Revived (Cat Patrick)

Mason and Cassie make sure those who got the original version are functioning normally. Inside the program, my guardians’ job is to conduct ongoing testing and analysis on the bus kids; to the rest of the world, Mason is a psychologist and Cassie is a stay-at-home mom.
    As always, I’m impressed by the pop-up, state-of-the-art lab in an otherwise pedestrian basement.
    “You guys are making good progress,” I say.
    “Thanks,” Mason says, smiling. “The space is larger than the one in Michigan, so that’s helpful.”
    “Yeah,” I say, giving it another look. Then my eyes fall back on Mason. “Well, my room’s done,” I say. “I feel like going out.”
    Mason raises his eyebrows, surprised. “What do you need?” he asks.
    “Nothing,” I say. “I want to get a library card. See if Omaha has any good shoe stores. Maybe catch a movie. I need to do something to get acclimated. I start school tomorrow, and I know nothing about this town.”
    Mason tilts his head slightly, considering it. “Okay,” he says, standing and wiping his hands on his jeans. “I’ll take you.”
    Cassie shoots him a look: Mason leaving means she’ll have to finish setting up the lab alone.
    “Let’s all go,” Mason says to her. “Daisy’s right. It’ll be good for us to get to know Omaha, too.”
    Cassie stares for a few seconds, then relents. Mason is, after all, her boss.
    “At least let me change first,” she says.
    An hour later, I’m standing in the middle of the desert wondering how it would feel to be stranded without water.
    “Think Revive would work if I died of dehydration?” I ask Cassie quietly, staring up at the shell of the Desert Dome at the Omaha Zoo.
    “I think so, yes,” Cassie says without taking her eyes off of a cactus. “We’ve done dehydration testing on the rats. Seventy-two percent success.”
    “That’s better than asphyxiation,” I say.
    “And drowning,” Mason adds.
    Thinking of water reminds me of an exhibit I want to see.
    “I’m going to the aquarium,” I say.
    “Meet us at the front gate at three,” Mason says before turning and heading toward the bat exhibit. Cassie seems stuck to the cactus, so I walk toward the underwater experience alone.
    “They’re older than dinosaurs, you know.”
    I move my eyes from the sharks to the man, smile politely, and then look back at the tank. I can see in my peripheral vision that the man’s eyes are back on the water, too.
    “Amazing creatures,” he adds with a hint of a disarming lisp. I feel free to answer back.
    “I like the sea turtles better,” I say, dreamlike, as I watch one swim by. My face is lit up by the shimmering sea.
    “Hmm,” the man murmurs. “You’re right…. They’re quite spectacular, too.”
    The man and I are two of maybe five people in a tunnel cutting through the aquarium itself. We are under the ocean, or at least a man-made version of it. It is sedative and beautiful: a claustrophobic’s hell on earth. For a blink, I wonder what would happen if the glass overhead sprung a leak. I imagine drowning. Again.
    “Is school out today?” the man asks evenly.
    “No,” I say. “We just moved here. I start school tomorrow.”
    “Moves can be difficult,” says the man in a quiet, soothing voice.
    “Mm-hmm,” I say.
    “What grade are you in?”
    “Tenth.”
    “Ah, high school,” the man says softly as another shark passes. “Well, good luck settling in.”
    I wait a beat, enjoying the patterns of the water reflecting across my face, then answer: “Thanks. Do you have any tips about the area?”
    “Who are you talking to?” Cassie asks from my left side. Startled, I peel my eyes from the underwater world and glance at her. Then I look right, to where the man had been standing. There’s no sign of him. Confused, I look back at Cassie.
    “I was talking to some dude, and then he disappeared,” I say.
    “What did he look like?” Cassie asks automatically. It’s a question I’m used to hearing. Mason and Cassie are always trying to teach me life lessons, like how to be a keen observer. Normally, I’m excellent at this game, but when I think of the man, only the word average comes to my mind. I try to remember his hair color or what his clothes looked like. I try to picture whether he wore a hat or distinctive shoes. Anything.
    “I don’t remember,” I say honestly.
    Cassie looks deep into my eyes for a moment, probably expecting the usual list of colors and textures and mannerisms.