, who stared down at the grass. “It’s too early for another pill,” Virtue said. “Put a wet wash-cloth on his forehead. One of us will be in soon.”
    â€œIt’s been two weeks,” Sanjit said. “It’s not just the flu, is it?”
    Virtue said, “I don’t know what it is. According to the book, the flu doesn’t last this long. It could be…I don’t know, like a million things.”
    â€œLike what?”
    â€œRead the stupid book yourself, Sanjit,” Virtue snapped. “Fever? Chills? It could be fifty different things. For all I know, it could be leprosy. Or leukemia.”
    Sanjit noticed the way his brother winced after he said that last word. “Jeez, Choo. Leukemia? That’s, like, serious, right?”
    â€œLook, all I can go by is the book. I can’t even pronounce most of it. And it goes on and on, maybe this, could be that, I mean, I don’t see how anyone understands it.”
    â€œLeukemia,” Sanjit said.
    â€œHey, don’t act like that’s what I said, okay? It was just one possibility. I probably just thought of it because I can actually pronounce it. That’s all.”
    They both fell silent. Sanjit stared down at the yacht and more specifically at the helicopter.
    â€œWe could try to patch the lifeboat from the yacht,” Sanjit said, although he knew Virtue’s answer already. They’d tried to launch the lifeboat. A rope had snagged, and the lifeboat had landed on a spur of rock. The wooden hull had been punctured, the boat had sunk and was now sloshing in between two rocks that slowly, gradually widened the extent of the damage. The lifeboat was a pile of sticks.
    â€œIt’s the helicopter or nothing,” Virtue said. He was not a touchy-feely kid, Virtue, but he squeezed Sanjit’s thin bicep and said, “Man, I know it scares you. It scares me, too. But you’re Sanjit, invincible, right? You’re not that smart, but you have amazing luck.”
    â€œ I’m not that smart?” Sanjit said. “You’d be flying with me. So how smart are you?”
    Â 
    Astrid settled Little Pete in a corner of her office at town hall. He kept his eyes focused on the long-dead handheld and continued pushing buttons, as if the game were still on. And maybe in Little Pete’s head, it still was.
    It was the office the mayor had used back in the old pre-FAYZ days. The office Sam had used for a while.
    She was still seething from the fight with Sam. They had argued before. They were both strong-willed people.Arguments were inevitable, she supposed.
    Plus, they were supposedly in love and sometimes that brought its own set of disagreements.
    And they were roommates, and sometimes that caused problems.
    But they had never, either of them, fought like this.
    Sam had taken his few things and moved out. She supposed he would find an unoccupied house—there were plenty of those.
    â€œI shouldn’t have said that to him,” she muttered under her breath as she scanned the giant list of things to do. The things that needed doing to keep Perdido Beach functioning.
    The door opened. Astrid looked up, hoping and fearing that it