“I really need to get to school,” I reiterated. I thought of the orb, safe in the backpack I slung over my shoulder. We didn’t know what it did yet, but we’d move anyway. We’d just hope Elliot had a plan.
“Okay,” she nodded. “Come on, I’ll drive you.”
“I don’t mind walking.”
“I’ll drive you.” It wasn’t open to discussion.
“Thanks.”
In the car, the silence was uncomfortable. I knew she wanted to talk, but I couldn’t think of a single thing to say. As she pulled up in the front of the school, I let her hug me.
I whispered into her hair, “I love you.” It was the right thing to say. Relief flowed through and from her body.
When I hadn’t come home, she worried that she’d lost me. And until this moment, she wasn’t sure she really hadn’t lost me in a different way.
I hopped out of the car and, with a brief wave, disappeared inside the front door. The halls were busy. I made my way through the crowd to my locker and set the pack inside. Standing against the wall, I watched the rush of students, overwhelmed by the noise. A rainbow of energy lit the spaces between them, dampened slightly by the gray weaving its way through the color.
Those things.
They never stopped. I closed my eyes, feeling their breath against my skin, claws and teeth tearing at my body. All these people … nobody knew what was about to happen to them. What was already happening. What would happen if I failed.
Someone laughed shrilly, passing close by me, and I winced as her arm brushed my shoulder. I flashed to her room. She was sitting on her bed, sobbing. So much grief—and yet here, with her friends, she pretended everything was fine.
Nothing was fine. My heart pounded in my ears, adding to the overwhelming noise. The room spun around me. I squeezed my fist over my ears, fighting for control.
Tyler laid his hand gently on my back as he came to stand beside me. His calm washed over me, and I felt the panic subside.
“You alright?” he asked, lowering his arms. “You looked like you were freaking out.”
I laughed shakily. “Thanks. I was.”
“I don’t blame you.”
“It was a rough night—”
His nodded quickly, cutting me off by grabbing my arm. I felt him in my mind, searching for the dream. I showed it to him, and he blinked rapidly, and then he gave me images of his own. He was watching me, just barely visible through the dark. I was walking toward Jared, my eyes fixed on his face. He wanted to cry out, to warn me, but Sarah, beside him, squeezed his hand gently: Wait. Watching the dream through his eyes was almost worse; I hadn’t imagined Jared’s sorrow, the guilt in his eyes, clear even through Tyler’s perspective. The rest of the dream unfolded as I remembered, first achingly sad, then horrifyingly terrible. As before, Jonathan’s face grinned back at us as he pulled the lever.
I shook Tyler off as images of the creatures flooding our world appeared. I knew what happened next. I didn’t need to see it again.
“So, what are you telling me? We had the same dream?”
Tyler nodded. “Sarah and Dee, too. They’re trying to find him.”
“They’re looking for Jonathan? By themselves?”
Another nod. “We don’t have time to wait. They’ll be strong together. We’ll feel it if they find him.”
“But we know where he is. We all saw the same thing. It had to be a message.” I grabbed his hand. We could see the world melting away again. The field. “We know this place.”
It wasn’t far, just on the outskirts of the city.
“Wow!” Lisa’s sharp voice broke sharply into our shared vision. “You’re back.”
“Oh, yeah. Hi,” I said weakly. I hoped Tyler would give us space, or at least avoid a potential scene, but his intention was clear. He wasn’t going anywhere.
“Can I get into my locker?”
“Sorry.” I moved back, and she opened the lock with unnecessary vigor. It didn’t take alien powers to tell she was furious.
She turned to me. “How could you do that to everyone? Where were you?”
“With Tyler.” It was what she wanted to hear, and it was true, anyway.
“I thought so. Why?”
I didn’t say anything.
“What is wrong with you?” Her voice was louder, and people around us fell silent. There were so many ways to answer that. I opened my mouth to reply, but she rushed on. “You just disappeared—for days—didn’t tell anyone. Your parents were worried sick. And then you show up again like nothing happened.”
