Storm (Swipe Series)

conjunction with the head of the weather mill, to discuss next steps.”
    “He couldn’t have waited an hour?” Connor asked.
    “Could’ve,” Sally apologized. “Didn’t.”
    Connor nodded. “Come on, then,” he said, waving his arm.
    “Where?”
    “Central Square.” He nodded to his parents. “They can’t take me with them. I’m still as much a part of this town as anyone else.”
    “Sure you are,” Sally said, trying hard to mean it.
    Connor didn’t look back at the stage when they left.
    2
    The Arbitor family apartment had always been a tidy home: the type where the countertops shined and the white floors were waxed; with rows in the carpets where the vacuum had rolled; where shoes stayed outside in the building’s hallway, and junk drawers had filing systems; where the windows sparkled with nanosolvent . . .
    But just a few short hours into the Dust’s visit, the Arbitor family apartment already looked a bit more like the impact zone of a minor bomb blast.
    Immediately after lunch, Tyler had found the packing boxes left over from Charles and Erin’s recent move from Spokie. He’d torn them open, of course, as was Tyler’s way, and he’d scattered them across each room, creating long tunnels and forts for him and Rusty to play in. Meg, meanwhile, amused herself by strewing the boxes’ contents about in piles, making a series of things not unlike nests for mice. She slept now in one of them, snoring loudly.
    Already the floors were so cluttered, Charles Arbitor and his wife Olivia were more or less stranded on their own couch. They needed to shout just to be heard. And everywhere they turned, there was Dust.
    “What do you mean, you lost him?” Jo asked.
    “I mean I lost him, what do you think? How was I supposed to know he’d run off the first chance he got?”
    “Because he’s an iguana , Tyler. They have legs and brains and—amazingly—they move on their own!”
    “Okay, look, let’s everybody just stop for a second, and we’ll all just stare out and glaze our eyes over a little bit, and in a few minutes time, one of us should see which of these mounds starts moving on its own. Good plan, guys? Good plan.”
    Such was the state of Charles and Olivia Arbitor’s best hope. Olivia had her head in her hands. Charles watched with his jaw slightly slack. But it was worth it, he knew. Anything to get these six kids to stay awhile. Anything to get Erin back.
    “Hey, Tyler, maybe let’s forget about the iguana,” Mr. Arbitor said. “The iguana will be fine.”
    “It’s just that it’d be so easy to step on him given that we can’t really see the floor right now—”
    “He’ll be fine!” Charles yelled. “Now, could we all please just sit down for five minutes so we can talk about Erin?”
    Meg was still sound asleep. But Blake, Joanne, Tyler, and Rusty all obediently sat down where they were.
    “Found Iggy!” Shawn yelled, immediately bouncing back up and reaching down into the pile he very nearly squashed.
    “Careful,” Tyler warned. “He moves all on his own.”
    “Mr. Arbitor,” Blake said, cutting through the nonsense. “We appreciate you giving us shelter like this—we really do. But I’m just not sure what exactly we can do to help you find your daughter. We don’t know where she is. We have no way of contacting her. She deliberately kept us in the dark in case any of us were ever captured and interrogated—”
    “Hey!” Tyler said. “Just like what really happened!”
    “Yeah, Tyler.” Jo nodded. “Just like that.”
    “It’s all right,” Mr. Arbitor said, laughing a little. “I don’t needyour help with any of that. I already know where Erin is. Or—at least, I think I do.”
    “Well, in that case, why are we here?” Blake pressed.
    “You’re here because I’ve hit a wall. I believe Erin’s found sanctuary at the Sierra Science Center out west, but the scientists there won’t put me through to her on account of my affiliation with DOME. They think I’m just trying to apprehend her.”
    “Aren’t you?” Shawn asked.
    “No. DOME’s trying to apprehend her. I’m looking to protect her.”
    Olivia sighed. “Right now, the head scientist at the SSC is insisting that Erin and the rest of your friends have already escaped for the northwest. Personally, we don’t believe it. But DOME does. And we’d like to keep it that way.”
    “If we could just confirm that Erin’s there . . . if we could just talk to her,” Charles said.