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“Knock it off,” Emery said. “This woman, Yesenia, she’s missing. Someone broke into her car. Four men entered her room, clearly prepared for violence.”
“And the woman,” Tean said, looking to Jem for support. “There was a woman in her room when we got there.”
“What woman?”
Jem frowned. “We saw her yesterday; security was dragging her out of the resort. She was screaming about something.”
“Oh,” Auggie said. “Her!” He took his phone back from Emery, swiped a few times, and held it out so everyone could see the screen. On it was a picture of the woman from Yesenia’s room—there was no mistaking the sideburns.
“You know her?” Jem asked.
“No, but she’s cuckoo. She’s gotten dragged out two or three times already, always makes a huge scene.”
“She wrote something on the walls,” Jem said, glancing at Tean.
Tean frowned. “Something about birds. And the truth.”
“Birds aren’t real,” Shaw said.
Tean blinked. “Yes, that’s it.”
“She’s right,” Shaw said. “They’re not.”
Tean decided to let that one go for the moment.
Emery, however, did not. “What do you mean, birds aren’t real?”
“They’re not real.” Shaw shrugged, glancing from face to face. “You didn’t know that? There’s no such thing as birds. They’re just drones, you know, the kind the government uses to spy on us.”
“That’s ridiculous. Birds are…” The big man seemed to struggle for a moment.
“Birds?” John-Henry suggested.
Emery shot him a look and then, to Shaw, said, “Birds are animals. Biological organisms.”
“Much better,” John-Henry murmured.
“Would you like to contribute your expertise,” Emery asked Tean, waving one hand wildly, “whatever that might be?”
“I’m not sure what to say,” Tean said. “Birds are real?”
“It’s less compelling when you say it like a question,” Jem told him. “You should say it like it’s a fact. Like you really believe what you’re saying.”
“It’s not so much a question of belief—”
“Like this, ‘Birds are biological organisms. Their class isflap-a-wingicus.’”
“No—” Tean began.
And at the same time, Emery said. “Their class is Aves.”
“Don’t worry, Emery,” Shaw said. “Lots of people don’t know birds aren’t real. You’ve been indoctrinated your entire life by Big Bird—literally. Why do you think that children’s show has an enormous yellow bird for its mascot?”
“He saw something on TikTok,” North said. “Cut open every fucking pillow we had.”
“For the feathers?” Theo asked.
“Who fucking knows? We have memory foam.”
