Infestation

by Heidi Lang

  “Why?” Rae asked.

  Alyssa chewed her lip. “I’m not supposed to say.”

  “Whatever.” Vivienne yanked her locker open.

  Alyssa sighed. “Fine. But don’t tell anyone.” She glanced around the locker room. There were a few other girls from their team in there, but none of them were paying any attention to their huddle. Alyssa still lowered her voice. “Patrick promised me that, if my team wins, I can help him fix Jeremy.”

  Rae’s eyes widened. “Really? How?”

  “I don’t know the details, except that this top-secret mission we’re competing for is somehow related to a cure for all the kids whose eyes were taken.”

  “Patrick told you all that?” Vivienne said, surprised.

  Alyssa nodded. “It’s why I agreed to join the internship.” She closed her gym locker. “I’d better hurry. I’m supposed to meet Blake, Becka, and Matt now. Hopefully it’ll stop raining soon, or it’s going to be another long, wet evening.” She got dressed, then waved at them as she rushed out the door.

  “I wonder if Patrick promised everyone something different if their team won,” Vivienne said as she finished dressing.

  “Why? Did he promise you something?”

  Vivienne shrugged and closed her locker. “Hey, I just realized we’re already late. Will Ava leave without us?”

  “She’d better not.” But Rae got dressed quickly just in case and let her question drop. Obviously it wasn’t something Vivienne wanted to talk about.

  By the time she and Vivienne made it to the front of the school, Ava was already parked outside waiting for them. The rain slammed down so hard Rae could see it bouncing up again off the sidewalk. It looked very cold and very wet.

  “Ready for this?” Vivienne said.

  “Let’s do it.” They sprinted out the door and were immediately soaked, wind gusting around them, water sloshing down the pavement as they raced to the car. They pulled open the back doors and scrambled inside.

  “I can’t believe your coach had you running in this weather,” Ava said as they settled themselves in the back seat. “Hard-core.”

  “Yeah, she’s probably going on another run herself tonight,” Vivienne said. “She’s pretty intense.” She buckled her seat belt. “Her rule for practice is that as long as we haven’t lost our field to a sinkhole, we have to run. Rain or shine or sleet, or even tornado. Although there was that one time that practice was canceled because of the squirrels.”

  “Squirrels?” Rae buckled her own seat belt.

  “Two years ago, Lizzie Jones forgot about the rule of not wearing red.”

  “What did the squirrels do to her?” Ava asked. “On second thought, I really don’t want to know.” She checked her mirrors, then pulled out of the school parking lot. “Mom’s sleeping, by the way. She has a shift at the hospital tonight, so you’ll want to be quiet in the house.”

  “Sure, sure.” Rae could hear her phone vibrating angrily from her backpack and fished it out. “Hey, can squirrels even see red?”

  “The squirrels around here can… and they hate it.”

  Rae and Ava exchanged glances in the rearview mirror. Ava raised her eyebrows as if daring Rae to ask more questions.

  Rae decided not to. Instead, she opened her phone.

  “Rae! Rae!” Nate howled at her.

  “Nate! Nate!” she yelled right back. “Don’t scream in my ear. I can hear you. In fact, everyone in the car can hear you.”

  “Hi, Nate!” Vivienne called back.

  “Vivienne’s with you? I’ve been trying to get ahold of both of you for exactly twenty-two minutes now!”

  Rae took a deep breath. “You knew we were at cross-country practice.” At the end of the school day, Nate had volunteered to take a look at their bug poop while Rae and Vivienne trained. They’d had a whole discussion about it where he’d called them both “social loafers” and insisted he was carrying their whole team. If he was calling to complain about that again…

  “Yeah, sure,” Nate grumbled. “But I didn’t know that ‘cross-country practice’ was code for ‘radio silence.’ ”

  “Well, you’ve gotten ahold of us now. So, what’s up?” Rae did her best to keep her voice even and patient, although she was starting to see why even super-friendly Vivienne got irritable with the guy.

  “I prepared a few slides of the bug poop,” Nate said, “and when I looked at it closely, I realized the pattern is all wrong.”

