by K. J. McPike
“Can I make you something?” Kai offered. “I don’t know what they have, but I’m sure I could—”
Mom’s astral form drifted into the room just then, making both of us jump. “Hello,” she said, an apologetic smile on her silver face. “I did not mean to scare you.”
“It’s okay.” I dropped onto the cushioned area coming out of the wall as I willed my throbbing heart to calm.
“Wait, how are you in here?” Kai frowned at her transparent form. “I thought the house is blocked.”
“It is blocked,” she said. “But there is a voice-activated scan for those who live here. Once the door is open, astral forms can enter, too. The crystal matter that repels astral energy is mixed into the metal of the walls and the door so they cannot be penetrated, but one can move within the barrier.”
“So it’s like a cage?” Kai asked.
Mom nodded. “Exactly. There is a common area between our homes that is not blocked so that we may come and go, and so that others may visit.” Seeing our confused expressions, she gestured for us to follow as she drifted back the way she’d entered.
Kai and I moved after her, passing through a small room that appeared to be a kitchen. Wooden compartments curved along the far wall above a ceramic sink that was shaped to fit the bend, too. Next to them were shelves of all different sizes that held dishes, a large bowl with what looked like misshapen purple cucumbers inside, and a collection of skinny brown containers similar to one Mom had fed us from last night.
Just past where the shelves ended was a small room with no furniture. It curved into a set of metal double doors that made me think of an elevator.
Mom reached up to pull a small wooden rectangle away from the wall. Beneath it was a pane of glass not much bigger than the slides we used in the microscopes in my biology class. “You can see who is visiting through here,” she explained.
I stepped up beside her to peek through it. Just outside the door was a seating area attached to the wall just like the one in this home. “Neat.” I moved out of the way so Kai could look through the glass.
“If you press and hold the panel closed, the doors will open to let visitors inside,” Mom said.
Kai studied the piece of wood, pushing it back into place against the wall. He held it down, and sure enough, the doors slid open.
“Cool.” He turned back to Mom. “So you guys do just about everything in astral form, huh?”
“Many things, yes.”
“How can you stay in astral form so long?” I asked. “Doesn’t it drain you? Or is that just a semmie thing?”
She paused to think. “I suppose we are simply used to it. We cannot go from place to place in our physical bodies. But then, that is probably by design. When we use our astral forms, the government has more knowledge and control over where we go.”
I frowned. “What do you mean?”
“The transposers in Alea are monitored so the government is aware of who comes and goes,” she replied. “They only want us to switch from our astral forms to our physical bodies if they know about it. When we leave work, we must switch at the main transposer and take their transportation to our homes. They transport our physical bodies right to our doors.”
I swallowed hard, imagining being carried all the way up to the top of these building-sized trees. “So you’re pretty much trapped in your own house?”
“Not if you find ways around it.” Mom winked. “Thankfully, I have friends in convenient positions.”
“Friends like Solstice?” Kai asked, leaning against the wall.
“Careful!” Mom dove toward him and tugged his arm to get him away from the metal. “You nearly hit the panic button.”
“What?” Kai spun around, examining the place he’d been leaning. I hadn’t noticed it before, but there was an area on the wall that looked like a light switch without the lever.
Mom shifted her astral form to point to it. “If you press here twice, it will lock down the entire home until the Eyes and Ears arrive and investigate.”
“Because they can penetrate blocks?” I asked.
Before Mom could answer, a voice on the other side of the door said, “Xavia Vauhn.”
“Get back to the room,” Mom hissed, but the doors were already sliding open. Another astral form drifted inside, stopping short when she saw Kai and me.
“Hello,” she said cautiously, turning to look at Mom. Though her face was silver and transparent, I could see that it had the same heart shape as Mom’s, and similar delicate features.
My body went numb. I realized who the stranger was at the same time Mom asked, “What are you doing here, Mother?”
The already small space seemed to shrink as I stared at the Astralis in front of me. My grandmother.
She eyed Kai and me as if we might bite her. “I could ask you the same thing, Xiomara.”
“Kai, Lali, this is my mother, Xavia,” Mom said. “Mother, these are my coworkers.”
I forced a smile, but my thoughts were already racing through options for escape. Maybe Kai could project us into the bedroom since the block was only around the outside of the home. That might give us enough of a head start for him to get the others out through the balcony. But if Xavia hit the panic button, would that stop Kai from getting outside?
My grandmother didn’t take her eyes off us. “Senty said she saw you leave the lab in a hurry, but she did not mention that you had anyone else with you.”
“Senty must have missed them,” Mom answered smoothly.
“And why are you here in physical form?” Xavia fixed her gaze on me. “And in those clothes?”
I froze. I hadn’t considered that our clothes would give us away. My eyes darted to Mom for help.
“They are dressed to blend in for our visit to the other realm.” Mom’s astral face stayed calm, and I tried to make my expression match hers. She was a better liar than I could ever hope to be. “Arlo asked us to find more potential subjects in case Delta and Brendan react badly to the injections.”
“So you will all be traveling to the other realm together?” Xavia asked, her tone still suspicious.
“Yes,” Mom said.
