“Thank you,” Atom said.

  As they started testing the weight of the furniture, Atom leaned on the crutches and hopped around in a circle until they could work their way back into the apartment. Cypher waved and softly shut the door.

  “Ready?” Ben said, gripping his side of the vanity.

  “You didn’t make your wish,” Ai said.

  “What?” Ben asked.

  “Your wish,” Ai said, pointing to the mirror.

  Ben moved to stand in front of it. He snuck a glance at Ai out of the corner of his eye, then turned back to the mirror. All he could see when he looked in the mirror was his parents’ angry faces. He suddenly felt the chill of their disagreements. He shivered.

  “I wish my mom and my dad didn’t hate each other. I wish we could be a family again.” His voice was shaky, but he didn’t whisper it.

  “Oh,” Ai said softly. “Things are bad at home?”

  “Horrible,” Ben said. “Ready?” He grabbed his end of the furniture.

  Ai nodded. Together, they placed it on top of the flattened boxes on the dolly. As they pushed the dolly down the hall, Ben turned to Ai.

  “What’s wrong with your family?”

  And for the first time in forever, Ai didn’t look annoyed or confused. He didn’t know why, but talking about their families felt like the most normal thing in the world. By the time they got down to the lobby, they didn’t feel like competitors anymore; they felt like a team. Together, they navigated the dolly through the service entrance and across the sidewalk. After they put the furniture on the curb, they lingered there, looking at the deteriorating wood and splotchy mirror that had gotten them talking. Maybe it was a magic mirror after all. It didn’t have the power to grant their wishes, but it helped them see that they didn’t have to suffer their hard times all alone.

  Helping the neighbors made Liam feel good, but on a day like today, when his mind was drifting toward disaster, he didn’t need to feel good. He needed to feel safe. So when he got the text to meet up to help in the building, he lied. He said he had to take care of his siblings, but the truth was his mother was off from work and Liam was free to spend the day doing what he wanted.

  As soon as he climbed out of bed, he started packing his bag for a secret mission. When he had everything he needed, he put on his mask and gloves and left the apartment. He knew that his friends needed the elevators for the dolly, so he took the stairs. He knew that they always started on the top floor, so he headed downstairs, rushing past the floors his friends lived on. He planned to start on the fourth floor and he’d work his way down. By the time he was done on the second floor, his friends would have finished with the top floors and he could sneak upstairs.

  When he opened the door on the fourth floor, he looked to his left, then to his right. He wasn’t doing anything wrong, but a secret mission had to be secret. He stepped out of the stairwell and walked quickly to the end of the hall. He stopped in front of the apartment that was farthest away from the elevator and pulled out his spray bottle and his paper towels. Then he sprayed the doorknob and wiped it clean with a paper towel.

  After cleaning the second and third doorknobs, he realized his heart was thudding in his chest. When he was cleaning his fourth doorknob, his phone buzzed in his pocket. He jumped like he had been caught. The spray bottle slipped out of his hand and thudded to the floor. He laughed quietly to himself as he pulled out his phone. It was a text from Ai, asking what was taking Ben so long.

  Putting his phone away, he moved on, falling into a rhythm as he cleaned, singing songs under his breath as he went from door to door. It was quick work—within minutes, he was back where he began. He quickly cleaned the doorknobs of the apartments near the elevator and the up and down buttons. He really wanted to call the elevator and wipe it down inside, but he didn’t want to get caught.

  He cleaned the stairwell instead. Switching to a fresh paper towel, he sprayed it with cleaning fluid and curved it around the handrails as he took the stairs down one flight. On the next floor, he was so confident that he was a danger to viruses everywhere that he decided he needed a superhero title. He spent his time cycling through possible names as he wiped down the doors on the next floor.

  As he was finishing the third floor, he realized no one had seen him. He hadn’t run into any friends or neighbors, and his mission was still secret. So he decided to call himself the Stealth Destroyer. No one could see him coming—he was as invisible as the germs themselves and he would wipe them out before they could hurt anybody.