She swiped angrily at a stray tear, and I swallowed hard around the lump in my throat.
“Tyler—”
“Gets you, I know,” she said, rolling her eyes. “Can’t you see that kind of person isn’t good for you?”
I felt like we’d had this conversation before. Who was good for me? Her? She didn’t know me anymore. Who else? Jared? Jared had checked out a long time before he’d died.
“He—”
“You think you’re the only one who’s going through stuff?” she interrupted, raising her voice. “Jared was my friend, too. You’re not the only one who lost him. And you won’t even tell why.”
“I couldn’t remember—”
“Whatever. We were supposed to be friends.” She was right. What kind of friend would keep something like this a secret? What kind of person would lie about something so important?
“I’m sorry—I’ll tell you everything, Lis.” I felt Tyler’s sudden alarm, but I didn’t care. It was time she knew. Time everyone knew. “Everything.”
“I don’t care anymore.”
“Lisa—”
“I don’t. It’s too late. I’m so done with this. I’m so done with you.” She steadied a final glare at me and slammed her locker shut. “All you care about is your secrets—and that freak.” With an air of finality, she turned and walked quickly away from me.
If I’d believed Tyler didn’t care about what people thought, I was wrong. A wave of shame shot through him as I was struck by his torrent of memories: flashes of words used to cut him at school, the loneliness he’d felt, the way he’d hated himself. He quickly broke contact with me, dropping his hands to his side. The idea that Tyler had actually thought of himself as unlovable shook me. I took his hand again. I focused my own energy now, sending my calm through him, steadying him.
Slowly, the hum of conversation returned as people realized the spectacle was over.
“I don’t hate myself anymore,” he said. “Sometimes, though, people make me forget.”
“Rachel!” Mrs. Reimer hurried through the mass of students, Hamlet book in hand.
“Welcome back to the land of the living.” She was overly bright, and I knew she was trying her best to make me feel comfortable. She glanced down at our joined hands, frowning. “I hope you two are on your way to class right now. We’re acting out The Mouse Trap.”
As tempting as that sounded, I was pretty sure I wouldn’t be there.
I nodded vaguely, and Tyler slid his hand down comfortably around my waist. “Can’t wait, Mrs. Reimer,” he said casually, smiling easily.
I glanced up at him. He was wearing red and black spacers in his ears now, each narrowing to a point behind his earlobes, and his grin was slightly teasing.
My breath caught in my throat. He was beautiful.
Mrs. Reimer colored slightly. Lisa had called him a freak, but even if it were true, he was an attractive one.
“Less PDA, more coming to class,” she chastised lightly.
“Definitely,” he agreed.
“Okay.” She lingered, waiting for us to move toward class. We stood still, Tyler’s firmly planted arm holding us in place. Awkwardly, she turned and walked down the hall, disappearing into the staff room. I could imagine what she was telling them. Blushing, I looked up into Tyler’s smirking face. No wonder he was so smug; he’d clearly seen himself from my perspective.
So humiliating.
�
��Let’s go.” He loosed his grip from my waist. I snatched the backpack, the orb stowed inside, from my locker. As soon as I slipped my arms through the straps, he grabbed my hand. He led me quickly out the front door, and we ran across the parking lot to his waiting bike.
“Where are we going?” I hopped on and wrapped my arms around him. As I did, the field with the bridge and Jonathan bending over the controls appeared clearly in my mind. I wondered what we were going to do if we actually found the bridge and if Jonathan were there.
Whatever we have to. It was as clear as if he’d spoken aloud into my ear. The implications were appalling. Jonathan wasn’t one of the creatures. He was like Jared. Human.
Tyler pushed against my thoughts, drawing me away from that line of reasoning. He was right. I couldn’t dwell on Jonathan, not if I wanted to get the job done. We’d been chosen specifically for this moment, to fight the darkness so intent on invading our world. I pictured my dream again. In it, the creatures hadn’t succeeded in overrunning our planet. Instead, when the bridge opened and the dimensional wall crumbled, they’d drawn our world into their own. It hadn’t been their intent, but it would destroy us anyway. Tyler was drawing the same conclusion, although I couldn’t tell which of us thought it first. Our minds worked as one.
