The Doubt Factory

  The woman was perky and clean-cut, with straight, bobbed blond hair and a freckled pixie face. She could have been a cute substitute teacher. If Alix had run into Lisa at a Starbucks, she would never have guessed that the lady also happened to be carrying a 9mm handgun. Alix idly wondered if the school had guessed, either. She suspected not. Seitz had rules, after all. The administrators might let Lisa stalk her on campus, but they’d probably shit bricks if they knew Death Barbie was packing heat.

  “She’s really guarding you?” Cynthia asked. “How come she’s sitting so far away?”

  “She doesn’t have to be very close to shoot someone, I guess.”

  “She’s got a gun?”

  Alix smirked, feeling weirdly proud of the knowledge, even as she felt annoyed at being stalked everywhere. “Yeah. I saw it. She’s got it in that cute little Indian-print purse.” Alix tried to remember what Jonah had said about the gun when Lisa showed it to him, along with the telescoping baton she carried, and her zip cuffs and her Mace and her Taser.…

  “A Glock,” Alix said. “She’s carrying a Glock. And a lot of bullets. Like, seventeen shots or something insane like that.”

  Death Barbie was sitting at the teachers’ table, looking like no one in particular. Eating a salad and talking pleasantly to Ms. Liss, not giving a single clue that she had enough firepower on her to turn the dining hall into national news.

  “She’s definitely subtle,” Cynthia said as she gave up on her fries and shoved the tray away. “Ugh. I can’t eat any more of these. They make me feel gross.”

  “You want my bread?”

  Cynthia made a face. “God, no. I can’t stand the smell of that stuff.”

  “Seriously? I thought everybody liked fresh-baked bread.”

  “Fresh-baked is the worst. I hate that smell.” Cynthia wrinkled her nose. “There’s a bakery near my house. I smell it at four AM whenever the wind’s blowing our way. It’s like being smothered in yeast.”

  “Ew. Seriously?”

  “Yeah.” Cynthia gave a self-conscious laugh. “I think it’s some housewife who got a hobby and then it took off. Now it’s killing property values. I swear I’m going to buy nose plugs.” She changed the subject. “Oh, look, your bodyguard is watching you.”

  “Yeah?” Alix glanced over her shoulder, but Lisa had already looked away. Death Barbie was subtle, that was for sure. If Alix hadn’t known about Lisa, she would have blown off the woman easily. Just another teacher, maybe a sub, anything except a “security specialist” from Williams & Crowe.

  All through the first half of the day, Lisa never really came close to Alix. She was just… around. Watching. Eyeing everybody and everything. Even now it was happening. She could see it happening if Alix watched long enough. Lisa was talking to Liss, but the bodyguard wasn’t looking at Liss. Lisa’s eyes kept moving across the dining hall, scanning. She wasn’t looking at Alix; she barely ever looked at Alix. She was always looking at everyone else—all the people around Alix. All the people who came close.

  “Well,” Cynthia said, trying to make the best of it. “At least you know your dad loves you.”

  “Yeah, well, it was really Jonah who started all of this. Dad freaked out because Jonah disappeared. His one and only son.” Alix made a face.

  Cynthia gave her a hard look. “That’s a load, and you know it. If you’d been the missing one, you know he would have been a thousand times crazier about trying to protect you. His only daughter?” Cynthia laughed. “My dad would have gone nuts.”

  “My dad never goes nuts,” Alix said.

  But it actually had been kind of amazing to see how ferocious he’d been about protecting her. Alix had always loved her dad, but it took something like this to see how much he loved her, and Jonah, too. It sounded cheesy, but she could tell. She just wished that the sudden infusion of parental love wasn’t manifesting as a Death Barbie always looking over her shoulder.

  Cynthia said, “Well, this will at least keep your stalker away.”

  At Cynthia’s comment, Alix was reminded once again of her night encounter with 2.0. The guy staring in through the glass, smiling. “I guess.…” Alix trailed off. She didn’t want to lie to Cynthia, but she also didn’t want to tell her about her second encounter. Cynthia had hassled her enough the first time around. Alix didn’t need another dose of Tiger Mom, but something in her voice must have tipped Cynthia off, because her friend looked up sharply.