  On the next floor, he designed his costume as he worked. It would be light blue with a gold belt full of his antivirus supplies and gold wristbands with lasers that could kill germs in one shot. Halfway through cleaning the floor, he realized his costume needed one more thing: a cape, made out of a magical material that could make him invisible when he put it on. He imagined flying all over the city, wiping down all the surfaces until they were so clean, they sparkled. He imagined the charts on the news would suddenly change direction. The numbers of sick people that had been going up would suddenly start going down as fewer and fewer people got sick. After he swept through the streets, there would be no more germs left to hurt people.

  When he was sure his friends were done with the top floors, he pushed the up button on the elevator. As he waited, he wiped down the elevator doors and imagined his superhero self in action. He was deep in his fantasy with a goofy grin on his face when the elevator dinged and the doors slid open. Before he realized what was happening, something crashed into him and he fell to the floor.

  “Sorry, man,” he heard a voice say. “You alright?”

  Liam grimaced and looked up. A man with spiky dark hair was looking down at him from a wheelchair. He had a huge face shield that covered him from his forehead to his chin with smooth clear plastic. A pile of boxes sat on his lap.

  “I’m fine,” he said. That wasn’t exactly true. His leg was pounding where he had been hit, but he didn’t want the guy to feel bad.

  The guy reached out a gloved hand to Liam. “Let me help you up. What’s your name?”

  Liam reached up and took the man’s hand, pulling against it until he was back on his feet.

  “Liam,” he said, limping slightly as he moved around the wheelchair to pick up three small packages that had scattered on the ground.

  “Sorry, Liam,” the guy said. “I’m Gene. You sure you’re not hurt?”

  Liam nodded and stacked the packages on top of the smaller ones on the guy’s lap, then backed six feet away.

  “I’ll be fine.”

  “Good,” Gene said, and turned his wheelchair away.

  “Wait,” Liam said. “Next time, me and my friends could help. We deliver packages and stuff.”

  “You think because I’m in a wheelchair I need your help?” Gene asked over his shoulder.

  The guy’s voice was suddenly so grouchy he may as well have said back off.

  “Oh, no,” Liam said. “We’re helping everybody in the building. Old people and …”

  Liam drifted off. He watched as the guy kept moving down the hall, passing two doors before swerving to face his apartment door.

  “We do recycling too,” Liam shouted.

  “Got it, thanks,” the man said, reaching into the pouch on the side of his wheelchair and pulling out his keys.

  A strange feeling tickled him as the man disappeared into his apartment. He felt like he had just been split down the middle. One part of him knew exactly why Gene felt grouchy when Liam offered help. It was the exact same reason why Liam was cleaning doorknobs on his own. He wanted to do something to help himself and he wanted to do it on his own—without Ai feeling sorry for him, or Shayla pitching in to make him feel better, or Ben explaining how easy it was not to get caught up in anxiety. But the other part of him felt like his friends did, like he wanted to help make someone’s life easier whether they wanted help or not.

  He burst into a wide grin. Liam had helped without Gene knowing. For the moment at least, Gene had a germ-free doorknob, so there was one less chance that he would get the virus. The Stealth Destroyer strikes again, he thought. Still grinning, he punched the up button on the elevator, wiping down the doors as he waited. This time when he heard the elevator ding, he shook off his thoughts and stepped aside.

  The super stepped off the elevator and looked at Liam in surprise.

  “Your crew is on the tenth floor. What are you doing down here?”

  Liam’s mind buzzed. He thought about telling the super the truth. He wasn’t doing anything wrong, but then he blurted, “I was just checking to see if there was any extra recycling left out.”

  “Uh-huh,” the super said, and glanced down at Liam’s bag. Liam thought about coming clean. It was a silly secret to keep, but the super didn’t press him. He just said “See you” and walked on by.

