The Strangers: Chapter 45–Epilogue

The four of them silently began skulking through the crowd, with Emma leading the way.

“You expect us to believe that Mrs....uh, that some woman sent you this heart picture her kid drew?” she asked skeptically. “When you don’t even recognize the kid?”

“It’s just a theory,” Emma said modestly.

“Only a few people heard you before the guards came. It was just lucky I was standing nearby. One little boy’s feeble voice against an entire totalitarian government—it’s not going to work. You’d need the entire auditorium hearing you all at once. And even then...”

“Only a few people heard you before the guards came. It was just lucky I was standing nearby. One little boy’s feeble voice against an entire totalitarian government—it’s not going to work. You’d need the entire auditorium hearing you all at once. And even then...”

“Natalie Mayhew. Genetically indistinguishable from Susanna Morales and Roger Mayhew's daughter in this world. Either your mom’s a genius, or you kids are, or...or we are the luckiest people ever!”

“Some would contend that this confession would obviate the need for a lengthy trial,” she said in a cold, heartless voice that made Finn miss the real Ms. Morales.

“Some would contend that this confession would obviate the need for a lengthy trial,” she said in a cold, heartless voice that made Finn miss the real Ms. Morales.

“Kiddo, there’s not room on this page for future tense or conditional verbs or nuance,” Joe had said.

“Kiddo, there’s not room on this page for future tense or conditional verbs or nuance,” Joe had said.

Mom! Finn exulted. Go, Mom!

“She’s not going anywhere. We can look for accomplices later, too. The priority has to be subduing the crowd. This is a Protocol Six-Oh-Two situation. All of you—go!”

From the other side of the stage, Chess heard Judge Morales’s voice—so uncannily like and unlike the kind Ms. Morales’s voice, all at once—as she called out, “Yes, we have enough power for that, even if we’re making it look like a total outage otherwise..."

“They’re using some sort of auxiliary system,” Mom whispered.

“We apparently have saboteurs who believe they can shut this trial down simply by cutting an electrical line,” Judge Morales said.

If the situation hadn’t been so dire, Emma would have thought, Sparklers and Lego pieces? Joe’s so much like me!

Emma watched the three struggling Gustanos in their circle of light, as the guards around them prodded and shoved them up toward the front of the auditorium, up toward the stage.

The analytical part of Emma’s brain wanted her to just keep staring at the Gustanos, to study and classify their every feature and move: Oh, that’s so much like us Greystones, or Hmm. That’s not like us at all.

And Joe had gone back to struggling with Mom's shackles with renewed vigor.

The guards reeled backward, clutching their heads as if they couldn’t figure out what to do.

One of the guards dropped the portable spotlight, and all the man needed to do was pick it up again. But he let the light careen about, shooting its beams out wildly.

In the crazily veering flashes of light, Chess saw dozens of other guards step out from behind the pillars and push the crowd back.

The guards looked at each other. They weren’t bumbling like the ones on the stage. They still stood stiff and proud and stern.

For a few blocks, none of them did anything but run, pell-mell, straight down the middle of the deserted street.

He appealed mostly to Chess and Natalie. “I guess you’re trying to help, but...can we borrow a phone? To call the police?”

The two little boys seemed to be struggling valiantly to keep up, and Chess saw that Rocky and Other-Emma kept having to force themselves to slow down to their little brother’s pace.

Chess faltered, almost tripping.

Is that the daughter? Or an impostor?

Finn had never heard his sister sound like that before, so utterly defeated. So utterly lost.

While the firefighters conferred about this, Chess whispered, “Natalie, there are three of us. All he’ll know is that our mom has totally disappeared. He’ll never...”