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PROLOGUE
The Pips were at it again The four girls had vanished fro thousands of dollars’ worth of equip quite a commotion The staff was frantic, desperate to find them before word of their disappearance leaked out The only person not concerned was the man who held their futures in his hands He insisted that the restless,just another silly prank, no doubt orchestrated by Olivia MacKenzie, the ringleader Fro blue eyes, he’d known she was going to be a troublehter
He couldn’t have been ave the other Pips—Sath and a voice Until she’d entered the prograic, and even borderline suicidal And who could blame them? They spent most of their days in forced isolation, locked away from family and friends and the rest of the world Me them how fortunate they were to have been chosen for the experiram Nurse Charlotte even insisted they were blessed
The girls scoffed at the notion All of the had been able to conquer, and none of them felt the least bit fortunate to be human pincushions, subjected to a treony The Pips were forbidden to call the wonder drug cocktail that was pumped into their veins poison, but that’s what all of the pain followed each infusion, and by evening their bodies were covered with blisters from the tops of their heads to the bottoms of their feet No, none of them felt blessed
Though the youngest of the group, Olivia was the strongest and the toughest, and she had quickly stepped into the role of protector Once she had gained her new friends’ trust, she began to chip away at the boredoer and the fear
Pranks were Olivia’s specialty Within teeks of her arrival, the nurses and the doctors grew hesitant to open their lockers for fear of as going to jump out at them Nurse Charlotte developed a twitch in her left eyelid after a rubber snake sprang at her, delighting the Pips to no end
As the girls becarew Each had a favorite trick
Jane, the artistic one in the group, had a flare for design She could sit for hours with a notepad and pencil drawing shapes, then connecting them into beautiful ested they TP the nurses’ station, she objected She thought that would be too crass Instead, she decorated the space fro to floor with streamers of every color of the rainbow
Samantha, or Sam as she was called by her friends, was the adventurer She was unafraid of risk, but she wasn’t reckless She went about each of the pranks methodically Every situation was patiently examined and carefully planned to achieve the desired result It took her a week to collect enough li them in the nurses’ microwave for a few seconds, she slipped the little beakers of green liquid onto the lab cart and sent thehed for days reizing and
trying to explain the mishap to the lab tech
Olivia had found it easy to bring Jane and Sae Because she was the est to conquer her depression; but once she did, she was ganated her to be the decoy in their adventures When the girls wanted to slip by the staff unnoticed, Olivia would send Collins to distract them She was blessed with a sweet nature and a soft Southern accent that drew people to her, so when a teardrop or tould fall down her cheek, everyone would rush to console her Once the tears began to flow, they’d huddle around her and give her their full and undivided attention A couple of faint sobs, and she had the out of her hands Little did her sympathetic audience know, the other three Pips were behind the furry fake spiders in unexpected spots
In an attempt to keep the Pips calave each of them a deck of cards and took the time one afternoon to teach them how to play poker They were quick learners By the end of the month the Pips had taken him for more than three hundred dollars They used the cash to buy pizzas and cake for Nurse Kathleen’s birthday and a few other fun items to torment the staff
After spending several weeks in the hospital, the Pips fell into a routine Monday was poison cocktail day, and they were too sick to play any pranks Tuesday, they were still too ill to do htfall the blisters would disappear, and they would begin to feel hu day; Thursday would always be freak-out-the-nurses day, and on Friday, as a compliment to their doctor—they all had a crush on hiue, French, which was a real trick considering the fact that only Olivia understood the language Weekends were spent on target practice with their water guns, working jigsaw puzzles, and doing crosswords Olivia’s aunt Emma hat Dr Pardieu called a coconspirator She sent Olivia the water guns and wigs and other novelties Whatever her niece requested, she got
Dr Pardieu also had a routine Each irls the same way: “Bonjour, mes petites pipsqueaks”
And they responded, “Bonjour, Docteur Pardieu”
Olivia came up with a new idea one Thursday After the doctor had ame of hide-and-seek to tore closet the week before and discovered the rectangular rooh space to fit all of the, which would be dedicated and opened for patients the next month
The girls crept down the hall behind Olivia and slipped into the dark closet They sat on the floor with their backs against the walls, two facing two, and stayed quiet while they strained to listen for every sound The scent of disinfectant hung in the air around the their naray-and-white tile floor, her rubber-soled shoes squeaking with each step When the sound faded, Olivia reached up and switched on the light
All of thehtness
“She’s gone,” Sahter
“Maybe we shouldn’t stay here,” Collins said “We don’t want her to keep looking for us”
“Are you kidding?” Olivia said “Of course ant her to look for us That’s hoe roll”
Jane was theof the four and whispered, “What if she calls the police? We could get into serious trouble” She isting the tube on her IV while she fretted
Sam rolled her eyes “She won’t call the police,” she said “You worry too much”
“She could call our parents,” Jane suggested then
Olivia shrugged “My mother has caller ID As soon as she sees it’s the hospital calling, she won’t pick up My disease is too stressful for her”
“You’re joking, right?” Sam asked
“No, I’”
“What does your father think?” Collins asked the question “He’s never coe of sympathy in her voice as she reached over and patted Olivia’s hand The girls could always count on Collins for emotional support
“None of her family has visited,” Sam said
“They’re busy,” Olivia answered with an indifferent shrug “Mom flies back and forth between our homes in San Francisco and New York City My parents have a strange rown-up “Mom adores him She’sdramatic about it I don’t kno else to explain it She doesn’t have roo else in her life”
“Or anyone else,” Collins said Like daughters, she silently added
“What about your father?” Saain
“Oh, he likes the adoration At least he used to”
“No, I mean how does he cope with your illness? Is it too stressful for him, too?”