Infestation

by Heidi Lang

  “Glad to hear it.” He let his gaze move off her, studying the rest of them. “All of you had an exciting initiation yesterday. Everyone still on board for this program?”

  Nods and a few murmured “yeahs” filled the room.

  “Good, good. I won’t keep you here long, then. Just a few quick items and you can get on with your day.” He paced slowly across the room, drawing their eyes like a magnet. “You may be wondering why, exactly, I’ve chosen you for this internship. Some of you are great students.” He glanced at Nate. “Some of you are not.” This time his gaze landed on Blake, who turned almost as red as his hair. “But all of you have a certain special… quality. A talent that will allow you to complete a very important task for me. For all of humanity, really.”

  “What task?” Rae asked.

  Patrick stopped pacing. “My department is in the middle of a scientific breakthrough. It will permanently alter the way we view energy and will transform this planet forever. But… in order to make it work, I need a group of students to complete a crucial mission. A secret mission. So secret that most of the people at Green On! don’t even know about it.”

  Rae found herself leaning forward, barely breathing.

  “And… it’s dangerous.” Patrick looked at each of them, his gaze heavy. Rae felt it pressing against her skin and shivered.

  “Why students, then?” Blake asked.

  “All will be revealed in due time. But first I need to decide who deserves the right to go.”

  Rae blinked, confused. She glanced around the room. Everyone else looked just as bewildered as she was. Except for Vivienne, who didn’t seem at all surprised.

  “Oh, yes,” Patrick said. “I only have space for four students on this mission. In order to be considered for one of those coveted spaces, you’ll first need to master using your hazmat suits. I understand that Doctor Nguyen helped you into them at your lab tour. I have had them delivered here to this room today—spend the rest of this class period testing them out, if you would. They will be crucial for this mission.”

  A mission where hazmat suits were crucial? Rae felt a thrill of excitement that might have been terror uncurling inside her stomach.

  “I’ve also asked that you all be excused from your normal science classes. You’re to report back here instead, where I’ll have various tasks written on the board for you to complete. I want you to become proficient at taking samples, studying slides, writing out detailed reports. All the boring tasks that make up a scientist’s normal daily life.”

  “Fun,” Nate whispered. He sounded serious.

  “But the most crucial quality, the thing that will be of the utmost importance in my mission, will be your keen observation skills. And in order to determine who is best suited at that, I’m going to have a contest.” Patrick grinned. “A little healthy competition always leads to better results. I see you’re already divided into two groups, so let’s go with that.”

  Vivienne glanced over sharply at Alyssa. “Wait, can’t we choose—”

  “Now, now, Ms. Matsuoka. No arguing.” He gave her the kind of look a parent gives a small child, the kind that says, “don’t make me count to three,” and Vivienne went quiet. “The winning team gets to go on the mission. The losers settle for being my alternates.” The way he said the word “alternates” made it clear he really meant “failures.”

  “What’s the competition?” Rae asked.

  “It’s simple, really. I want my winning team to be capable of seeing what is right in front of them. A problem that no one else notices. And then to be proactive in fixing that problem, whatever it takes. So.” Patrick spread his hands wide. “First step: find something hidden in plain sight.”

  “Something hidden?” Blake said. “Like a mystery?”

  “Exactly, Mr. Crowley. A mystery. This town has plenty of them, so it shouldn’t be hard. Find one, and solve it.” He paused. “And in case the opportunity to be part of my groundbreaking research isn’t enough motivation, all members of the winning team will earn a full-ride scholarship to the university of their choice.”

  Nate stood up straighter, his hands gripping the edge of the desk.

  “There will be other rewards too,” Patrick continued. “Work hard for me, and I’ll work hard for you.” He glanced at Rae. “I’ll also grant the winners a favor. Anything within my power.” He gave her a small nod, and she felt the hidden meaning in those words. If she won, then he’d help her find her dad. If she didn’t… she wasn’t sure what he’d do. Go back on his original promise? She frowned. That didn’t seem fair at all.

  “Good luck, everyone,” Patrick said. “I’ll see you all very soon.”

