Where can I find a copy of Rachel Stevenson's books?

Answer 1

Hi! This is a copy of one of her most famous books, Bubbletops and Scubaheads.

Rachel Stevenson

Bubbletops

and

Scubaheads

We as a society take little things for granted, like clean, air. -Bubbletops and Scubaheads.

Part 1 Face the Facts

Chapter 1

Hanna Roberts was always abnormal. Her coworkers at the power plant had figured that out the day she came to work. They saw the way she walked, bouncing like a child playing hopscotch, even though she was thirty years old. They heard her voice, obviously an Australian accent, when she and the boss both swore on their lives that she had lived in America her entire life.

Most of the employees at the plant ignored her, because she was a hard worker and never bothered them, but still, some people could not help but be curious. There was something not right about Hanna, but not one person could quite put their finger on it. Maybe she was just immature.

On the day that Hanna announced that she was pregnant, they threw her a party and showered her with presents. (Money, mostly, because no one could figure out what a woman like that would like for a gift.) At the end of the party, though everything was as normal as can be, she started to cry.

Eddie came up to her and put his arm around her. "Whatʼs wrong?" Hanna sniffed. "Iʼm leaving tomorrow, because I need to take care of my sick older brother."

So there were two parties that day, both for Hanna. The next day, at 6:34 am, Hanna packed up her things and left. She caught the first train to Boston, and there was her niece, Lily, waiting for her.

Lily was twenty-four years old, but she could have passed for thirteen. She was no more than five feet tall, and very shy. The one person she could open up and talk to, however, was Hanna. Yet Lily hardly talked the entire ride home. Hanna knew it was because she was worried about her dad, who had cancer and wasnʼt doing very well.

Joe Roberts was fifty-three years old and weighed 128 pounds. He was extremely weak, and he knew his time was almost up. He had asked Hanna to come take care of him, because Lily couldnʼt afford to miss any more work, and now that Max had died, Hanna was his only relative that lived within a thousand miles of him.

Hanna took care of Joe for half a year. She was like his mother. Soon, despite her efforts, he was, well, dying.

Lily came home from work on a rainy Sunday afternoon, where she found her father dead. She cried for a long time. Her eyes were so blurry that she didnʼt see the note, resting like a snowflake on the bedside table next to Joeʼs body. It was from Hanna, so unsympathetic like she was.

Lily- There is a good chance that your father has passed right now. I am so sorry. Unfortunately, there was little I could do. He was getting visibly weaker by the hour, and There wasn't much I could do about it. Why? Please, have some time to yourself. You've been through a lot in the past few days. But when you've collected yourself , please come to the hospital, the one on Rose street in Boston, because I have a surprise for you. All my love, Hanna

Chapter 2

Lily blinked. The baby! She drove to the hospital, her eyes still moist from the unexpected news about her

dad, when a thought hit her. What if Hanna wasnʼt talking about the baby? Lily knew that Hanna was different, and even people that hardly knew her could tell that it was a medical condition. Lily only hesitated for a second before dashing into the clinicʼs main lobby. The receptionist could tell she had been crying.

Lily explained that she was here for Hanna Roberts but she didnʼt know why. The receptionist gave her a pass and a room number, and it was all Lily could do not to charge up to the elevator as fast as she could.

She got to room and tried to peer through the window, which she had difficulty doing due to her height. She finally gave up and rapped on the door. The doctor opened the door and looked at her, frowning. Lily recognized that look. That was the "no children under eighteen years of age allowed" look. She rolled her large blue eyes and handed him her ID.

He reluctantly let her in and she rushed to the bed where Hanna was smiling. Lily breathed a sigh of relief when she saw the beautiful tiny baby, sleeping, hooked up to various wires and tubes.

The doctor looked incredibly nervous and would not take his eyes off the infant. Lily didnʼt see anything wrong with the baby, but having no children of her own, she couldnʼt really tell. All newborns need those wires, right?

Hanna looked unnerved, but Lily knew that this was her way of expressing fear. Hannaʼs eyes dashed between Lily and the baby, the doctor and the baby. Lily, who had finally noticed the group of twenty or so men in lab coats hovering around the room, approached her and asked what was wrong.

It was the doctor (who was ripping his hair out by now) who answered. "Ms. Roberts, your cousin is an extraordinary baby", he began. "He has baffled science. To make a long story short, this baby, he, well, he breaths water. Like a fish. We think."

Chapter 3

Well, Lily was a logical girl, so she stopped short and thought about this. But only for about a second and a half. "What do you mean, we think? Does this mean that he has GILLS?" She stopped herself. What happened to shy Lily?

The doctor paused. "Not gills, Miss. He has the most extraordinary lungs we have ever seen. As humans, our lungs have adapted to breath about 21 percent oxygen and 79 percent nitrogen, which is what we call air. Your cousinʼs lungs are either far advanced or extremely behind in evolution, it could be either. His lungs are made for breathing a large amount of hydrogen. He can breath water, but he has a hard time with it. We think that he might have a better time with some other liquid, but we donʼt have an exact answer."

Lily was baffled. "So youʼre saying that my little cousin might have to spend his life swimming around in a tub of apple juice?" The doctor, to Lilyʼs horror, just shrugged.

Lily ran over to Hanna. "Do you need anything, Auntie?" Hanna smiled and nodded. "I need help naming him, dear. I would like his middle name to be Poseidon, who is the god of the sea. It fits. But what should his first name be?" Lily smiled at her. "Joseph."

So Joseph Poseidon Roberts, or JoJo, for short, was determined the miracle baby. He was subject of test after test, swimming around in Cola, then tea, then orange juice. He was fine in all of them, and he could breath, but his breathing was still shallow and obviously uncomfortable. He showed good progress in hot chocolate, but that was determined a failure as well because he just liked the taste.

Meanwhile, JoJo was put through several tests, like figuring out which door had food behind it and such. He was showing good progress for academics, and he could speak a few basic sentences by the time he was a little more than a year old, which is fabulous for that age. Of course, everyone was still worried that little JoJo might not make it.

Whenever he was sleeping, Hanna would not take her eyes off the heart monitor. But as the hours passed, the heartbeat would remain steady. Lily always thought it was funny to watch her little cousin sleeping as he was facedown in a kiddie pool. (Funny in a way that almost gave you a heart attack.)

The next afternoon, when it was time to try a few more experiments with JoJo, Doctor Adams didnʼt show up. Instead, two other doctors showed up. The girl had crimped blond hair, and the boy had thick, round glasses. They both looked about thirty years old. The boy, who wanted to be called Tyler, interrogated Lily while Nurse Rita, the girl, gave Hanna a checkup. At first Rita was unsure of what she was doing, because Hanna was the most unusual patient she had ever worked with. But once they got talking, she found that Hanna was actually fairly normal.

Hanna looked the nurse in the eye. "Is JoJo going to make it?" Rita hesitated. "We donʼt know, but he is very healthy for a baby, and besides his condition, heʼs totally normal. But Iʼm here to report that we have done a lot of research about his case. Did you live in a polluted area as a child?"

Hanna thought about it. "Actually, there was a time when I was about ten when my family moved to New York for the summer, and all I remember about it is the horrible fumes that came from the factory near where we lived."

"Okay, that makes sense. Our studies say that if a person spends a decent amount of time in a polluted area, then their offspring might have affect on the pollution. JoJoʼs doing great, Ms. R, heʼs really coming along well." She gestured to the group of doctors and scientists that had been there since the day he was born. They were all smiling as they played games with the little baby, and because the maple tree sap was transparent, you could tell that he was laughing as well. A few more scientists held pints of different liquids to his face so they could see how easily he was breathing. Once in a while, one of them would let out a whoop when JoJo would breath easier in one substance than another. Hanna smiled at her baby when this happened, and JoJo always smiled back.

Chapter 4

"...Mottʼs apple juice, Barqʼs root beer, and watered-down grenadine. 4.3 parts grenadine, and 3.9 parts water, to be exact," he had told her.

For some reason, Tyler had to repeat this twice before Lily nodded. Maybe she was trying to memorize the information. Maybe she was just tired from staying up all night. JoJo may be different, but he still is very capable of poking his head above his tub and screaming to get what he wants.

Something about these liquids nagged at her, she knew that they had something in common. She had been staring at the list Doctor Adams had given her for ages. These liquids were grouped together for a reason, she thought. Iʼve seen them together before.

The scientists were baffled. They had looked up every single ingredient in every possible recipe, and could not find anything that all eleven liquids had in common. They had asked question after question, asking people Lily didnʼt even know she was related to. Third-cousins and great-uncles swarmed the hospitalʼs main lobby. Many of them had her same eyes, though, really round and an unmistakeable shade of blue. A few even had Maxʼs stringy orange hair.

And even when there werenʼt any family members, there were the news reporters. Every channel had story after story about JoJo, and poor Hanna was about to pass out

with all of the strangers randomly approaching her and throwing questions at her like a pitcher when the bases are loaded.

A little girl, probably just a couple of years older than JoJo, came into the room with a pretty green dress, and her hair in a crown of curls around her head. She let go of her motherʼs hand and ran over to sit down near the tank where Joey was kept, filled with goatʼs milk. (The third item on the list of easy breathers.) After a few minutes of peering through the fog, when JoJoʼs little face appeared, smushing up against the glass aquarium. The girl giggled and rested her face where his was. Awwwwwwwwww.

Lily motioned for Nurse Rita to come over. "Whoʼs that?" Nurse Rita pointed to the guest list sign-up sheet. The momʼs name was Isabel Crest. So?

Lily suddenly gasped. Isabel Crest? So that means that the little girl is...Oh gee, no wonder she and Joey get along so well. Theyʼre both famous!

Every Roberts had heard of Patty Crest, who supossedly saved someoneʼs life by catching him when he fell off a ledge while filming a video. She had been on the news every day for three weeks, because she either caught him at just the right angle, or she was the worldʼs strongest toddler. But the fame didnʼt matter to Lily. She couldnʼt take her eyes of her mother Isabel. She looks just like Max.

