Hello, Universe: Chapters 33–42

She never imagined that after walking for two minutes they would come across something else altogether: a strange boy she didn’t recognize sitting on the ground with his back against a pine tree and a white T-shirt wrapped around his beefy arm.

When he saw her, he turned stoic and no longer seemed like the person who’d cried out.

“What happened to your arm, then?” asked Gen, no longer ashen faced.

She motioned toward the makeshift bandage, which Kaori now realized was a pillowcase, not a shirt.

Kaori tapped Renee on the shoulder as the boy reluctantly lifted up his wrapped arm.

She’d expected to see something much more heinous, too, like an enormous bump oozing pus and mucus, but the boy’s arm was red and that was it.

She’d expected to see something much more heinous, too, like an enormous bump oozing pus and mucus, but the boy’s arm was red and that was it.

“When it bit me, I snatched it so hard with my other hand that it didn’t have time to do any more damage. I pried its fangs out of my arm. Then I wrung its neck and tossed the body down that old well.”

“When it bit me, I snatched it so hard with my other hand that it didn’t have time to do any more damage. I pried its fangs out of my arm. Then I wrung its neck and tossed the body down that old well.”

“Your throat isn’t closing up, you don’t have a fever, you’re not having a seizure, and you’re sitting here talking to us like the usual dodo that you are. You probably got bitten by a water snake or a garter snake. Maybe a northern racer or something.”

“How’d you manage to get bitten by a snake, anyway?” Kaori said, trying to make her tone as condescending as possible.

After Chet walks off, I pick up the pillowcase like it’s a dirty sock. I wasn’t crazy about the idea of holding something that had touched Chet’s sweat, but I’d already littered the woods with my mother’s old bowls. The least I could do was throw this atrocious object away.

Kaori was certain she had never heard the name Valencia Somerset in her entire life, but something felt very familiar about it. Like having deja vu.

She looked at her sister expectantly.

The fact that her mother was asking meant that someone had asked her, which meant it was one of Virgil’s parents or brothers or Lola, which meant that they didn’t know where he was, either. Which meant this was a true-blue emergency of epic proportions.

“She asked if I knew where Virgil was,” Kaori said, sounding just as sullen as she felt.

He said it now, in his tired and weary voice. “Hello. Hello. Hello.”
It sounded muffled and anguished.

He said it now, in his tired and weary voice. “Hello. Hello. Hello.”
It sounded muffled and anguished.

You shouldn’t light candles in the middle of the woods, especially if it hasn’t rained in days, but we’re standing in a small clearing and Kaori insists it’s vital to the ceremony.

Kaori looks at the remnants of the fire.

He saw the silhouette of three heads, all looking down at him.

There’s a red splotch on his neck, and it inches its way to his face like someone’s painting him from the bottom up.

The universe—the big, mysterious, fickle universe had plotted everything out to the littlest detail (with her influence, of that she had no doubt), and Virgil barely mustered two words.

“Virgil Salinas, I know when people are lying to me, and you are officially the worst liar in the universe, which is really sad because the universe itself is trying to intervene on your behalf.”

“Virgil Salinas, I know when people are lying to me, and you are officially the worst liar in the universe, which is really sad because the universe itself is trying to intervene on your behalf.”

Virgil was acutely aware, as always, that he was fast approaching the Bullens’s house, but he was too exhausted to care.

Was that a tremor in his voice?

Now that he was closer, Lola could see the rumpled clothes, the unkempt hair, the sheen of sweat and fatigue, his puffy eyes, the dirt and rust on his hands from the ladder.

Now that he was closer, Lola could see the rumpled clothes, the unkempt hair, the sheen of sweat and fatigue, his puffy eyes, the dirt and rust on his hands from the ladder.

Now that he was closer, Lola could see the rumpled clothes, the unkempt hair, the sheen of sweat and fatigue, his puffy eyes, the dirt and rust on his hands from the ladder.

Now that he was closer, Lola could see the rumpled clothes, the unkempt hair, the sheen of sweat and fatigue, his puffy eyes, the dirt and rust on his hands from the ladder.

And he must have had a certain look on his face, because after she assessed his clothes and hair, she fixed on his expression.

At that moment, Virgil realized how bright his house was. Even its smells were comforting; he hadn’t noticed that before. And the cool air felt plush on his skin.

The dog took two steps toward the door, then two steps back to Virgil, confused by Mrs. Salinas’s frantic movements.

I’m almost there when something jolts me awake.