by A. M. Rose
“Okay, follow me.” Maddox hunches down.
We stay low to the ground, using the tall grass as a shield. My heart beats like a bass drum in my chest. This is scary, but thrilling at the same time. I’ve never done anything remotely this crazy before. The only noise is the gentle rustling of the grass and the howling of the wind.
We come around a turn on the hillside, and right up in front of us is the letter H. It’s massive and towers over us, as large as a building. And just as I saw it in my mind, a camera is attached at the cross section of the letter. A cord runs along the backside, and right before it hits the ground it’s severed in half, most likely chewed through by a small rodent—just like the maintenance schedule in my head told me. I can barely believe it. This is incredible.
Without even thinking about it, I begin to climb the backside of the letter H. The wind picks up the farther I climb, and I have to keep my grip tight when a big gust comes through so I don’t get blown off.
“I don’t think that’s a good idea,” Dylan growls.
I’m halfway up by now, peering over the middle of the letter. The view is incredible. I’ve never seen a shot like this, and now I’m kicking myself for leaving my real camera in the car. But it would’ve been too cumbersome, and I’d die if anything happened to it, like if I dropped it while climbing that tree. I take one more step up so I might be able to get a good shot with my cell. My jeans snag on a loose bolt, and I reach down to get it free when flickering lights come straight at us from the top of the hill. Two figures. Their badges flash as they sprint toward us. LAPD. A flare of panic bursts through me.
I point. “Run!” My breathing quickens.
Dylan and Maddox stare at me.
“Go!” I yell, tugging at my pant leg, but my hands are shaking too much to get a good grip.
“I’m not leaving you.” Dylan’s voice is firm.
I quickly glance from the flashlights racing toward us to him. “Get out of here.” This was a mistake. What the hell was I thinking? Mom’s going to kill me.
“I’ll try to get them to follow me.” Maddox takes off, screaming at the cops that they’ll never be able to catch him and waving his hands in the air.
Dylan hesitates.
“Go,” I yell again. The fabric starts to tear. Thank God.
“No way.” His fists are clenched at his side. But he has to go. If they catch any of us we’re screwed.
“Dylan, please,” I beg. “They can’t chase all three of us. Hurry!”
He looks up at me with a tight jaw and then takes off in the opposite direction from Maddox.
I yank myself free, and my body takes control. Without hesitation, I take the twenty-two-foot leap out through the front of the H. Wind hits my back and for a second I’m flying, soaring through the air. It feels so good. So free. Then I hit the soft ground, do a forward roll, and come up on my feet, running at full speed.
In front of me is a cluster of trees surrounded by low bushes. I run straight toward them, duck down, and hide behind.
My breath is calm and steady even though I’m worried about the boys. Crouching low to the ground, I look out from between the bushes. The sign is in the distance now, and from what I can tell no one followed me. But just to be safe, I watch for a few minutes. The only sound is the wind and the steady rhythm of my heart.
I take my phone from my back pocket and switch it to silent. I want to text Dylan and Maddox to see if they’re okay, but if their ringers are on, they’ll get caught. So I put it in my pocket and sit with my back against one of the trees. There’s a long gash in my jeans near the knee that runs up and down my leg. Luckily, it took all the damage and I’m fine. The jeans are totally ruined, though. Just like this night. Why did I ever think this was a good idea? I’m so stupid for even suggesting coming up here.
Now what am I supposed to do? How long should I sit here before I go out looking for Dylan and Maddox, or head back to the car? Dumbest idea ever.
My head falls against the tree I’m leaning on with a thud. Twenty-two feet. I jumped twenty-two feet and came up running. How is that even possible? And how do I know it was twenty-two feet? A normal person would’ve broken a leg. A normal person wouldn’t have leaped in the first place.
But I’m not normal.
So much for taking a break from my crazy life. I roll a rock in my hand, trying to forget about how much of a freak I am. It’s gray and smooth, about half the size of my palm. I concentrate on the cool surface of it and try to decide what I need to do next when I notice two trees a few feet away from me that are so close together they’re almost touching.
