Juliette gets all flustered over the fact that she didn’t know Adam had a brother, even though why would she?

James spins back in my direction. “Oh yeah. Adam talks about you a lot.”

Yeah, see, the last time Adam knew Juliette, they were in ELEMENTARY SCHOOL together.  Hammering the fact that he’s been obsessed with her for that long isn’t really helping this book’s case any.  That’s not as romantic as I’m asked to believe.

“Juliette is going to be staying with us for a little while. Why don’t you go make sure you don’t have any underwear lying on the floor, huh?”

James looks horrified. He darts into the darkness without another word.

I would just like to remind everyone that this book is set in a world of unrelenting poverty, scarcity, and starvation, just in case you forgot.  It would be totally understandable if you did.

James is ten, knows about her “magic” touch, and is cool with that.

Juliette brings up the fact that Adam’s house is the first place they’d go to look for him, but Adam reassures her with the fact that this house is off-the-record, so to speak.

Apparently they’ve forgotten all about that tracking serum in the blood thing.  Maybe the radiation was supposed to completely disable it, not just mask it.  I’m going to assume that’s what happened, because otherwise I’ll just be complaining about this the rest of the book.

It’s a full living room, open and plush. A thick rug, soft chairs, one sofa stretched across the wall. Green and red and orange hues, warm lamps softly lit in the large space. It feels more like a home than anything I’ve ever seen.
Hey, remember when Juliette was whinging and moaning about how all the stuff in that last building was purchased with “blood money” that could have been put towards helping people instead of just being all plush and comfy?

Apparently she’s cool with that now!

Actually, the set up here is kind of confusing.  They’re not in a house, they’re in…a parking garage?  A secret room off a parking garage?  Under a parking garage?  And there’s a bunch of other orphaned kids…in the parking garage?  In nearby hidyholes?  Yeah, I don’t know.  James chats a lot about pointless details and some lady named Benny that checks in on him sometimes.

James goes to sleep so that Adam and Juliette can talk.  Again, Juliette is baffled by the idea that Adam was looking for her ever since she left school, so again Adam has to tell her all about how she’s a cool person.

Alright, by this point it’s just literary masturbation.  This isn’t serving any point, it’s not adding to any of the characters or the plot.  The book is just performing the same action over and over and over again in the pursuit of some self-love by waxing-off about how awesome and kind and good-hearted Juliette is.

I watch him walk away with the only family he has left and I know why Adam joined the army.

I know why he suffered through being Warner’s whipping boy. I know why he dealt with the horrifying reality of war, why he was so desperate to run away, so ready to run away as soon as possible. Why he’s so determined to fight back.

He’s fighting for so much more than himself.

…he’s got one little brother and a girlfriend.  That’s not really something unfathomable or even unusual.

Heat rushes up my neck and I fall off a ladder holding a paintbrush dipped in red.

I had to read that, and now so do you.

Juliette finally asks about the bird tattoo on his chest.  You know, the one that’s just like the bird she kept imagining in prison?  The one that we found out about like 15 chapters ago and just got forgotten?

Turns out he got that bird because he used to have dreams about it.  They’re both shocked that they had dreams about the same bird and then…nothing.  And then nothing.  It clearly means something, but instead of actually being skilled with her hints, the author just drops shit like this on us and awkwardly cuts the scene off so she can start up another one.  They make out some more, which seems to be their default mode when plot shit gets too hard.

They’re about to go full on sex when James comes out after a nightmare and puts a stop to that.  Thanks, James!  I really didn’t want to find out what kind of metaphors Juliette would come up with mid-coitus.

Next morning, James is all aghast that the other two can touch, and he demands to know how this happened.  They don’t even attempt to explain.  They don’t even bother to say “we don’t know,” they just repeat that Juliette can touch Adam.

“That seems awfully convenient.” James narrows his eyes.

I take it back.  I like James.

I nearly laugh at the idea. If only it were magic that made me this way.

…

……

You wanna finish that thought for us, sweetie?  You can pain-torture people with your skin and tear through concrete walls.  If that’s not magic, then pray tell, what is it?  You haven’t even attempted to give an answer to that question or even ASKED IT YOURSELF, so if it’s not magic, then what do you think it is?

James and Adam wander off for a brotherly chat about girlfriends.  Then Adam tells the kid to get ready for school and offhand mentions that he needs a haircut.

So…I wonder if this was always supposed to be in a post-apocalypse environmental disaster world, or if that just got added in after to appeal to trends.  Because it seems pretty damn middle class domestic to me.

Also, yes, that was four whole chapters in which we did jack-shit nothing except meet his little brother and watch them snog.