Max had been the best grandfather ever, Lily reminisced. She was only fourteen when he died. She remembered the service, how the day was sunny and beautiful, just like Max had predicted it to be two years before he died. It was really hard on Hanna and Joe, but the people who got hit the hardest were Bianca, Maxʼs wife and Lilyʼs grandmother, and Beatrice, Maxʼs sister. Bianca was here now, chatting with Gregory Gold, a scientist. She was well over seventy but still had blond hair that reached her waist and still dressed fashionably, from her hippie headbands to her long, azure skirt that matched her eyes. (Which, despite the fact that she looked fifteen years younger than she was, had long, deep wrinkles protruding from them.) Bianca turned slowly to see why Patty was laughing, then looked up at Pattyʼs mother. When Bianca saw the familiar features of her husband on Isabelʼs face, she burst into tears.

Chapter 5

Poor Bianca. What an emotional experience for Mom, thought Hanna, but sheʼll be okay. Doctor

Adams said sheʼll be out by tomorrow as long as she follows directions.

Hanna cradled baby JoJoʼs tank in her arms, knowing that sheʼll never get to do this in the rocking chair she had at home.

Theyʼre going to keep him here forever. And me.

Hanna suddenly stood up, which looked very awkward because she was holding a big tank filled with her child and some lukewarm chai tea and, which sloshed on her favorite dress.

She ran up to the front desk, placing little JoJo on the table. Somehow, he was still asleep.

"How much longer until he can come home?"

The receptionist, named Elsie, just laughed. "Lady, theyʼre never gonna let you and your kid outta here. Heʼs gonna stay in here forever, ʻcause theyʼre never gonna stop the tests with him. Heʼs their little science experiment."

Hanna frowned and backed away, leaving JoJo on the table. "Iʼll be right back, honey." She strutted over to George, the head doctor. "How much longer will he have to be in here?"

Dr. George just shrugged. "A couple weeks, tops." Hanna snorted. Why had she even asked? That was what he said three weeks ago. It was time to take things into her own hands. Grabbing her family, she formed a plan.

It was her, Lily, JoJo, the Crests, and a very weak Bianca. She cornered them and asked them to help her. Everyone but Isabel was willing to help, but Patty insisted that she did because she wanted to help JoJo. Hanna gathered them and met with them in a small, unoccupied room.

"Alright. I need you all to help me get my baby out of here, or theyʼre going to keep him forever. Lily, I need you to distract the scientists and reporters. Isabel, you come up with some reason for the doorman to leave, and I need you to take Patty to the front desk so she can distract Elsie, the receptionist. Bianca will get rid of any lingerers in the lobby. Then, Iʼll grab JoJo and have Isabel get the door for me. Got it?"

They nodded. Hanna signaled them to go and ran to where she had left her baby, sitting in his chai. She looked over at Lily and gave her a wink.

"Soooooooo, Tyler, Mr. Gregory, I was just wondering if you could help me understand why Bianca went into shock. I mean like, what triggers it? Here, if you need a piece of paper to explain it, I can conveniently get one from Doctor Adams. Yoo hoo, Doctor? Yes, could you come here please?"

Doctor Adams came over to her spot in the hall, which was blocked from view of the front doors. Then Hanna caught Isabelʼs eye. She hesitated, then saw where Patty was glaring at her, and she went into action, blushing at what she was going to do.

She cautiously went out the revolving door, saying good afternoon to the doorman. Then she hung back, sitting on her hips, pretending to wait for a friend. She looked at the doorman. "Um... could you explain to me how to call a cab? I donʼt really know how it works."

He laughed and explained that the easiest way to get around was by bus, not cab. He looked behind him to make sure that his boss wasnʼt watching, then walked with Isabel around the corner and to the bus stop, explaining about routes and all that.

Meanwhile, Bianca was on the lookout for unwanted strays, and Patty was crawling around under the receptionistʼs desk with a maraca while Elsie was looking around, wondering where the heck that sound was coming from.

Bianca looked at Hanna and shrugged. There was no one coming. Hanna nodded and had Bianca open the handicap door. Hanna grabbed her son, looked both ways, and ran out the door as fast as she could.

Chapter 6

Hanna thought about where to go next, because her options were limited. She could easily take a bus to The Robertsʼ house, but she didnʼt have any money, and Lily had her bus pass. No, wait. She could just take Lilyʼs car.The keys were in her first aid kit, in her backpack.

Where did she park? I know that she told me... I feel like it had something to do with a code... oh! She parked in the parking garage on 30 Rose Street, space 76!

She smiled, reminiscing why these numbers were important to her. Seventy-six was Maxʼs age when he died, she had remembered silently counting the candles on his birthday cake out of boredom. Thirty was eighteen plus twelve, which was her age and Lilyʼs age added together when Joe had treated them both to snorkeling in Florida. She laughed quietly, remembering all of the stories they had created. Hanna shook the fun times off her shoulders and ran to down the street to the garage. There was the Tacoma, which had a light dusting of snow on it. She quickly but carefully placed JoJoʼs tank in the passengerʼs side seat and climbed to the driverʼs side. She closed the door, put on her seat belt, and grabbed the keys out of her backpack, and jammed them into the ignition. Because of the weather, it took a few seconds, but finally, she heard a wonderful churning and the truck started. She happily sped towards the exit, getting ready to taste freedom. It wasnʼt until she reached the highway until she saw the blinking light on her dashboard.

No, no, no!!! Why didnʼt Lily put gas in before we got here? I am soooooo busted!

Hanna sighed as she swerved into the breakdown lane and called a tow company. On the second ring, she hung up. What was she doing? Hanna Roberts was not a quitter. Gosh, JoJo was heavy. She struggled to keep the tea from splashing on her cloud

white jacket, took a shallow breath, and ran.

Meanwhile, Lily didnʼt want to worry about her aunt, so she kept busy by studying the growing list of liquids that JoJo could breath in.

Vlasic Pickle Juice Gatorade- any flavor, especially grape Goat's Milk Margarita Mix Sprite Mott's Apple Juice Barq's root beer Chai tea with 4 tsp. cinnamon 4.3 parts grenadine, 3.9 parts water Fresh-squeezed guava juice Newman's Own Pink Lemonade

Lily frowned. She knew that in some other place, she had seen a list just like this. She looked around for inspiration. First at the floor, where the checkered tile looked just like the wall in her grandparentʼs kitchen, then at the ceiling, a pale pink resembling the apron that Bianca gave Beatrice for her birthday. She then looked at the silver tray of cookies on the front desk. Max only used to eat the ones with the rainbow sprinkles. Wait. Max only used to eat the ones...

She bolted up. That was it! The answer! What all of these liquids had in common! They were the only things that Max would drink. (Max had an eccentric palate.) Lily needed to talk to the doctors, right now. The problems with the items already on the list was that they were either too messy or too expensive or both. She ran in the direction of Greg Goldʼs office. She knew a few more liquids that they could add to the list that wouldnʼt be either of those things. Iʼm the only one who knew that he liked water the exact same color of his hair: six drops yellow food coloring, four drops red!

About halfway there, though, she stopped short. If I say anything about JoJo, theyʼll want to look for him! I have to wait until Hanna calls me. She sighed and sat back down, starring at her cell phone, trying to make it ring.

Chapter 7

Hanna was almost to the hospital when she couldnʼt take it anymore. She had to rest. She walked into a parking garage and sat down on a bench. (But not before swiping it with a sanitary wipe.) She scrolled down to Lilyʼs number and dialed.

"Hello?" Hanna was surprised. Lily answered before she even heard it ringing. "Hey Lil. Iʼm in the parking garage, the one just a block down from the clinic. I think Iʼm in Revere, actually. I need your help. Why didnʼt you put gas in the car?"

Lily thought for a moment. "I did, but weʼve been here so long it must of, I dunno, leaked?"

"Well what am I going to do? The nearest gas station is more than a mile away, and I canʼt call a tow company without them finding out about me.

"Donʼt worry, Auntie. Iʼll be there ASAP." "Thank you, Lil. Iʼll see you soon." Hanna hung up and sighed. Hopefully. She rolled up her sleeves and reached into the aquarium, waiting for little JoJo to clutch her hand with his tiny little fingers. When he did, Hanna pressed two fingers on his forehead, the signal they used for hold your breath. She lifted him out of the tank. When she did, he sprayed some tea in her face. Hanna didnʼt think anything a baby could do would be nicer.

Lily was pacing down the hallway, trying to come up with a lie so she could snatch Tylerʼs car. Wait. Maybe I donʼt have to lie. Tyler likes me. Maybe heʼll just let me borrow his car. Itʼs worth a shot. She cautiously stepped around the corner, where he and Nurse Rita were having a heated conversation. His back was turned to face Rita, but Lily knew Rita could see her clearly. As soon as she saw Lily, she gave Tyler a look and he immediately stopped talking and turned around to face her.

Lily smiled graciously. "Ty, could I talk to you for a second?" Tyler gave her a goofy smile. "Sure. Rita, Iʼll meet you in the materials room in a few."

Rita, who was obviously telling him something important about JoJo, glared at Lily and walked down the hall. She shrugged and pulled Tyler into a nearby closet. "I need to borrow your car. I am a very experienced and safe driver. I promise I will have it back in less than a half an hour. I have a family problem and Bianca drove my car home. My little sister lives in Revere and she is sick and I just want to drive to her house to say hi. Pretty please, Ty? Iʼll be your best friend." She stopped herself. Donʼt get carried away.

Tyler laughed. "Actually, Iʼm going to Revere to deliver a package for a patient. I was going to go tomorrow, but why donʼt we carpool? That way you can have more time to visit your sister while Iʼm across town."

"Um... Okay." Lily thought fast. She would pretend that her sister lived near the parking garage. Then she would run and get to Hanna. But then how would she get Hanna to Joeʼs house without a car? All of a sudden, She had an idea. It was silly, but if it worked, everyone wins. Well, maybe not the doctors at the hospital. Whatever.