  After a few weeks living with Daisy, Shayla learned that there were pluses and minuses to owning a dog. There was the cuddling, but also the hair everywhere. There were the fun games, but also the nibbling on everything: furniture, plants, shoes. Shayla had also learned that Daisy was an excuse to leave the apartment, even if she had already spent hours with her friends. One busy afternoon, she timed Daisy’s daily walk with Ai’s and Liam’s trip to the grocery store. Liam showed up with a brand-new gadget. It was a clear piece of plastic that covered his whole face. Without thinking, Shayla reached out and tipped it up. Liam made a loud sound that was hard to describe. It wasn’t even words, just a growl that made Shayla snatch her hand back and apologize.

  “It’s for germs,” Liam said, popping the face shield back in place. “To make sure they don’t get in my eyes.”

  “Sorry,” Shayla said. “I just wanted to see how it worked.”

  “I’ll show you later. When we’re inside,” Liam said.

  His words were short, but his voice wasn’t so angry anymore.

  “Let’s spread out,” Liam said, and pointed to where Shayla and Ai should stand. They walked all the way to the store that way—in a triangle shape, yelling so that everyone could hear one another along the way.

  Shayla had learned that Daisy and the grocery store were not a good combination. Too many ankles to nip at and boxes to tip over. So while Ai and Liam shopped, Shayla strolled down the block so Daisy could continue sniffing at fences and chasing after tiny flying insects. She stopped short when she saw a new mural painted on the wall next to the barbershop. It was a huge painting of George Floyd, and crowded on the sidewalk in front of the mural was a cluster of flowers, candles, and handwritten notes. Her father had a photo album full of murals just like this one. The photos were from all across the country. At least thirty of them were from before Shayla was born. He had started collecting them when he was a teenager but this was the first one she had seen in real life.

  She was wondering how many more times this would happen when she felt Daisy pulling at the leash. She looked up to see Ai and Liam coming out of the store with a full cart of groceries.

  “Did y’all get me a cinnamon roll?” Shayla asked, running up to them.

  Ai rolled her eyes and waved a handful of envelopes in the air. “This money is the neighbors’ money, it’s not for treats.” Each envelope had a name and an apartment number written on it. Shayla heard a rattling sound as Ai moved them around.

  “Do you have change in there?”

  “And a receipt. So they can know we’re bringing the right change.”

  “The cashier must have loved you two,” Shayla said. Just then she felt the leash slip out of her hand as Daisy jerked away and went racing down the block.

  “Daisy!” Shayla yelled, and spun around to run after her. She could hear the wheels of the grocery cart squeaking behind her.

  When Shayla was finally just a few feet away from her, Daisy darted into a courtyard in the middle of the block.

  “Daisy!” she yelled again, and stepped inside to search the courtyard.

  She looked around, dodging a few prickly bushes and a black metal bench. Everywhere she looked there were trees, bushes, and flowers. She raced to the back of the courtyard just in time to see Daisy’s tail disappear behind a row of tall leafy bushes.

  At the edge of the bushes, she pushed the leaves out of the way and peeked into the narrow space between the bushes and the courtyard wall. She could see Daisy’s tail just a few feet away.

  “Come here, Daisy,” she said, kneeling down and tugging Daisy’s leash toward her.

  Daisy struggled against the leash, but Shayla was stronger. When Daisy was within arm’s reach, she scooped her up, then froze. Leaning forward, she saw the soles of a pair of boots. Taking a few steps closer, she gasped. The boots were attached to a person!

  “Ai! Liam!” she yelled, scooting away as quickly as she could.

  When Ai and Liam reached her, she pointed into the bushes and backed away with Daisy in her arms.

  “What?” Liam said, peeking into the bushes. Shayla heard a thunk as Liam’s face shield hit against the wall.

  “Look farther in,” she said. “Look on the ground!”

  “Is that … ?” Liam’s voice faded.

  “Let me see,” Ai said, poking Liam in the back, but Liam didn’t move.

  “Are they okay?” Liam asked.

  “Is who okay?” Ai yelled.

  “There’s somebody in there,” Shayla said. She dumped Daisy into Ai’s arms and dragged Liam away.

  “Don’t leave me!” she said, feeling braver now that her friends were there to back her up.

