Modelland (41 page)

“She’s so lost in the Headbangor!” Shiraz said, waving her Sentura in the air. “We make the bet to see how long it take for her to see us!”

Dylan nodded. “The girl who loses must give your bestie, Zar-
Opressa
, a shove the next time she spews evil. Wanna play?”

“Actually, guys, I need …” Still out of breath, Tookie walked to her corner of the room and sat down on her as-yet-unmaterialized bed. She motioned for the girls to join her. While the bed was appearing, Tookie formulated what she wanted to say.

And then it all spilled out of her in a flustered, emotional jumble—the Zed Meds, finding herself in the M building, Gunnero and the lipstick, Persimmon listening at the door, and the awful conversation between the BellaDonna and Ci~L. “We’re not supposed to be Bellas here.” Tookie finished. “I think … I mean, I
know
the sacrifice rumors are true.”

The three girls stared at her as though Tookie had sprouted another head. “Wait,
what
you hear Ci~L say, again?” Shiraz said. Tookie looked at her friend’s worried face and for a moment felt like this whole mess was her fault. She wanted to hug Shiraz tightly. To tell her it would all be okay. But Tookie knew they were far from okay.

Then she glanced at Kamalini, but she was still listening to her Headbangor with her eyes closed. “Ci~L said that she wants to experiment on you. And she sounded like a … a
demon
when she said it,” she whispered. “And the BellaDonna wants to do the same to me.”

Everyone gasped. “Are you sure they meant experiment on us in … 
that
way?” Piper asked. “Human sacrifices that lead to our agonizing deaths?”

Tookie took a deep breath. She hated telling her friends about this. But they had to know. “Yes. I’m sure. I think Ci~L’s done this before. See, I have an, uh … a minor sleepwalking problem I’ve been struggling with since I could walk. And the first night here, I sleepwalked and I saw Ci~L. It was … 
weird
. She was chanting in some dark red basement here, and … she was … she was
beating
herself to a pulp. She kept saying
I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I’m sorry
. And today, the BellaDonna kept referring to this
awful
thing Ci~L did to dead bodies. I think the things I saw are connected. I think
she was apologizing to the people she tortured … and killed. But she’s ready to do it again!”

Dylan blinked hard. “Wait. This happened the first night we were here? Why are you
just
tellin’ us now? You
know
how Ci~L’s been starin’ and scarin’ us!
You’re
the one who made up this whole Unicas thing. Helloooo … Unica … UNITY … And you were right there, Tookie, when Ci~L went all demonic in War of Words and brought back my
own
demons.”

“I’m sorry, Dylan. I didn’t know if I was hallucinating or if I really saw Ci~L doing that stuff. I should have told you sooner. I just—it sounded crazy. And I didn’t want you guys to think I was crazy. I wanted you to accept me! I wanted you as friends!”

Dylan sighed and shook her head. An agonizing half-minute ticked by, Tookie’s heart pounding hard.
What if Dylan is really pissed with me? What if she never speaks to me again? I can’t lose her—not now
.

Finally, Dylan’s face softened. “I understand, Tookie. I don’t know what I woulda done with that information either.”

Dylan hugged her knees. “I’m really scared, y’all. I don’t wanna die. I’m still so young. We all are. I’m tryin’ to do somethin’ with my life to help my momma, my sisters, and my brothers. Y’all know I got four of each. And none of ’em have ever been outside the Nation.”

“I no want to do the dying either!” Shiraz cried. “I am Shiraz Shiraz! I want bring happiness and light to Canne Del Abra!”

“Well,
I
certainly don’t want to die,” Piper murmured. “I’ve never felt so alive. It feels so good to not start every day in fear of the LeGizzârds taking my life.”

Piper grabbed Dylan’s hand. Dylan reached for Shiraz’s, and
then Shiraz grasped Tookie’s. Everyone was shaking. Then Tookie steadied herself, took a deep breath, and said, “Unicas, there is only one thing to do.

“We have to escape.”

There was a long pause. Piper nodded. “I’m in.”

“I will do the escaping too,” Shiraz said.

“I’ll do anythang not to get tortured,” Dylan said. “Even if it means goin’ back to work in customer service.”