Lily ran back to the room where Hanna stayed when Joey was born. She gathered her things, and then sorted through the things Hanna always had nearby, ICAMDCAWSFAF. (In case a movie director comes and wants someone for a film.) She grabbed the whole trunk of things and ran out to meet Tyler at his car. She almost laughed out loud when she saw what he was driving: a yellow Volkswagen Beetle with a daisy on the dashboard. Tyler blushed when he saw the look on Lilyʼs face. "Itʼs Ritaʼs. We share it for deliveries." When Lily rounded the back she saw a bunch of bumper stickers. It looked like Rita had the entire back covered in hearts and flowers, but then most of them were covered up by stickers of trucks and Sports Illustrated pages. Lily smiled. This is going to be fun. She jumped into the passengerʼs seat as Tyler put the top down. Lily started looking for the paring garage the minute they got on the highway.

Chapter 8

Hanna sat quietly, making faces at JoJo. Because he was in a transparent liquid, she could do it without lifting him up. Just as she was reaching in to tickle him, a man came up to her with eyes as big as frisbees. "Maʼam, uh, I donʼt know if you realize this, but your baby has been inside that tub for at least four minutes, for what Iʼve seen. We need to get him to a hospital, stat. What kid of a mother are you, drowning your baby?" He was screaming with outrage as he started to reach into the tank to grab JoJo. Hanna took a Swiss army knife from her pocket and pointed it towards the manʼs neck. "If you touch my child, you will be very sorry. I advise that you step away now."

The man stepped back in surprise. "Iʼm sorry, lady, but your kid might be dead by now."

Hanna laughed. She tried to explain JoJoʼs condition to the man, but after a few seconds he looked at her like she was crazy and walked away, mumbling something about tourists. She sighed and took off her jacket so she could place it on JoJoʼs tank. She didnʼt want anyone else asking questions.

"Hanna!" "Lily?" "Yes! Oh, I was so worried!" "Iʼm over here, next to the sign that says "Lot C". Please come quickly, Iʼm freezing!"

Lily hurried over to her and gave her a thin sweater. "Okay, so Auntie, this is going to sound crazy, but just bear with me." Hanna nodded. "So the only way I could get here was by using Tylerʼs car, but he wanted to come too. So heʼs dropping off a package for someone downtown, and I pretended that I was visiting a sick sister in Revere. So hereʼs what weʼre going to do. I brought your ICAMDCAWSFAF stuff, and I need you to disguise yourself to look younger and different so I can say that youʼre my sister and I need to drop you off at Joeʼs house so you can get some things."

The second Lily said "ICAMDCAWSFAF", Hanna was rooting through the trunk to get her costume jewelry and wavy blond wig. She then pulled out a pocket mirror and got out her emergency makeup kit, and picked out some purple eyeshadow and nail polish that took a few years off her face. After a few more fixings, she turned around to face Lily. Lily burst out laughing and could not stop.

"What?" Lily muffled her giggles. "You look EXACTLY like Rita!"

Hanna looked back at her mirror and grinned. "Yeah. So whatʼs my name?" Lily looked around in concentration. So did Hanna. About fifteen seconds later, at the same time, their eyes rest on a sign outside the garage for a nail salon.

Beauty and Bounty brought to you by Tominda's Nails

They looked at each other, faces brightening. "Tominda!" Hanna laughed. "Tominda Roberts. Nice."

It was just in the nick of time, too, because a pair of headlights became visible from around the corner. It was the beetle! Hanna and Lily ran around the corner, out of sight.

"What is he doing here?" Lily hissed. "Lil, heʼs probably just parking so he can pick us up across the street. Letʼs go out the back door and sneak around to the shack."

The shack used to be a childrenʼs day care before a very wealthy lady, Mrs. Dale, came to town and bought it for a vacation home. When she wasnʼt there, she let people use it as a storage unit. She was away today, leaving the shack unoccupied and unlocked, which was great news for them. They ran inside and scanned the one-room trailer.

"Wow. I hope he doesnʼt want to come inside. Heʼd think we were broke." Hanna nodded in agreement and began taking down the pictures on the wall, because they were all of Mrs. Daleʼs family. Hanna reached into her duffel and took out a frame with a smiling Roberts family. Lily looked at the picture. Wow, the whole family looked so much alike. Even Isabelʼs ears had the same rounded shape as Beatriceʼs. She sighed and looked out the door, knowing that Tyler would be there any second.

"Oh no!" Hanna looked pale. "Whatʼs up?" "JoJo! What do we do with him? Weʼd have a lot of explaining to do if we walked to his

car with an aquarium filled with chai-covered baby in our hands!" Hanna grabbed the tank and looked around frantically. So did Lily. They froze, trying to think of any possible solutions. Suddenly, her eyes rested on the sheer silver curtains, ripped and tattered, draping lifelessly from the kitchen windows.

"I have an idea."

Chapter 9

Tyler gripped the steering wheel with impatience as he circled around and around the garage, looking for a space. By now he was on at least the sixth floor. Everywhere he looked, there were large spaces filled with teasing cars. Sometimes, he would be lured in by a spot that appeared empty, only to find a motorcycle or moped in its place, laughing at him for getting so excited.

He rounded the ninth floor, almost ready to skip it all together and proceed to the tenth, when he realized a gap in the row of cars. A space? Finally, Tyler got to park the Beetle in a space and fly down the stairs to the exit. Iʼm so late. Lilyʼs going to kill me. But Lily actually didnʼt mind. Tyler could look for a space a hundred more fights up for all she cared.

Lily was reaching into Hannaʼs duffel, picking out a pair of rhinestone-studded scissors. She carefully but quickly cut a shape in the fabric. Hanna burst out laughing when she realized what Lily was doing.

"Do you really think that this will work?"

"Well I donʼt hear you offering anything better!" Hanna shrugged and helped her cut the material. Lily carefully aligned the pieces she cut and glued them together with quick-dry glitter glue, which was all that Hanna had. Then she had Hanna reach into the tank and take off JoJoʼs shirt. She glued the curtains to it and slipped it back on him. Then Lily placed the tank back on the coffee table and stood back.

"Do you think it will work?" "No." "Letʼs do this."

Tyler jogged into the driveway just as Hanna was checking the last bits of her costume. Hanna had always wanted to be an actress, but she couldnʼt, because of her physical status. Either way, she had talent when it came to convincing people that she was someone she wasnʼt. Lily braced herself for the worst as the doorbell rang.

"Hey! Anyone home?" Lily smiled. "Just me, Ty. Oh, this is Tominda, my sister." "Call me Mindy."

Tyler looked a "Tominda" with disbelief. "Youʼre her younger sister?" Hanna frowned. "No. Iʼm eleven years older than her. Who told you that?"

"Lily did." "No I didnʼt." "But I could have sworn-" "You heard me wrong. I said older." Tyler let it go. "Anyway, sorry Iʼm late. The parking garage was packed. Now I wish that

I didnʼt bother, I didnʼt realize that this house was so close." Lily shrugged. She looked over at Hanna and saw that her posture was perfect, making her give her a look that said you are supposed to be sick and weak so act like it. Hanna got the message and hunched over just a little bit. This made Tyler smile for some reason. "So, are you ready to go?"

She shuffled her feet and looked over at Hanna. "Ty, is there any way that you could drive Mindy to Joeʼs old house? Itʼs just a few minutes up the road. Bianca was let out of the hospital today, and sheʼs going to pick her up so they can go to lunch together."

"In the beetle, itʼll be tight, but sure." Lily thanked him and told Hanna to hop in the beetle. "Iʼll be right out, I just need to grab something."

"Lily," said Tyler, "The beetleʼs in the garage. Iʼll go get it and pull up." "Um...ʻkay." He left the girls, assuring them that heʼd be back in a few minutes. Hanna checked

on Joey and was thrilled that his costume was holding up. She looked around for a sheet to cover the tank.

"Hey Lil, Iʼll be right back. Iʼm going to look around for a blanket to hide him." She turned into a room she didnʼt see before, finding it empty except for a large cabinet on the opposite wall. She eagerly bounced across the dark room and opened the door.

When she did, a small light came on, attached to the door. It was a closet, with old- fashioned dresses and suits hanging on wire hangers. Hanna smiled and pulled on a piece of light pink fabric poking out from behind a tuxedo. She pulled it out, and she was facing the prettiest dress she had ever seen. It was dusty and a little wrinkled, but it was beautiful. There were white and green beads lining the neck, and little white stitches crossed the waist and sleeves. Hanna smiled and twirled it around. On the back, she saw tiny buttons shaped like stars running down the dress. She looked around. Obviously, no one was watching, but she didnʼt want to take any chances. She slid over to the door and snatched her tote. she folded the dress up (hey, it was wrinkled anyway), and slid it inside. She then assured herself that it wasnʼt stealing, even though she knew it was. Hanna then slid her hand around the top shelf, looking for a blanket. When she found one, she quickly shook out the dead spiders and went over to Lily. "Here, align this over the tank so you canʼt see anything. Iʼll be right back."

She ran into the other room and slid on a pouffy skirt, green tux jacket, and a floppy hat. She felt around the bottom of the dark closet and also found a pair of hideous yellow heels. She slipped them on and walked into the other room. (She did this with difficulty because the heels were at least two sizes too big for her tiny little feet.) She bounced next to Lily. "Ta-da!"

Lily giggled. "Stop, thatʼs so immature. Ty will be here soon." And not a moment too soon, the door opened. Lily gasped, looking over at Joey. The blanket had fallen off the tank.

Chapter 10

Tyler sauntered in, ignoring the fact that both of the girls were standing shoulder-to- shoulder in front of the coffee table. "Hanna, is that you? Because all of a sudden, Hanna just went missing, and I just realized that I seldom see a Lily without a Hanna. And if it is you, could I talk to you for a second?"