  She flattened herself against the brick wall and started edging forward, letting the leaves tickle her face and arms. She leaned over the body, her legs tense, ready to run if the person looked dangerous.

  “It’s a woman,” she yelled when she caught a glimpse of the person’s face. The woman’s eyes were closed and her black hair was spread out in the dirt.

  “Is she breathing?” Ai yelled back.

  Shayla reached out her foot and kicked one of the woman’s boots. The boot jerked, but then went still again, pointing straight up, motionless.

  “Is she breathing?” Ai yelled again.

  “Give me a chance to check!” Shayla yelled back.

  Shayla waited a few seconds to see if all the yelling would wake the woman up, but she still didn’t wake up. She squinted, trying to see if her throat was moving, but there was a mask bunched around her neck and her BLACK LIVES MATTER T-shirt was too bulky for Shayla to see any motion in her chest.

  Not knowing what else to do, Shayla squatted. She slowly poked the woman’s leg with one finger. She yanked her finger back when she discovered the woman’s leg was warm. Now that she knew the woman’s body was warm, she lost her fear. Standing up, she used her foot to rock the woman back and forth, hoping to jiggle her awake. She pushed harder and harder until the woman finally stirred.

  “She’s waking up!” Shayla yelled, shuffling a few steps back.

  The woman blinked a few times, then she leaned up on her elbow and rubbed her forehead. Her eyes were red and her face was streaked with dirt.

  “Should we get her some water or something?” Liam yelled.

  Shayla was silent as the woman started muttering, but her words were too choppy to understand. She almost pushed herself up to sitting, but then her eyes rolled back in her head and she fell back onto the dirt.

  Shayla rushed back to her friends and described what happened.

  “We should tell your dad,” Liam said.

  “No,” Ai said, shaking her head. “We need my mom.”

  “But …” Shayla looked at Ai, searching for the right words. No one had seen Ai’s mom since the beginning of the quarantine. Of course a nurse would be way better than her dad, but how did she think she was going to get her mother to leave her room?

  All the way home, Ai thought about her interactions with her mother over the past few months. She was more like a delivery person or a nanny than a daughter. Her mother would take any food Ai had brought her. She’d let Ai brush her hair. Sometimes she was silent when Ai tried to talk to her. Other times she would give sleepy, whispered answers that were as empty as silence.

  She paused in front of her parents’ room. Her palms were sweaty and her stomach was starting to cramp. Before she could change her mind, she turned the doorknob and slowly pushed the door open. She went straight to the window and yanked the curtains open so that the sunlight came streaming in and chased the darkness out of the room. Then she turned to the bed. Her mother was in the middle of the bed, nothing more than a lump buried under the covers.

  She took a deep breath and peeled back the blanket. Her mother flinched when the light hit her face, but she didn’t open her eyes. For a few seconds, Ai just stood there, staring at what had become of her mother. Her mother loved beautiful clothes—and she would never start the day without brushing her hair until it was shiny and putting on plum-colored lipstick. She was nothing like this puffy-faced woman with tangled hair hiding under the sheets.

  Remembering why she was there, Ai abruptly left the room and went to the kitchen to get a glass of water. In the bathroom, she collected her mother’s hairbrush and lipstick. She placed everything on the bedside table, then pounced on the bed.

  “Wake up, Mama,” she said, shaking her mother’s shoulder.

  Her mother squeezed her eyes to shut them even tighter.

  “Mama,” she said. “Someone is hurt. You have to get up.”

  Her mother opened her eyes and lifted her head. There was a deep groove across her cheek where her face was pressed against the sheets.

  “Kartika is hurt?” she whispered.

  “No, Mama, a stranger,” Ai replied. “A stranger is hurt.”

  Her mother laid her face back down on the bed and closed her eyes.

  “Your father will help you,” she said.

  “He’s at work,” Ai said. “We need you.”

  Ai’s mother fluttered her eyelids, but she didn’t open her eyes again. Ai slid off the bed and picked up the glass of water from the bedside table.

 

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