Book Eight

Santa Monica

2029

A photograph of a beach on a bright cloudless morning: a long wooden pier on its piles with a stopped Ferris wheel, and the sea drawn far back, leaving wet sand, rocks, kelp and small boats lying on their sides, a thin white line along the horizon, and empty wooden stairs going down from the bluff in the foreground. Crown on the Potomac Santa Monica Book Eight 2029

May 2029. Frederick has reigned in his own right for four weeks, and he goes on the sophomore class trip to Los Angeles because he said in October that he would finish at Ellicott with his year, and meant all of it. The city is seven months into mending itself from the earthquake he watched on other people's phones in a history class.

Santa Monica follows him from the rows bought round him on an ordinary flight to a pier swaying on its piles, a run up the stairs of a bluff while every phone screams the same words, a helicopter that cannot take his class, and a gym full of cots where a homeroom teacher calls the roll.

Each chapter opens with a short extract from the Universal Register, the encyclopedia of the world the book is set in. The extracts are quoted from the Register as it stands; the chapters show what happened in the rooms it was not in.

Begin reading: Chapter One, The Rows → Characters

Part One: The Trip (29 and 30 May 2029)

  1. 1 The Rows Frederick. 22 min.
  2. 2 The Sign on the Bluff Frederick. 10 min.
  3. 3 The Park at Valencia Frederick. 10 min.
  4. 4 Pomona Frederick. 11 min.
  5. 5 Six in the Morning Frederick. 9 min.
  6. 6 The Pier Frederick. 10 min.

Part Two: High Ground (31 May 2029)

  1. 7 Nine Forty-One Frederick. 8 min.
  2. 8 The Alert Frederick. 8 min.
  3. 9 The Crank Frederick. 9 min.
  4. 10 Ninety-Eight Frederick. 11 min.
  5. 11 The Signalman Frederick. 8 min.
  6. 12 The Sea Coming In Frederick. 10 min.
  7. 13 Can It Take Them? Frederick. 16 min.
  8. 14 Franklin Frederick. 13 min.
  9. 15 Fourteen Frederick. 11 min.

Part Three: The Stay (1 June 2029)

  1. 16 The Warning Frederick. 11 min.
  2. 17 We Don't Know Frederick. 9 min.
  3. 18 Live Frederick. 13 min.
  4. 19 The Hand Frederick. 11 min.
  5. 20 Government House Frederick. 11 min.
  6. 21 The Lawn Frederick. 12 min.
  7. 22 Pomona Again Frederick. 10 min.
  8. 23 Pressure Frederick. 12 min.

Part Four: Home (2 to 9 June 2029)

  1. 24 The Paper Frederick. 12 min.
  2. 25 Sceptre Frederick. 15 min.
  3. 26 Arrivals Frederick. 11 min.
  4. 27 The Apron Frederick. 14 min.
  5. 28 Pet Frederick. 13 min.
  6. 29 Otra Vez Frederick. 10 min.
  7. 30 The Ninth Day Frederick. 15 min.