AIR Series Box Set

by Amanda Booloodian

"They didn't come through the portal every time it opened," I said. "Maybe they roam around more."

  "Possibly. We should get some sleep. I'll take first watch."

  "Sure," I said, not moving. Sleeping on the ground wasn't something I looked forward to, and there seemed to be no use trying to find a comfortable spot. It was the ground. Nothing was comfortable.

  Boone wasn't quiet for long. "As a Reader, how long do you need to sleep to... to build up your strength?" The last five words came out uncertain, as though he was worried about offending me.

  "Honestly, it varies. I'll be okay in a few hours, but I'll burn out fast without more sleep." Restful sleep was what I needed, and I didn't think I could find that on the ground. There was no way I was sharing that with Boone, though. It might have been Logan's influence, but I was starting to be leery of the idea of the agency knowing more about my power than they already did.

  "Is there anything else that helps?" Boone asked.

  "Coffee definitely wouldn’t hurt." I yawned.

  Boone snorted a short laugh. "I'll be right on that. Get some sleep."

  The moment I tried to sleep, my body decided it was time to point out every patch of rough ground and every ache. I twisted and turned a little before I closed my eyes and meditated once again. It didn't take long to fall asleep after that.

  Light crept into the darkness of sleep, and I opened my eyes to thick fog. It took me a few moments to remember where I was. Depression tried to loom over me, but it didn't have time to make itself comfortable.

  A shadow started to take shape.

  My heart beat faster and I sat up. Listening intently, I looked around for Boone.

  An unknown light source grew brighter and the shrouding began to burn away. I didn't reach for the Path, but I braced myself, ready for the jump.

  Then I heard the muttering. The very familiar muttering of Gran's childhood sweetheart.

  The old man's voice grew stronger. "... not my fault... traipsing around indeed..."

  The voice began to fade and I jumped to my feet. "Don't go!"

  Chapter 9

  Silence dropped, but the sense of movement became stronger and the shadow more pronounced. Wisps of cool clouds swirled and began to blow away. An old man stepped into a rapidly clearing bubble of air.

  "You've scared the life out of your grandmother," the old man snapped. It was hard to read his expression under the long white beard, but it was easy to read his tone.

  "Are you really here?" I asked, wondering if I had dreamed him or up or if he had dreamed himself here, which he was known to do.

  The man snorted, and with a craggy voice he asked, "Does it matter?"

  "Yes!" I tried not to get overly excited. The man was crazy, but if he was here, then there had to be a way back home. "You're here to help us get back, right?"

  "I'm here because your grandmother, my Margaret, is upset."

  That made me feel morose. "Have you seen her? Is she okay?"

  "She will be." He sounded a little smug about this. "Once she hears from me."

  I tried to feel good about that. "Are the others alright?"

  He looked confused. "Others? Others..." He grinned, causing his beard to twitch. "Don't know, don't care. I've seen you, now I'm off."

  "Wait, you can't go!"

  He let out a short cackle.

  "That's not funny. How am I supposed to get home?"

  He shrugged, which looked wrong on the man. His shoulders and back seemed to move independently under his clothes.

  I tried to hide my aggravation at his dismissal. "You could help me."

  "I don't do portals."

  "But you could still help!" I struggled with what to say to the old man that might make him care. "Gran will want me home." No reaction. "And you need me for something. You and your friends." It wasn't a guess. During the few times I had encountered him, he had hinted there was something he wanted from me.

  He made a ‘tut-tutting’ noise and sat down on a rock that hadn't been there a moment before and certainly wasn't in the real world. "You make the mistake of assuming we need you. Humph. You could help us, true enough. But it does not have to be you." He pulled out a long pipe and began to smoke. "You jump around far too much. Far too reckless."

  "I'm not reckless."

  Mad laughter was the only response, which didn't help my mood. He gestured around, indicating the world in which I was trapped.

  I crossed my arms and glared at him. His laughter broke into a spastic cough.

