A Million Miles Away by Lara Avery Page B

being influenced by the circle. Get it? Because you’re looking away from it on purpose, but whether you rebel against it or accept it, it’s still on your mind.”
    “So that’s what modern art is.” Kelsey tried to sound sure of herself. “An interruption you can’t ignore.”
    “An interruption!” He was thoughtful. “That’s good, Michelle.”
    Her sister’s name aloud seemed to echo from his mouth, the way he looked at her. Goose bumps rose on her skin. It was strange, how easily she fell into this conversation with Peter, a conversation that would have seemed impossible if she wasn’t thinking of Michelle. Kelsey adjusted her position on the floor, her eyes locked on his through the screen.
    Peter’s voice sounded, low and soft, less wired up than before. “We might have to move from the Province.”
    “When?”
    “I’m not sure. It depends. I might not get your letters right away, though.” He looked concerned.
    “Oh, don’t worry about that. Just worry about staying safe.”
    Peter shook his head. “No, they’ll get them to me. They have to. But no matter what, don’t stop writing. Because if the first one doesn’t come, then at least the second one will. And I never know when I’m going to get access to a computer.”
    “Okay.” Kelsey swallowed, knowing what she was agreeing to, that she would have to imitate her sister’s handwriting again. She still hadn’t figured out Michelle’s email password, either. Of course, none of this would matter if she could just tell him the truth.
    “Everything you say to me about home is, like, nourishing. You get it? It’s like each memory is a piece of food that I can eat—” He made a scooping motion with his hand. “It makes me stronger.”
    Kelsey smiled in spite of nerves. “You want me to feed you another one?”
    “Feed me another one.” He opened his mouth.
    She laughed. “What are you in the mood for?”
    “How about the Flint Hills? Oh, I know. You could paint them! Paint them.”
    Kelsey cleared her throat again. “Nah,” she finally said. “That will take too long. Let me tell you about them, instead.”
    This she could do. Her family had made the drive from Lawrence through the hills a million times, to Seneca, to Manhattan, to Wichita.
    Michelle was always in the backseat next to her, watching out the window. The Flint Hills were one of the few things, their parents said, that would keep them from punching each other.
    Kelsey settled into the rug on her floor, resting her chin in her hands.
    Peter leaned back in his chair and closed his eyes.
    “So you’re on 75,” Kelsey began, “heading west, and there’s nothing but overcast sky and fence and prairie. Until all of a sudden, you see this wrinkle in the flat lines. It’s almost a hallucination. Until you see another wrinkle, and another one, and the land is moving like the ocean. And each hill is spilling into the next. The grass is a color you’ve never seen before and you’ll never see again. It’s orange, gold, white, green, brown.…”
    “Mmm,” Peter said, his eyes still closed.
    Suddenly, a man’s voice filled the speakers. “Let’s move, Petey!”
    Peter clutched his gun again, turning away from Kelsey toward the man who had just entered. He left the screen for a moment, and she could only hear patches of their sentences. Raid , she heard. Found something.
    Peter returned to the frame, along with a stocky man slightly older than himself, with red hair.
    He smiled, tense. “This is Rooster,” he said.
    “Sam,” the guy said, touching his chest.
    “Nice to meet you,” Kelsey said.
    “Pleasure, ma’am.”
    “I hate to go, but we have to,” Peter said.
    In the background, Kelsey heard what she could recognize as an Islamic call to prayer.
    Another soldier screamed blurry, angry words.
    Peter looked at her, and she could see his eyes moving back and forth, memorizing her face. Just in case. His mouth was a thin line.
    “Soon?” he