The hair on the back of my neck stands on end as I get to my feet. A force pulls me toward the two trees. They look familiar somehow, but I can’t place them. Each step I take is faster than the one before. A few more steps and I’ll run right into them, but I can’t stop myself. My heart is a racehorse in my chest, trying to beat its way out. But I can’t stop, or dig my feet into the ground. So I throw my arms up over my face to protect me from the impact and squeeze my eyes shut.
I don’t hit anything.
I open my eyes.
Holy shit.
Chapter Twenty-One
I turn 360 degrees, then do it again. Nothing changes. No. No. No. This can’t be right. I pinch my arm to wake myself up, but all it does is sting. I tuck my hands under my arms to keep myself from freaking out, but it doesn’t stop me from trembling. Just beyond the group of trees I’m standing in is a place I’ve never been before. Or at least not a place I’ve been in real life.
My eyes blink over and over. The Hollywood sign is gone, and the hillside isn’t dry, dead weeds, it’s full of lush grass with homes etched into the side. But it’s the same hill, has the same shape, and rolls down exactly the same way. Except now down the hill, instead of the well-lit streets laid out in grid patterns, are clusters of towering trees with small glass domes full of buildings.
It doesn’t make any sense. Where did everything go? I take a long breath to steady my nerves. The smog is gone, and the air is clean and fresh like after it rains, but there isn’t a cloud in the sky. Actually, there are more stars than I’ve ever seen before. My body shakes, and I pull my arms in tighter. I’m not sure if it’s because the temperature seems to be cooler or if it’s because I’ve been here before—in my dreams.
A young girl marches out of one of the houses up the hillside on my right, and onto a porch. Her gaze floats across the very cluster of trees I’m standing in. I take a nervous step back deeper into them to make sure she can’t see me. My feet crunch through something—a dead plant. The grass to my left has met the same fate, and is brown and lifeless. That’s strange. It looks so out of place. How is this part dead when everything else around it is so green, so alive?
A dull ache develops in my head, but I don’t focus on it. Instead, I watch the girl. She sings a little song, and a shudder runs through me. It seems silly to be afraid. She’s so small, and I’m too far to catch all the words, but it’s something about the stars. Her hair’s so blonde it appears almost white as it cascades over her shoulders and down the back of her gray jumpsuit. The moonlight reflects against a symbol over her heart, but I can’t make out what it is. And my eyes force themselves closed when I try to get a better look.
My knees start to shake as she swipes her hand in the air, and what looks like a computer screen appears in front of her. Just like what happened to the man in my dream. The girl gazes up to the sky and back to her screen while flipping through pages of star charts. Finally, she seems satisfied and uses her finger to draw connecting lines between the stars on the chart, Andromeda. Then with a wave of her hand she moves her drawing above her head toward the sky. I follow her actions and see the same constellation she’s looking at above us.
Wow. That’s incredible.
I need to find Dylan and Maddox. I need to tell them—show them this place. With them here, I wouldn’t feel so scared. They’re never going to believe it. I barely
believe it, and it’s right in front of me. But it’s here, and so am I.
Before I can move, a man with the same stark white hair, wearing a black jumpsuit, walks out of the house behind the little girl. “What did you discover?” His voice is so refined, each word spoken so clearly, but it still makes my skin crawl. I take a step back. He turns in my direction. My heart jumps into my throat, and I suck in a mouthful of air. Even hidden in the trees I feel vulnerable, exposed.
“Probably an intoxicated Stultusian tripped the Entry System Sensor. They could not have gotten too far,” a man’s rough voice says to my left and there’s a sharp pain in my temples.
Two figures down to the left march up the hill. I crouch lower to the ground and duck behind a bush to stay out of their view. Up to my right, the white-haired man ushers the little girl back in the house and the light inside goes dark.
The two men stop less than ten feet from me where the dense brush I’m hiding in starts. One man is much broader than the other. Both are wearing black jumpsuits, and their heavy boots thud against the ground with each step. My heart pounds against my chest just as loud, if not louder. I clench my hands against it to drown out the sound and stumble back farther to hide behind one of the trees.