  "You shouldn't smoke. It's bad for you."

  He caught his breath and chuckled. "We can't change how we're made."

  "If you're not going to help, go away. When I do get back, and you had better believe I will, I'm letting Gran know you wouldn't help us."

  "Huh." He began muttering again, but he raised his voice enough for me to hear the word, "tattletale."

  Knowing I had him, I tried to suppress a grin, but I don't think I managed it.

  The old man gave me a calculating look, which turned into a devilish grin. "Fine, fine. I will help."

  "You will?" Seeing the look on his face, I felt doubtful.

  "What help I can."

  "Great," I said, trying to squash back the hope that had begun to rise. "Maybe you could get a message to my team."

  "No, but I will tell my Margaret that you are alive."

  My chest tightened. "I thought you meant you'd help me get back."

  "Oh, yes. I don't do portals, but I know something that does. You know, too." He seemed more animated now and jumped off his rock, which promptly disappeared. "I will lure it here. You must get it to take you home."

  "Can't you get it to open the portal and let us through?"

  "It will come from another world. When it nears this place, it should sense our world and should try to get to it."

  "Who is it that you're asking to come here?"

  "You don't ask, not without a bargain. And you don't bargain. There's no help for you if you do."

  A chill began to settle in the air that had little to do with the fog. "What are you sending here?"

  He chuckled. "You have other things to worry about first."

  "I'm sure we'll find food tomorrow. And we have water."

  "Water. Lots of water. Best to lash yourself down."

  It sounded like crazy gibberish, which didn't exactly surprise me. "What are you talking about?"

  "Good luck. Try not to die."

  He disappeared.

  "Tell Gran not to worry!" I shouted into the night.

  The fog disappeared, and I was still firmly trapped in the gremlin world. It seemed brighter now, even though it was still very much dark. But this was a dream. I guess it didn't actually matter if it was lighter or darker than the real world.

  Something rumbled in the distance and I looked down the meadow and into the night. It sounded like a truck coming, or maybe a train. I sighed and settled back onto the ground. The old coot was gone and Boone and I were alone once again.

  Nevertheless, I had hope now. The old man was going to send someone to help. Although he hadn’t said send… he had said lure. Why lure?

  The rumbling grew louder and I looked up. The wind picked up as though it were running away.

  Telling myself it was only a dream, I laid my head back again. Moisture filled the air. I closed my eyes and listened to the roaring noise come closer. Drops slashed against my face and I opened my eyes again.

  This time, it was darker, but the sound was there, still growing louder. I sat up, wiped my face, and tried to look at my hand, though I could see nothing in the darkness.

  "Good, you're up."

  I jumped. Boone stood near me with the bag in his hands.

  "I was about to wake you."

  "What's that noise?" I asked.

  "Storm, maybe," Boone said. "It's starting to rain, so I thought we'd move into the woods. Maybe we'll avoid the worst of it."

  "Sure," I said, getting to my feet. "Do we need to
worry about lightning?"

  "I haven't seen any," Boone said as the rain started to make itself known.

  The rumbling sounded closer and the wind picked up.

  I looked around to make sure we had everything, but it was more habit than anything else. Everything we had was in the bag.

  "I'm right behind you." I had to raise my voice some because it was getting louder and Boone had started to move through the trees.

  My clothes became heavy as the rain soaked in.

  "Stick close by," Boone said. "I can see pretty well in the dark."

  I meant to say, ‘me too,’ but my mind was still going over what the old man had said. "Best to lash yourself down."

  "What?"

  "In my dream, an old man said there was lots of water and we should lash ourselves down."

  "Right." It appeared Boone planned on ignoring what I said. "I think we'll be good here."

  Despite the thick trees, the wind was fierce. I stood beside a tree, but no matter which side I was on, the blast of air pushed me around.

  "Maybe we should move farther in," I suggested. I had to raise my voice to make myself heard.

  "I think we need to stay here," Boone yelled back. He was nearby and pushing himself against a tree, trying to keep steady. "It'll pass."