Hanna was trapped, and she hated lying. "Um...yeah. Lily, Iʼll be right back." Tyler dragged her into the dress room. Hanna saw a flash of pink sticking out of her

bag and swiftly snuck over and tucked it in. Hanna then realized that from Tylerʼs position at the door, there was no way Lily could move and not be seen. She would just have to wait until he moved to put the blanket back on.

"So, Hanna, I, um, donʼt know if youʼve heard, but, uh... yourbabyhasgonemissing. We have a ton of police looking for him, but truly, we have no idea where he went. Iʼm so sorry."

Hanna took a deep breath. She had prepared for this. She opened up her eyes wider than normal and allowed her jaw to naturally drop. I would be a great actress. She almost smiled at the thought but then remembered what she was doing. "Wh-wha-what? Tyler, this is horrible! Did someone take him?"

"Heʼs a smart kid. Itʼs not like he would just get up and crawl away, due to his condition. Iʼm kind of surprised youʼre taking this so seriously. Most mothers would be frantic, trying to strangle me for telling them."

Hanna blushed. Whoops. Now what? I need to change the subject. "What do you mean, most mothers? Does this happen a lot?"

Now it was Tylerʼs turn to be embarrassed. "No, I just, um, assumed..." Hanna frowned. He was acting really weird.

"Uh, we need to leave soon, I guess." She flew into the adjacent room and swiftly threw the cover on the tank before Tyler noticed what was in it. Unfortunately, he was the curious type. "Hey, whatʼs in the tank? I love animals!"

Lily starred at him. "A fish. A big grouper. Itʼs for my project at college. Weʼre doing, ah, marine biology?"

Hanna sighed. That was pathetic. She held her breath as Tyler peeked under the blanket. He soon dropped it and looked at them both. "I canʼt believe you guys kidnapped your own kid. And that you tried to pull of such a stupid fish costume."

"Tyler, weʼre so sorry! We just couldnʼt stand the fact that he was going to be cooped up in some laboratory somewhere his whole life."

Tyler sighed and took the blanket off of JoJoʼs tank. He smiled as JoJo swam up to him and gurgled a happy hello. Tyler reached down and awkwardly patted his head, making the baby squeal with delight.

He paced around the room for a while. "Okay, so this is going to sound really selfish, but you canʼt take him back to the hospital. Theyʼre going to think that I had something to do with it, since Iʼm the only one who has a key to the room they were keeping him in. So, Iʼm going to help you take care of him. But only until I figure something out."

Lily ran over to him and hugged him. Embarrassed, she stepped back and formed a plan. "Okay, so can you just drive us over to Joeʼs old house? Most of our stuff is there, because both of us were staying with him while he was sick."

Tyler smiled. "So are you just going to stay there until the police find you? Because, you know, Doctor Adams probably has a whole search team looking for you. It might be a few days before they search this dump, though. So I think you should stay here until they do. Not many Boston events move to Revere because itʼs so small."

"Actually", Hanna butted in, "Joeʼs house is in Saugus, and thatʼs why I think we should go. Saugus is even farther from Boston. Plus, once we get our things, we probably wonʼt stick around. Weʼll most likely catch a flight to somewhere where itʼs unlikely that weʼll ever be found."

Tylerʼs laugh was filled with doubt. "And how do you think youʼll manage to fly somewhere when every airline in every airport has most likely been told to keep an eye out for you?"

Hanna stepped back. She hadnʼt though of that. Fortunately, Lily had. She walked right up so she was nose-to-nose with Tyler. "I am a certified pilot. If we can just make our way to Buffalo, New York, I know a guy who will rent us a pretty decent Cessna without any questions."

"Cool. What are we waiting for? Letʼs drive to Buffalo."

Chapter 11

The first half of the drive to New York was fun, because Tyler had endless CDs stocked up in dozens of plastic containers, and they had fun picking out music that everyone liked. They also listened to the radio and tried entering the contests, and Hanna even won two movie tickets, which were unfortunately for a theater in California. "Iʼll sell them on the internet."

But for the second half, they started realizing that they didnʼt know where to go once they got the plane. Tyler wanted to go to Jamaica. Both Lily and Hanna decided that Jamaica would be obvious, because Tyler had relatives there and the doctors in Boston knew that. Lily felt that Australia was somewhere that police would never think of looking, plus she loved animals. Hanna said that they should go to South America, which was an idea that the others discarded quickly, because it was too close. Hanna disagreed, she said that Argentina was a good place to blend in and become tourists. Nonetheless, they all agreed to go somewhere that spoke English, but not as their official language. That way, they could communicate with the people, but they could still hide.

Suddenly, Lily had an idea. "South Africa." Tylerʼs eyes lit up. "Yeah!" Soccer town! Letʼs go!" Hanna frowned. "Why?" "I donʼt know. Ask Tyler." "Because, dude, itʼs like, majority rules, even if you said no way, because Lilyʼs taking us there anyway."

So without much thought about why, Tyler pulled into BNIA and watched as Lily confidentially strutted up to the revolving door and disappear inside. He stayed in the Beetle with Hanna, because entering a crowded airport with a baby in a fish tank might not be a great idea.

Inside of the airport, Lily was waiting in an absurdly long line of people rescheduling flights. It had not been thirty seconds, however, before she saw her friend Colleen leading a large family to their gate. "Colleen?"

"Who- Lily? Gosh, itʼs been a while. How ya doin?" "Fab. Hey, does Cody still work here?" " Of course! Youʼve gotta catch him fast, though, his break ends in ten and heʼs flying a big group to Orlando."

"Thanks, Colleen! Keep in touch!" And with that she took off to the staff lounge, hoping to catch Cody before his break ended. On the escalator up to that floor, she saw a woman holding a beautiful baby girl, who was sucking on a pretty pink pacifier. But what was extraordinary about this pacifier was the straw-like tube attached to the base, snaking back to a small bottle sticking out of the motherʼs purse. No, thatʼs impossible. JoJo is the only one of his kind. Still, she couldnʼt help but gaze after the family as they traveled in the opposite direction as her. Lily shook off the weird feeling she was having and rapped on the heavy wooden door, ignoring the obvious employees only board nailed to the front.

An older man answered. Lily didnʼt recognize him, so he must have been fairly new. She took a deep breath, trying to get rid of the shy feeling creeping up behind her. "I need to speak to Cody Green. Itʼs important." The manʼs eyes softened, seeing how uncomfortable she looked. "He just left. You can probably catch him though, because the flight heʼs piloting isnʼt scheduled to leave for another half hour. I think itʼs gate 7."

Lily dashed down the long hallway to the gate. There she saw Codyʼs familiar face, looking out the window at a cute little plane, splashed with paint of all colors. She broke into a run, knowing that she was crunched for time. "Codylicious!" "Lilytopia! How are you doing?" "Awesome! And you?" "Tired. Iʼve been working on my project nonstop."

Lily could hardly remember a time when Cody wasnʼt building and re-building Radiance, a little bi-plane he planned to fly across North America. That was the plane he was looking at. She smiled warmly and said "Howʼs it holding up?"

"Funny that youʼd ask, I just fixed up that ding in her wing, and sheʼs looking better than ever. Iʼd even say that sheʼs safe to fly in now."

"Hey, um, Cody, remember the time in Vegas when you said that you might let me fly her someday?"

"I never said that." "Well...why donʼt you say it now?" "Listen, Topia, if you need a plane, I can rent you my old Cessna for as long as you

want. Itʼs filled with gas, too." "I thought you said it wasnʼt reliable?"

"It wasnʼt until I got Old Grover to work on it. Now she runs like a faucet." "I trust you." She grinned mischievously. "Besides, if you lend me a bogus plane, you know Iʼll slug ya." Cody almost snorted. Lily was probably one of the least violent people he knew. He smiled and led her to the exit door closest to where the old plane was stashed. "Good luck, Lil. If you need anything, get my cell from the front desk. Have fun."

"Peace out cub scout." She slipped out the door and jogged to the parking lot where Tyler, Hanna, and JoJo were waiting patiently. At least, Hanna and JoJo were waiting patiently. Tyler was starting to get a little jittery. "What took you so long? We were waiting, for like, hours, man."

"Sorry. But I got us a plane! Letʼs go!" Grabbing JoJo, Hanna took off after the two of them in the direction of the plane. When she saw the small aircraft when she rounded the corner, though, she let out a long, low whistle. The plane was a beautiful green-blue color, the color of Patty Crestʼs priceless tourmaline earrings. But the age of the plane was questionable, and there were more than a few "dings in the wings". Nevertheless, Lily was convinced that Cody wouldnʼt ever put her in danger. When she turned it on it seemed to run smoothly. And everything seemed to look okay. Lily stepped out and grinned at them. "Come on, ladies and gents, weʼve got a trip to plan."

Chapter 12

When Hanna and Tylerʼs seat belts were fastened and JoJoʼs tank was firmly stowed under a row of seats, Lily taxied then plane to the beginning of the runway. With a determined look on her face, she pushed in the throttle and the plane sped off at incredible speed, getting faster and faster as they neared the edge of the runway. Hanna, being a recluse half her life, had hardly ever been out in public, let alone on a plane. Tyler, cool as a cucumber, was reassuring her in between her terrified screams. Suddenly, (and much to Hannaʼs surprise and relief) the wings lifted and the plane took off.

Once Lily coaxed her to open her eyes, Hanna looked out the window at the beautiful scenery below them. There were all different colors and textures. The tiny specks of cars. The little pea-sized houses, just off of the rippling ocean that spread as far as you could see. She was shocked that she had never experienced this beauty before.

Lily was obviously saying something, and she looked angry about it. Tyler couldnʼt hear her over the noise. He searched around his duffel and pulled out a small paper pad and pencil, and handed it to her. Making sure everything was secure with the controls, she took it and wrote down her note.

We took the wrong plane! Cody told us to take the green one, and I was stupid enough to take this one, which is blueish. The plane is in good condition, but there isn't much gas. I'm going to have to make an emergency landing...hold on!