  After he left, Rae turned to Vivienne and Nate. “What do you guys think?”

  “I think being the alternates works for me,” Nate said.

  Rae frowned at him.

  “What? Did you not hear the man? Dangerous, top-secret mission?” He shook his head. “Like I want to volunteer to go first for that. But…” He sighed. “I do want that scholarship. So I guess we’d better go for it.” He glanced at the other team already forming their own huddle. “It’s not fair, though. We have one less person on our team.”

  “I think Patrick is hoping someone else will join us,” Vivienne said.

  Rae thought of Caden and his unique abilities. She knew exactly who Patrick wanted to join them. “He can hope all he wants. I’m pretty sure it’s just going to be the three of us.” She tapped her desk. “So, any ideas?”

  6. CADEN

  Caden’s sketchbook lay open on his lap in front of him, the blank page daring him to draw something, anything, but he just couldn’t seem to focus on art lately. His last sketch had been eyes, which he used to love drawing, but now they just gave him nightmares. So he had torn out that page and hadn’t been able to create anything new since then.

  Today looked like it was going to be no different.

  Rae wasn’t on the bus, and neither was Vivienne. Which meant… what? That they were at Green On! again?

  It didn’t matter. It wasn’t his business. Rae had made her choice. And now he’d made his—to not get involved. Whatever she was up to, it had nothing to do with him. He had enough problems of his own.

  He pressed the tip of his pencil into the page, his thoughts drifting away from Rae and zooming in on his brother.

  Last night Aiden had been too tired to talk about his experience. He hadn’t explained how he’d escaped the Other Place, or why he was wearing a Green On! uniform, or who he was hiding from. He’d promised them all an explanation today when Caden got home from school and their dad got home from work.

  Caden’s pencil snapped, the tip rolling off the page and onto the floor of the bus. He blinked, finally noticing the swirling darkness he’d drawn, graphite covering every square inch of the once-white page like storm clouds bubbling across a summer sky. It felt about right. Sighing, he closed his sketchbook and put it and the broken pencil away, then stared blankly out the window until the bus rolled to a stop outside his house. He blinked. There were two people there, standing at the bottom of his driveway. His brother, and…

  And Ava, Rae’s older sister.

  She was laughing at something Aiden was saying, her eyes half closed, mouth open. Caden almost forgot how charming his brother could be, how much everyone seemed to like him. Yet another way the two of them were so different.

  “Hey, kid! You getting off my bus or what?” the driver barked.

  Caden got off, his stomach a tangled knot, like he’d forgotten to study for a test and now found out it would be worth half his grade. Aiden glanced up. He was wearing one of their dad’s nicer button-down shirts and had scrubbed all the dirt from his face, leaving a couple of small scratches visible on his left cheekbone. His face still looked too skinny, but the deep shadows were gone from under his eyes. He looked… healthy. Vibrant, even. Like the old Aiden. Not like the ghostly, sickly version Caden had been haunted by the past few weeks.

 
Aiden put on his biggest smile, like he was genuinely pleased to see Caden, but then he’d always been a good actor. No way was he going to let it go that Caden had pushed him into a hellish dimension.

  Caden clutched the protective talisman he wore around his neck and made himself walk over.

  “Welcome home,” Aiden said cheerfully. “Have you met our delightful neighbor?”

  Ava lifted a hand in greeting. Long, wavy brown hair tumbled around her shoulders, framing an oval face with wide brown eyes and full lips. She looked like Rae, only older, and—Caden had to admit—prettier. Rae’s face was all sharp angles and determined chin, whereas her sister had softer features but the same big doe eyes.

  He liked Rae’s face better.

  Stop it, he told himself firmly. “We’ve met,” he said. “Hi, Ava,” he added, trying to be polite despite the racing of his heart. He didn’t know what his brother was playing at, but he was sure Aiden was up to something. Why was he out of the house? Last night he’d refused to even stand in front of a window.

  “Oh, that’s right,” Ava said. “We did meet. Just before you helped my sister with her breaking-and-entering scheme.”

  “Caden did that?” Aiden widened his eyes, clearly shocked, even though he’d been there in spirit, spying on Caden and Rae as they trespassed through Doctor Anderson’s house. “My little brother, a criminal?”