“All good plans, especially ones involving crime, start with assigning roles. Giving people with certain talents particular duties and then designing the operation around what they all do best,” Piper said.

“Then, Piper, you should be our researcher and technology expert,” Tookie said.

“I got a big mouth,” Dylan volunteered.

“Yes you do!” Shiraz teased, opening her mouth wide.

“I can distract people,” Dylan said, popping Shiraz playfully on the mouth.

“Good, we’ll need that,” Tookie said.

“I speedy,” Shiraz declared. “I be messenger. The outlook!”

“The lookout? Absolutely,” Piper said. Then she looked at Tookie. “What about you?”

Tookie felt her friends’ eyes on her. All at once, she felt as lost as she’d been at B3.
What am I good at? SPLDing? Having no one notice me?
“Uh … the linguist?” she volunteered.

“I know!” Shiraz yelled. “You be our leader!”

“Huh?” Tookie swallowed. “I’m not really leader material, guys.”

“Who says?” Dylan stood up and placed both hands on her
shapely hips and said, “
Who
got our scaredy butts out of THBC without us goin’ through the Home doors like all those other girls?
Who
commanded we hightail our punk booties onto the BellaDonna’s lion tongue in Catwalk Corridor? Who thinks Tookie should be the Head Bella in Charge? A show of hands!”

Dylan raised a balled fist in the air like she was inciting a revolt. Shiraz and Piper did the same.

“It’s unanimous, Tookie. You’re the official leader of the Unicas’ escape plan!” Piper said.

Tookie shut her eyes. Her mind flashed back to the Corridor and to the THBC.
Was that leading
?
Have I been leading them without even knowing it?
Pride began to flow through her body like liquid gold.
I can do this. I can lead them. I will get all of us out of here
.

Not that she had the slightest clue where to begin.

One week passed. Then another. And yet Tookie still could not think of a plan that would get her and the other Unicas away from Modelland safely. But Modelland went on. And
plenty
was happening: the entire school was planning for the
7
Seven Tournament, in which the upperclassBellas would compete to see which seven graduated and went on to become Intoxibellas. Girls began to trickle back from their Go-See-Gos, and nearly everyone in the D caught 7Seven fever, debating who they thought would be chosen as Intoxibellas.

“Oh please, I’m positive Chrisby’s gonna make it. That girl’s ThirtyNever power is gonna be more like
TwentyNever
,” Bibiana
shouted, and Zarpessa countered, “Whatever! Gishella can multiply herself by eight. That’s a record. Ci~L could only do seven!” The Likee sisters replied in their one-word-per-girl speech, “Zhen”—“Zhen”—“will”—“fail.” Tookie and her cronies wanted to defend their friend and other favorites, but they had something more pressing on their minds.

Staying alive.

Any day could be the first day of the experiments. The sacrifice. The torture. Every day in GustGape class, as a blast of arctic air or a tempestuous sandstorm flew at them, Tookie felt the BellaDonna statue’s eyes on her. In War of Words, as they debated merino versus mohair, cotton versus cashmere, retouched versus raw photos, and real versus faux fur, Ci~L, shackled in her shrunken Modelland uniform, stared sadly at Piper, Dylan, and Shiraz. Guru MattJoe had to call Modelland security to physically subdue Ci~L three times, always telling her to save the fighting for War of Words.

There were brighter moments for Tookie with Bravo. Through the CaraCaraCara classroom’s portholes, he had seen her get hideously seasick, and had stood outside waving at her, being her stomach-calming horizon. And he’d left a can of whipped cream with a note that said
Zello and Zood Zorning, Zookie
on the doorstep of the D every day for two weeks. But even those endearing gestures couldn’t pull Tookie out of her fear. Every time she rounded a corner, every time she heard a creak in the night, every time she felt a hand on her shoulder, she was sure it was Ci~L, coming to haul her off for her sacrificial torture.

Tookie could not recall ever having lost her appetite before. But every evening at the E, she sat at dinner with the Unicas in
silence, staring at full plates of some of her favorite foods since she had been upgraded to Gut Chower. Braised short ribs with apple-cider-vinegar barbeque sauce.
Haricots verts
sautéed in garlic olive oil. Soup dumplings filled with melted fat. Pecan pie topped with the creamiest of whipped cream. And yet she couldn’t eat a bite. All of it went cold and coagulated, never touching her lips.