Lily looked ahead of her. Land was in sight, but it was definitely off course. It was their last hope, though. She radioed the tower and prepared to land. She was a smart girl, and had started to act the second she saw the gas levels go down, so they were descending towards the little archipelago in front of them without much stress. Tylerʼs eyes got wide once Lily announced exactly what those little islands were. "The Bahamas? Sweeeeeeet! Can we stay here?"

Hanna shook her head. She and Lily were determined to be as far away from Boston as possible. As Lily was landing the plane, she explained her plan. "So obviously, police and doctors are looking for us. So no standing out in any way. Be a totally normal, vacationing tourist-"

"With a baby in a fish tank. Yeah, we get it. No standing out." Tyler snorted as the runway of Nassau Airport came into view. She looked around, making sure that there were no police in the area. When she was sure that it looked clear, she smoothly landed and the plane halted to a stop. Smoothing out her skirt, Hanna grabbed her briefcase and slid out gracefully. Tyler and Lily exited a moment later, carrying JoJo. "Um, Hanna, I think we need to get JoJo some new chai. He doesnʼt look so good." Hanna peered into the glass. He was right, the normally transparent chai was getting a little foggy. Hanna took the tank from them and asked them to take her luggage. They went out

through the airport and sat outside, waiting for a bus or cab to take them to a hotel. When a little blue taxi arrived, they quickly threw their coats over JoJoʼs tank to avoid suspicion and climbed inside. The cab driver gave them one look and knew that they were not native to the Bahamas. "Where?"

They looked at each other. No one had thought of that. Lily shrugged and suggested that they just get a couple of hotel rooms for the night. "Bring us to the nearest hotel."

When the cab pulled up in the parking lot of the Nassau Sheraton, Tyler let out a low, long whistle. "How are we going to pay for this? I only have about three hundred bucks or so in my wallet. What about you guys?"

Lilyʼs hands flew to her mouth. "And not only that, but we could be on the run for weeks! How are we going to get by this whole time?"

Hanna was holding her breath for a long time, hoping that someone would come up with a solution. When a depressed silence hung in the air, she sighed very loudly and told the others what she had been hiding. "I, um, have a, watch. Itʼs silver, and antique. Itʼs actually Rolex, and maybe, if we sold it, I was thinking we could get at least six thousand for it, easy." She paused for a moment, then took a shallow breath. "But actually, the decision to sell it is up to Tyler."

Tyler blinked. "What? Why me?" Hanna smiled warmly. "The other day, Mrs. Prudy, Joeʼs lawyer, was talking to me at the hospital. You know, when all of our family was there. He was telling us about Joeʼs will, which we all totally forgot about."

Lily blushed guiltily. She had thought about her fatherʼs will a few times.

Hanna continued. "So Lily obviously inherited his fortune, because sheʼs his daughter. I got his house and car, and a few other relatives got some of his merchandise. But there was a note, Mrs. Prudy said, and it was in the same envelope as his will, but instead of being typed like the rest of it, it was in Joeʼs handwriting. She slipped the note she had been carrying in Tylerʼs hand. He unfolded it and read it aloud:

Mrs. Prudy- Please give my collection of Rolex watches to my sister, Beatrice. All except for the one in the display case in my bedroom. I feel that Lily will be meeting someone and be going on a journey with them very soon, and I would like this person to have this watch.

"Woah. So youʼre saying that your dad knew that you were going to run into me? How is that possible?"

Hanna glanced at Lily. Joe had always been mysterious, it was the way he did things. Hanna felt around in her purse and grasped the watch. She passed it to Tyler, who put it on. "Man, I donʼt know if I want to sell this thing. Itʼs obvious that it meant a lot to him. Are you guys cool with it?"

Lily frowned. "Guys, I hate to be the party pooper, but if we donʼt sell that watch, weʼre either going to have to move back to Boston, or be broke. And I donʼt think you guys want to go back to the States right now, after all we just went through. Letʼs ask around and see where we can find the nearest jewelry store or pawn shop. Come on."

Chapter 13

After at least an hour of asking, they found only a handful of people who spoke English, and none of them knew anything about the neighborhood. One young girl, however, knew a little English, and pointed them in the direction of a narrow street. They had been walking along it for about ten minutes though, and the still hadnʼt found anything. All that surrounded them was enormous trees of all varieties, and the occasional house, hidden by the Spanish moss dripping spookily from the tree branches. The girl had said that there was a sign in front of it, though, so they kept walking.

They entertained themselves along the way, first with Tyler telling really, really bad jokes, then with all of them comparing travel stories. (Hanna didnʼt have a ton of stories to share, though.) Suddenly, she let out a whoop. "There it is! The jewelry shop!"

"Thatʼs weird. Why would people take pictures of a store?" Tyler grumbled as he pushed open the heavy wooden door. Upon entering, however, he saw exactly why a person might want to take a picture of the shop. There were the biggest pearls and diamonds he had ever seen, not that he had seen many. There were a dozen baskets of gold nuggets, and a bucket of the tiniest little silver and platinum beads, with which you could make a necklace worth thousands of dollars.

Lily and Hanna were speechless, twirling this way and that, trying to imagine what everything in the shop was worth. "Oh, Auntie, look!" Lily gestured to a rack of a dozen watches, all very similar to the one around Tylerʼs wrist. She checked the price tags and started doing a little dance. "So these watches are used, and theyʼre for sale for over three thousand apiece! I canʼt wait to find out how much we can get for this one! Itʼs never even been used! Joe just kept it in the case, he never actually wore it."

For some reason, that made Tyler feel better. Just the fact that this watch wasnʼt personally special to Joe made him feel okay about selling it. "Hey, speaking of which, does anyone even work here? I donʼt see anyone."

"You do not have very good eyesight, do you?" Lily gasped. A man just appeared right out of the shadows of a display case showing off some garnet toe rings. "Hola. My name Rennie Martinez. I am boss here, I work alone. Why you come here? What is desire?"

Tyler held out his wrist. Rennie peered over his glasses at the watch. "Brand new, eh? That is a nice one. How much you want?"

The Bahama Diamond No flash photography

Tyler looked at Hanna. Hanna wasnʼt much of a negotiator, so she shrugged. "How much can you give us?"

Rennie peered at the watch again, holding it under a lamp. "You take good care of watch. No scratches. Rolex good brand. I pay five thousand?" It came out like a question, like maybe they could change his mind. Hanna took a deep breath. Five thousand dollars seemed like a lot of money, but she knew that hotels, food, and travel could really add up. Even if they bought everything cheap, that money would only last a short time, and they didnʼt know how long theyʼd be away. "Mr. Martinez, look at the date engraved on the side."

Rennie squinted to read the numbers scratched into the silver. "1945? This one is an old one. Antique. I pay seven thousand, tops."

"Deal." And Rennie gave them the money in cash, and happily went behind the counter and started polishing his new watch.

When they were back at the hotel, they formed a plan. They would grab some gas from the airport, then continue their journey to South Africa. Once they got there, then they would buy a really cheap house, and live there until they had a chance of being found.

Once on the plane the next day, Hanna and Tyler both decided to sleep on the ride to Africa. This didnʼt bother Lily, because it gave her time to think about the baby she saw at the airport. Also, the plane was equipped with satellite radio to entertain her. She turned to the clearest news station.

"The Californian Miller family of two parents and their three children have gone missing. The three children are gilliosapiens, a creature that has a human body but gills like a fish. They are the only known family of this rare disease, but we suspect at least ten more hiding from us. No one has seen the Millers for quite some time, but a plane was found missing from a San Diego airport. Please report any sightings of a family of gilliosapiens to the police."

Lily went to wake up the others, but they were already wide awake, staring wide- eyed at the radio. No one spoke for a split-second, then everyone spoke at once.

"There are others-" "I saw one at the airport!" "Gilliosapiens?"

Hanna was baffled. "They ran away too! And how cool is this that there are other creatures like JoJo! We might have a world full of kids just like him in this giant pool!"

She looked at him. He was gurgling in his tank of Sprite, the only easy-breather that the hotel had enough of without any weird questions. "Oh, and that reminds me. Heʼs having his first birthday in a week, and I think we should celebrate once we get settled. I was think we should just get him some gummy worms and a new bathing suit. You guys in?"

"We always will be."

Part 2 The African Sea

Chapter 14

JoJo swam over to the little machine, one of the many gadgets that his brilliant cousin Lily had come up with to help him communicate. Compared to what he was living in twenty years ago, this tank was huge, like the one in museums. He spoke into the machine, trying to remember which channel his wife was on. "Macey. Come in, Macey." Except it didnʼt really sound like that. It sounded like glug, glug. Glug, glug...glug. Which of course it would if you were talking underwater.

But Macey had known JoJo long enough to understand what those glugs meant. she radioed back, talking in regular English. "Do you need anything?"

"Glug glug, glug gluglugglug. Glugy glug-glug." (Can you get Eliza for me? I think my mom is playing with her in the nursery.)

A minute later, Macey appeared in the doorway of the water room of their house in South Africa. She handed their baby to him through the top, where he reached out from the surface to take her. Eliza gurgled happily as she swam down with her dad to the bottom of the aquarium. He strapped on a belt of lead weight to help her sink to the bottom.

Twenty years ago, JoJo came here with his mom, his cousin, and their friend, Tyler. They had found a house for cheap, and with the money they made from selling a silver watch, they had lived here to get away from the doctors. But on his fifth birthday, JoJo became bored. He wanted friends, he wanted to live his life like a normal, air breathing human. So Lily contacted the Millers, from California, and the Sharovas, from Russia. These two families were just a couple of the forty or fifty families in the world that had gilliosapien members. She invited them to Africa to hide from the doctors with them, and even supplied the plane tickets.

So if you were to look out the window of the water room, you would see the Millerʼs house, with Grandma and Grandpa Miller, their three kids, and the twin babies, Dave and Elliot, who were about Elizaʼs age. And if you were to look beyond the Millerʼs house, you would see the tiny shack of the Sharovas (They were from Russia, but they moved out a long time ago) Dmitry and Elena, and their niece and nephew, Inessa and Adrian. The whole Sharova family were gilliosapiens.

