“ALL RIGHT,” I SAY. “IF someone doesn’t clue me in as to how in the world all this nonsense about beans and ginormongous billboards is related to our planet being reduced to dust in the frighteningly near future, I may just lose my mind.”
Dan looks at me, and then over at Mikaela.
Then they both turn their heads toward John Henry Knox.
“What?” I say, growing increasingly frustrated that I haven’t figured it out yet.
“The billboards…,” Dan says. “They have to be placed in particular, very specific locations in order to be seen from far away…”
“You said that already,” I tell him, still not getting it.
“And,” Mikaela adds, “he said that some of the billboards are as big as planets.…”
“And I heard him,” I say. “But what does that—”
It’s then, at last, that it clicks.
“Oh.”
I sit there with the realization for a minute. It’s a lot to take in, especially on top of all the other stuff I’ve had to take in over the course of the last twenty-four hours or so. And once I’ve finally begun to wrap my head around it, I ask Dan, just to make sure I’m right.
“Our planet…,” I say. “Earth… It’s—it’s one of those locations?”
Dan gulps.
And nods his head.