None of the other Unicas could eat either. They would stare blankly at the bustling E around them. All the happy girls in their colorful Modelland uniforms, talking about the day’s classes, upcoming photo shoots, the boys of Bestosterone. Girls who
belonged
there, girls who were on the predetermined list. Tookie glanced at her friends; by the looks on their faces, they were thinking the exact same thing.
This is really all a dream. And soon we’ll be living a nightmare
.

The Bestosteros had almost finished building the 7Seven stadium, and Tookie’s class of green-clad Bellas were given a tour by ZhenZhen. The young girls marveled at the stadium’s size, ogling the gilded seats, gaping at the obstacle course on the enormous center stage. ZhenZhen tried to act confident as she explained how the obstacle course functioned, but her face looked as if she might wet her uniform pants. While she babbled on nervously, Tookie had an epiphany.

“Maybe we can escape through the emergency ZipZap to Metopia!” Tookie whispered to the Unicas.

Piper flinched. “The one ZhenZhen told us was dangerous, with a fifty-fifty chance of survival?”

Dylan narrowed her eyes. “Tookie, have you lost your damn
mind? ZhenZhen said that all those Bellas died in that thang during that big stadium fire! It spat them out in Diabolical Divide hell instead of LaDorno!”

“Shhh, keep your voices down,” Tookie whispered, checking to see if any Bellas were eavesdropping. “Maybe it would spit us out in the
right
place,” she urged. “Maybe we should take that chance.”

“But they hide the ZipZap, no?” Shiraz asked.

“True,” Tookie said, pulling in her bottom lip. “But we know it’s here in this stadium somewhere. We just have to find it.”

“Instead of lookin’ for this crazy dangerous ZipZap thingy, why don’t we just jump over the damn wall?” Dylan whispered.

Shiraz’s eyes lit up. “That good idea! I am good climber. I can scurry over wall with rope, then I throw rope over for you to climb too!”

“But what about the Divide?” Tookie whispered, growing impatient. “Whether we take the emergency ZipZap or scale the wall, we still have to face the DD.”

Dylan shrugged. “I don’t know about y’all, but I’d rather know
exactly
where I’m goin’ instead of some twisted Zappy thang surprisin’ me.”

Everyone exchanged long looks. “The wall it is,” Tookie said.

Later that night, before bedtime, they scouted the surrounding Modelland walls to find an area that wasn’t patrolled by Guru Gunnero and his guards. Finally, Piper identified the perfect hidden spot. “No one will see us here,” she whispered. To remember the exact location, she wedged a strand of her white-blond hair between two cracked bricks.

Later, Tookie lay in bed in the D, staring at the ceiling in her darkened room. According to the still-somewhat-confusing
kaleido-clock on the wall, she’d been lying awake for four and a half hours.

Countless terrifying images flashed through her head. Jagged and exotic murder weapons being thrust by a woman’s hand. Pieces of body parts flying through the air in slow motion. Ci~L coughing out a malicious laugh as blood squirted from her eyes. Shiraz’s, Dylan’s, and Piper’s rotting dead bodies, their glassy eyes staring up at Tookie …

SCREEEEEECH!

Tookie jolted up.

SCREEEEEECH!

It was some sort of horrible alarm. Tookie covered her ears and winced.

Shiraz bolted upright too. “Ugh! So loud!”

Zarpessa woke next. Doors throughout the D crashed open. Searchlights blazed outside the window. Only Kamalini lay blissfully in her bed, Headbangor on full blast. Tookie ran over to her and shook her awake, nearly jostling her out of bed.

Girls emerged groggily from their rooms and staggered toward the back exit. The night air felt cool and crisp. Tookie immediately shivered, wishing she’d brought her robe.

Bestostero security guards ran to and fro. A dark-haired person in a Modelland nightgown streaked past the face-shaped hedges, the cape of the nightgown flowing behind her in the wind. The largest hedge sprouted arms out of its ears and attempted to grab the figure as it ran past, but it was too late. The renegade headed for the wall surrounding the school, its musical instruments, canvases, and various odd parts casting bizarre shadows on the ground. Tookie caught sight of her face.