The bike accelerated when we pulled onto the highway. I wrapped my arms tighter around him, drawing strength from his energy. A spike of fear and excitement from Sarah and Dee simultaneously hit us. They’d found something important.
The bridge.
Jonathan.
Tyler’s voice was in my head again.
Hurry. I thought back at him. Hurry, hurry, hurry.
Thin trees became a blurry vista as we passed. Sarah’s and Dee’s energies grew stronger. We were close. Tyler slowed, and our surroundings came into focus. I knew where we were. I recognized it, across the field, both from my vision and from the numerous times I’d passed it on field trips or heading toward the beach several miles out of town. I’d ridden by the big gray building without ever really thinking about it. It was barely visible at the end of a long dirt road.
They’d chosen the perfect location to release hell on earth.
When we neared the building, Dee bolted our direction. Tyler stopped as she reached us.
“Sarah’s gone inside already. She said we’d been too late in the dream. She didn’t want to risk it.”
Tyler didn’t wait. As soon as we were clear of the bike, he let it fall on its side. We sprinted toward the building.
We didn’t have a plan.
We only knew that the dream wasn’t a product of our imaginations. It led us to the entry point now. We would undoubtedly find Jonathan inside. Sarah was right. We couldn’t let the rest of it happen.
The building was much bigger than I’d imagined it. Tyler touched Dee on his right, me on his left. I could see where he wanted us to go. I squeezed Tyler’s hand once, letting him go without looking back.
Dee went down the main hallway, he headed upstairs. I took the first hallway to my left. Searching for Jonathan.
Mentally, I reached out for Sarah. Her energies were cautious, without any great intensity. She hadn’t found him yet.
There were a lot of hallways. Empty rooms that served no purpose, as if the whole building served one purpose—hidden somewhere within it. I thought of the orb, still tucked in my backpack.
As I opened up yet another empty door, a tangible wave of Sarah’s energy almost knocked me flat. She called to us. The communicator on my wrist burned. Returning the way I’d come, I followed the growing energy as I navigated hallways and neared the source of the power.
I stopped short, turning a corner. A large, black German Shepherd lay prone. It glanced up at me. Jonathan was obviously unaware of Sarah’s special ability. His guard dog wasn’t interested in stopping anyone. Up ahead, Tyler ran. I stepped around the shepherd and followed.
Tyler glanced over his shoulder at me quickly and then burst into the room. I was right behind him. As with the building, our dream hadn’t given us a clue as to the size of the room. It was huge, the ceiling stretching for what seemed to be miles above us.
In the center, emitting a low, steady hum, was some sort of machine. The lights on the side glowed. Crouching down beside it, a lone figure worked on the panel frantically.
Sarah approached him slowly from behind. It wasn’t right. He was human, like us. She couldn’t just—
His head whipped around. Sarah was so close she could’ve driven the knife she held into his back, but he was faster than she was and prepared for her. He lashed out a back-kick and sent her flying into the wall across the room.
Her pain washed over us, but she recovered quickly.
Jonathan grinned, the same expression he wore in our vision. “So we shared a dream,” he said. “I wondered if it was for you, too.”
Tyler’s stance oddly reminded me of the warehouse guard dogs when I first saw them. Hyper-alert. Tensed for attack or fight.
I still hoped it wouldn’t come to that. “Why, Jonathan?”
He laughed humorlessly. “Why not? Elliot was so keen on saving the world. This just seemed like so much more fun.” His voice barely sounded like it belonged to him.
“But you let them save me.”
“Hoping to correct that soon enough.”
“What about your mom?”
“My mom?” He scoffed. “She was barely my mom when she was around. My dad died when I was ten, and she just checked out. I’ve been on my own longer than I’ve lived with anyone.”
“You’re not the only one who’s alone,” Sarah said from across the room. “I know what it’s like.”