  “What?” Cynthia asked. “What is it this time?”

  Alix smiled sheepishly.

  “Give it up, girl,” Cynthia pressed.

  “Oh.” Alix made herself laugh. “It’s… nothing. Just”—she leaned forward and lowered her voice—“I talked to him again.”

  “What?”

  Cynthia’s voice was almost a squawk. Everyone around them startled and turned to stare. Alix made shushing motions as Death Barbie’s gaze whipped around.

  “Will you quiet down?” Alix whispered.

  Cynthia leaned close. “You’ve got a stalker, and you want me to quiet down?” Cynthia whispered fiercely. “Are you insane?” Comprehension dawned. She gave Alix an exasperated look. “You didn’t tell anyone, did you?”

  “Well…”

  “What is it about this guy?” Cynthia asked.

  Alix scowled. “I don’t know.” She stood up, frustrated, and gathered her plate. “Never mind. Forget I said anything.” She left Cynthia, who watched her go with puzzled worry.

  As Alix took her plate to the conveyor that ferried dirty dishes into the guts of the caf, she wondered what was wrong with her. Maybe she had some kind of suicide impulse. Any sane person would report a stalker like this. 2.0 knew her name. He was after her family. He was after her. He could get past Williams & Crowe—

  Alix was annoyed to find Lisa trailing her, dropping off her own plate. Her shadow, walking through the halls, and now Alix had to pee. She headed for the bathrooms with Lisa following, pushing in behind.

  You can’t be serious.

  Alix turned as the bathroom door closed. “I don’t need you to follow me in here.”

  “I’m sure you feel that way. But it’s my job to be sure you’re safe.” Lisa was walking down the line of stalls, checking inside each in turn. Then she went and started washing her hands, watching Alix in the mirror.

  Alix crossed her arms. “I’m not peeing with you in here.”

  “Do you want me to secure the bathroom for you, then?”

  The door swung open. Deb and Selena came into the bathroom. “—he’s hot,” Deb was saying.

  They both stopped short as they ran into Alix and Lisa’s standoff.

  Lisa raised an eyebrow at Alix.

  Fine.

  Alix went into a stall. With the door locked, she could almost pretend that she had privacy. Except she didn’t. Alix sat in the stall imagining ways that she might escape, listening to the water run in the sink as Lisa pretended to wash her hands some more. Trying to pee with someone standing right outside, waiting for her to do her business. It made her feel like she was about six years old.

  When Alix came out, she shoved past Lisa to wash her hands and was annoyed that Lisa didn’t seem offended. All Lisa said was, “This is a lot easier if you just pretend I don’t exist. It calls less attention.”

  Deb and Selena came out of their stalls. “Is she bothering you, Alix?”

  Lisa said, “No. I work for Alix.”

  “Will you cut it out?” Alix said to Lisa. She turned to her friends. “She doesn’t work for me. She works for my dad. She’s kind of a bodyguard.”

  “Oh.” They seemed at a loss for what else could be said and bailed as quickly as they could. Alix watched longingly as they headed out.

  “I know it’s inconvenient, Alix,” Lisa said, “but we need to keep you safe until we know what these terrorists are up to.”

  “They’re terrorists now?” Alix asked. “I thought they were kidnappers. Or animal rights activists. And before that they were vand
als.”

  Lisa gave her a look that said, Don’t split hairs with me, young lady.

  Alix felt a little embarrassed. The way Lisa looked at her made her feel like she was a child throwing a tantrum.

  Lisa’s expression said that Death Barbie knew things Alix didn’t and that Alix was just a sheltered little girl. But still, Alix didn’t want to back down. She was already sick of the whole bodyguard thing, and she had the feeling that if she didn’t make a stand, she’d be shoved around forever.

  “Who do you think these people are, really?” Alix asked. “Nobody’s telling me the truth. All I get is vandals and wackos and kidnappers and activists and now terrorists. What’s going on?”

  Lisa sighed and leaned back against the sink. Her jacket opened, giving a glimpse of a Taser clipped to her belt and a heavy telescoping baton beside it. Lisa had shown Jonah how it extended with a flick of the wrist. A metal club with enough weight behind it to break bones.

