Chapter One:

Directions

Maya gently stroked Sister as she lay curled up, spooning her. Her shoulder, her belly. Sister stretched and moaned her happiness, rolling onto her back. She turned her head up and licked Maya on thecheek.

Anna stood at the door to the bedroom, watching the scene unfold. She walked to the bedside table, picked up her tablet computer, and opened the camera program. She snapped a shot and immediately emailed it to Tamara. As she looked at the photo again, zooming in for detail and making it larger than life on the screen, she noticed tears rolling down Maya’scheek.

Anna sat on the bed next to Maya. She brushed back the young girl’s hair. A teenager now, Maya had a touch of acne on her forehead. Maya pushed Anna’s hand away and pulled her bangs forward. Anna smiled, gently whispering, “Hey, sweetgirl.”

Sister stood, stretched, and jumped off the bed. She curled up on the dog bed at the foot of Jack and Anna’s king-sized platform. Maya sat up. Crying started, full force. She burrowed her head into Anna’s shoulder. “I miss my mom,” shesobbed.

“You were just on the phone with her, yeah? Is there aproblem?”

Maya pulled away from Anna. She sniffled. Anna reached for a box of tissues from Jack’s side of the bed. Maya blew her nose, but the sobbing barely diminished. Anna, with little experience in mothering, was at a loss. She stroked Maya’s head and drew her into another embrace. Maya hugged her back. “It hurts, so much,” Maya said into Anna’sshoulder.

Maya normally attended a private school in Kailua, on Oahu. Just as school ended that year, June of 2024, a new strain of the coronavirus started spreading like wildfire. It landed on Oahu like an atom bomb. This one, labeled Covid-24, appeared to target older children and teenagers. The death rate was a staggering seventy percent. There were no cases on Molokai. Tamara had immediate