Erica O'Rourke - Dissonance

“Happy to help,” I told him.

I almost meant it.

Later that night, Addie knocked on my doorframe. “Mom says you’re going to school tomorrow.”

“I’d like to see her make me,” I replied, and pulled the covers over my head.

She yanked them back again. “Stop moping.”

“There are a zillion worlds out there, Addie. Please go visit one of them. Or all of them.”

“I’m worried about you. Even Mrs. Lane is doing better than you are.”

“Mrs. Lane gets as many drugs as she wants,” I pointed out. “And she’s not doing better; she’s a wreck. I see her every day.” Simon had made me promise to take care of her, but we were taking care of each other.

“He wouldn’t want this for you, Del. He saved your life. The least you could do is get back to living.”

“Go to hell, Addie. Do not try to tell me what Simon would want. You barely knew him, and you didn’t like him. You sure as hell don’t speak for him.”

“Fine.” She hesitated at the door. “Monty’s sentencing was today. He pled insanity.”

My body clenched, waiting for her to continue. The Consort couldn’t let him go free. Not after what he’d done.

“They sent him to an oubliette. They said he was too dangerous to be allowed out.”

My muscles went lax. “I hope he rots there.”

“He freaked out. He was screaming for you. Started singing that song he made for you.” She nibbled a nail. “I’m sorry.”

I shrugged. “It’s not music, Addie, just noise. And I never have to hear it again.”

It was time to write my own song.

MY MOTHER WAS right. I did go to school the next day, worn down by nagging that began at sunrise and ended when Eliot escorted me off the porch.

“She’s going to text me every period to make sure you don’t cut,” he warned.

The sky was a faded blue, the sun a pale circle. I shoved my sunglasses farther up my nose and kept walking. “You can lie.”

“I could. But I won’t. You need to keep busy. You should come back to training, too. Shaw’s been asking about you.”

“Not ready,” I said.

He was silent for the rest of the trip, but there was a kindness to it. I was alone, but he wouldn’t let me be lonely.

All day I found myself looking for Simon. Not here, not here, not here, I whispered to myself. I couldn’t help searching. Couldn’t help hearing people who were wondering why Simon Lane had transferred out of state so suddenly, without even a word to his coach, despite the big tournament coming up.

Music was the worst. I stared at Simon’s empty chair, ignoring Bree’s glares and Ms. Powell’s lecture.

When the bell rang, Ms. Powell approached me. “Del? Can I speak with you privately?”

“I’ll wait outside,” Eliot said.

She gave him a thumbs-up and perched on the edge of my desk. “I’d like you to present your composition tomorrow, if you’re ready. The rest of the class completed their assignments while you were sick.”

“Yeah, I guess.” Simon and I had nearly finished the sixteen measures. I could knock out the rest that night, after I’d walked Iggy. It would give me something to do. I bent down to pick up my new backpack, much lighter than the one I’d left with Simon. I had no intention of Walking, so I didn’t bring my tools.

“The funniest thing happened yesterday,” Ms. Powell said, almost as an afterthought. “I could swear I saw Simon.”

“He moved,” I said when my heart started up again. “You probably saw someone who looked like him.”

“Maybe,” she said. “This guy did seem a little different. He needed a haircut. And had a metal bracelet around his wrist. It looked like a big shiny nail.”

A glint of silver in the glow of a streetlight . “A railroad spike.”

“I’d never thought of it that way, but . . . sure. Not the sort of thing you wear on the basketball court, is it?”

“Where did you say this was?” I choked out.

“I didn’t.” She smiled broadly, waved at one of the other students straggling out. “It was right outside this great doughnut shop downtown. Corner of Main and Evergreen? Do you know it?”

“I think so,” I said. There was no doughnut shop at Main and Evergreen. Not in the Key World.

“I like to visit there sometimes. Their Bavarian cream is out of this world.” She met my eyes. “He sounded great, Del. You know what I mean?”

Ms. Powell had seen Simon’s Echo. Yesterday. “You’re a Free Walker.”

“I’m a friend. Here. I’ve been meaning to return these to you.”

She held out her hand. Cupped in her palm was a mound of paper stars. My stars, the ones I’d dropped over the last few weeks, from the world I’d fled to after the first cleaving to the one I’d left in the library. I looked closer, but the dark green star I’d made in Doughnut World wasn’t among them.

“It’s an impressive body of work, Del. You’ve been through a lot. But it’s time to concentrate on where you want to go, instead of where you’ve been.”

Eliot stuck his head in. “We’re going to be late for class,” he called, as the bell rang and the three of us winced in unison.

“We’ll talk soon,” Ms. Powell said.

Not soon enough.

“If you’re hoping I’ll call you in sick for the rest of the day, guess again,” Addie said when she answered her cell.

“Why would Simon’s Echoes still be around?”

“You’re supposed to be in class. Let’s talk tonight.”

“Just answer the question. Why haven’t they unraveled?”

“They might be complex enough that they’ll stick around for a while. It’s not instantaneous, you know. Some terminal Echoes take years.”

“But they wouldn’t have a frequency, right? If his Echo was terminal, it would sound weird?”

“Yes. Did you go looking for one?” Her voice took on a sympathetic note. “I’m not sure that’s a good idea.”

“I didn’t. Let’s say he wasn’t terminal. Why else would his Echo be around?”

If Ms. Powell was a Free Walker, she would have known I couldn’t get back to Simon. Why would she tell me about his Echoes? And why had she waited so long to reveal herself to me?

Addie sighed. “Echoes won’t fade while the Original exists, but the Consort checked. The world Simon cleaved is no longer broadcasting a frequency. It’s completely unraveled.”

“Addie, this is important. Please, think really carefully. Is there any other reason why Simon’s Echoes wouldn’t be unraveling?”

“There is no other reason. He’s gone.”

But Simon’s Echo hadn’t faded, which meant his Original wasn’t gone.

He’d escaped the cleaving, and now he was lost in the Echoes.

And I was going to find him.

I’d promised, after all.

END THIRD MOVEMENT