“I know,” Niko said. “But don’t you think he might just be trying to win everyone over so we’ll let them stay?”

“But Mr. Appleton needs more time to recover,” I protested.

“I know! Look,” Niko turned to us. “Robbie’s just…”

“Just what?” Josie asked.

“I don’t like him.”

“What do you mean?” I asked. “Why?”

“The way … I don’t know. The way he’s all over everyone. It doesn’t feel right.”

“Come on, Niko,” I protested.

“I saw him put his arm around Sahalia. They were going to get motor oil. He had his arm around her. It just wasn’t right.”

“Niko, she’s thirteen,” Josie said. “You can’t think…”

“I don’t know what I think!” he exclaimed. “Except that everyone is putting pressure on me to do something that feels wrong.”

He looked from my face to Josie’s face. Back and forth.

“Don’t you feel it?”

“I’m sorry,” I said. “I mean, Mr. Appleton is kind of a jerk, but everyone loves Robbie. He’s friendly. He’s nice. He’s helping us to fix the bus. Ulysses loves him.”

“Can we compromise, Niko?” Josie said and for the first time, I saw warmth toward him from her. “What if we just let them stay for two more days? Long enough for Robbie to finish fixing the bus and for Mr. Appleton to rest.”

Niko turned away from her.

“You can’t back me up on this?” he asked us.

“Just two days, Niko. I think the little kids really need some grown-up time. And it would also give Brayden and Sahalia some time to get used to the idea that they can’t go with them. I can get everyone used to the idea, if I just have some more time…”

Niko sighed. He shrugged.

“Okay, Josie. If that’s what you want to do. Fine.”

* * *

Josie told everyone that Robbie and Mr. Appleton could stay two more days.

Robbie and Ulysses hugged.

Mr. Appleton nodded and I think he even smiled.

That was about as positive as I’d seen him.

* * *

Robbie took over Josie’s job of storyteller that night.

On the floor of the Living Room, the kids gathered around him like he was a campfire.

He told them fables from Mexico about turtles and rabbits and frogs and crows.

You never saw a happier bunch of kids or a happier man.

I was so glad Niko had changed his mind.

CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX

“EVACULATION”

After breakfast the next morning (Chloe was my helper and she said, “Just do whatever, Dean. I want to hang out with Robbie!”), Josie and Alex gave Robbie a tour of the store. All the little kids went along, shining their flashlights all over the place.

I was getting lunch on the table when Jake wandered into the Kitchen and slung himself down at a booth.

He looked worse than he had the day before, if such a thing was possible.

“You okay?” I asked him.

“Dean. Dude. Is there any coffee?”

“Sure, Jake,” I said. “You take cream and sugar, right?”

He nodded and his low-hung head began to bob. He was crying, I realized.

I put my hand on his shoulder as I set the coffee down.

“It’s gonna be okay,” I said.

“It’s not. It’s never gonna be okay again.”

I just stayed standing where I was. I felt like if I sat down, he’d stop talking.

“I keep taking these pills. But everytime, they’re working less. It’s like I squeezed all the good feeling out of my brain and now I’m out. I drained it all out and I’m done.”

“Jake, you gotta lay off the pills.”

“I know. I know,” he mumbled. “I’ll stop today.”

He turned to go, just as Sahalia came over.

She was wearing leggings, a tank top, and some kind of blazer.

“Have you guys seen Robbie?” she asked.

“He’s with Josie and Alex and the little kids,” I said. “They’re touring the store.”

“Sweet,” she said. “See ya.”

Robbie was definitely the big man on campus.

* * *

As I was plating the food, Mr. Appleton walked in. He was definitely looking better.

“Mmmmm,” he said, eyeing the steaming-hot orange chicken I was dumping into a bowl. “Chinese?”

“Yup,” I answered. “I’m serving fried rice, too.”

“Have you seen Niko?” Mr. Appleton asked me. “I want to start packing up.”

That was interesting to me. I had sort of assumed that Mr. Appleton wanted to stay, as Robbie clearly did.

“LUNCH!” I yelled.

Mr. Appleton jumped.

“Sorry,” I said. Then I hollered again. “LUNCH! Come and get it!”

I heard the sound of the hungry hordes moving toward the Kitchen.