“Has this portal to Stultus always been here?” the smaller man asks. His voice is deeper, huskier.
“Yes, and only a few Eugenicans know about it. You will learn about the other portals when you complete training.” They both stop walking, and the bigger guy presses something that looks like computer buttons on his sleeve that light up under his touch.
My head aches, or more like burns. Whatever these guys are talking about makes my brain feel like it’s being run against a cheese grater.
“What protocol do we follow?” The other man pulls out a flashlight and shines it in the brush. The light dances in front of me, slowly crawling my way.
I’m paralyzed by fear. They’re less than ten feet away; even if I could move, I don’t know where I’d go. I don’t even know where I am, or how I got here.
“Order 2-31-D.” He glances up from his sleeve to the other man. “Recite.”
The man clips his light onto his holster belt, pushes his shoulders back, and clicks his heels together. “We subdue the subject and administer one to three cc’s of Serum Memoriata to the internee’s biceps. After which, we immediately extricate.”
“Excellent. Now let us get to work.”
They each pull out a flashlight and push their way through the brush, in my direction. My head throbs so hard I have to clench my jaw to keep from screaming out, or worse, throwing up.
Crunch.
Crunch.
They push closer and closer.
This is it. I’m dead.
Someone grabs me. They clamp their hand over my mouth. I freeze with panic.
“It’s just me,” Maddox whispers in my ear, and my heart starts to beat again. “Be quiet and follow me.” He slowly removes his hand and tugs at my elbow.
There are so many questions racing through my mind, but I can’t make sense of them, and the men are closing in, so I follow him.
It’s like he already knows the right way to go. Even in the dense brush he leads us through the safest part, one where we aren’t being attacked by branches and thorns, where we make little sound as we maneuver our way through. When the foliage thins, we step out from the trees.
My breath catches in my throat and a chill races up and down my spine. It can’t possibly be. But it is exactly the same place I’ve seen in my dreams. In front of us stands a city encased in some kind of iridescent dome, buildings living among the trees with plants growing up the sides. It was completely hidden from view until we stepped out of the brush. Like nothing was destroyed to create it. And everything about it, about this place, down to the trees full of bright red berries is exactly how I remember. I should be scared, but I’m surprisingly energized, except for the aching in my head. “Where are we? Because I know we aren’t in Hollywood anymore. Hell, I’m not even sure we’re on Earth anymore.”
He laughs. “Oh, we’re still on Earth.” Then he stops and studies me, a weird look playing with his features. “This is Eugenica.”
A nerve pinches in my brain at the sound of that word, and I flinch.
His brow draws together. “Are you okay?”
I nod as the sharp pain dulls to an ache. He needs to tell me more, not worry about me. I can’t let him see how much it hurts. “How… How did we get here?”
“Through a portal in the trees. Its existence is limited to only high-ranking Eugenicans, and some special operatives.” He pulls out his phone as I flinch again at the use of that word. It’s like an ache deep inside my head doesn’t want me to hear it. He slips his phone back in his pocket. “There’re actually quite a few portals that connect our worlds, but it’s been erased from your history books that we even exist. When our worlds split centuries ago, the leaders agreed it would be better this way.”
I chew on the inside of my lip. This is crazy. How can there be two different worlds sharing the same planet? The throbbing in my head gets stronger, but I need to push past it, to try and figure this all out. “You aren’t making any sense.”
“I know this is a lot to take in. It wasn’t supposed to happen this way.” Maddox’s head shoots up. Something in the distance catches his attention, then he’s back looking at me, but he can’t hide the tension in his shoulders. And knowing that he’s nervous scares me even more than being in this strange place. “Come on. We aren’t safe here. It’s hard to know who to trust.” He shakes his head and reaches out his hand. “Let me show you something.” He must sense my hesitation. “Please.”
I nod and follow him. We don’t get any closer to the buildings or the force field. Actually, we go in the opposite direction—farther past and through another section of dense trees. Even though it’s dark, the bright stars and moon give us all the light we need to find our way. I slide past a cluster of night-blooming jasmine, and the intense smell stirs something deep inside. It’s the faintest memory, a woman smiling, but it won’t come into focus.