  “Don’t hold it against him. Rae can be very persuasive.”

  Aiden grinned. “I look forward to meeting her.”

  Caden could feel the tangled knot in his stomach freezing into a hard lump as Ava invited him and his brother over for dinner sometime. She might not know what Aiden meant, but Caden knew.

  It was a threat.

  Caden remained silent until Ava walked across the street to her own house, vanishing safely inside. Then he turned on his brother. “What are you doing?”

  Aiden shrugged and started up the driveway.

  Caden went after him, grabbing his arm. “Stay away from the Carters.”

  Aiden turned, yanking his arm free, his face hard and angry. “Or you’ll do what?”

  Caden opened his mouth, then shut it, unsure.

  Aiden’s smile did nothing to soften his face. “That’s what I thought. You’re too tenderhearted. Don’t bother threatening me until you are willing to back it up.” A car sounded down the road, and Aiden glanced over, his shoulders hunching instinctively. He stalked the rest of the way up the driveway, moving quickly, Caden following a step behind.

  Aiden opened the front door and slipped inside, waiting until Caden closed the door behind them before his shoulders relaxed.

  “Where does Ava think you’ve been?” Caden asked.

  “She thinks I was volunteering with Doctors without Borders. I told her I couldn’t sit here a moment longer, thinking of all those poor sick people in the world and doing nothing, so I ran away to help. But then eventually they found out I was only sixteen and sent me home.” He chuckled. “I made that up on the fly, but I’m quite proud of it.”

  Caden shook his head. His brother had always been good at lying to make himself sound good. Caden was the only one who could usually see through those lies, as it was difficult to fool someone who could feel your emotions. Right now, though, he couldn’t feel anything from his brother. It was as if there were no one standing next to him at all.

  But he felt his mom’s energy, all nervous excitement as she rushed into view.

  “See, Mom?” Aiden said. “Back inside, safe and sound.”

  “I see that.” She gave him a big hug, something she hadn’t done since he was little. Then she turned to Caden and gave him a little pat on the back while Aiden smirked at him. “Come join me in the kitchen?”

  Caden slipped off his shoes and dropped his backpack by the door, then followed his mom and brother.

  His mom sat down at the small, round kitchen table, Aiden taking the seat across from her. “This is nice,” she said, sipping from her steaming brick-red mug.

  “This is wonderful,” Aiden agreed, picking up his matching mug. He stared over the top of it at Caden. “Well? Are you going to sit with us?”

  Caden hesitated. Already Aiden and his mom looked cozy and comfortable, like the past year’s absence had never happened. It was amazing how quickly his brother slid into his old life. And how fast Caden could go from “only son” back to “unnecessary extra.”

  Caden’s stomach twisted, but he kept his face neutral and pulled a chair back from the table, positioning it so he could leap out of Aiden’s reach and sprint to the door if needed.

  “You’re eyeing me like I’m some kind of unpredictable monster.” Aiden sighed. “Little brother, I promise, you don’t have to be afraid of me. I’m not mad at you.”

  “Aiden understands it wasn’t your fault,” their mom said, her voice just a little too eager. She was obviously trying hard to smooth over any awkwardness. We all know you didn’t really mean to almost kill your brother, just like he didn’t really mean to almost kill all of us by unleashing the monsters in an alternate dimension. Let’s let bygones be bygones, shall we? Caden almost laughed, it was so ridiculous. But in the end, he just sank into his chair, silent.

  His mom relaxed slightly. “Want some tea?” she asked. “It’s rooibos.”

  “That’s okay.” Caden wanted to keep his hands free. Was he being paranoid? He looked into Aiden’s smiling face and didn’t think so.

  The front door opened, and their dad rushed in, his arms full of balloons and a large flat cardboard box. “Sorry I’m late! I made a few stops on my way home.” He put the box down on the table and opened it with a flourish. A dozen jelly doughnuts lay nestled inside. Aiden’s favorite. “Welcome home, son.” His eyes glistened as he handed Aiden the balloons. They were brightly colored, a rainbow of red, orange, yellow, and green, with one in the middle in the shape of a star that said IT’S YOUR DAY TO SHINE in big bold letters.

