“No,” Marwan said. “We just waited for you, then Eli messaged you, and we were about to leave and the fire alarm went off, so we had to leave anyway.”
“You left a window open,” Mr. M said.
“Nobody opened it that I remember, so it must have been open already?” (As if that mattered?)
“It’s just not great for the instruments,” Mr. M said. “Anyway, I told Principal Lambert that someone hacked the app.”
“Yeah, I guess so,” Marwan said, then shrugged like it was no big deal.
“It seems not very well planned, though.” Mr. M was entirely too intrigued. “Like, why make you come here at all? What was the point?”
“I honestly have no idea,” Marwan said, noting that he was apparently okay lying to Mr. M. What did that say about him?
“You sure there’s not something more I should know? Something to do with the four of you specifically? Some ‘common enemy’ for lack of a better way to put it?” He half laughed.
“Not that I can think of,” Marwan said. And he’d been trying very hard. “I don’t even really know any of them.”
Mr. M didn’t look convinced.
Marwan shrugged and said, “Glad you’re feeling better.”
Mr. M said, “Thanks!” like he meant it, then looked at his phone. “Anyway, Principal Lambert’s at an off-site meeting today, but he’ll probably want to see you all tomorrow.”
A train went by with its brakes screaming like tortured ghouls.
EDEN
Eli was under the bridge—an arch of metal spokes between two castle-like stone towers—sitting by a tree that was all knotted up on itself like it was mad that it wasn’t taller. The hill here was otherwise treeless, just a big expanse of grass that sloped down to the park road and East River. When he saw them he stood and waved his hands over his head. Marwan waved back. “There he is,” he said.
Eden said, “I see.”
Marwan had caught up with her on his bike just outside the park, and they’d walked in together, then along the river path—past a skateboard park, a playground, and an Olympic-sized pool that had been emptied back at the end of summer. She felt weird beside him now that she’d joked with her friends about being in love with him.
Why hadn’t Julian looked up at the right moment? It could have been so perfect.
She had her phone in her hand. Checked it. Her mom reminding her about therapy.
Up close, Eli looked pale and shaky. “Where’s Ilanka?”
“She’s not coming,” Eden said. “She said she doesn’t take orders from it or me.”
Eli said, “But my schedule is for the four of us.”
“Listen, man,” Marwan said. “You need to ease up on all this, I think. Let’s just return it, okay? We can go right now.”
“Listen, man,” Eli mimicked. “I haven’t slept, and I need you all on board or this is never going to work.”
“So what if it doesn’t work, whatever that even means,” Marwan said. “Let’s just bring it back to school and be done with it.”
“We can’t,” Eli said.
“Why not?” Eden asked, realizing that Marwan had been right. This trip to the park was a hassle. Everything about this whole thing so far was a hassle.
“Just listen to me, please,” Eli said. “The newest rule is that you can’t leave it zipped up in a backpack or whatever for more than an hour. I was up all night just making sure it was okay and not making any more rules. Then this morning it told me it has to ‘move to learn’ and to take it somewhere it could be around people but not school. That’s why I’m here. That’s why I’m so tired.”
“This whole thing has to be some kind of joke,” Marwan said. “And it’s not even funny.”
“I think he’s right, Eli,” Eden said. “Someone’s messing with us.”
“This isn’t child’s play,” Eli said. “Aizel is a serious piece of, like, AI machinery. Who at school could even get their hands on something like this? No one. That’s who.”
What was he even talking about?
“What’s ‘Aizel’?” Marwan said. “Why are you so freaked out?”
“Its name is Aizel,” Eli said. “If you google ‘Aizel,’ you really just get a Russian fashion company, but I don’t know. Maybe it’s Russian. It’s also a girl’s name. It means ‘one who brings luck or good fortune,’ if you believe astrology sites or whatever.”
“This is ridiculous,” Marwan said.
“You’re not making sense,” Eden said. It was a lot to take in, especially with Eli talking so fast, like a crazy person.
“I asked it who put it in the classroom, and it just said ‘they.’ ”
“Who is they?” Marwan asked.
Eli held up the device: “Tell them.”
A red message: They is they.
“And where are they?” Eli asked the device.
Everywhere and nowhere.
Eden’s Italian-Style Wedding soup was repeating on her, and she swallowed hard.
“Eli.” Marwan sounded calm. “Don’t take this the wrong way, but you sound crazy. I think you need to go home and crash. So I’ll take it for a few hours, at least. We can regroup after you’ve gotten some sleep and figure out how to win if it’s a game or how to return it to its owner or whatever.”
“We can’t just return it,” Eli said.
“Why not?”
“It’s breaking a rule!”
“So what?”
“You do remember that it gave us the first few rules, then said or else?”
“But or else what?” Marwan said.
“Has either of you ever even seen, like, an AI movie?” Eli’s eyes were wild and bloodshot. “Because if you had you’d know that they mostly don’t end well. Like for the people. And I’ve had no luck trying to figure out what this thing even is—nothing on Google, and it apparently isn’t just going to tell us because I tried that—but I’m sure at this point that it didn’t come from school. So if it’s not a thing the school started, then what is it?”
“All right, calm down,” Marwan said. “We’ll keep it until we figure it all out. Just give it to us and, like, get some sleep, man. We got this.”
He nodded confidently, but Eden wasn’t feeling nearly so confident. And hadn’t Marwan just wanted to get rid of it? Why the sudden change?
“Okay, good.” Eli handed the device to him. “Give me your number and I’ll text you in a couple hours when I wake up. Remember. Can’t keep it in a bag for more than an hour.”
“Got it,” Marwan said, then recited his number.
Eli picked up his backpack and headed up the hill to the park exit. An older couple, like in their twenties, was making out on a blanket on the hill, and Eden hoped Marwan didn’t notice them, but they were right there and hard to miss.
It must be nice to be like that. To not care.
When Eli was out of sight, Marwan turned and headed for the water, taking long and determined strides.