The Sharovas also had a daughter, Macey, but she was not born with gills like the rest of her family. Despite that, Macey and JoJo had fallen in love when they were both seventeen years old, and were married underwater, because Macey was a certified Scuba diver.

When a human and a gilliosapien have a baby, they soon found out, it has a very interesting feature: it is born with lungs and gills. Eliza could breath air and water, but they soon discovered that she can only stay underwater for about a day.

Eliza swam over to JoJoʼs mini fridge inside of his little kitchen. She rooted around until she happily came up with some applesauce and began to devour it. JoJo could faintly hear Macey talking from outside the tank, so he left Eliza eating and went up to talk to his wife. He kept his mouth underwater, but lifted his ear above the surface so he could hear her.

"Do you mind if I come and join you?" JoJo grinned and gluged in response. "Come on in."

He watched her put on all of her scuba gear and hop in. Because of the small space, she didnʼt really need fins. She went over to Eliza, who was watching television. She drew her eyes away from it to find Alexis Miller holding Dave in a large bathtub outside her window. When Dave saw her, he gave a little wave and did a backflip. Macey laughed. "Heʼs such a showoff."

Tyler came into the room, yawning. "Hi guys. ʻMorning. Hanna wanted me to tell you that the Sharovas are having a barbecue because they have something to tell us. Weʼre going over there in about fifteen minutes. Get ready."

Macey swam to the top of the tank with Eliza. "See you at the Sharovaʼs, Jo."

Chapter 15

JoJo had a very cool contraption for going out where there wasnʼt water, called the scubahead. It was Tylerʼs idea, and it was one of the simpler things he had. He had borrowed one of Maceyʼs Scuba masks and put a tiny hole in the top. Basically, JoJo would just carry around a water bottle with him, and fill and refill the mask when needed. He loved it, because he could interact with his family and still breath. It was a pain to refill, though, so he tried to avoid going outside. This, however, seemed urgent.

He walked with his family over to the Sharovaʼs. Adrian and Dmitry were playing catch in the front yard. They could vaguely see their bodies in the giant tub, but every few seconds a baseball would come shooting out of the top on one side and splish back down on the other. Elena came outside, wearing a scuba mask similar to JoJoʼs. She motioned them inside, where the Millers were all sitting. The regular air-breathers were sitting and talking, or playing with their kids. The gillios sat with either scubaheads or bubbletops, which resembled a goldfish bowl filled with water worn upside-down. (Another contraption invented by Lily.) Elena stood up in the front of the room and adjusted her scubahead. She then cleared her throat, which sent tiny, multiple bubbles floating to the top of her head. Then Elena turned around, typing into a computer that displayed her words above her. "As you all know, I have been in contact with three regular families in America, France and Mexico. They have told me that they are starting to see gilliosapiens every day, hiding from police and doctors, just like we are. My friend Madison, who lives in Alabama, USA, has said that a senator that doesnʼt live too far from her set up a small camp for us gillios. She also has given us some very, very important news."

Hanna, JoJoʼs mother, frowned. Here it is. We all have to go and be some crazy science experiment for the rest of our lives. Fun.

But the news that Elena had in mind was far from that. "Madison wants to get all gilliosapiens together and build a giant pool the size of a lake. If you think about it, about .0341 percent of the worldʼs population are gillios now, and if we can get their families too, there will be triple that. There must be at least a couple architects and construction workers of them."

Lily thought about this. There was a moment about twenty years ago that she still hadnʼt forgotten, and that was seeing another gillio in the airport. Lily, who had a photographic memory, closed her eyes and remembered the adorable little girl. Her mom was in an stewardessʼs outfit. And her dad- actually, there was a measuring tape sticking out of his workbag!

Elena continued. "Also, there is some good or bad news, depending on your perspective. A doctor in Tobago wants to help. This means that we will get much extra help, but it also means that we will have doctors all over us. This will definitely be easy and fun for us otherwise, though. However, Dmitry and I have decided that this will not be a democracy. If even just one of us doesnʼt want to go, then we wonʼt. We are a family."

Hanna looked at Lily. Their whole lives had become devoted to keeping JoJo safe and happy. It wasnʼt a chore or a bother, they loved JoJo and he was always thankful. They knew that they wanted to do this badly. It would make their lives easier, and JoJo would meet others just like him.

Dmitry and Elena exchanged a glance, too. They had thought that this was a wonderful opportunity for their children, especially Inessa, who was going to be starting school soon. Madison had said that there would be education sources in the tank, probably young children being taught by older gilliosapiens. That would be good for not only them, but for the Millers, too.

JoJo and Macey didnʼt even have to consult with each other, one glance and they knew that this would be best for Eliza. But the Miller family werenʼt so sure. Jordan asked the others if they could have a conference out in the hall for a moment.

Grandma and Grandpa filed outside of the family room, followed by Jordan, Michelle, and Alexis, who was carrying a twin in each arm. They didnʼt say anything for a long time, then finally Michelle, who was usually shy, took off her scubahead and spoke up. "You guys know why we came here. We had one mission, one thing to do. We arenʼt leaving until weʼve accomplished our goals, and thatʼs that."

The others agreed by taking off their bubbletops and taking a huge, refreshing breath of glorious, fresh air.

Chapter 16

The Millers came back into the room looking rather scary, in JoJoʼs mind. He held his breath and waited for their response. It was Grandpa who gave them the answer. "Guys Iʼm real sorry, but the twins just arenʼt ready for this. They just moved, and I donʼt

know if this much transition is good for them. Also, Grandma doesnʼt want to go. SHe just had a minor stroke, and although sheʼs doing better, sheʼs not best."

It was as if an enormous water balloon had fallen from heaven and exploded on the whole world. Breaths were being let out like a forty-knot wind, and droplets of water stained the Sharovaʼs carpet from JoJo splashing angrily. He couldnʼt believe that the Millers were being so selfish. Eliza would never go to school now. Sheʼd grow up with little to no education, just like he almost did before Lily created some water-proofer to coat all of Tylerʼs old textbooks from medical school.

If the Millers saw the dirty looks everyone else was giving them, they didnʼt show it. Jordan stood there looking awkward for a minute then said, "Um, well, weʼve got some things we need to get to. Chao!" And with that they all paraded out.

Dmitry snorted. "Where did they have to go? Its not like theyʼre going out in public or anything."

The Millers had actually gone back to their house to form a plan. Grandma whipped out a little phone that looked like a miniature walkie-talkie. "They want to leave and make a community with others of their kind. Wonʼt that be good for us?"

A voice with a hint of an Australian accent answered sharp and clear. "No. You are here to do work on the Roberts family only. No one else of their kind. Continue like you have been. Observe. Iʼve just received a request for a DNA sample. Mail it to us as soon as possible." And with that, there was a small crackle, and the little green light on the phone dimmed.

Alexis blew her sweaty bangs out of her face and flopped onto the bottom bunk of the bed she and Michelle shared. "Who wants to get the sample?"

Both Jordan and Grandpa fidgeted nervously. They were usually the ones to actually do the work, and neither of them felt comfortable getting fingerprints from an entire family. Even though Tyler wasnʼt a Roberts, he was always part of the tests, and Jordan had become really good friends with him. He didnʼt like the idea of doing anything sneaky around Tyler or his "family".

Grandpa sighed. "Okay, so Iʼll do Macey, Lily, and JoJo, and Jordan can do Tyler, Hanna, and Eliza. Weʼll get them by tomorrow."

Jordan let out a big breath of air, which felt very good. But he didnʼt see the pair of eyes, hovering along their windowsill, that saw exactly how good it felt.

Grandpa had a little satchel of various tools, i.e. cotton swabs, tissues, and charcoal. He paraded over to the house next to theirs and rang the doorbell with much more confidence than he actually had. Lily answered, and Grandpa took a silent note of exactly where on the doorknob she rested her hand. Grandpa turned to face her and smiled warmly. "Hi Lil. Can I talk to Macey and JoJo? Itʼll be quick."

Lily nodded shyly and called their names into the house, echoing into the living room. They came out holding Eliza, and Grandpa was glad when they handed her off to Lily. Jordan would be mad if he did his job for him. He motioned for them to come outside to talk to him. JoJo quickly refilled his scubahead and followed them outside. Grandpa started his speech. "JoJo, Macey, we need to talk. I was talking to Elena Sharova, and we both agreed that even though we are all a family, we need to have rules. Elena drew up this contract, and we would like you to sign it."

Macey peered at the paper in his hands. After reading the rules carefully, she nodded and took a pen from him. Grandpa also handed a pen to JoJo, who didnʼt even

bother reading it. If Macey thought that the rules were fair, then he trusted her. Grandpa took the pens back and carefully folded them in a tissue and placed them in his pack. Then he hurried off without another word.

Once back at the Miller home, Grandpa and Jordan compared information. They also pulled up DNA information from other Roberts, dating back to Maxʼs Grandparents. Jordan looked at fingerprint after fingerprint, and nothing was peculiar. That is, not until he took a second glance at the information given to him about Joeʼs family tree. He looked through the data he and Grandpa had recently collected, then back at the file in his hand. His eyes got wide, and he was speechless for a second. But just a second. "Oh. My. God."

Chapter 17

Inessa hated being seven years old. You were taken for immature, and no one believed you about anything. "But Mommy, I did! I did see them! They were breathing air, Mommy!"

Elena shook her head in amusement. Little kids were so cute. "Of course honey. Of course they were."

Inessa glugged in protest. Life was so unfair.

Jordan was throwing the samples up in the air. To the other Millers, it looked like he was going crazy. Grandma slapped his face and tried to get him back to normal. He tried breathing even as he shared his new discovery with them. "Okay, so I was looking at all this data about Joe Roberts, Hannaʼs brother, because I thought there might be some information about JoJo. Everyone in the Roberts family says that theyʼre a lot alike. So anyways, I was comparing DNA with every Roberts, and I was skimming through them, and I passed Tylerʼs, and his and Joeʼs match! Tyler is Joeʼs son!"