Kai inched closer to me and wrapped his fingers around mine. “Actually, we were just about to head out.”
What? No. Xavia would expect us to have astral forms like hers and Mom’s. If she realized that Kai had no astral form or that mine was invisible, it would take her all of two seconds to realize we were semmies.
“We will leave as soon as I find different clothes to wear.” Mom drifted toward her room, and Kai tugged my hand as he started after her.
“You are hiding something, Xiomara Vauhn.” Xavia moved to where Mom had indicated the panic button, and I held my breath. “I knew you were behaving strangely this morning. Are you sneaking out captives? Do you know what that could mean for our family?”
“They are not captives,” Mom said.
Xavia scowled. “So you would not mind if I confirmed these two with Arlo?”
I nearly let out a yelp. If she called Arlo, we were finished.
“Mother, please.” Mom’s voice wavered. “Just let us get to work. We are already behind schedule.”
Xavia’s astral eyes hardened. “This is your last chance to tell me the truth. You will tell me, or your little guests will answer to the Eyes and Ears.” She held an arm out toward the panic button.
“This girl is my daughter!” Mom cried.
“What?” Xavia’s eyes shot back over to me, and I thought I might faint. “That is not possible.”
“They have come from the future, and I only want to help them find their way back to their time.” Mom positioned herself in front of Xavia, holding out her silver arms to shield Kai and me. “If you turn them over to the Eyes and Ears, they will find out she is a semmie with my DNA. Your DNA.”
Xavia’s hand shot to her mouth. “Your child would not be a semmie.” She spoke the last word as if it caused her physical pain.
“Y
ou cannot deny the resemblance,” Mom went on, floating closer to her mother. “What will you do if Arlo finds out?”
The woman huffed. “Xiomara Vauhn, so help me—”
“Leave us be,” Mom pleaded. “I will find somewhere else they can stay.”
“No. You are done associating with them. Cadon will see to it that they are dealt with properly.” Xavia pressed down on the wooden panel over the glass that looked into the common area, and the doors slid open.
“Mother, no!” Mom raced after her as she moved through the double doors, leaving me dumbfounded as I stared after them.
Kai pulled my arm, snapping me out of my daze. “We need to get out of here,” he said. “Cadon is my uncle’s full name. She’s gonna get Cade.”
My blood froze. I’d forgotten that Cade was Mom’s neighbor. I was sure the first thing he would do was try and drag us to the lab.
“Come on.” Kai tore past the kitchen and through the living area with me right behind him. He shoved open the door to the bedroom, and I dove inside, yanking the covers off my siblings.
“Guys!” I shouted. “Get to the balcony! We have to get out of here!”
Oxanna sat up, her sleepy eyes little more than slits. “What?”
“No time to explain.” Kai slammed the bedroom door shut and started for the ladder leading to the balcony. My brothers hopped up quickly, and Kala struggled to untangle herself from her blanket. I grabbed Oxanna’s arm, yanking her to her feet as Kai stepped through the small opening leading outside.
“Go one at a time,” I said, pulling my sister toward the far wall. “Line up and Kai will take you out of here.”
Ulyxses was the first to reach Kai. The two of them vanished just as Mom’s plea came from the living room: “Leave them alone!”
“Let him do his job,” Xavia barked, her shouts growing closer by the second. “They need to be disposed of.”
I gasped. Disposed of?
“Kai, hurry!” I yelled, my heart thundering as I watched him pull Dixon onto the balcony. Kala stepped outside as soon as they were gone, but Oxanna hesitated near the opening, her head snapping between our only way out and me. My eyes swept the room in search of something—anything—I could use to block Cade’s entry. But there was nothing. I flattened myself against the door, praying I could hold it until the others were safe.
“Your mother is right.” The voice on the other side sent a chill down my spine. Cade sounded exactly how I remembered. “They cannot be allowed to live.”
Someone shoved the door, nearly knocking me off balance. Oxanna screamed as I regained my footing. Digging my heels into the foamy material of the floor, I pressed my back against the door again just as another hit rocked the wood.
“Koldon, no!” Mom cried. Koldon? My blood raced even faster. How many of them were out there?
A loud thud echoed through the house. Then another.
“Xiomara Vauhn!” My grandmother’s cry rang out over the commotion. “Let go of him!”
Still keeping my body pressed against the door, I saw Kai’s head poke into the room. He waved frantically for Oxanna to join him on the narrow balcony, but she stood frozen, staring back at me.
“Go!” I ordered as Kai dove toward her and dragged her out of the room. At that same moment, something solid and cold shoved me to the floor. Landing on my hands and knees, I whipped my head back to see an astral form move halfway through the door. His see-through silver face sneered at me, but it wasn’t Cade’s. It must have been Koldon.
Sinking back through the wood, the Astralis moved out of view as I grabbed at the wall. Before I could push myself upright, the Astralis forced the door open and burst into the room.
Within seconds, he was upon me. He shoved me into the wall, pinning me against the metal. Adrenaline surged through me, and I brought my knee up as fast as I could. It slammed into his astral stomach, and pain radiated through my leg on contact. He hardly flinched.