  “We don’t know what they are,” Lisa said finally. “All we know is that they’re organized and they’ve targeted you and your family. And since we don’t know, it means we have to be prepared for the worst. It’s the only way we can prevent it.

  “If you’ll just help me, I can minimize the amount of disruption you experience. Or you can make it difficult. Either way, though, I’ll still be here, making sure you’re safe. It’s your call.”

  “Are you going to follow me everywhere?” Alix asked. “What if I go to a party this weekend? Are you going to rat me out?”

  “It’s not like that, Alix. My job isn’t to police you. It’s to keep you safe.”

  “But I’m nobody important! It’s not like I’m the president’s daughter or something. There’s no reason for anybody to care about me. It’s got to be a mistake!”

  “I know it’s frustrating, Alix. But you’re a target. I know you want to blame me, but I’m not the one who picked you out. 2.0 has explicitly targeted you. My job is to make sure that whatever they want to do doesn’t work.”

  “Would you take a bullet for me?”

  Lisa’s pale blue Barbie eyes didn’t blink. “Let’s hope it doesn’t go down that way.”

  Jesus, Alix thought. She really is scary. Walking Death Barbie, for real.

  “Whatever,” Alix said finally. “I’m late for class.”

  She pushed back out into the noise of the commons with Lisa on her heels.

  Cynthia caught up to her. “Did she seriously just follow you into the bathroom?”

  Alix shook her head. “You don’t want to know.”

  “Does she wipe, too?”

  Alix snorted laughter and glanced back at Lisa. If Lisa heard or cared, she didn’t show it. “I’m in hell,” Alix said.

  “You know, there might be a bright side to this,” Cynthia said.

  “Please tell me.”

  “Maybe we can use her as a designated driver.”

  Alix laughed and shook her head, grateful that Cynthia was trying to make her feel better about the whole thing. It was all so absurd. “I wish.”

  They pushed into AP Chem class and found their seats. Lisa slipped in and slouched against the back wall. Alix stared out the window. Red paint still stained the glass, turning the whole chem lab a pale pink as sunlight filtered through. The custodial staff had apparently tried everything, but the paint still remained. Rumor had it that Mulroy was tearing his hair out over it. The paint would have to be sandblasted off. Which actually meant that the windows would all have to be replaced, and now the whole classroom smelled like paint remover, thanks to the failed cleaning efforts.

  Alix peered through the paint residue to the world outside. Cynthia’s comment about designated drivers did raise a question. How am I supposed to go out on a Friday night with my friends if I’ve got adult supervision watching my every move? Talk about a crimp on life.

  It wasn’t even like she had some grand plan for what she’d be doing over the weekend. It wasn’t like she was some kind of wild child who was planning on getting it on at one of Brent Wall’s drug-fueled pool parties, but she couldn’t see going to a party on Friday night or going to the movies with her friends or catching an afternoon Starbucks with Lisa as her tagalong. She’d never needed minding in her life. Jonah was the one who needed minding. Jonah was the one who got into trouble. Alix was the good girl. Mom and Dad trusted her, and freedom was her reward.

  So why didn’t you tell them about stalker boy coming to visit?

  Because then they’d know you have really shitty judgment.

  Cynthia was right. She should have said something. Even Jonah would have been smart enough to say something. And yet here she was, lying low with the secret.

  Alix gazed over at Cynthia longingly. The girl did her work, got her good grades, partied, and didn’t get caught. They were a perfect pair, and it infuriated Alix that she had somehow been targeted by the universe. Cynthia was sure to be free on Friday. And Alix was sure to be trapped at home.

  Alix squinted through the smeared windows as a guy in a white Animal Control suit dashed across campus holding a rat high.

  2.0 had sure done a number on Seitz.

  Jonah had described the details that he’d gleaned with the relish of a fanboy. It was just the kind of thing the poor kid went to bed fantasizing about. A way to get back at Seitz. But this was beyond even Jonah’s fevered imagination: an elaborate network of trip wires that the SWAT people had triggered when they’d come into the school, arrays of electric pumps and toy water guns all synchronized by Wi-Fi repeaters, all of them placed just so to display 2.0’s tag to the world… and then, of course, the rats. Thousands and thousands of rats.