“You’re feeling like you can travel?” I asked Mr. Appleton as I set out the plates, forks, and napkins.

“I want to honor our agreement,” he said. “And, yes, I guess I am anxious to get on the way.”

“Why?”

“Well, we need to have another meeting,” Mr. Appleton said. “So I can tell you about Denver.”

The kids swarmed in.

“Mmmm! Chinese!” Max said.

“I love Chinese!” chirped Caroline.

“Wait,” I said to Mr. A. “What about Denver?”

Niko came in. He had his arms crossed over his chest.

He stood behind Batiste on line.

“Oh, Niko,” Mr. Appleton said. “I want to talk to you about our departure plan.”

“Really?” Niko said. “Okay. Good.”

“And I realized we haven’t told you about Denver yet.”

“What about Denver?” I said, shooing Ulysses and Max off to a table.

“What’s this now?” Robbie said, ambling up.

“They’re evacuating people,” Mr. Appleton said to Niko and me. “If you can get yourself to the Denver International Airport, you can be evacuated.”

“What do you mean ‘evaculated’?” Chloe demanded, cutting into the line.

By now most of the kids had their plates and were seated.

Mr. Appleton turned to face them. It looked like a class set in a Pizza Shack. Weird.

“Well, children,” Mr. Appleton said. “When there is a crisis in an area, the government comes and evacuates the people living in that area. Evacuation is the transfer of large groups of people to a safer place.”

“What do you mean?” Batiste interrupted.

“Many people in this area are making their way to the Denver airport,” Mr. Appleton explained. “It is rumored that the government is flying people out by helicopter and taking them to Alaska.”

Caroline raised her hand.

“Do you mean like our mommy?” she asked. “Like our mommy might be going to Denver to go away in a helicopter?”

“Possibly,” Mr. Appleton said.

All at once everyone was talking, screaming, shouting: Denver, Denver, Denver. We had to go to Denver. We could drive the bus to Denver. We had to leave today for Denver.

Niko was shaking his head, already imagining the chaos this news was going to create.

“Whoa, whoa, whoa!” Mr. Appleton said, holding his hands up. The kids gradually fell silent though Henry had the hiccups. “It’s not at all feasible for you kids to make it to Denver. Absolutely not. It’s too dangerous out there for you.”

“But we want to find our mommy!” Caroline said.

Her freckled face was so sad. It was hard not to just sweep her into a hug.

“I understand that, Caroline,” Mr. Appleton said. “And that is why Robbie and I are going to Denver. We will be airlifted to Alaska, and then we will find your parents and tell them where you are so they can come for you.”

The little kids started smiling. They started clapping and grinning, wiping their tears away.

Niko was grinning.

This was the happiest I’d ever seen Niko and I understood why: The men were leaving; he hadn’t had to make them leave, so he didn’t look like the bad guy anymore; and on top of it all, now there was a prayer we might be rescued.

Hope. It was a real glimmer of hope Mr. Appleton had just given us.

Everyone talked with excitement. Niko, Alex, and Mr. Appleton started talking about what supplies the men would need.

Only one person looked unhappy: Robbie.

I could tell that he really had wanted to stay with us.

He stalked away.

Sahalia watched him go, then started after him.

I thought she was probably going to beg him to take her along.

I didn’t think about it too long, because Mr. Appleton said, “Now, if you kids will please go to your school area, you may each write a letter to your parents for Robbie and me to deliver.”

* * *

I was throwing away the remains of our meal when Alex came back. He held a small storage bin with some electronics in it.

“Can I show you something?” he asked me.

“Of course.”

I was happy he was even bothering to show me anything. We weren’t getting along like we should be.

Alex took two video walkie-talkies out of the bin. One of them had an extra-long antenna attached and some extra wiring, all held together by some blue electrical tape.

“It’s a video walkie-talkie but I amped up the transmitter with this antenna,” he explained. “I’ve been testing it and, so far, it works pretty well in the confines of the store.”

“That’s cool,” I said. “Are you thinking we could use it as, like, an intercom?”

“No,” he said. “I thought maybe Mr. Appleton would take it with him. That way we could see what’s going on outside.”

Again, again, again, like always, I was bowled over by my brother’s brilliance.