I nodded, slowly folding all my fingers except my index fingers, which now pointed at Claudia.
She sat back. “Me?”
I nodded again. “We need to get through a fence, and I don’t know how hi-tech it is or whatever, but I was wondering who could possibly help us with that…”
She started shaking her head. “Jimi, I don’t think—”
“Who would be badass enough, game enough, to help out with something like that…”
“Jimi—”
“And who would be fun to have along? I mean, it would be just like old times, right?” By “old times” I was referring to the events in Gellersville a few months earlier.
She tilted her head to one side and rolled her eyes. “I don’t think so, Jimi. I’ve actually been trying to cut back on the ‘breaking-and-entering-and-risking-life-limb-and-jail-time’ stuff. Especially while all this stuff is going on with my dad.”
“Okay,” I said. “I get it. And besides, this guy Ogden says he can hack into the system if it’s a smart fence. I imagine if it’s just like, electrified or alarmed or video-monitored, or whatever, he can deal with that, too.”
“Jimi, those are totally different challenges. Totally different skill sets.”
“Right, I know, but hacking a computer system has got to be more involved than bypassing simple electronics.”
“It’s not a matter of simpler or more involved, they’re just different,” she said, getting herself oddly worked up about it. “It’s not just about snipping a wire or two, for Pete’s sake.”
“Okay, okay,” I said. “Point taken. But whatever the case, I’m sure we’ll be fine without you. I just thought it would be good to have you there, that’s all. But I totally understand—”
“I know what you’re trying to do, and it’s not going to work.”
“What do you mean?”
“Reverse psychology or whatever it is you’re doing.”
“I’m not!” I said, laughing a little. “Look, I totally understand. You don’t want to go. I totally respect that.”
She looked over at the server, headed our way with our orders.
“When are you going?”
“Tomorrow night.”
She growled as she shook out her napkin and laid it across her lap. “Okay, well it sounds like I better come along so this Ogden guy doesn’t get you all fried to a crisp.”
SEVENTEEN
The next night, I was eating dinner with my mom when Claudia arrived to pick me up. Mom insisted on serving her a plate, pasta primavera with basil, and made her sit with us while we finished. My mom likes Claudia, but I think she’s confused by her, so she always welcomes the chance to pepper her with questions about her life.
I looked down, smiling at my dinner through the worst of it, thinking maybe it’ll teach Claudia not to show up fifteen minutes early. When Mom and I finished eating, and Claudia finished pushing around the food on her plate because she had already had dinner, I announced that I was running upstairs to get ready and I’d be down in a minute. Claudia announced that she was coming with me, I think having had enough of my mom’s questions.
“Ugh, she’s worse than the FBI,” Claudia said, closing my bedroom door and slumping against it.
I laughed. “Sorry about that. She means well.”
“Hey, when we’re done with this tonight, you want to come back and crash at my house?”
“What, like a sleepover?”
She laughed. “Sure, why not? We can make popcorn and paint each other’s toenails.”
“Weirdo.”
“No, come on, it’ll be fun.”
She laughed again as she said it, but there was a pleading quality, as well.
“Sure,” I said. “Why not?”
I grabbed a few things to spend the night, and on our way out I told my mom where I was staying.
After a minor grilling about whether I had any obligations in the morning—I didn’t—and an admonishment not to stay up all night, she said, “Okay, have fun.”
We picked up Rex a bit before eight and got to South Philly twenty minutes later. The roads were packed and so were the sidewalks, everybody walking in the same direction. We drove around for ten minutes before we found a parking spot.
“What the hell is this all about?” Rex asked as we got out of the car.
Claudia looked around, bewildered, as she pulled a backpack out of the trunk. “I have no idea. The Phillies are on the road…maybe it’s a concert?”
“Mixie trash!” someone yelled.
We couldn’t see who had said it, but Claudia held up her hand, clenched into a fist except for a lone finger that stood out among the others.
“Disgusting,” said a woman with shellacked gray hair, shaking her head. I couldn’t tell if she was referring to Claudia’s gesture, or the fact that she and Rex were chimeras.
“Great,” Rex mumbled as we fell into step with the rest of the crowd. His eyes scanned the people around us, as if he was assessing the threat each of them posed, trying to determine who he had to be most wary of.
We turned the corner, onto the block where we were supposed to be meeting Ogden. Up ahead, the massive Holotron in front of the arena lit up the sky with, PHILADELPHIA WELCOMES HUMANS FOR HUMANITY! ENJOY YOUR JAMBOREE!
It was unsettling to think that the H4H jamboree was too big even for the massive Convention Center, and they had to hold it in the basketball arena, instead. And I knew the welcome probably came with the venue rental, but it bugged me that a city that was supposed to be all about “brotherly love” would be welcoming a group that was so decidedly not.
“Ugh,” Claudia muttered. “Well, that explains a lot. Whose idea was it to meet here?”
“Ogden,” Rex said.
Claudia rolled her eyes at me. “Well then, I guess it is a good thing I’m here. And what the hell is a jamboree, anyway?”
“It’s like a party,” Rex said. “Apparently a big party.”
“Huh. And I didn’t even get an invitation.”
The upside of everyone walking in the same direction we were was that at least we didn’t have to deal with people coming toward us the opposite way. The downside was that we got stuck walking alongside the same people.
One guy muttered, “Mixie scum,” and then we were stuck walking next to him for the next block and a half.
Ahead of us, a white van flashed its headlights. As we got closer, I could see Ogden behind the wheel. It looked very much like the van I had been abducted into just a few days earlier. If I hadn’t known that van was being held by the FBI, I would have wondered if it was the same one.
As we got closer, Ogden lowered his window and said, “Y’all should probably get in the back, so it looks like I’m riding alone. Just in case anybody ends up looking for us later.”
We nodded and walked around to the passenger side.
Having seen what could happen when a bunch of overly exuberant H4Hers got together, I was relieved no violence had broken out so far. I was looking forward to getting off the street, but when the door slid open, all three of us paused. I may have even taken a step back. I was at a total loss for words. So was Claudia.