  He might have known how to rough it through storms, but would he know these storms?

  Raindrops became thicker and heavier. The amount doubled, and then doubled again. The wind threw me off balance, forcing me to grab a tree to steady myself.

  The curtains of water made it impossible to see Boone. It became difficult to breathe without inhaling liquid at the same time.

  Then the storm hit.

  It felt as though I was drowning. Wind tried to pry me away from the tree, and I tightened my grip. It wasn't long before I stood in ankle-deep water. It might have been higher, but my feet were starting to feel numb from the cold. Even the noise pressed into me, threatening to grind me into the tree or down to the ground.

  Is this what a hurricane felt like? A tornado? How are the trees still standing?

  Something slammed against the back of my legs and my knees buckled. Trying desperately to hold on, I slid down the tree. Bark scraped against my skin, but I tried to hold tighter as my legs were swept out from under me. My face plunged into floodwater before my feet found the ground again.

  Panicking, I reached for the Path. The thought of stemming the tide didn't come up and the full power of the Path roared around me stronger than the storm, because of course, it held the storm and everything else.

  Then it didn't.

  As though someone had cut a cord, the storm stopped. The rain died, the wind stilled to a breeze, and the clamor of the gale started to subside.

  My feet found purchase on the ground and I stood. Despite the fact that I was no longer being buffeted around, I felt unsteady. Holding the Path wasn't helping. After a short struggle, I managed to force it away and lean against a tree.

  "Boone," I called, not looking around.

  "Over here," Boone said.

  Sighing, I pushed myself away from the tree and splashed through the receding flood. The shadows grew lighter as the sun contemplated an appearance. I found Boone sitting in few inches of water, leaning against a tree.

  I tried to see if he was okay, but he looked as disheveled as I felt. The water sloshed when I joined him on the ground.

  "You hurt?" I asked. I hadn't realized I was out of breath until I tried to say more than one word.

  "No. You?"

  "No."

  We sat in silence and watched the water flow away, leaving mud and debris behind.

  At some point, my eyes drifted closed. When I opened them again, Boone was snoring and the sun was bright.

  Every bit of myself hurt. My arms were covered in scratches. My body was waterlogged from head to toe.

  Miserable was the only way to describe how I felt.

  Using the tree as leverage, I pushed myself up as quietly as I could. It didn't work, though. By the time I had moved more than an inch, Boone was awake.

  He didn't say anything, which was good. The last thing I wanted to do was try to make small talk.

  "I'm going out into the sun to dry off," I said.

  The meadow was closer than I had expected. Last night, it seemed we had walked farther into the woods.

  The blue-green grass laid flat and looked deceptively soft. When the sun beat down on me, I pulled off my socks and shoes and set them aside to dry before I laid down. The warmth of the sun made me realize how cold I was. My skin broke into gooseflesh as I soaked in the warmth.

  Boone joined me. He handed me half of a protein bar before removing his own socks and shoes.

  Sometime later, after he, too, sprawled on the ground drying, he said, "We should have gone a bit deeper into the woods. It was a bad call on my part."

  I shrugged, even though he couldn't see me. "It's not as though either of us knew."

  "You knew."

  "I guessed. Had I known, I would have pressed the issue."

  "Huh," he said. He was quiet for a while longer. "Lash ourselves down?"

  I stifled a groan, knowing it wouldn't help. "It was a dream."

  Boone wasn't going to let me off that easy. "Is that something that happens to Readers? Dreams that come true?"

  "No, that's my mother's territory. In my dream, a friend of my grandmother came and said he would help."

  "And that told you there'd be a storm?"

  I sighed. "No, he said he would send someone who could open a portal. Then said we'd have plenty of water and that we should try not to die."

  Boone was quiet for a minute. "I have no idea what to say to that. Are you being serious?"

  Knowing how crazy it sounded, I shrugged. "It was a dream. There's nothing to say. After last night, we may need to rethink where to set up a shelter."

