Alex’s ears perked up to a sudden rustling noise coming from the trees below. Alex looked down to catch a glimpse of movement within a bunch of branches. He looked back at his friends before diving down beneath the tree cover. As soon as he passed beneath the thick leaves, all light was cut off and the world went black. Why was it so dark down here? Alex’s thoughts were disrupted when a voice broke through the silence and echoed through the darkness.
“Dark, isn’t it?” The strange voice began to laugh.
“Who are you?” Alex called out into the darkness. The owner of the voice ignored him and continued laughing. Then a thought occurred to him.
“Why’d you make it so dark?” Alex asked. The voice stopped laughing. “Do I know you?”
“Yes, you do! We only met just a few days ago! Sadly Winona is not here with me today, but I just came here to retrieve a little information!” Alex strained his ears to try to pinpoint where the voice was coming from but the voice ricocheted off invisible walls. “How did you meet the Contour Suzerain?”
“What Contour Suzerain?” Alex asked, slightly confused for a moment. “You mean Jack?”
“Yes! Jack! How do you know him? Are you family? What do you know about him? Tell me now!” The voice demanded.
“Why should I tell you? What do you plan on doing with him once you obtain this information?” Alex asked.
“I ask the questions here! Not you!”
“You’re out of luck, buddy. I’m not telling you anything.”
Suddenly something hit him in the stomach and Alex lurched forward. He gasped at the sudden impact and began to fall until a hand grabbed his jacket, catching him in mid-air. The voice whispered in his ear, “You will regret this, Alex. I can’t wait for the day when I will destroy your frail body.” The voice paused as if mulling over what it should say next. “Don’t tell your friends about this little rendezvous between you and me or I won’t hesitate to kill them immediately.”
The owner of the voice let go of his jacket and Alex dropped. He began to panic, but his panic ceased as he realized it would do him no good. Alex took a deep breath and shot up through the canopy. The blinding light penetrated the darkness that had clouded his vision moments before, causing him to lose his balance.
“Alex! Where in the world did you go?” Nicole shouted. Alex opened his mouth to explain but quickly shut it. The voice’s words came back to him. “I won’t hesitate to kill them immediately.” What if the strange voice was telling the truth? Alex wasn’t planning on risking it.
“I wasn’t anywhere. The sun was starting to get to me so I went below the trees for some shade.” Alex quickly covered up the true events with an excuse.
“It’s not that hot.” Mark looked at Alex with an eyebrow raised.
“Anyway, who won?” Alex asked in an effort to change the topic.
“You, of course! You got here before we even got a foot away from the starting line! But Nicole came in second, I came in third, Brooke came in fourth, and David came in last,” Mark looked at David and smiled wickedly.
“I only came in last because Brooke pushed me and I almost fell! You’re lucky I caught myself before I fell to my death!” David shouted in Brooke’s face.
“You aren’t dead, are you? I thought so!” Brooke replied.
“You all did great. And you will each get faster the more you fly.”
Alex lurched forward, startled. Alex turned to see Jack standing behind him.
“Don’t do that,” Alex sighed.
“Now that we have that settled, everyone! Down to the canopy!” Jack pointed down to the trees and nodded to Alex in apology. Nicole and the others went head-first and flew beneath the canopy. Before Alex could disappear with them, Jack grabbed his shoulder and held him back.
“The sun wasn’t really getting to you, was it?” he asked skeptically. Alex refused to look Jack in the eye for fear that his eyes would betray his secret.
“Yeah. It was getting really hot,” Alex said as he shrugged Jack’s hand off. He turned around and faced Jack, shrugged, smiled, and before Jack could say anything else he dropped toward the tree-tops. Alex allowed himself to fall freely through the leaves and brush. As he fell, he whizzed past his hovering companions. They all leapt back in surprise as a dark figure flew past them. Alex grabbed a nearby branch and swung himself back up so that he would hover next to them.