  But the most amazing thing about the prank was that there was no evidence of how it had been accomplished. None of the security cams had a bit of footage. Not a single witness. It was as if the entire elaborate setup had been teleported into the science building. Alix sighed as she stared out through the red-smeared window, watching students as they hurried across the quad to their own classes.

  There was a life out there, but she couldn’t quite reach it. Instead, she was stuck in here with the paint and the industrial solvents and Death Barbie, all thanks to the cleverness of 2.0.

  When Alix saw Jonah after school, he looked even more miserable than Alix felt, and it almost cheered her up. He was being trailed by a mountainous guy who was twice his size, a huge steroid-infused creature whom Jonah had nicknamed Hulk but who was actually named Gunter.

  “Don’t be fooled by the ’roids. He’s fast,” Jonah groused. “I tried to ditch twice. He caught me both times.”

  That, Alix could at least laugh at. Other kids were coming out of school and heading for their cars or getting picked up by parents and nannies. They were all giving them weird looks. Alix with Death Barbie, Jonah with Hulk.

  Sophie and Derek came over. “We’re going to go get coffee.…” They trailed off, looking at the security detail.

  Before Alix could answer them, Lisa said, “You’ve got an appointment at home, Alix.”

  Alix glared at Lisa. “Can I check in at least? Maybe change plans? Would that be okay with you?”

  “Of course, Alix.”

  The phone at home rang and rang. Alix tried her mom’s cell, but, of course, it went to voice mail. As usual. Alix racked her brain as she smiled at Lisa. She pretended to dial another number and pressed the phone to her ear.

  “Hi, Dad? Yeah. I was going to grab a coffee with Sophie before I come home. Is that okay?” she said to the ringing phone on the other end. “Cool! Thanks!” She ended the fake call.

  “We’re good,” she said to Sophie. “Let’s go.”

  Lisa was just looking at her, a small, knowing smile on her face as she shook her head. “I’m sorry, Alix—unless I can talk to your father, we’re going to have to go home now.” Even as she spoke, a car slid up to the curb, a black Mercedes with a driver who had undoubtedly been vetted by Williams & Crowe.

  Lisa went and opened the
door. She waited expectantly, her smile chilly, knowing that Alix had faked the call, not bothering to hide that she knew.

  Alix sighed, defeated. “I guess I can’t.”

  “Wow,” Sophie said.

  “Tell me about it.”

  Alix let herself be stuffed into the car with Jonah. She waved ironically at Sophie and Derek as the car pulled away from the curb, but Sophie had already turned away to talk to Cynthia, who was coming down the steps. All three headed off toward the student parking lot.

  Alix wistfully watched them recede.

  “Seat belts,” Lisa said.

  Alix sighed. It was like having Mom with her all the time.

  I’m in hell, she thought. I’m in pure, living hell.

  10

  JONAH STARED OUT THE CAR window, gazing longingly at the streets of Haverport as they slid by. Alix found herself feeling sorry for him. When the doctors described Jonah, they started with words like “active” and “impulse control” and ended with words like ADHD and Adderall.

  Jonah had been thrilled at the Adderall proposal. He’d been planning on selling it to juniors and seniors who were cramming for SATs and Advanced Placement tests, but then Dad had vetoed the idea of drugging him. And it really was hard to tell how much help the kid needed. Between his jokes, hyperactivity, and the compulsive urge to go AWOL from Seitz, something was clearly amiss, but it was hard to tell if it was something wrong with the way Jonah’s brain was wired or if the real problem was that Mom and Dad were trying to jam him into a life where he simply refused to fit. Sometimes Alix suspected that the kid was smarter than all of them and that his reckless persona was just an act designed to get him out of Seitz once and for all.

  Jonah caught Alix looking at him. “What?”

  Alix smiled. “Nothing.”

  He was a pain in the neck, but she liked him. Lately she’d been realizing that not everyone ended up liking their sibs. Sometimes they just weren’t made to get along. Sophie hated her older sister, Simone. But Alix liked Jonah. Even if he was always one step away from turning fugitive on her.