  Boone took the hint and was probably relieved by the change of subject. "Maybe. Did you notice something strange about the trees?"

  "You mean that they're still standing?"

  "Something like that. They still have their leaves and branches. Most of them, anyway."

  "Pretty impressive trees," I said, not caring.

  "I tried to pull a leaf off and it wasn't easy."

  "Interesting." I didn't bother trying to sound convincing.

  A skittering sound could be heard at the tree line. I bolted up, but Boone moved slowly. It was the first sound I'd heard beyond the rustling noises of hidden creatures.

  Boone put on his socks and shoes, so I followed suit. They were still wet, but I felt better with them on. We watched the woods for a few minutes. There wasn’t a sound.

  "I guess we should get to work," I said, not happy with the prospect.

  "Yeah. Do you want to check the—"

  A rustling noise in the woods sounded out like a warning. Boone whipped his head around, and we wordlessly moved closer together as we watched the forest line. The noise came again, farther away, then again, closer than the first.

  This time, I didn't bother to keep the groan in.

  "What is it?" Boone asked.

  I sighed. "Grab the bag and get the can of metal ready, but don't open it."

  "Gremlins." He sounded resigned, but he grabbed the bag, and without taking his eyes off the woods, he pulled out the plastic container which held the metal. Then he pushed both bag and jar into my hands.

  Wordlessly, I slung the pack over my back and out of the way. With the amount of noise they were making, there seemed to be a lot of them.

  When I glanced back to Boone, he had a knife out.

  "What are you doing?" I hissed. "Put that away!"

  He ignored me.

  "It's not metal, is it?" I asked. There was almost a pleading in my voice. "Please say you don't have any more metal on you."

  "It's a type of plastic," Boone snapped. "Can you keep it down?"

  "What?" I shrieked, though I tried to keep my voice low. The
re was an increase in the amount of noise from the hidden gremlins.

  "You heard me."

  "Put the knife away." It was an order, and I put as much demand into it as I could. Even to my own ears, it sounded different.

  Boone sheathed the blade, then blinked a few times and glared at me. "What did you do?" he spat, pulling the knife once again.

  The noise in the woods died.

  "I didn't do anything, you idiot." Internally, I frantically tried to figure out what I had done. It sounded like an order. One that I'd only heard a werewolf give. "But if you don't put that knife away, I am going to make you regret it."

  "And what is it that you suggest?" Boone asked, pouring sarcasm into his voice.

  "I'm not suggesting anything!" I was losing my temper, but I didn't care. "I'm telling you. Those are Lost in those woods. They aren't the enemy, and they aren't animals."

  Screeches and strange howls broke out again.

  Boone rolled his shoulders, and after a few moments, he put his knife away. "We don't have anything else."

  "We shouldn't need anything else unless you do something stupid." Now that the knife was away, I looked myself over again. If I had had metal, they probably would have swarmed us. I patted my neck and checked my ears for jewelry, everything I could think of.

  Then I looked over Boone. He looked metal-free, so I relaxed some. At that moment, gremlins poured out of the forest. Boone stiffened and kept his hand on his hip, which I knew hid the knife.

  "The sheath doesn't have any metal in it, does it?" I asked, somehow managing to keep the panic out of my voice. Closing my eyes, I reached for the Path.

  Dozens of gremlins began to circle. They were screeching, yelling, and jumping all over one another. What I wasn't hearing was an answer from Boone.

  "Does it?" I snapped. The jump to the Path was easy and caught me off guard. In my frantic state, I had assumed there would be a struggle, though I was able to hold back the roaring tide.

  "I don't know," Boone snapped.

  "Throw it away, then."

  Then, the gremlins surged as one. Without thinking, I threw up a bubble of solid Path around us and moved closer to Boone.

  He had his hands balled into fists. When the first gremlin sprang at him and rebounded off the air a few feet away, Boone jumped. I gripped his arm, pulled him in closer, and then shrunk the bubble of power around us to a more manageable size.