by Lee Davidson
He gets no response.
“Great. See you all soon.” With that, he heads off the field.
“Hey, Willow, wait up!” Jackson yells from behind me.
“What’s up, Jack?”
“Listen, I’m really sorry about earlier.”
Earlier, earlier, earlier…what the heck happened earlier?
He’s still rambling when it hits me: the kiss.
“…to get weird between us. I mean, I can understand if it stirred some feelings for you, but you’re a married woman. Troy will—Oh no! Troy! He’s not going to hurt me is he? Oh jeez, I didn’t mean to—”
“Chill, Jack, it’s all right, and Troy will be fine. I’ll try my best to put my feelings to sleep.” I do a decent job of keeping a straight face, if I do say so myself.
Jackson brightens. “I owe you one! I really do. Thanks so much. I mean it.”
I purse my lips. “Mmm hmm.”
“And for the record, you’re a pretty good kisser yourself.”
Oh gosh, I’m gonna blow. “Thanks, gotta run!” I pick up my pace faster than his short legs can carry him. When I’m out of earshot, I crack up. At the same time, I want to scrub my tongue with bleach.
Once I’m through the courtyard doors, I jog to the target that catches my interest. “Yo, Elliott!”
He stops and waits for me in the middle of the lobby while I snake my way through the crowd.
“Hey, how you doin’?”
He shrugs.
“You know this is about…” it’s too hard for me to say her name, “your sister, right?”
I immediately regret asking the question. When he finally nods, I nod with him.
“Are you cool with doing this?”
He takes a breath and shoves his hands into his pockets. “Do I have much of a choice?”
“You always have a choice, El. Are you going to be able to do this?”
Instead of answering, he asks, “Are you?”
I squeeze the jewel on one of my dreads until it stabs into my thumb. “It’s going to keep her alive.”
“Jonathan says this is the right thing, that this is the only way. We have to trust him.” The guys sounds an awful lot like he’s trying to talk himself into something.
“He could find someone else if you think—”
“How could I say no? She’s my sister. I want to see her again,” he pauses. “Their bond was strong, Willow. Really strong.”
I reach out and rub his forearm. “I know.”
He chews on his lip for a few seconds. “I guess I’ll see you later, then?”
“Looks that way.”
Taking the scenic route back to my room, I use the time to convince myself that I shouldn’t go see Grant. This turns out to be easy because I don’t know how I’d face him.
Will I ever be able to face him again?
“Hey, Willow.”
I almost run head-on into Trina. “Sorry, I’m out of sorts today. You’re looking better.”
Trina smiles. “Programming is going well, though it’s exhausting.”
“I hear you. How’s your brother?”
“I haven’t met him yet. I’m still in the process of getting my memories back.”
“That’s running smoothly, then?”
“It is. Programming is wild, huh?”
“It’s definitely that. Life on the other side is good.” I think about Troy. “It’s a funny thing, how much we fight against the change to defend our Satellite life, but then we get our memories back and everything changes. At least it did for me. I didn’t realize how much good stuff my head was missing until I went through Programming. When I met Troy here, my world became whole. I felt good. Really, really good. I know it will be the same for you.”
“Do you still feel good?” Trina’s forehead creases. “I don’t mean to pry, but you seem sad today.” She smiles, but it’s an empathetic grin. “You were never like this when we trained.”
“Today is…” I’m not sure how to finish. Boy, I’m off all right; I’m never at a loss for words.
Trina rubs my arm. “It’s none of my business. Just know I’m here if you need anything.”
“Thanks. I’d better get going. Good luck with the rest of Programming. You’ll have a lot of catching up to do with your brother. Enjoy it, sister. There’s nothing better.”
As I walk away, my thoughts shift back to the daunting task ahead. Once in my room, I sit on the rug by my sofa, ready to clear my guilty mind. My muscles relax as soon as I close my eyes and the ocean fills my view. The waves crash against angular chunks of granite, occasionally spraying me with cold water. My muscles relax further. I inhale the salty air and bring myself back a smidgeon early, knowing a quick conversation with Troy will get my mind in the right place better than coding.
I say hello to the gamers on my way out and weave quickly through the mazing corridors of Programming. “Good day friends,” I mumble to the walls when I reach my own hallway.
My stomach summersaults when I enter my paradise. The sky is hazy, making the colors duller than normal. The air here is similar to my coding destination and I breathe in the smell of the northeastern coast.
“Babe?” I yell into the quiet house, dropping my bag on the stone foyer floor. I walk into our bedroom where the sheets are still tangled from earlier.
The noise of a coughing motor cuts through the silence. Bingo. I use the French doors in our bedroom and follow the curved granite path through the backyard.
The weathered barn door is slid open to expose most of Troy’s shop. An overhead light shines on him and my breath hitches. I don’t care for the car, really, but seeing him like this, covered up to his elbows in grease and twisting a wrench in the innards of the old Chevy, gets my heart racing.
He catches me staring and his voice carries over the sputtering engine. “Hey babe!” He wipes his hands on the bandana he’s taken from his back pocket before reaching through the driver’s side window. A second later, the car is silent.