And thatʼs when Lily kicked down the door. Shy, nervous, fidgeting Lily, just passing by to say happy birthday to Adrian Sharova, just smashed it to the ground with a thud. She didnʼt say anything for a long time, then collected her breath. Jordan cringed, expecting a full blow of shouting and yelling. But Lily was better than that. She lifted up her head and looked Jordan in the eye. "I have a brother? Iʼm not sure I believe you."

Jordan looked out the window, where Tyler was throwing a frisbee to Eliza in her bubbletop. "You know, Lily, you guys do look a lot alike."

Lily nodded. Everyone thought that they were siblings. "But how could this have happened? Heʼs younger than me, but Mom died right after I was born."

Michelle thought for a second. "Lily, do you know for sure that heʼs younger than you?"

Lily frowned. "Actually, he told me that he was an orphan, and that he didnʼt know when his birthday was. I think he said that he was around the age thirty when we met."

Jordan dashed over to his computer and did some quick typing. "Tyler Seguin. Age forty-four, birthday December fifth."

Lily nearly fell over. The first words out of her mouth when she had calmed down: "Holy crap, Iʼm a twin."

Part 3 Pool of Magic

Chapter 18

JoJo looked around. There were construction workers everywhere, working with concrete. There was a loud buzzing noise coming from the truck, but to most people it sounded pretty muffled because they were either wearing earmuffs or bubbletops. People who didnʼt know how to pour concrete were gathering tubs of water and adding different ingredients to each tub to fit each gillioʼs needs. He looked over to see Marcus and Julie Baker adding pinches of paprika to a tub for their little brother, Nathan.

Plop. JoJoʼs hands had slipped, and the tank of water had fallen to the ground. Macey, who was holding the other end, sighed gave him a disapproving glance. "Sorry", he mumbled, picking his end back up. They carried it over to an enormous refrigerator and opened up the heavy metal doors. Macey took out a jar of pickles.

"I thought your mom liked apricot juice the best." Macey shrugged. "She also like pickle juice, and I figured that it would be pretty hard to get some apricots around here. She only liked fresh-squeezed."

When a gilliosapien was born, they adapted to breath liquids that one of their grandparents liked. Lucky for them, Maceyʼs mom liked saltwater, so they could take water straight from the ocean and be okay. But because they were about an hour from the beach, and the pool had to have be finished tis week, they decided just to use things the group had on hand.

JoJo, who was running the liquids department, stood on a giant stool and adjusted his aquaspeaker. (Lily had teamed up with a gilliosapien inventor and together, they created a machine that lets gillios speak English.) "Attention everyone. The construction workers have informed me that the concrete is almost dry. They have put in many, many dividers, and I think that we can have about three families in each section. My mission for you right now is to leave your tubs where they are and find two other families that have at least one liquid in common with yours. Go!"

He watched the sixty-eight families interact and converse, forming neighborhoods. The Sharovas, the Bakers, and another family, the Lampinens, came up to JoJo an announced that they all could breath fairly easily in caramel iced coffee. JoJo quickly brewed up a pot the size of a small house and signaled a forklift to come and pick it up. The coffee was dumped into a sector of the enormous pool, and the three families jumped in and started making renovation plans.

WIthin the next few hours, there were twenty-three sections of the pool filled with all sorts of various liquids. Across the pool from the coffee families JoJo and his family, the Donalds and the Bells were sitting in three homes surrounded by pickle juice. JoJo rose to the surface to talk to his mom, who had been in the hospital for the past few days.

"Howʼr you doing?"

Hanna smiled weakly. "Never better." JoJo had always thought of Hanna as immortal. But now it was obvious that

something was up. "Was it the radiation?" Hanna nodded. She had been exposed to some extreme radiation working at the

power plant when she was younger, but for some reason, she hadnʼt had any reaction to it. Now it was finally catching up to her, and she was feeling awful.

JoJo was going to say more, when he heard a faint rumbling sound in the distance. It was a school bus. How peculiar. Oh god. Theyʼre coming here for a field trip. But once the bus parked, it was adults that stepped out, not children. Actually, there were people of all ages, all nationalities. Thatʼs when JoJo realized the scubaheads. We have company.

Mayor OʼDell stood up in front of all of the gillios, who were shouting in confusion. "Settle down everybody! I have some news. Of course you have all noticed that between all of us, we only take up a tiny fraction of the space in this pool. Iʼm sure that you know gillios are born everyday. We are inviting them here, and you are all going to welcome them with respect."

Macey stared at the pool. Out of the thousand or so cells, they only took up twenty- three. Still, if this many people moved in everyday, they would definitely have a problem. She looked over at the kitchen, which was buzzing with life as people scrambled to fill some of the empty sections with various liquids. JoJo stopped to help a family install a heater, which they needed to keep the butter inside their pool melted.

Chapter 19

Adrian, Inessa, and Olive OʼDell were playing catch with a heavy weight in the OʼDellʼs large suite. The skim milk around them rippled as more and more people piled into the pool. By now at least half of the sections had been filled, and it had only been a month since the pool was built.

Two new families had moved into their section, and it was getting pretty crammed. Inessa didnʼt want to scare her little brother, but she had overheard her father and the mayor talking about moving to the ocean.

Macey sat on the edge of the pool, her long legs dangling in the butter. It didnʼt bother her. She could take a shower later. She waved to her husband, who was helping a family keep the butter melted. Macey looked around her, think that it was just last year when they were living in South Africa, not having a care in the world. Then there was a whole complication about Lily and Tyler being siblings, and then to boot, they discovered that their trusted neighbors were actually spies doing research on their family. They werenʼt even gilliosapiens.

The Millers had softened, though, and hadnʼt told the people they were working for what they had found. And even though all of them breathed air, they agreed to help on the pool. Macey smiled softly, remembering moving here to Paraguay, which involved

cramming everyone in Lilyʼs tiny plane, plus luggage. (Elena refused to go without her wardrobe.)

And now here they were, watching busloads of gillios come to the pool every day. Macey decided to shake off the past and live in the moment, and she put on her scuba gear. Taking a breath of air, she slipped under, feeling the comforting warmth of melted butter swirl on her skin.

There were cushions cleverly placed on top of each divider, so if the gillios wanted to visit a friend next door, they could just hold in a breath and shimmy over the top, then splash into the next cell. Just incase, however, Mayor OʼDell hired twenty lifeguards and placed them all around the pool.

Macey cleared her mask and went over to hug JoJo. He showed her everything he had been working on and introduced her to the family that lived there. She had not been down ten minutes, though, until the mayorʼs voice sounded through the butter. "JoJo!"

Macey went up with him to see what the mayor wanted. He was wearing a dark blue suit, obviously expensive, but it was drenched in a sticky pink goo. "Strawberry milkshake! JoJo, weʼre going to be broke if we need to keep supplying all these liquids. Do you have any idea how much ten thousand gallons a week of milkshakes costs? JoJo, I have a job for you. I want you to take a survey and see everything the local gillios can breath. There has to be a solution- something that everyone can put up with."

JoJo nodded from underwater and took out his notebook, which had a waterproofing sealant coating the pages. He went around to every cell, asking for lists of their breathable liquids. Some families had grandparents with very exquisite likings, he learned. For example, the Greens in Cell 29 had a long list, among which was liquid plant fertilizer and tomato sauce with pureed asparagus and mushrooms.

When he was done, he reviewed what everyone had said. He sorted page after page, making changes. He also had to bring samples to some of the sections, seeing if they could breath in a certain thing that wasnʼt on their list. In a few days, he had his list ready. He swam to Mayor OʼDellʼs enormous cell.

"There are three things, mayor, that everyone can breath in. Some might have a little difficulty, but for the most part, we can all manage in any kind of white wine, water with twenty-one tons of sea salt per square mile, and fresh-squeezed Cortland apple juice."

The mayor paced for a moment. Then he gestured to his assitant, Latissa. "Lattie, how much salt is in the ocean?"

Latissa shrugged. "Mr. OʼDell, I donʼt know everything." The mayor didnʼt miss a beat. He sent Latissa on Radiance Again. (When Lily held a fundraiser for anything extra the neighborhood might need, they agreed to buy a small plane for emergencies and for anything they might need out of town. When the plane was built, the gillios let Lily name it. She had missed Cody so much after seeing him again that she decided to name the plane after the thing he loved the most.)

He set the GPS to a town called Porto Alegre, which was on the east coast of Brazil. "Lattie, I need you to take a sample of water from the Atlantic Ocean. Fill up this container" He gestured to a beaker about the size of a large dog. "Oh, and take Lily with you."

Chapter 20

The plane ride to Porto Alegre was very stiffening for them, because they soon found that they had nothing in common. It first started when Latissa set the portable radio to a classical station, which made Lily wince. Then they tried making conversation, which didnʼt go as well as planned.

"So do you have any gillios in your family?" "No. Do you?"

"Uh...JoJoʼs my cousin." "Oh."

"Do you want some gum?" "I donʼt eat gum. Do you have any fruit punch?"

"No." "Oh."

The rest of the ride was in silence, except for the blaring Classical Music. Latissa fell asleep quickly, and Lily envied her because she didnʼt get much sleep last night, worrying about Hannaʼs radiation count, plus she had to run the plane.

The ride was only a few hours long, however, and soon the small shape of a runway came into view. She shook Latissa awake and told her to get ready. They needed to get this sample back as soon as possible.

When they landed, Latissa grabbed the beaker and ran outside to fill it, because the small landing strip was right on the water. She sloshed around a bit, but finally slid a tarp over it and shoved it in the backseat.

When they got back, the mayor took the sample from them and ordered his assistants, Janya and Janet (twins) to fill three hundred plastic cups with the water. When they were done, he had the twins, plus his entourage of young gillios deliver the water to all of the families and have them try it out. Because he had so many helpers working for him (about thirty or so) they got the work done quickly.