“I don’t care!” He cut her off, waving away her words impatiently. “I don’t care who’s had it worse, whose sad story is the most tragic. I’m not interesting in recreating a family. I have a chance to change the world. Really change it.”
“You’re not going to change it. You’re going to destroy it.”
He laughed again. “Even better.” He continued work on the wiring as he spoke. “It’s been nice hanging out with you guys, but it’s time to say goodbye.”
Tyler lunged at him, but not before Jonathan reached down and pulled a lever near his waist. The humming whirred to a stop. The lights on the machine flickered off. At first, I thought it was the end.
Tyler froze. We all did.
Jonathan’s cry shattered the silence. “What did you do?” He frantically engaged the switch again. Nothing. He moved around the machine.
Tyler grabbed his shoulders and slammed him down. Jonathan bent his legs and kicked from the ground, catching Tyler in the gut and sending him sprawling backward. Instantly, both sprang to their feet. Jonathan was no longer the boy who seemed so weak and afraid. He and Tyler faced each other, fists clenched.
“I don’t understand, Jonathan,” I said. “I felt your fear.”
His face hardened. “You feel whatever I want you to feel.”
“It’s not true.” It was Sarah now. She’d circled around Jonathan’s other side. “We felt your fear because you were afraid.”
“What a joke, “ Jonathan said. He became more defensive. There was something odd in his voice.
“You were afraid we’d find out what you were or what you were doing. You can’t fake fear, Jonathan. And we felt yours. In fact,” she stopped, her eyes narrowing, “you spent most of your time being afraid. What were you so afraid of?” When he didn’t answer, she took a stab at it. “Of your future? Of what you’d become? Of being a big, fat, failure?”
With a guttural cry, he lunged at Sarah. She swept his legs from under him and slammed him to the ground. Catching her foot, he twisted hard and brought her down. He scrambled on top of her and wrapped his hands around her throat.
Tyler pulled him off, but Jonathan slipped from his grasp, backing a few feet but not running away.
“What are you going to do? We’re everywhere. This goes all the way up, kids. We’re working aga
inst you every moment of every day. You can’t stop us.” His gaze darted around for an opening. He wasn’t about to leave his machine. “You can still join us.”
“Jonathan, don’t you realize the creatures will kill you, too?” I took a step closer.
He shrugged. “Maybe. But if I do this for them…when they see I’m valuable, maybe they’ll spare me.”
“They won’t.”
“We’ll see.”
There was a crunch and the squeal of grinding steel. Jonathan’s eyes widened. It came from behind me. I knew exactly what Dee was doing.
“Go help her,” I said to Tyler.
She’d started by disconnecting the electrical cord, shutting down the power to his machine. She began to destroy. Tyler joined her, and I heard them tearing as much of it apart as they could, as fast as they could.
Sarah and I waited for Jonathan to move. I wanted him to run, to put as much distance between him and me as possible. If he ran now, there was a good chance he’d get away. If he fought us—I glanced at Sarah. Her energy blazed with anger at his betrayal. If he engaged, I wasn’t sure I could protect him.
Yet another crash, and then a splintering sound. Elliot’s strength wasn’t just for fighting. Jonathan watched them for a moment longer and then, with a cry, ran at me full force.
I flipped him on his back before Sarah even moved. I knelt on top of him, twisting his arms backwards and pinning them under his body. I was stronger than he was; after all, I was meant to lead him. The poor guy hadn’t stood a chance. “Sorry, Jonathan,” I said. Despite his desperate struggle against me, keeping him still was easy.
The machine was almost obliterated now.
“What now?” Dee asked, sweat beading on her forehead. She wiped it with one arm, holding a useless piece of his bridge with the other hand.
“Burn it,” Sarah said. “The whole building. Just … light ’er up.” I wondered if she’d said it to needle Jonathan, but she was right. We didn’t know what was in the other rooms. Best to destroy the entire thing.
“I don’t know anything about fires,” Dee said. She spoke for both of us.
“I do.” A glint in Tyler’s eyes told me he not only knew about fires, but enjoyed them.
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