  “Wrong how?” Rae asked.

  “I think you need to see it for yourselves.”

  “Well, that will be hard as we’re on our way home now,” Rae said.

  Ava sighed loudly. “I can drive you back to school if you need.” She put on her turn signal.

  “Can’t you just tell us?” Rae asked Nate.

  “I could get into technical details, but I’m sure it would be way over your heads.”

  Rae gritted her teeth. “Yes, yes, you’re very smart.”

  “Just spit it out already, Nathaniel,” Vivienne called out, annoyed. “How is it wrong?”

  “The poop was produced by something with a completely different organic makeup than it should have had.” He waited a beat, but Rae and Vivienne just looked at each other in silent confusion. “Do I have to spell it out? It means the bug you caught does not originate from Earth!”

  14. CADEN

  Caden drank his tea and listened to the rain outside, trying to ignore the truth.

  The emptiness he sensed inside Aiden was getting worse.

  He wanted to believe it was his imagination. But as his brother sat there across from him, idly flipping through pages in a copy of Whispering Pines: Historic Downtowns, Caden could feel that nothingness expanding outward, trickling past the outlines of Aiden’s body to erase the energy of everything around him.

  It was definitely different this afternoon than it had been the day Aiden returned. Then, Caden hadn’t been able to sense his brother at all. It had felt like a hole. A rip in the energy fields. Now, it felt like a desolation. Like Aiden was slowly obliterating the entire world.

  Caden shivered.

  “What’s wrong, dear brother?” Aiden glanced up. His expression was pleasant, his dark eyebrows drawn together in the picture of concern.

  “Nothing.” Caden took another sip of tea, feeling the warmth of it trailing down his throat and into his stomach. The heat did nothing to soothe him. What if his brother hadn’t left anything behind in the Other Place? What if the real problem was that he’d brought something else back?

  “I can tell you have questions.” Aiden’s long, elegant fingers plucked one of their mom’s business cards off the table. The candle embossed on the front caught the light, the words PARANORMAL PRICE written at the top in dramatic swirling smoke. Aiden tucked the card into the book and closed it before looking up. “Ask.”

  “How did you survive?” Caden blurted. “You were in the Other Place for nine months. You told me that the things in there were feeding on you. I saw them drinking your blood.” Caden pulled his mug closer, wrapping both hands around it. It had been an image impossible to forget, those questing, hungry tentacles tangling around his brother’s arms, his torso, his neck. The sound of Aiden screaming…

  Aiden tilted his head to the side. His hair was growing amazingly fast. Already it was long enough to frame his face in short, dark spikes. “I’ve often wondered the same thing, actually. I should be dead. I should have been dead long ago. And yet…” He spread his hands wide, the ring on his thumb gleaming. “Sorry to disappoint.”

  Caden watched the steam swirl across the surface of his tea. “I’m glad you’re not dead,” he whispered, and wondered if that were true.

  Aiden sighed. “What happened to us?”

  Caden blinked. “What?”

  “You and me. We used to be close. It was us against the rest of the world; we shared secrets, power, dreams… when did that change? When did you start hating me?”

  “I don’t hate you.�
� Caden wasn’t sure where this was going. Since when did his brother care how anyone felt about him? “I told you, I didn’t want to push you into the Other Place—”

  “This isn’t about that.” Aiden frowned. “Something happened before then. You started avoiding me.”

  Caden looked away. “I didn’t think you’d noticed.”

  “Just because I didn’t say anything didn’t mean it wasn’t obvious. I may have taught you how to hide your emotions from other people, but I can always tell.”

  Caden doubted that was true.

  “See, right there, you’re feeling skeptical.”

  Caden glanced at him. His brother smiled and raised his eyebrows. “Okay, fine,” Caden admitted. “You were right on that one.”

  “I’m generally right.” Aiden tapped his fingers against the book cover, a slow, methodical beat like a heart.

  “It was two years ago. The Zachary Mitchell incident.”