A stocky girl with curly green hair, named Tessy, read him the results of their testing. "Okay sir, ninety-six percent of our poolʼs population said that it was easy to breath with no problem. A little less than the other four percent said that it was okay, not perfect, but they could probably live in it. But thereʼs a family of gillios who are a little bit different in their drinking habits..."

Lily had heard of this family, but she knew her brother had babysat for the kids when he was a teenager. Tyler poked his head out from behind an extremely large carton of lemon-lime powerade. "The Warners?"

Tessy nodded. "They almost choked to death when I fed them the sample. All four of them scrambled right back into their home of melted Ben and Jerryʼs vanilla heath bar ice cream."

Mayor OʼDell turned to Latissa when Tessy said this. "Well, Lattie", he said with a shrug, "I guess weʼre going to have to go with the boats. Get these children to build ten with the dimensions I gave you, please."

Latissa led the mayorʼs helpers to the shop, a small building designed to construct whatever wooden and metal products they may need. All of them disappeared inside, and soon the whirring of a scroll saw was ringing throughout the town.

Lily and Tyler looked at the mayor. Both of them said at the same time "What are the boats for?"

Mayor OʼDell filled them in on his plan. "Guys, you know as well as I do that weʼre running out of room. Itʼs been a little less than a year since we built the pool, and weʼve already tripled the population of it. Plus, buying all these liquids isnʼt cheap. We were lucky enough to get that money raised with Elenaʼs friend Madisonʼs help, but it wonʼt last forever."

He paused, looking at Lily. She was a smart girl. He was pretty sure that she knew what was coming next, so he just blurted it all out.

"Iʼve come up with a plan to reduce space needs and economy problems. What if we all moved to the ocean? The sample is from the Atlantic, but if we need to we can always move to the pacific. We can just let them go in the middle where no one will find them, supply them with plenty of food and some leisurely activities-you know, it could get pretty boring in the ocean- and then they can live their lives with ease."

Tyler glanced at the giant pool to his side. "But what about the Warners?" The mayor gestured to the wood shop, where sounds of sanders were ringing in their ears. "Thatʼs what theyʼre doing in there. I got the wood for a boat big enough to fit the family. With all the money weʼll be saving on liquids, we decided to construct some long- lasting bubbletops that they can have, and weʼll float them out here on a big boat where they can see you."

Lily looked at Hanna, thinking about this new idea. Hanna was playing catch with Eliza and JoJo, and all three of them looked really happy. Then a though struck her. "But what about us? When will we be able to see them?"

The mayor frowned slightly. He had known that she was going to ask this. "Lily, this is going to be hard to say, but I donʼt know if youʼll be able to see your family and friends once theyʼre out there.

Chapter 21

We donʼt have enough money for everything, you know. We canʼt build an enormous cruise ship and just sail you off. Maybe though, we can send you out on a little sailboat every month or so to see them, if you really want to."

Lily gasped. Every month or so? Sheʼs never been away from JoJo for more than a day, let alone a month. She was getting older, celebrating her fifty-seventh birthday in a few weeks, so she didnʼt know if sheʼd always be up for the trip.

"If I raise the money, can we make an extra boat? I donʼt know if Iʼm okay with letting my family and friends go for that long."

The mayor laughed. "Sure, Lily, if you can rack up a thousand dollars for me, Iʼd be happy to give you the materials to build a beautiful boat. Otherwise, just be happy that your family can survive." He huffed away, agitated that a new conflict had appeared.

Lily sat down by the edge of the pool and began to cry. This whole thing was horrible, and it could all have been avoided if the accident hadnʼt happened.

It was years and years ago, when it happened. It was just a few hours before sunrise, and the small, quiet town of York, located in southern Maine, was asleep. Except for a single household.

The pale yellow paint on the kitchen walls was peeling, and the rest of the house looked like it hadnʼt been lived in for years. Clara Roberts was sitting at the kitchen table, sobbing. Life had been so unfair to her and her loved ones, and she just wished it would end. Her husband Joe sat down next to her and put his arm around her, trying desperately to comfort her.

In another room with dim lighting, there were two identical cribs, besides the colors. One was painted a blue the color of a summer sky, the other was a cotton candy pink. Another difference between the two cribs was obvious: there was a baby girl in the pink one. The blue one, however, was completely empty.

The baby girl woke with a start, but she could not recall what woke her. She glanced into the neighboring crib, wanting to be comforted by the warm smile of her brother. But he wasnʼt there. The crib was empty, and a ghostly breeze swirled around it. The girl was extremely frightened, but could not be for long, because suddenly, a flash of orange light came through the window, and then all she heard were dozens of hoarse yells. Two hands grabbed her, and then everything went hazy.

Clara had heard the yells and had run outside, despite Joeʼs calls back. A large figure loomed in front of her, and she had screamed louder than possible. But no one had heard her.

The creature in front of her was not a creature at all, but more like an enormous, solid cloud. It was a variety of colors, pinks and greens and blues. It seemed to be moving in a distinct, almost graceful way, but it was thrashing like a lion trapped in a circus show. It had no shape, no properties at all...except for the smell. A horrible smell, like gasoline and old, rotting garbage and burning hair. Clara watched as the cloud doubled, then tripled in size, easily overtaking the house behind her.

Clara was so absorbed in the fascination of this cloud that she did not see the figure leaning against her mailbox, drenched in sweat and wearing a navy blue lab coat. The streetlight shown right on him, showing his electric purple eyes. He was screaming as well, but for a different reason. His plan had failed. He had laid out this plan so carefully, so perfectly, and he as well as everyone in his community had thought it would work.

The plan he had constructed was simple: locate the polluting trash, try to rocket it into space. The whole process had worked exactly as planned, except instead of shooting upward when he pressed the big red button, it kind of...imploded.

The yells the baby had heard were at least a hundred residents of York, telling each other what to do. A few people had taken over, yelling at everyone to get away from the mess. Parents were clinging onto babies, small children and elders were huddled together in fear and worry.

Clara was frozen. Her whole life, there had been normality. A quiet family, no problems (despite the recent incident with her baby boy) and normality. But now there was this, and she had absolutely no idea what to do. She took in a sharp breath with her

newfound confusion. At that time, the cloud, now the size of a skyscraper, edged just a bit nearer to her. With that sharp intake of breath, in with the air, also came a bit of the cloud.

Joe Roberts ran outside just in time to watch his wife fall to the ground. He dropped to his knees beside her and began to shout in fury. He had just lost two people he loved very much in the past few months. He carried Claraʼs body into the house as he recalled the loss of his only son.

On the fifth of December the past year, Clara had two beautiful twin babies, a boy and a girl. She had brought them home, and for a month, they were the happiest family alive. Then came Katrina.

Katrina Seguin was more or less a princess, who was born in Greece. She was respected wherever she went, because she was viewed as important and pretty. Her friends and her traveled continuously, seeing the world. She always made time to come to small towns within an area, so the people of York were elated when she decided to come to New England.

But seldom a person knew the real Katrina, and if they did, then they were not alive to tell about her. Katrina wasnʼt a princess. She was a witch. She had taken things from people, from possessions to pride. Katrina became one of the most wealthy people in the world. But there was one thing she had wanted since she was a child, and that was a child of her own. And whatever Katrina wanted, Katrina got.

So she had set off to a household in York to get what she wanted. Tyler Roberts had been illegally adopted, in a sense. And the Roberts family never saw their baby again.

Chapter 22

Lily awoke from her daydream and found that she was no longer crying. She was raging with fury. The accident had brought death to her mother, and the foreign radioactivity from the cloud had made Katrina mentally upset enough to do something drastic. But it doesnʼt matter now. I have Tyler back. She frowned and looked around her. It does matter. All of these people, theyʼre all here because of the cloud. The stupid pollution that every person in the world had experienced, and now innocent humans were being punished with the effects.

She had just almost remembered the cloud. She had been just a small baby, but she could remember the cloud itself vaguely. She also could picture in her head the thick, white foam being sprayed all over the cloud, and it shrinking, down to the size of a soccer ball, where a masked man captured it and disposed of it in a sliver machine. But it was too late. The pollution had already escaped, and anyone within a mile of the cloud got sick, and several died. She shook her head and got up. Lily Roberts was not a quitter. She was going to make a difference.

Part 4 Eliza's Oceanic Epilogue

Dave grabbed Elizaʼs hand and showed her a beautiful fish, red and gold, scales shimmering like the summer sun above them. But as she looked twice, she saw that it wasnʼt actually the sun. It was the horrible glimmer of aluminum, plus dozens of other trash items. It made her so sad, because her second cousin Lily had told her about the horrors when Lily was just a baby. It was Elizaʼs generation that was paying for it. She glared at the trash as if to scare it away and out of her life. While she was doing this, she kept her distance. Shʼed heard the stories, the awful fates of misbehaved children that didnʼt know any better. Her friend Corinna had wandered up too far to the trash and had gotten very sick by accidentally inhaling some of the "poison", which is what it really was. A glimpse of wood showed through the sludge, and Eliza knew it was one of the elders. The elders were people that had been alive before the evolution started. She started to weep when she thought about her entire family, Hanna, Lily, Mom, floating aimlessly above her in a boat, trying to stay alive. JoJo ha made the choice to stay above water with his wife, leaving Eliza with no one to confide with, except for Dave. Though she was old, Eliza knew that Hanna was going to die of pollution poisoning before old age. Hanna was lucky that she had lived this far.

Eliza poked her head into the oxygen room, trying to wedge into a space. When she found her way into an empty cubicle, she pressed the small golden button and a rush of air came to her face as she quickly breathed in. This room was designed for the gillios that had to breath air once in a while.

Eliza looked behind her as a wave came above them and washed some of the litter around. She faced away, not wanting to be hit by the trash and oil puddles. When she turned back to see if everyone was okay, she saw the fish that Dave had shown her earlier by a large rock. But the fish was different. Instead of flapping happily around and looking for food, the fish was floating lifelessly away.

Answer 2

Rachel Stevenson's books can be found in bookstores, online retailers such as Amazon, and potentially in libraries. You can also check her official website or publisher's website for information on where to purchase her books.