“You scared us!” Nicole shouted.
“Sorry.” Alex shrugged his shoulders and smiled. Jack appeared next to them and went right to business.
“The canopy has been coated with another force field. Your job is to find a rip in the force field and get up into the sky.” Jack pointed above them. They all looked up to see a bright purple fluorescent wall stretching throughout the sky, coating the forest with the same light.
“Oh, this will be easy then,” Brooke stated egotistically.
“But, that’s not all. My Shadows are going to chase you. If they get you, they will automatically transport you to a secret base. You have an hour to do this. Good luck.”
“Wait, wait, wait. Hold on for a second. How does this have anything to do with maneuvering?” David asked.
“I’ll be waiting.” Jack ignored David and disappeared. In his place, a handful of Shadows hovered in the air. There were so many it was difficult to count.
“Scatter!” Mark shouted, taking off. The group scattered in different directions as the Shadows flew after them. Alex shot down as several Shadows chased him from behind. He swerved in and out of trees in an attempt to shake them off his tail but they refused to fall. Alex shot up again only to run into Nicole.
They didn’t have any time to formulate a plan before the Shadows that had been chasing them grouped together and continued to gain on them. They cast glances at one another before flying side by side, away from the Shadows. They bounded off trees and under branches, flying as fast as they could manage.
Alex glanced back to the Shadows behind them. He furrowed his brow in confusion at the sight he saw. He could have sworn there had been more Shadows chasing them. Where had they all gone? Alex turned his head in time for a tree to pop in front of him. Alex swerved around the tree only to have more Shadows appear and slam him against the other side. Then, everything went black.
TWENTY-NINE
Alex opened his eyes to an upside-down world. He squinted and rubbed the backs of his hands against his eyelids. The trees around him were hanging from mid-air with the tops facing a strange purple fluorescent ground. An upside-down blue bird flew past him a few feet away. Alex grew dizzy as he felt blood rushing to his head. Suddenly, Alex realized the world wasn’t upside-down, he was!
Alex looked up at his feet. His legs were clenched around a branch, on the verge of slipping. He quickly pulled himself upright onto the branch and looked around. The Shadows who had caught hold of him earlier were nowhere to be found. A scream pierced the air behind him and he spun around. Nicole was above him swerving in a figure eight around two trees, trying to shake off multiple Shadows.
One of the Shadows didn’t maneuver as well as the others and flew into a branch and consequently, dissipated. The scene that had just played out before him gave Alex an idea. He stood up on the branch and flew toward the Shadows. They quickly noticed he was behind them and half of them flew after him while the other half stayed on Nicole.
Alex flew violently at trees and branches, missing them by a hair. He swung his head around to see if his plan was working. Only a handful of Shadows were left. Alex watched in the corner of his eye as Shadows ran into the branches. When all of the Shadows that had been chasing him dissipated, Alex flew back to where he left Nicole.
The Shadows had overcome her and were surrounding her. A bright purple light much like the light radiating from the force field keeping them inside burst from the mass of Shadows. Alex lunged forward at the black ball and c
overed his eyes with his forearms to protect them from the light. Just as the light died down, Alex went through. He stopped flying and uncovered his eyes when he had yet to come in contact with anything solid. He turned to find the large ball of Shadows, along with Nicole, gone.
With Shadows no longer following him, Alex flew around the forest in search for his friends. He hoped at least one of them found the secret base Jack spoke of. Nicole had to be there. A loud alarm rang throughout the forest, followed by Jack’s booming voice.
“Half an hour!” Jack’s voice boomed.
Alex raced around the forest until he reached the end of the enclosure where it came in contact with the ground. There was no sign of Brooke, David, or Mark.