Again, the brush clears and we step out. I hadn’t realized it but we must’ve been walking uphill. Down to our right is the group of buildings we had just been standing near, and to our left is a giant wall of wind turbines that seems to stretch for miles. Precise holes are cut out of it, with giant fan blades spinning around. In a strange way it reminds me of Swiss cheese. And as huge as it is, it doesn’t take away from the beauty that surrounds it, like it complements the trees and rolling hills, moves with them instead of fighting against them. It’s nothing like the picture in Dad’s office, where acres of land were cleared to make space for the turbines. These are grander, yet take up so much less space. As the wind pushes against my face, their gentle hum increases.
I ignore the pain building again inside my skull, but never lessening. “That’s incredible.”
Maddox glances in the direction I’m looking. “Oh, yeah. I suppose they are. Wind and solar power are so much more efficient than the way those Stultusians do things.” He chuckles, but there isn’t really anything funny in the way it sounds. And that shooting pain inside my head is back, a twinge just above my left temple. “I guess I’m just kind of used to them.”
Goose bumps prick my skin. This doesn’t feel real, or possible. Any of this. It’s like a dream, except I’m really standing here. It feels so right and wrong all at the same time, and I’m having trouble wrapping my head around any of this. I pull my arms around my body, tucking my hands under them. I’m more confused than the first time I could speak Spanish. And Maddox said, those Stult—ouch—what does that even mean? And how can he be… “Used to them?”
A line etches its way across Maddox’s forehead. “It’s hard to explain. You weren’t… We were never… Just look over there.” He points to a little mound in the ground. Except it isn’t just a mound. It’s a little house, nestled in the ground with grass growing up over one s
ide and down the other. There’s a small garden and a large glass window that overlooks the view of the buildings below. It’s kind of like the others where the little girl had been, except this one stands on its own, with a little moss-covered chimney sticking out the top. There aren’t any other little house mounds around from what I can tell.
“I…I don’t understand. How…” I rub the side of my head to help push the pain away.
He tips his head to the side, like he’s scrutinizing my actions. I force myself to stand taller, to hide the pressure inside my brain that refuses to subside. “It’s the home of Serdicus VonLuiz, the greatest Salvodore Eugencia has ever seen. Except he hasn’t been seen for a very long time.” The words he’s using feel like mush in my brain. He pulls his phone out again and turns away. With his attention off me, I can finally take a long breath and roll my shoulders. “You should know, Eugenica hasn’t been without its own problems, much like the history you’ve studied in school. Some Eugenicans believe they’re the superior culture. Over the years, attempts have been made to take over the Stultus dimension.”
I press my hands over my ears and want to scream at him. Each time he uses these strange words, it feels like someone is using my brain as a punching bag.
He slips the phone away and shifts his attention between the trees we just came from and the group of buildings below. “About twenty years ago in Eugenica, talk started about another uprising. A secret society formed, calling themselves the Neuveum. Their goal was to take over Stultus—that’s what we call the dimension where you’ve been living. Anyway, they want to create their own perfect society.” His voice is tense, and he’s starting to talk faster.
It’s hard for me to keep up. New words. A new place. A different Maddox who looks like he’s ready to pounce at anything that could come along. I’ve never seen him so wound up before. I plant my feet to keep myself from falling down.
Maddox doesn’t seem to notice me; he’s too focused on everything around us. “It’s growing more and more difficult to distinguish who is a member of the secret society, Neuveum. Making it harder to know who to trust. Their leader, Suzette SmitSteven, knew if their group could stay hidden, there’d be no way for anyone to stop them. She tried to recruit Serdicus VonLuiz to join her. She found out he was developing a method to increase brain capacity resulting in superior intelligence, something she reveres over everything else. Eugenica’s leaders found out about Suzette, but before we were able to detain her she escaped from Eugenica and went into hiding. And not long after, Serdicus VonLuiz disappeared after the death of his wife.”
