Page 68 of Zero Chance

Feeling good about making my brother happy, I finally retreated to my room, where I picked up my phone from the nightstand and idly checked the internet to find out, yes, Sweden did in fact have goats.About a hundred commercial farms’ worth with an estimated population of twenty thousand.

Surely, with that number, the Swedes would be willing to take on an eager, new shepherding apprentice, hungry to learn the ins and outs of goat herding; I’d help round them up for…well, whatever reason goats were rounded up.

Probably for the slaughter.

And, hey, slaughter day might feed my unnatural obsession with death, and then I wouldn’t be so curious and obsessed anymore.Win-win.

That’s it.I should totally move to Sweden.

I was uploading Duolingo onto my phone so I could learn to speak Swedish when Marsha’s name appeared on the screen with an incoming call.

“No…” I gave a groan of defeat.

Usually, a call from my supervisor at the library meant one thing.I was getting summoned to work for someone else who couldn’t make it.

Gnashing my teeth, I waited a moment before answering.“Hello?”Despite how much I didn’t want to go to work on my weekend off, Marsha was a super nice supervisor, so I made sure to sound as pleasant as possible when I spoke to her.

“Waverly, hon?”she said, her West Texas twang thick and strong today.“Huntley called in sick for his shift from one to three this afternoon.Do you think you could fill in for him?It’s only two hours until Madison can come in to relieve you.”

I had a feeling I was the first person she always called when looking for a replacement.Because I was boringly reliable.But today, I was relieved to have an out.“I’m sorry, I have to watch my little brother today,” I told her, hoping she couldn’t hear the elation in my voice.“My parents are out of town until tomorrow.”

There was a pause, and I could hear Marsha’s brain scrambling frantically to think up another replacement.Finally, she asked, “He’s eleven, right?”

I blinked, surprised at how good her memory was.I think we’d only ever had one conversation about our families, and I’d barely mentioned having a brother.

“Yeah,” I answered hesitantly, wondering what that had to do with anything.

“Oh.”Relief flooded her voice.“Well, just bring him along, sweetie.My son’s that age and rarely ever takes his nose out of his games.You could set him up in a private study room, and he’d probably never even notice the scene change.”

I bit my lip to contain my whimper of defeat and silently cursed my luck.“Are you sure?”

“It’s only two hours.Y’all will be just fine.Thanks so much for this, Waverly.You’re a lifesaver.”

And she hung up on me before I’d officially agreed to come in.

Well, alright.I guess I was going to the library today.Heaving out a depressed breath, I slapped my phone onto the bed beside me and gave my innocent ceiling a mean mug.

After another thirty seconds of throwing a pity party for myself, I rose regretfully from the mattress and returned to Gates’s room.

He didn’t notice me entering.

“Hey.”I slapped at his sock-covered feet lightly to get his attention.

It took a few seconds, but he finally looked up with an aggravated, “What?”

“I got called into work at the university for a couple of hours this afternoon,” I told him.

He blinked at me before shaking his head cluelessly.“Okay.Why are you tellingme?”

I rolled my eyes.“Because you have to come with me, moron.Mom and Dad won’t be home until tomorrow.”

He furrowed his brow as if that were news to him before his gaze finally cleared.“Oh yeah.”He nodded slowly, only to wrinkle his nose.“Why can’t I just stay home?It’s only for a few hours.”

My mouth fell open at the question.“Because Mom and Dad would kill me for leaving you home alone,” I squawked.

He shrugged.“So don’t tell them.”

I sent him a dismayed glance.“And when they see me leaving alone on the cameras and ask why you didn’t go to work with me, then what do I tell them?”I demanded.“That you were wearing your invisibility cloak?I don’t think so.Besides, the one time I leave you alone, I swear the house will burn down, incinerating you to death, or thieves will break in and kidnap you, only to sell you off to some sex-slave trade, which would cost us millions to buy you back.So no.No way in hell am I leaving you home alone.”

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