“Mark! Brooke! Anyone there?” Alex cupped his hands and shouted at the top of his lungs. There was no answer. Alex composed himself and hovered in the air, completely still. He closed his eyes and strained his ears, blocking out the sound of his breathing and his heart. All was quiet. Alex listened as the sounds of the forest drifted up to him. He pushed the noises aside and listened for something, anything, else. A few minutes passed and Alex sighed in irritation. Then, he heard it. The faint whisper of a familiar voice.
Alex flew silently but quickly through the forest as he followed the sound of the voice. The voice grew louder and louder until it sounded as if the source was directly under him. Alex looked down to a big black square elevating off the forest floor. He slowly descended feet-first toward the square, his jacket flapping in the wind. The closer he neared the square the more he could make out what it was. A cage.
When Alex realized what it was, he flew over to a tree opposite of it and squatted down on a branch to see what was inside. Inside the cage were Brooke, Mark, David, and Nicole. Mark was pacing around the cage, while David sat cross-legged on the ground, poking at the dirt with a stick. Brooke was leaning her head on one knee while the other was stretched out, and Nicole was doing a handstand out of boredom.
Alex scanned the area for any nearby Shadows before jumping down and walking over to the cage.
“Alex!” Mark exclaimed in surprise as he saw Alex walking toward them.
“Where are the other Shadows?” Alex asked.
“They flew off,” Nicole replied as she dropped her feet and returned to a standing position.
“I’m going to get you out. What is this cage made out of?” Alex placed his hands on the bars.
“We think it’s made out of the Shadows,” Brooke tipped her head up toward the roof of the cage.
“Can you cut it open or something?” asked David.
“I don’t think so.”
“Can you try?”
Alex sighed. “I can give it a shot. But I don’t think this will work. It’s just too easy.” Alex unsheathed his sword as his friends backed up to the far end of the cage. Alex positioned his body and swung his sword hard into the solid bars. The bars swirled into smoky clouds at the points Alex hit before re-forming themselves.
“I thought so,” Alex commented, sheathing his sword once again.
“Alex, watch out!” Brooke suddenly shouted and pointed behind him. Alex spun around in time for multiple Shadows to barrel into him and send him crashing to the ground. He grimaced and stood up again only to be knocked back down. The Shadows began piling themselves on top of him in a heap. They’re trying to lock me in the cage the same way they locked the others up.
Alex shot through the dog pile of Shadows and shot up toward the sky. Four groups of Shadows flew after Alex at increasing speed. He dropped as two groups collided with another and disappeared. More masses of Shadows soon took their place. Forming another idea, Alex flew and hovered directly on top of the black square roof of the cage. He stopped hovering and let gravity take over his body, dropping to the roof of the cage. As he fell, he turned so he was facing the Shadows and his back was to the cage.
The Shadows were close behind. Alex fell rapidly and with every second he fell, the closer he neared the ground. The Shadows soon covered the distance between each other and they were on top of him in no time. Alex flew out once he was only an inch from the cage roof and came in contact with the ground. Alex skidded to a stop, all the while creating a trail of dirt leading from the cage to where he lay.
The remaining Shadows were unable to pull up in time and hit the top of the cage with a thud. The Shadows along with the cage disappeared. Alex stood up and brushed off dirt on his pants as his friends rushed over.
“Nice one! Now we need to get out of here!” Mark patted Alex’s shoulder. Alex looked Mark in the eye and pointed up toward the field.
“Already got that covered,” Alex smirked. Up above was a hole in the shape of a square right above where the cage was.
“I saw it as I fell,” Alex said.
“Why hadn’t we seen that before?” David asked.
“Probably because you’re blind,” laughed Brooke.
“You were there with me!” David shouted. Brooke laughed even harder. Alex jumped high into the air and began to fly up toward the gaping hole in the purple enclosure. The others soon followed and they were all flying side by side. Alex kept his eyes trained on the gaping hole and smiled. But his smile didn’t last long. The hole began to close and shrink smaller and smaller. Alex gasped as a voice boomed through the trees.
“One minute!” Jack’s voice gave them a jump scare.
