CHAPTER ONE
Neverland
“What if I wake up after World War IV and humanity’s destroyed itself?”
I was whining, but I couldn’t help myself. My world was about to end. Or more like freeze.
“That’s silly, Jennifer. Who’d be there to wake you?” My mom shot me an annoyed look. Sleeping on the hospital couch had made her usually perfect hair frizzy. She looked worse than me, and I could barely move.
I crossed my arms. “Aliens.”
Timmy spewed orange juice from his nose and laughed. He was too young to understand what was really going on. He kept calling me Sleeping Beauty, like some prince would kiss me and wake me. Yeah, that would happen right after he became a Transformer and flew to outer space.
Mom shook her head and pulled some napkins out of a dispenser in the wall. She bent down and wiped Timmy’s orange juice sneeze from the floor. I would have helped her, but my leg hung in an elevated sling in a cast that looked like a giant marshmallow.
“Honey, this is no joke.”
I always used comedy to deal with the hard issues. That’s why my dad called me the next late-night TV host. “I don’t like not knowing. Why can’t I spend my final days here with you, Dad, and Timmy?”
“Jenny, think about your dreams for the future. Where is the girl who wanted to go on safari, to work for National Geographic saving
African elephants and polar bears? Why can’t you wait a few years and have a lifetime instead?”
“Because the whole thing’s a big question mark. Who knows when they’ll find a cure? What if you had to go to sleep not knowing what year you’d wake up?”
The idea scared me more than death itself. If I could have moved, I’d have bolted straight out of my hospital room and hidden in the trunk of my pink Lexus. I couldn’t imagine what it would feel like to be frozen, my body suspended indefinitely until they found a cure.
“I’d sit tight and wait it out.” Mom fluffed the Peruvian lilies from Aunt Lucy and dusted off the windowsill. She used cleaning to deal with issues. “The scientists are breaking new ground every day. Your father’s been funding a major research team ever since you got sick.”
Dad had always bought me everything I wanted. I was the only girl in my class to have a real pony, a hundred-gallon salt water aquarium on my thirteenth birthday, and a Lexus at sweet sixteen. But try as he might, he couldn’t buy me more life, just a frozen forever.
Speaking of the richest man in New England, my dad walked in with Dr. Resin. He still wore his business suit from work, and Dr. Resin looked more like a gimmicky TV show ad than a true doctor. He had plasticky Ken-doll hair and a tan, which was hard to get in midwinter Maine.
“Hi, honey.” My dad squeezed my hand before ruffling Timmy’s hair and giving my mom a kiss on the cheek. “I’ve been speaking with Dr. Resin here, and he says they can start the process right away.”
My mom stood up and clapped her hands together like he’d cured me. “That’s wonderful news. I don’t want it to spread any further.”
Dr. Resin stood in the back with his hands crossed. “The longer you wait, the harder it will be. She weakens every day, and she must be as healthy and strong as possible to undergo the procedure.”
My mom hugged Timmy against her. “Dr. Resin, one thing we glossed over in our last discussion was the results. How many people have successfully undergone this treatment process?”
The doctor blinked and hesitated. “This procedure is still in the experimental stages. A few test subjects have begun the process, but the completion of the treatment depends on when cures are found for their personal illnesses.”
I started to jerk up in bed, but only my head moved. That small motion sent a sharp pain down my neck. “No one’s ever woken up?”
“Now, honey, we have every reason to believe this works.”
“Dad, I’d rather have my few more weeks in bed than freeze forever!”
Timmy gasped and pulled on my mom’s arm. “Jenny’s gonna freeze foreva?”
“Jennifer!” My mom’s voice was harsh. “You’re scaring Timmy.”
“You’re scaring me! What if I’m stuck in the middle of a nightmare the whole time? What if they can’t wake me up?”
Dr. Resin pushed by my dad to stand in the middle of the room. “Let’s all calm down.” He turned to me and picked up my chart off the foot of the bed. “First of all, you don’t freeze. The cryopro-tectants administered into your body harden like glass to prevent any damaging ice crystals. All brain activity ceases in cryosleep. You won’t dream. It’s a painless, pleasant procedure. If I were you, I’d give it a try.”
He made it sound like he was offering a new ice cream flavor. Next time, try caramel. The truth was, I’d be in the freezer with the ice cream. “I hate being cold.”
After scanning my chart, his blue eyes pierced me like ice. “This is not a decision between one procedure or another. In your case, this is your only chance.”