“Sorry, I’m a mess.” His gray eyes take inventory of my body as he walks toward me. “It’s a shame I can’t touch you when you look that good.”
I lean over and kiss him, lingering. When I pull back, his smile is seductive.
“I could go wash up real quick,” he offers.
“Nah, I can’t stay long.”
“It’d only take a second.”
I kiss him again. “It’s tempting, but it would take more than a second.”
“You’re right,” his lips mumble against mine.
My teeth scrape against his when I smile before pulling back. “I need your advice.”
“I’m all yours. What’s up?” He uses the bandana to wipe more grease off his hands while he follows me to the oak tree beside the barn.
I sit on the wooden plank and grip the ropes of the swing. My boots kick around until dust clouds form while I attempt to skirt the real issue. “I kissed Jackson today.”
Troy rests his back against the wide tree and laughs.
“You’re handling this better than I thought.”
“If you’re going to cheat, you could at least chose someone,” he pauses, “taller.”
God love this man.
“So what’s really going on?” he asks.
“The guys blocked me into doing it,” I explain.
Troy’s smile doesn’t crinkle his eyes like it usually does and he stops wiping his hands. “What’s really going on with you?”
“Jonathan’s put me and the Elites on a super-secret mission.”
“So you can’t tell me about it?”
I roll my eyes. “Of course I can tell you about it.”
“But you just said—”
“Babe, around here, confidentiality died with the Egyptians. Anyway, you’re my husband so technically it doesn’t count.”
He thinks about this and nods. “All right, shoot.”
“Just b
etween us?”
He huffs out a chuckle. “You’re really something, you know that?”
“Stop hitting on me and listen!” He’s impossible sometimes.
“Sorry. I’m all ears.”
“Tate’s been trying to reconnect with Grant, and it’s been working. Jonathan just finished training us for an assignment that involves breaking that connection. I don’t even know if it will work.” I kick at the dirt and squint up at him. “I don’t want it to work.”
Troy nods, but says nothing.
“I gave Jonathan my word that I would try. I can’t go back on that, but I feel like we’re messing with fate, or nature, or something. I don’t know. Their connection is so strong. Grant didn’t forget her like he was supposed to, and now, even though she’s erased his memories, he’s still weirdly drawn to her. She won’t let him go unless we intervene, I know that, but what if we’re doing the wrong thing? What if I’m doing the wrong thing?”
“You rarely doubt Jonathan.”
I shake my head.
“Why now?”
I shrug. “Instinct, I guess.”
“You’ve always had great instinct,” Troy agrees. “What’s your biggest fear about this whole thing?”
I take a slow, deep breath. “That it will work.”
“And if it does?”
I kick the dirt harder this time and say nothing.
“You forgot me.” Even though his delivery was sugar sweet, Troy’s words cut through me like a searing knife.
“It wasn’t my fault!”
“Whoa, that’s not my point. What I mean is, you forgot me because it was necessary. Here we are, though, back and better than ever.”
I want to smile with him, but can’t. “The way I forgot was natural, like all Satellites. The way we’re planning on severing Grant and Tate’s connection doesn’t feel right.”
A gray haze blurs the horizon line between the sky and the mountains. Troy remains patient and, ultimately, I expose my real fear. “What if we destroy their connection forever?”
† † †
Seeing Troy didn’t make me feel any more certain about my decision like I had hoped it would. Even my balance feels off, like I’m walking a tightrope in a hurricane.
Get in game mode, Willow, I scold and sit on the bleachers with the others.
“Everything all right?” Lawson whispers.
I nod. It doesn’t feel as much like a lie if I don’t use words.
“Welcome back,” Jonathan says. “You all look well. I trust you have coded and are ready for the challenge ahead.”
His audience is eerily silent, but, unlike me, the others probably stay button-lipped because they’re remembering the pain from the block.
“We need to discuss the logistics before your departure. I have instructed Liam and he will be there waiting for you. We are going to need an open space so you can surround Tatum accordingly. As luck would have it,” he grins at his joke; there’s no such thing as luck and we all know it, “Tatum is going to be in the wildlife area close to her home this afternoon. Elites, Tatum stepping into the open field will be your cue to surround her. Billy, you’re the loudest so I would like you to count. Just like you trained, on Billy’s count of three, your energy should be collected and you will summon the Haze. Then, Billy will count to three in his head before you all transfer the thought. As practiced, the thought needs to be sent loudly and in unison.”
Jonathan pauses long enough to intensify the suspense.
“‘Let go of Grant before you destroy him.’ These are the words that must be repeated.”
My breath is forced out like I’ve just been flogged.
Before she destroys him? This isn’t about Tate at all.
Jonathan’s mouth is moving, but I can’t hear him. I can’t hear anything. This isn’t right, it can’t be. I squeeze my eyes closed to fight back the stinging tears. When I open them, Jonathan’s lips start to produce sound again.