  “Uh, thanks, Dad.” Aiden held the end of the balloons awkwardly, their strings all tied together in a large plastic clip.

  “They didn’t have any ‘nice job escaping a hellish dimension’ balloons, so I had to compromise.”

  Caden laughed, but Aiden didn’t even crack a smile, and neither did their mom. “Tough crowd, Dad,” Caden said.

  His dad shrugged but looked happier than he had in months as he sank into a chair. Caden could feel the contentment radiating off him like the steam off his brother’s mug. Strangely, this time it didn’t make him feel resentful. He’d gotten so used to his dad’s miasma of guilt and sorrow since Aiden vanished that he’d almost forgotten what his dad was like before that. It was nice to get a reminder.

  Aiden set the balloon clip down on the table and looked at the doughnuts.

  “Go ahead,” their dad said.

  “Maybe in a bit. I’m not hungry.”

  Caden gasped, his dad’s mouth dropped, and even his mom sat up straighter in surprise. Aiden had never in his life turned down a jelly doughnut. Aiden broke into a wide grin. “Just kidding.” He snagged a doughnut from the middle and ate the entire thing in three quick bites. “Mmm, better than I remembered.”

  Caden took a doughnut and ate it more slowly, trying not to make a mess. Powdered sugar and black clothing were a terrible combination.

  “So, Caden,” Aiden said.

  Caden almost choked on his doughnut. “Hmm?” he managed.

  “I hear you’ve started training to take over the family business.” Aiden licked the sugar from his fingers, watching him.

  Caden felt the mood at the table shift, his dad’s easy smile vanishing. He had blamed Aiden’s disappearance on his involvement in Paranormal Price. And he had blamed their mom for allowing that involvement. He wanted Caden to stay far away from all of it. Honestly, that was what Caden wanted too. He didn’t want to learn any more about his strange powers, or the family business, or the Other Place, or any of it. He just wanted to keep his head down, get through school, and eventual
ly move away from Whispering Pines. But he’d never been able to tell his mom that.

  “Um, just a bit,” he said, very aware of his dad’s weighted gaze and the simmering fury beneath it. Obviously his dad hadn’t known that his mom had begun that training with him. “But I guess I won’t have to do that anymore now that you’re back.” Caden felt a strange twinge of something. Regret, maybe? Or relief? He spent so much time analyzing the emotions of other people that he sometimes had trouble untangling his own.

  “Actually, I won’t be much help in that regard. Not anymore.”

  “What do you mean?” their mom asked.

  “Something happened when I was torn from the Other Place. My Price abilities, all my magic, is gone.”

  Shock swirled around Caden. He’d been bracing himself for Aiden to do something terrible to him to get revenge. And all this time his brother had been powerless. “Really?” Caden asked.

  Aiden nodded. He looked annoyed and resigned. Not angry. Not desperate. Just mildly inconvenienced. It was so unlike the brother Caden knew—the one who craved power more than anything—that Caden didn’t know what to think. Maybe Aiden had changed in his months sealed away, his priorities shifting.

  “I’m… sorry,” Caden said.

  “I imagine you’re also probably relieved.”

  Caden flinched but didn’t argue. Unlike his brother, he didn’t like to lie.

  “I think it’s time you told us the rest,” their mom said, her voice gentle but firm.

  7. RAE

  Rae took a huge bite of cheesy pizza.

  “Best idea ever right here,” Vivienne said, taking her own bite.

  Rae chewed happily, gazing around the Eastbury Mall’s tiny food court. In addition to Papa Joe’s Pizza, there was a Chinese food restaurant literally just called “Chinese Food,” never a good sign, a sandwich place called “Sub-a-Dub-Dub,” and an ice cream parlor called “Eye Scream” that reminded Rae uncomfortably of the Unseeing. A dozen greasy plastic tables and chairs clustered in the middle of the floor. Rae was pretty sure the greasiness was mandatory for all mall tables, and she tried touching theirs as little as possible.