“Hurry! Before it closes!” Brooke shot up into the hole and held it open with her body wedged in between. The force of the field was stronger than Brooke thought and it continued to close in on her, only slower. Beads of sweat formed on Brooke’s forehead as she gritted her teeth.
“Now!” she shouted. One by one, David, Nicole, Mark, and Alex zoomed through the rapidly closing opening. As Alex shot through, he grabbed the back of Brooke’s shirt and yanked her through. Brooke did somersaults in the air before she finally regained her balance.
“You looked like a balloon!” David laughed.
“If it weren’t for me, you would be stuck down there right now. I wouldn’t laugh,” Brooke huffed, crossing her arms in frustration. David stopped laughing and placed his hand on her arm.
“You’re right. Thank you,” David said. A hint of sarcasm lingered in his voice.
“Yes, thank you, Brooke. You did well,” said Jack as he hovered above their heads and clapped his hands together.
“You aren’t even surprising anymore,” Alex complained.
“It really is too bad you couldn’t complete this task any sooner. And to make it worse all but one of you were captured.” Jack looked down on them with accusing eyes.
“We still made it, though! We still completed it on time!” Nicole pointed out.
“Yes, but that wasn’t exactly the goal.”
“Then what was?”
“Efficiency. Even though you all made it out in time you were still caught. I could have easily commanded my Shadows to destroy you on the spot. When you face similar situations like this, other people won’t be so sympathetic. Do you understand?” Refusing to answer Jack’s question, they all bowed their heads in defeat. As Alex bowed his head, he caught a strange movement in the corner of his eye. Alex spun around in alarm and scanned the trees but saw nothing. He turned back around and was surprised to find that no one had noticed his actions or the odd movement.
“Is that all for today?” Alex asked.
“Yes, it is,” Jack replied.
“When you are all done moping, you can meet me back down at camp.” Alex turned to go but was stopped by Nicole.
“Of course, you don’t feel guilty, you didn’t get captured.”
Alex stopped cold in his tracks. He turned and faced Nicole. “No, I didn’t, but I failed anyway. We are friends, and we are a team. We should have been working together, and I failed you. I shouldn’t have let you get captured. That was on me, and I’m so
rry. Next time, we will work together. I promise you, this won’t happen again,” Alex said hoarsely.
Before they could respond, Alex dove beneath the trees, desperate for a moment to breathe. They were all tired and stressed and missing their families. And it’s not like they are chased by flying Shadows everyday. He felt guilty. He let his friends down, leaving them trapped with no way out. Again. He made a promise to himself, no matter what happened, he would get them through this. He would get them out and he would get them home.
Alex flew back to the cliff, leaving his friends hovering in the air. Alex landed on the very edge of the cliff and looked down at the water below. He may have almost drowned in it before, but now it didn’t seem so frightening. A flash of black dashed across the surface of the water before disappearing beneath the cliff.
Alex hesitated as his body loomed over the edge. The feeling of gravity over-taking him and sending him into the depths sent a shiver through his spine. He jumped when the dark figure appeared once again. Alex considered jumping down when he realized he had something that he didn’t have last time. He could fly! He could lower himself down just as easily as coming up. Before he could think about the subject any longer, he leaned over the edge and allowed gravity to take over once again.
Half way down, Alex took off and returned to the surface of the water, hovering over it. Alex reached down to feel the freezing cold water but was shocked to find it oddly warm. He looked at the large jagged rocks that stuck out from the ocean. The waves were not crashing up against them, for there were no waves at all. The ocean remained patiently still.
“Alex! Where are you?” Brooke called from the field, interrupting Alex’s thoughts. Alex flew up and stopped just under the edge of the cliff, hidden from sight. He looked out at the field where he witnessed his friends running around, frantically searching for him. When all of their backs were turned, Alex shot up and over to the woods. From there he walked out onto the tall grass of the field.
The Abnormals: Book One Page 20
