“Calm down,” Seth said. He gave her his cell phone.
Jenny tried it. “It says ‘no signal.’”
“What?” Seth looked at the phone. “I always get reception here. What’s going on?”
“They’re coming after me.” Jenny sank onto the couch. “I ought to turn myself in.”
“Come on, Jenny.” Seth sat beside her and took her hand. “Even if somebody tells them, they’ll never believe it. There’s nobody left to talk about it, anyway.”
“And that’s supposed to make me feel better?” Jenny snapped. “Besides, you’re wrong. All those girls saw what I did to Ashleigh.” Jenny thought about it. “Or, I guess she was hanging out the window while they were all inside. But they had to see her body after, out in front of her house.”
“I’m not going to let anyone hurt you.”
“Yeah,” Jenny said. “You’ll unleash the healing touch on them. Clear up their colds and headaches. That’ll show ‘em.”
“Very funny,” Seth said. “I meant my family has some good lawyers.”
“Lawyers…” Jenny shook her head. She tried the rotary phone again. “And this stupid thing is not working!”
Seth picked up his car keys. “I’ll go check things out.”
“Wait.” Jenny stood up. “I’ll go with you. I can explain what happened.”
“No, Jenny! They’ll think you’re crazy.”
“So what?” Jenny ran back to her room to put on some new clothes, replacing the shreds of Seth’s Easter coat.
“And if they believe you, they’ll lock you away from everyone.” Seth followed her to her room.
“I ought to be away from everyone.”
“Even me?” Seth asked.
Jenny didn’t want to think about that. But she had to do the right thing.
“Just stay here,” Seth said.
“No. I’m going with you.”
They pulled out of Jenny’s dusty driveway in Seth’s blue Audi, with the top down. The Cure played from Seth’s iPod, over his car stereo. It was April, the day after Easter, and honeysuckle and wildflowers bloomed alongside the road.
The beautiful afternoon seemed wrong to Jenny. She felt dark, cold and monstrous on the inside.
Seth drove toward downtown. Jenny gripped her armrest tight. She’d been there only last night, and she wasn’t sure she was ready to see the carnage left behind. She steeled herself.
They quickly discovered they wouldn’t be going into town, anyway. Armed men in green uniforms had constructed a roadblock, using trucks and plastic orange cones, cutting them off.
Seth slowed to a stop as two of the National Guard approached his car. One had a clipboard. The other, a heavy plastic shield and a Taser.
“Name?” the one with the clipboard asked.
“Um, Seth,” Seth said.
“Last name?”
“Barrett.”
“Address?”
“What’s this for?” Seth asked.
“We keep a record of all attempted entries and exits,” the Guardsman said.
“Attempted?” Seth asked.
“Address?”
Jenny noticed a police car parked by the side of the road. It didn’t look like Chief Lintner’s car, and anyway she’d left Lintner writhing with Jenny pox on the town green, after he’d supported Dr. Goodling’s effort to lynch Jenny, like the legendary slave-sorcerer the town had lynched in the 1700s.
This police car was black and white, and had “Federal Protective Service POLICE” on the side. After that, it said “Homeland Security.”
A uniformed officer inside the car snapped pictures of Seth and Jenny. Jenny tilted her head forward, so that her long black hair obscured her face.
The Guardsman studied Seth’s driver’s license, then nodded and gave it back to him. “No one in or out of the quarantine zone for now,” the Guardsman said. “You’ll have to turn back.”
“What quarantine zone?” Seth asked. “What’s going on?”
“I can’t say,” the Guardsman told him. “You are advised to stay calm, return to your home, and wait for instructions.”
“Instructions from who?” Jenny asked.
“You know,” the Guardsman said. “The authorities.”
“I have to talk to someone in charge,” Jenny said.
“I am in charge,” the Guardsman said. “And I’m telling you to stay calm, return to your home—”
“This is important,” Jenny said.
The other Guardsman, the one with the Taser, approached her side of the car. He raised the weapon toward her. She felt very exposed in the convertible.