“Do not fight me,” he whispered, bringing a small silver tube to my neck. I felt my heart stop. It was the same tranquilizer I’d seen them use on Dixon. “I can—”
Kai flashed into view, tackling Koldon to the ground before he could finish what he was saying. I clambered to my feet just as Mom flew into the room in a flash of silver.
“They are not a threat to us!” she screamed, but Xavia caught her around the waist. The rest of her protests blurred into static as I spotted the tranquilizer on the ground. Koldon saw it at the same moment. We both dove for it, and my body collided with his rock-hard astral form. Another shock of pain shot through me, and I fell to the side as he grabbed the silver tube.
Kai shouted my name. He lunged toward me, but Koldon spun around, catching him in the neck with the tranquilizer.
“No!” I cried, watching helplessly as Kai’s eyes rolled back. He fell to the floor, and my lungs collapsed.
Koldon turned on me next, and I staggered backward, spinning around in a feeble effort to run. He caught me effortlessly, and the sting of the needle told me it was all over.
“You will get rid of them discreetly?” I heard Xavia ask over Mom’s cries.
“Do not worry, Mrs. Vauhn,” Koldon said as the room around me started to fade. “I know just what to do with them.”
Chapter 14
Hidden
Humming. A woman was humming. Her voice broke into my consciousness as something cool and damp dabbed at my face. Dragging my eyes open, I squinted at her fuzzy outline standing over me.
“There you are,” she cooed. “Welcome back.” Her voice was warm, with a hint of a Midwestern accent, but I didn’t recognize it. Blinking hard, I waited for my eyes to make sense of the blurs around me. Where was I? Who was she? The haze over my mind lingered as I strained to remember. Then, all at once, the memories crashed into me.
Alea.
Mom’s house.
The attack.
The tranquilizer.
I sat bolt upright, nearly bumping into the woman. My eyes darted around the room, expecting to find the harsh metal walls of the lab. Instead, it was cinderblock that surrounded me.
“Whoa, take it easy, sweetie. You don’t wanna make yourself sick, now do ya?”
“Who are you?” I breathed. “Where’s Kai?” The room was just big enough to hold a few beds, and I spotted one with crumpled blankets. Had Kai escaped? Where were my siblings?
“My name’s Paris.” The woman dropped a cloth into the bowl near her feet, not seeming to mind when the water splashed onto her boots. “And your friend’s fine. He’s talking to Kole.”
I blinked at her. How long had I been unconscious? And why hadn’t Kai taken us out of here as soon as he woke up? He’d gotten everyone else to safety, but they must have been worried sick. We had to get to them.
“You’re safe here,” Paris assured me. “Promise.” Patting my leg twice, she stepped back from the bed. I finally took in the details of her plump, smile-worn face. Creases had etched their way into the skin around her eyes and along the sides of her mouth, but her blue eyes shone with a youthful energy. Her graying hair looked like it had been pulled into a ponytail, but most of it had since escaped. She took a paper cup from the end table beside my bed and held it out to me. “Drink this, and I’ll explain everything.”
Seeing the water slosh made me realize my tongue felt like it was glued to the roof of my mouth. Still unsure if I could trust this woman, I eyed the water in search of any indication that it wasn’t safe. Finding none, I took it from her. I gave the water a sniff just to be sure and gulped it down greedily.
“Thank you,” I said as she took the empty cup and set it back on the table.
“There now. I’ll go get your friend.” She moved toward the open door, her heavy frame clad in light wash jeans and a loose-fitting white shirt. Stepping out of the room, she called out, “She’s awake.”
Not two seconds later, Kai appeared in the doorway. He moved right past Paris and hurried to my bedside. “How’re you feeling
?”
“Confused,” I muttered. “Have you talked to my family? Do they know we’re—”
“Lali!” As if on cue, Oxanna appeared in the doorway, followed by Dixon and Ulyxses. They all jumped onto my bed, and some stubborn part of me waited for Salaxia to race into the room next, even though I knew she wouldn’t.
“We were so worried!” Oxanna threw her arms around me. “When you and Kai didn’t show up on the beach, I thought we were never going to see you again.”
Ulyxses wiggled his way between the wall and me and laid his head on my shoulder. “I vote no more scares for a while.”
“A long while,” Dixon agreed, taking my hand.
Kai’s mouth lifted on one side, but something behind his eyes held a darkness I couldn’t place. “I figured you’d wanna see them,” he said. “I brought them here right after I woke up.”
“Thanks,” I replied, wondering what had shifted in his demeanor.
“I’ll leave you to talk.” Paris slipped out of the room just as Kala walked in.
Keeping her pace controlled, Kala stopped a couple feet from the end of my bed and looked at me with something like a smile. I did my best to return it. “I am glad you are okay,” she said.
Before I could answer, a motion at the door caught my eye. A tall man with shaggy brown hair and bright green eyes walked into the room. He was in his physical body, and it took me a moment to recognize him as the Astralis who’d attacked us at Mom’s house. I shot forward off my pillows, ready to attack, but Kai put his hand on my shoulder.
“It’s not what you think,” he said.
“Well, what is it?” I panted, staring at Koldon. Why was everyone so calm when he’d just come after us at Mom’s house?
