Free The Waiting Sky by Lara Zielin Page B

at an angle. Something about the wind shear. I don’t know, but he was screaming, and what else could I do? So I just did it. The van broke free of the wind, and the tires started peeling. But right as we gained traction, this twisted piece of metal came through Victor’s broken window.”
    Hallie glances at the ground, then at me. “There was nothing to stop it, and it hit Victor in the face. There was blood everywhere. It splattered the window and was on the seat. All over
me
. Victor made this noise, kind of like a sheep, actually. As weird as that sounds. It was this noise that sounded like ‘baaaa,’ but it was so much worse. I thought—I thought he’d
died
. I screamed and reversed us the hell out of there. We made it, but Victor . . .”
    The realization hits me. “His scar?”
    Hallie nods. “He was in the hospital for almost a week. He had to have so many stitches, and they spent hours trying to get all the metal out. The doctors said a few more millimeters, and most of the metal would have gone into his frontal lobe.”
    “Oh.”
    “The weird thing was, he wasn’t that upset about his wound. At least not at first. It was more like he felt he was a failure and he put us in danger. I think because of that, he was desperate to get back out in the field, to prove everything was okay. So, about a month later, at the very end of the season, he started chasing again. His first time back out, the setup was perfect. We were tracking a storm that had been building all day, and just about every chase team was on it. It was textbook, totally classic. But when it started to produce, Victor freaked. We were on this back road with at least ten other teams and suddenly Victor starts screaming. He’s blubbering and yelling and cowering with his hands over his head. It was so sad. And of course every other chaser
around
got to witness it.
    “And now, this season, Victor might not be cowering, but he definitely acts like he’s still scared of storms or something. Scared to take risks, to get close. Only because he’s Victor, he can’t say that. So he just walks around acting like a tool.”
    “Oh,” I say again.
    “It’s nuts,” Hallie says, picking at the dirt around her fingernail. “But the worst part is, people like Alex Atkins are being such jerks. Like with that bet? Alex added the last part about the teams staying intact because he thinks Victor is going to quit. Stop chasing and walk away.”
    “Will he?” I ask.
    “Stephen doesn’t think so. He says it’s just a phase. Which is good for us because Victor might be an asshole, but he’s still a good scientist. And he’s a whiz with Polly.”
    “Yo!” Ethan calls out. He motions with his hand. “Gear’s in. Let’s go.”
    “In general, we don’t talk about it a lot,” Hallie says as we trot to the van. “Hang out with any other chase team and you’ll probably hear Victor’s story within ten minutes. But I think we all just keep hoping he’ll change. That he’ll go back to being the way he was.”
    Hope is the blindfold stupid people use so they don’t have to see the truth,
my mom would say. I can’t help but think that in this case, she might be a little right. Victor doesn’t seem like he’s snapping out of this any time soon.
    “I hope so,” I say to Hallie, because even if the odds are against it, Victor not being so much of a dick
would
be nice for the whole team.
    I pull the door shut behind me, and Hallie starts the engine. We’re all silent as the van covers the short distance to Patchy Falls.

9
    W e pass a sign that says PATCHY FALLS: WE’RE UP TO GREAT THINGS! then inch along Main Street. Leaves plaster the wet sidewalks in damp clumps, and I spot a couple blown-out windows, but everything seems mostly okay. A few people are walking around studying the street, then the sky, then the street again. Hallie slows and lowers her window. “You guys need some help?” she asks a bearded man and what looks like his son.