“…will block your partner awake. We will convene back here when the assignment is complete. I trust each of you will perform to the best of you ability.” Jonathan focuses on me when he says this. Apparently we’re over the subtleties. “I am optimistic about the outcome. Willow, the necklace please.”
I get up with the others and force my fingers to work, digging slowly through my bag. We form a tight circle and the eleven of us loop a finger around the chain.
“Good luck,” Jonathan says.
I refuse to say “thanks” like the others. I gave him my word and intend to follow through, but I don’t have to be all cool about it.
“Displace,” I whisper.
22. Bloody hell
Grant
“Hey man, got a minute?” I stay calm by keeping my hands in my back pockets, but continue to pace the deserted hallway. “I really need to talk to someone.”
My banging heart must be working to my advantage because, after a double take, Liam approaches me when he steps out of the elevator. “Bloody hell. You all right?”
“No, I don’t think I am.”
My hands are shaking when they come out of my pockets. Liam’s eyes dart left and then right like he’s measuring the five-foot distance on either side of us. He steps back until he hits the gold elevator door. “What’s up, mate?”
I jump towards him, knowing his white-knuckled fist could be wrapped around his tocket, giving him a way to flee. I pounce before he can displace and slam him against the gold door.
“What’s going on?” I bark two inches from his nose.
He’s either in shock or playing dumb; I’m too ramped up to tell which.
I get a better grip on both of his shoulders. “She told me something was about to happen.”
“Who?”
“Tate.” When I say this, Liam’s eyeballs are about to spring out of their sockets.
I loosen my grip long enough for his muscles to relax under me and then I slam him into the elevator door again. “Get your tocket.”
My volume makes him flinch and he swallows loudly before shaking his head.
“Now!” After taking a few seconds to realize his options are slim, he digs into his jeans.
“Open it!” I say, glaring at his fisted hand.
Gauging the size of the silver ring, I try to work out the logistics. I grab his hand so the ring is pressed against both our palms. “Displace before I break you!” I growl through clenched teeth, digging my fingers deeper into his knuckles.
He struggles under me, but my hold is too strong. The angry expression I’m wearing must tell him how determined I am. I will break him if necessary.
“Displace,” he finally says.
23. This whole time, you were fooling us all
Willow
We fall through the grass and plummet into the atmosphere like a circle of skydivers, eleven of us connected to Tate’s thin chain. When we land in a clearing, our feet don’t disturb the loose ground like they would if we had any real weight. We’re invisible, nothing but ghosts about to cause some serious damage.
“What the— What’s going on?” a panicked voice shouts loud enough for us all to hear. A panicked voice I know too well.
I spin around and my eyes dart to Liam. “What’s he doing here?” I demand in a pitch even I don’t recognize.
“He ambushed me! There was nothing I could do!” Liam yells back, out of breath.
I’m equally frantic and staring at Grant. “We’ve got to get him out of here!” Oh God, this can’t be happening.
Grant walks from the side of the lake into the clearing, more pallid than I’ve ever seen him. “You’ll never catch me,” he says dryly. “Trust me, Liam’s been trying. You gonna tell me what’s going on, or what?” His eyes race around our large group; his peers, most of them his friends.
“You need to get out of here.” I hope he can hear the warning in my voice. “Please, Grant.”
Tate crosses the clearing fro
m the opposite direction carrying a tackle box. She’s going fishing? Suicidal my—
“Willow! Tell me what’s going on!” Grant’s eyes are on Tate and his voice is shaky.
The Elites have already circled her, conveniently positioning themselves so I don’t have to move.
“What should I do?” Liam asks.
He can’t be here! “Grant, please go!”
“What are they doing?” Grant zeros in on me and his brown eyes are filled with terror.
“One…” Billy has started the count. “Two…”
My tears pool, making the purple translucent ball in my vision blurry. “I’m so sorry.”
“Three!”
“Haze!” our six voices yell together.
The filters pour out of each of us and merge around Tate. I try to blink my tears away so I can see, ignoring Grant’s frantic shouts while Billy’s voice counts in my head. Grant sprints to Tate, disappearing into the rapid waterfall of our filters.
Confused by the sapphire blue cloud that emanates from the waterfall, I try to concentrate. There’s so much noise, I almost lose the thought.
But I don’t.
The words, my words, everyone’s words, bounce around my skull like thunder. Let go of Grant—I’m lifted into the air with the force of a tornado before I can complete the sentence.
† † †
Wake up! Wake up! Wake up!
I open my eyes in hopes that the screaming in my head will stop.
Rigby is standing over me and the dark expression he’s wearing doesn’t fit him. “She’s coming around,” he yells over his shoulder.
I squeeze my head with both hands, afraid that my pulsing brain is puncturing my skull. My whole body aches when I sit up.
“Did it work?” I’m afraid to hear the answer that I already know. Elites don’t fail.
Rigby nods just once.
“Where is everyone?” I ask, wondering the same thing about myself.
Jonathan appears at my side and hands me a cup of coffee. He sets it on the end table when I don’t take it. “They are resting in their quarters.”
