Page 36

Paradise

When the lights go up, Marsh is already moving, even though she doesn’t know where the show has planted her for the starting scene. The ground is soft— sand! —her feet sink, and she nearly topples.

“Oh!” Ren gasps. “Did you step on a seashell?”

Marsh lurches upright and stares.

She can hardly believe it.

Everything is exactly like before. The peaceful sky, the clear water, the warm air. Marsh and Ren on the beach, Harper with the other kids at the shore, the hotel looming up from between the palms.

Moms4Marsh: Whoa, she actually did it!

LunaMágica: She made it back to Tahiti!

The waves crash, thunderous, as Marsh spins around.

SharpTruth509: Marsh, the Bubble’s not stable

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SharpTruth510: Find Chrysalis

SharpTruth510: Hurr—

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He doesn’t have to tell her twice.

Marsh takes off running.

“Where are you going?” Ren calls, baffled.

But Marsh leaves him behind. She sprints straight across the beach, up the sidewalk, and into the lobby of the gorgeous hotel, where she takes the stairs two at a time until she reaches the floor where her and Ren’s room is located.

There’s an odd sound in the background, almost like a baby crying, but she ignores it.

She remembers he brought his laptop on the trip, and she knows the password. All of his research is torn to shreds in Hong Kong now, but if Ren was working on his article while they were on vacation here, then his notes on Chrysalis would still exist, she reasons midsprint down the carpeted hall. All she has to do is find them. And then she’ll see.

Their door!

She throws herself against it to burst through—and smacks her forehead so hard she sees stars.

“What the...” she whimpers, stumbling backward, and realizes her mistake.

Of course the hotel door would be locked.

She checks the pockets of her beach sarong, and comes up empty-handed.

Damnit!

Ren must have their key.

Marsh lets out a frustrated growl. But she doesn’t have to run around looking for Ren among all the holidaymakers. She can just go to the front desk and get a key of her own.

The attendant behind the desk startles as she rushes down the stairs, but Marsh doesn’t care. The shrill whine is louder down on the ground floor, and she has to raise her voice to be heard over it. Behind her, a group of guests—moving as fast as she is, oddly—dash out of the front doors.

ChilangoCool: ?Por qué corren los otros huéspedes del hotel?

TopFan01: Does anyone else hear that weird sound?

“Hi, I—”

“Ma’am! Are you a guest here?” The clerk cuts her off.

“Yes. I need to get into my—”

She grabs Marsh’s arm.

“Wait,” Marsh stammers. “Are you...”

There’s no mistaking it. She has the same friendly face, the same thick dark hair and freckles.

The hotel clerk is Elyse. Talia’s lead camera operator from season one.

“What are you doing here?” Marsh asks.

“Ma’am, there’s no time to waste,” Elyse says, pulling her around the counter by the elbow as she walks. “You shouldn’t be here. This is an emergency!”

The whining peaks—and suddenly, Marsh recognizes the sound for what it is.

“Is that an air siren?” she asks.

“A tsunami warning!” Elyse shouts at her over it.

“A what ?” Marsh cries.

“The hotel is going to be destroyed!”

Moms4Marsh: OH NO!!!

If Chrysalis was trying to obscure itself so Marsh wouldn’t find it before, now it’s outright on the offensive.

If it can’t hide, it’s going to fight .

“You!” Elyse waves rapidly, and two hotel security guards rush over. “Is there still a jeep? Help me get this guest to emergency evacuation!”

“No,” Marsh says, pulling away from Elyse, but the two guards are ushering her toward the door now, speaking into walkie-talkies. “I need to go back to my room!”

“You can’t; there’s no time,” one of the guards says. “The last jeep is leaving in five minutes!”

Marsh yanks her arm away.

“Dan? Sergio?” she stammers.

The two of them were season one’s special effects coordinators, responsible for all the fireworks and fanfare at the end of every episode. Her eyes dart as the panic rises. Is everyone in this hotel someone from the old crew? And why can’t any of them remember?

“Hurry!” Dan urges as Sergio rushes ahead to open the door.

But Marsh rips away from them and runs for the stairs again, ignoring their calls for her to come back. But instead of heaving herself against the door again, she swipes the little plastic rectangle she managed to lift from one of the guards’ belts as they struggled.

The master key.

Her door opens, and Marsh lurches in.

The bed has fifteen luxury pillows, there’s a cut pineapple on a platter on the coffee table, and orchid petals sprinkle the carpet, just like last time.

She ignores it all and dives for Ren’s suitcase.

She can do this in time.

“Where is it?” she demands as she digs. “Where’s the goddamn laptop?!”

“Marsh!” Ren shouts. She whirls to see him standing in the open doorway, alarmed. “What are you doing?”

“I’m sorry,” she apologizes, but doesn’t stop searching. “I can explain later, but I’m not spying on you. I mean, maybe I am, but not like—”

“Stop!” Ren grabs her arm and drags her to her feet. “Whatever you’re doing, stop right now.”

“Ren!” She wrenches free. “I just want Chrysalis.”

Ren grabs her again. “We’re leaving, now.”

“Not without Chrysalis!” she says. “What is Chrysalis, Ren?”

“Just leave it, Marsh!”

“What is it? Why are you hiding it?”

“I’m not hiding anything!” he replies, and points at the window. “There’s a goddamn tsunami !”

“Mom!” Harper screams, in the doorway, too, now. “We have to go!”

The sight of her daughter stops Marsh like a brick wall. She turns, riveted, every fiber of her being attuned to the terror in her voice.

“It’s going to be okay,” she promises.

“Marsh, we’re evacuating right now,” Ren declares, but she pushes him off.

“You go, take Harper, I’ll be right behind you.”

“What?” Ren is hysterical. “That’s not happening!”

“Just go!” she says.

Ren grabs for her again. “We’re all going together, right now!”

“What are you even doing ?” Harper cries.

“Ren, please,” Marsh demands. “Get Harper to safety.”

She’s terrified for her daughter, but she also knows that running isn’t going to stop anything. It’ll put off the tsunami, but then what? What next? If she can find Chrysalis, if she can just figure out what it is, she’ll finally know what to do, and everything will be okay.

Won’t it?

“Help me!” she bellows, and Ren angrily yells, “ I’m fucking trying! ” at her, but she’s not talking to Ren.

SharpTruth520: Marsh, I can’t fix it!

SharpTruth520: I can try to reset the episode, but you’ll have to find Chrysalis agai—

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Marsh looks up. Through their huge ocean-view window, she sees the wave.

It’s so massive, so horrifyingly beautiful, that even as afraid as she is, she can’t stop herself from staring at it. It’s so tall, it blots out the sun. A mountain range of blue. Has she ever seen something so big in her life? The roar of it is deafening, the only sound in the world.

“Marsh, please, ” Ren begs her.

“Mom!” Harper wails.

“Do it now!” Marsh screams at the ceiling. “Do it now!”

SharpTruth521: I’m tryin—

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Harper is hugging her now, too frightened even to cry. Breathless, Marsh watches the wave crest, taller than the hotel. All they can see is the wall of water, the foaming white crown. The glass buckles in anticipation.

SharpTruth522: Now, Marsh!

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At last, there’s that familiar tinkling chord, piercing through the roar like a bolt of light from heaven. An opening in the scene, a way out.

SharpTruth523: JUMP!

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