Level 2 (Memory Chronicles) (28 page)

It’s pure bliss to be with Neil again. We spend time composing top ten lists of our favorite memories, diving in and out of our lives with ease. When he suffers symptoms of his withdrawal from the memory chambers, much less severe than mine but not magically cured with the collapse of the Morati architecture, I press my palm against his extra hard and give him some of my strength. People move on every day, and Mira tells us that if we don’t find someone we’re looking for, they’ve probably already found their peace and moved on. I know I won’t see Autumn here, but I’m always on the lookout for Virginia.

But soon enough we find that despite our joy in each other, against the vivid backdrops of our memories, our lives here pale in comparison. Events fade into one another, details become fuzzy. Nothing is archived, so nothing can be retrieved or relived.

We both experience it, the gradual yearning for something more. And one day we know it’s time to go. Maybe even to a place where we’ll finally be able to get some sleep.

A door opens before us, a door into the great unknown. I take Neil’s hand, and we step through it together.

LENORE APPELHANS

moved frequently growing up due to her dad’s US Air Force career. To
date she has lived in six countries and has visited nearly sixty. She currently resides
in Frankfurt, Germany, with her illustrator husband, Daniel Jennewein.
Level 2
is her first novel. Visit her at
presentinglenore.blogspot.com
, where she has been blogging about YA
lit since 2008.

Jacket design by LIZZY BROMLEY

Jacket photo copyright © 2013 by ALI SMITH

Author photo copyright © by VANIA STOYANOVA

SIMON & SCHUSTER • NEW YORK

An imprint of Simon & Schuster Children’s Publishing Division

1230 Avenue of the Americas, New York, New York 10020

www.SimonandSchuster.com

This book is a work of fiction. Any references to historical events, real people, or real places are used fictitiously. Other names, characters, places, and events are products of the author’s imagination, and any resemblance to actual events or places or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

Copyright © 2013 by Lenore Appelhans

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is a trademark of Simon & Schuster, Inc.

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Book design by Lizzy Bromley

The text for this book is set in Janson.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Appelhans, Lenore.

Level 2 / Lenore Appelhans. — 1st ed.

p. cm.

Summary: Seventeen-year-old Felicia Ward is dead and spending her time in the hive reliving her happy memories—but when Julian, a dark memory from her past, breaks into the hive and demands that she come with him, she discovers that even the afterlife is more complicated and dangerous then she dreamed.

ISBN 978-1-4424-4185-9 (hardcover)

1. Future life—Juvenile fiction. 2. Death—Juvenile fiction. 3. Angels—Juvenile fiction. [1. Future life—Fiction. 2. Death—Fiction. 3. Angels—Fiction.] I. Title. II. Title: Level two.

PZ7.A6447Lev 2013

813.6—dc23

2012008501

ISBN 978-1-4424-4187-3 (eBook)