  Aiden stopped tapping. “Ah,” was all he said. He was quiet for a long moment. Caden wondered if his brother was remembering the sight of Zach’s face, red and raw and puffy, like a slab of uncooked hamburger, his eyes swollen with tears, blood leaking from his split lips. Please, he’d begged. Please, let me stop.

  In fifth grade, Zach had spent months trying to bully Caden, until one day Aiden decided it was time to put a stop to that. He’d used his powers to somehow take control of Zach’s body, making the younger boy slap himself in the face, over and over and over again.

  Caden didn’t like to think of it. It made him feel too many emotions at once. Fear of his brother, guilt that he’d helped cause this punishment, and, worst of all, triumph. Because Zach deserved to suffer, and part of Caden was glad to see it. That was why he’d started avoiding Aiden. He’d seen how easy it would be to become him.

  “I understand how you might have found that upsetting,” Aiden said into the silence now. “I was angry. I lost control of my better judgment.” He ran a hand through his spiky hair, a familiar gesture, one that Caden had imitated often enough for it to become his own habit. “I’m sorry, Caden. It’s something I’m working on.” He dropped his hand. “It should be a lot easier now, since I no longer have those abilities at my disposal.”

  Caden wasn’t sure what to say to that. His brother had chased power his whole life. It must be so frustrating to be stripped of it now.

  “It’s a relief, actually,” Aiden said.

  Caden’s eyes widened.

  “I told you you’re easy to read.” Aiden smiled. “I want to focus on my relationships. Just like our parents are doing now. All the magic stuff was getting in the way of that.”

  “What do you mean, like our parents are doing?”

  “Oh, I just assumed they’d told you.”

  “Told me what?”

  “They’re attending a couples’ workshop this evening.”

  “A what?”

  “An intensive counseling session, little brother,” Aiden sighed, as if that should have been obvious. “To work on their marriage.”

  “Oh.” Caden frowned. It didn’t seem like something his mom would ever agree to do. “When will they be back?”

  “Tomorrow.”

  “Tomorrow?” Caden said, startled. They would be gone overnight? And without warning? “When did they decide to go to this… this thing?”

  “After their fight this morning—you heard part of it, I believe?”

  Caden nodded reluctantly.

  “It made them realize they needed to focus on their marriage. So they left this afternoon.”

  “I can’t believe they would be willing to go when you just got back.”

  “I may have also mentioned that you and I would benefit from a little quality brother time.”

  Caden swallowed.

  “What’s the matter?” Aiden asked. “Don’t you want our parents to be happy?”

  Of course he did. All those times his dad stayed late at work, all those nights his mom slept in her study. After Aiden disappeared, they became like the ripples of a lake, moving farther and farther away from each other. “I do want them to be happy—”

  “But they’re not.” Aiden crossed his arms. “They are miserable. And whose fault do you think that is?”

  Caden blinked. “Me? You’re blaming this on me?”

  “Well, little brother, I wasn’t here.”

  Caden could feel a white-hot rage burning inside himself. He’d almost forgotten how Aiden could be—one moment acting like he cared about their relationship, and the next being this condescending, dismissive, entitled jerk. Caden used to ignore it. He was too afraid of his brother to call him out. But now? With Aiden’s powers gone? He wasn’t going to sit here and take it. “Stop calling me ‘little brother.’ ”

  “Why? Isn’t that what you are?”

  “I’m more than my relation to you.”

  Aiden lifted his eyebrows. “Someone has gotten a little uppity in my absence, haven’t they? I’m not sure I like this new attitude of yours. Little brother.”

  The rage inside Caden turned instantly to fear. He would be alone with Aiden the rest of today. And just because his brother didn’t have his magic didn’t mean he wasn’t dangerous. He shouldn’t have forgotten that. Caden could feel the tea in his stomach going cold and hard as ice.

  Knock, knock, knock.

  The hairs on the back of Caden’s neck rose. He should have felt someone break through his wards long before they reached the door. Which meant the wards were down, the protections broken. And he had no idea when that had happened.

  Knock, knock.

  “Expecting someone?” Aiden looked nervously at the door.

  “No.” Caden stood slowly. They stared at each other, neither of them moving.

  “Yo! Answer your door already!” Vivienne yelled from the other side.

