Chapter 42 My GPS Is a Mess
I BLINK A FEW TIMES as I look toward the trees, trying to make sure I didn’t just miss them. I know they were a few steps behind me as we passed the amphitheater, but that wasn’t enough distance to have them spinning in an entirely different direction. Was it?
Unease crawls through my stomach, bringing a hollow feeling with it.
I know this isn’t a big deal, know that they’re fine even if they did spin off in another direction.
And since I’m currently the one in the middle of nowhere, I’m probably going to have a much harder time getting to class than they are.
And yet, even as I head toward the huge tree line in front of me, I can’t help feeling like something weird is going on. I just wish I knew what it was.
My phone buzzes in my back pocket, and I pull it out to find a text from Fifi in our group chat.
Fifi: Where are you? You just disappeared!!!!
Me: I don’t know. The school started spinning and when it stopped you guys were gone
Fifi: What are you talking about?
Fifi: The school didn’t spin
Fifi: You know it only does that at night
The uneasiness inside me turns into full-blown confusion…and worry. How could she have not felt all that grinding and turning? Or, alternately, how did I feel it if no one else could?
Me: Is Arjun with you?
Arjun: Yeah. We’re outside the arts building. Where are you?
Me: Somewhere in the forest
Fifi: I don’t understand what’s going on
Fifi: But you need to get back here or you’re going to miss the test
Me: Yeah, I got that
Above me, lightning splits the sky again, followed by a clap of thunder that’s nearly deafening. Seconds later I can hear the patter of rain falling over the tree leaves. Because of course what I needed to make this situation worse was a full-blown lightning storm.
I take off running for the trees. They don’t provide a lot of cover, but it’s better than being out in the open with all this lightning sizzling through the sky. It would be just my luck to get struck by lightning right before I ace my first test.
Arjun: Turn your location on for us so we can see where you are
Arjun: We’ll turn ours on too. Hopefully we can figure out how to get you back over here
Me: That’s a great idea!!!!
Arjun: I do have them occasionally
I navigate to his contact information and click on Share Location, then do the same for Fifi as I wait for them to turn theirs on as well.
And wait. And wait. And wait.
Finally, after three minutes or so, I start to text them again. But before I can, my phone buzzes with an incoming message.
Arjun: Are you going to turn it on?????
Me: I did. I’m waiting for you to turn yours on too
Fifi: Both of ours ARE on
Me: I can’t see them
Arjun: We can’t see yours either, which feels like a pretty big problem
Fifi: OMGs, Ellie. Where are you?????
None of this makes any sense. How can we not see each other when we’re on the same school campus?
I check my phone just to make sure my Share Location didn’t get turned back off, but it didn’t. It’s definitely on. And theirs is definitely off.
Me: Do you think there’s some kind of satellite glitch because of the storm?
Arjun: If that happened, Fifi and I wouldn’t be able to see each other’s locations either but we can
Me: There are a ton of trees where I am. Maybe they’re blocking something
Arjun: Maybe
I can hear his doubt from here. Then again, Arjun’s not exactly a hide his disdain—or anything else—kind of guy.
Even though the Share Location thing is wonky right now because my Wi-Fi is down, I can’t help wondering if I can switch to data to help me find them. Otherwise, I’m pretty afraid I’m going to end up stuck out here until the school decides to move again—whenever that is.
But when I try, the little wheel just keeps turning and turning and turning. I may be able to text, but that’s all the juice I’ve got. Everything else is completely wonky.
Me: I can’t even get my data to work. It won’t load anything
Fifi: That’s it. We’re coming for you
Me: You have an exam in five minutes
Fifi: So do you. And if you think we’re just going to leave you out there in the wilderness, then I don’t even know what to say to you
Me: Why should all three of us be lost
Arjun: We’re not lost. And we won’t get lost. Just stop arguing and tell us which way the school spun for you
I close my eyes and try to remember. It happened so fast that I was too busy trying not to slide around and face-plant to pay attention to which way the world beneath me was turning.
But I remember feeling like if I was going to fall, it was going to be on my face, so I definitely spun backward.
And I remember the amphitheater vanishing behind me, to the left instead of to the right.
I text that to my friends, and Arjun answers a few seconds later.
Arjun: You went southwest, so we’re heading that way now
Arjun: To get back to us, you should go northeast
That would be great, if I knew what direction northeast was. But again, my navigation app is down, the sky is too cloudy to see the sun, and all these trees look the same. There’s no way to tell which way is north.
Although…if I go back to my original spot, I could just go backward and to the right from there. Eventually I should end up somewhere in the vicinity of my friends.
It’s not a brilliant plan—or even a good plan, considering heading back that way leaves me totally exposed to the lightning and thunder that continue to fill the sky all around me. But I’ve got a logic exam to take and no other ideas, so it will have to do.
Me: I’m heading back in the direction I came in
Me: We should run into each other before too long
Me: Be careful of the lightning. It looks dangerous right now
Fifi: Is it still going on where you are?
Fifi: How far away are you?
Fifi: What is going on?!?!?!?!
Okay, this is getting weird. I mean, yeah, we’re in different parts of the school, but that shouldn’t matter.
Anaximander’s is big, but it’s not different-weather-in-different-parts big.
Especially since this lightning is streaking across the entire sky, as far as I can see.
How can it not be doing the same wherever Fifi and Arjun are?
The anxious feeling that’s been stalking me since this whole thing started gets way worse as I start running back across the clearing. Dense trees surround the grassy meadow I’m in, so I’ll be safe if I can just get to them without getting struck by lightning.
How hard could that be?
Unfortunately, it turns out to be very, very hard.
I tuck my cell phone into the front pocket of my backpack, then take off running.
But the second I step foot into the clearing, the storm goes wild all around me.
Lightning slams into the ground over and over again.
Thunder booms across the sky. And at just that moment, the dark clouds above me open up and rain starts pouring down.
I keep running—I don’t know what else to do at this point—my eyes on the huge copse of trees ahead of me. I just need to get there. I just need to get there. I just need—
All of a sudden lightning hits the ground directly in front of me. The impact of it sends me soaring backward, tumbling head over tennis shoes as I fly through the air.
I have one moment to think that if I actually survive this, it had better count as my lightning storm labor. Then I crash into the ground so hard my teeth rattle in my head. My chest feels like it’s been stepped on by a Titan, and pain shoots through my entire body.
I try to take a breath, but my lungs won’t work, and panic explodes inside me. The rain is coming down in huge, heavy sheets now, and I turn my head, trying not to let water fill up my nose and mouth as I continue to try to breathe.
But my lungs won’t inflate, no matter how hard I try to make them.
The panic grows worse, making my skin itch and my heart feel like it’s going to explode even as I tell myself that I’m okay. That I just had the wind knocked out of me. That I’ll be able to breathe in just a—
All of a sudden my lungs reinflate. Pain stabs through me, but as air—wonderful, miraculous air—fills my chest, I don’t care. All that matters is I can breathe.
I suck in a second breath and then a third before staggering to my feet as lightning continues to sizzle through the sky.
The wind has picked up too, slamming rain and leaves in shades of red and orange and yellow into my face and eyes as I try to get my bearings. As I try to figure out which way to run now that I’ve lost whatever small sense of direction I had.
But in the middle of the storm all the trees look the same, and I have no idea which way to head.
Think, Penelope. Think!
Another bolt of lightning flashes right in front of me, so close that I feel the burn in my retinas.
I jerk back and start to run—at this point, who cares which direction is the right one?
If I don’t get into those trees soon, I won’t survive long enough for it to matter if I miss that logic exam or not.
But I’ve barely begun to run before I trip over something on the ground and go flying. My stomach drops to my knees as I prepare for the fall, but before I hit the dirt, a tiny part of the ground opens up and the next thing I know, I’m falling headfirst into who knows where.