  Relief coursed through Caden, and he relaxed his awareness, let it drift outward until he was sure it was Vivienne out there. And Rae. And someone else. Someone radiating excitement and terror, those two emotions entwined too closely for Caden to sense which was stronger.

  “Oh good, I’ve been wanting to meet your friends.” Aiden stood and, before Caden could stop him, opened the door.

  “Finally,” Vivienne said. “We’ve been—oh! You’re not Caden.”

  “No, I’m Caden’s older brother, Aiden.”

  Caden hurried over, hovering behind his brother. Vivienne stood on the front porch, her hair and clothing soaked, next to an equally wet Rae and a curly headed boy in fogged-up glasses. Behind them the rain had slowed to a trickle, but it still looked pretty miserable.

  Rae was staring at Aiden, her mouth hanging open, but she quickly snapped it shut and shot Caden an accusatory glare. He could practically hear her demanding to know why he hadn’t told her that his brother was back.

  Sorry, he mouthed, feeling guilty. Rae had been with him the night he’d believed Aiden had vanished for good. Of course seeing Aiden here now would be a shock to her.

  “Everyone thought you were dead,” Vivienne told Aiden.

  “Well then, everyone was gravely mistaken.” Aiden grinned, his full charismatic self on display.

  Vivienne laughed. “That’s a pretty good one.”

  “Thank you. Vivienne, right? I remember you from middle school. You were the first one up the rope in that weird challenge they made us do for Spirit Week.”

  “I can’t believe you remember that!”

  “Well, it’s not every day that a tiny fifth grader beats out all the eighth graders. I thought I’d have that victory in the bag.” Aiden chuckled. “You were so cute, with your hair in little pigtails. Wow, you’ve really grown up.”

  Vivienne’s cheeks flushed, and she looked away, beaming.

  Caden had almost forgotten how good his brother was at this sort of thing: charming people. Making them feel special. Making them like him. He’d also forgotten how uncomfortable it was to witness.

  “And you…” Aiden looked at Ra
e, who met his eyes uncertainly. She’d seen Aiden trapped in a mirror and had heard the stories about him from Caden. Of everyone here, she was the only one who knew some of the truth about his brother. “You must be Rae.”

  “I am,” she said. “Hi.”

  “Why are you here?” Caden asked quickly. He didn’t know if Rae would fall for his brother’s next act or not, and didn’t want to find out.

  “We needed to talk to you, Caden Price,” the curly headed boy said.

  “About what?”

  “Poop.”

  “Say what?”

  “What Nate means is that we found some bug coprolite that we need to discuss with you,” Vivienne explained.

  “Well, technically, it wasn’t a coprolite,” Nate said. “Since it wasn’t fossilized.”

  Vivienne rolled her eyes.

  “So, bug poop?” Caden asked.

  “Basically, yeah,” Rae said.

  “Well, doesn’t that sound like a fun conversation.” Aiden wrinkled his nose. “I’ll leave you all to it. And Rae? Could you please give my number to your lovely sister? She asked for it earlier, but I only recently got a cell phone.” He handed Rae a card, a phone number written on the back in purple ink.

  Rae took the card and tucked it in her back jeans pocket with obvious reluctance.

  “Thank you. It was nice to meet you all. Have fun discussing… well. Whatever it is you need to discuss.” He waved, and then disappeared upstairs.

  “I forgot how cool your brother was,” Vivienne said, craning her neck to watch Aiden leave.

  “Puns are not cool,” Nate said. “You made fun of me for telling one earlier today, remember?”

  “They’re not cool when you say them, true. But when someone as hot as Aiden does? Then they’re just fine.”

  Caden felt very uncomfortable about the direction of this conversation. “Why did you want to tell me about bug poop?” he asked, trying to steer them back.

  Rae narrowed her eyes at him. The sudden reappearance of Aiden had obviously thrown her off-balance; her unease rippled around Caden like a cat with its fur brushed the wrong way. And he knew he owed her some explanations, but he didn’t want to give them here, in front of the others, and with Aiden lurking somewhere nearby in the house.