Someone was yelling commands—probably technical terms for whatever it was they were doing—while walking around the room. I couldn’t see the guy’s face because his hat was pulled down low. And his yelling wasn’t very clear since he was chewing on a pen.
“You have got to be kidding me!” I yelled as the guy got closer and I saw the face I’d hoped I’d never see again. “Bobson?”
4
Bobson! That cretin cop who couldn’t have cared less about Avery’s disappearance. I’d wanted to clobber him, and it looked like I was going to get the chance. He was about my least favorite person right now, coming second only to the shadow that lured me here—and maybe Melanie.
“Five-minute break!” Bobson yelled over his shoulder as he stared at me. The kids hung their weapons on the front wall and headed single-file to a water cooler in the corner. How disturbing! They were kids, yet they acted like soldiers, taking orders from this lame brain wannabe cop.
“Well, it’s about time,” Bobson said, walking over to me. “I thought you’d make it here a lot sooner. Figured those pesky constellations would be no match for you.”
I shot him a look and yanked my arm free. “What are you doing here? And what do you mean you thought I’d be here sooner?”
Bobson laughed. “Really, I thought you’d have it all figured out by now. Not as smart as I gave you credit for, I guess.” He took a step back, putting some distance between us. I wondered if he wasn’t really as tough as he wanted to seem.
“Why don’t you fill me in then?” I said, clenching my fists. Avery grabbed my arm. He knew I wasn’t going to let Bobson talk to me like that. Sometimes I wished Avery didn’t know me so well. I took a deep breath and nodded, letting him know I’d keep it together. He let go of me but stayed close.
“I, my dear,” Bobson said with a smile, “am the shadow that brought you here.”
For a moment I forgot how to breathe. Bobson was the shadow? How could that be possible?
“No.” I shook my head. “You can’t be.” But even as I said it, I knew it must be true. He hadn’t been concerned about Avery’s disappearance. He knew I was in Stellaris. And here he was training the missing kids. Still, I wasn’t going to let Bobson make a fool of me. I wasn’t going to show any sign of weakness. “That shadow wasn’t anywhere near as annoying as you,” I said with as much venom in my voice as possible.
“Ah, true,” Bobson said. “But then I had to play nice in order to get you to follow me. You hated me when we met. I had to come across as someone—or something—you could trust.”
“Of course I hated you. You didn’t care at all about Avery, and you kept acting like I was lying or trying to cover for him so he could run off with a gang. It was absurd. And no way did you make me trust you.”
“No. You didn’t trust me at all.” He narrowed his eyes. “For a minute I even suspected you’d figured out I put Avery’s parents and yours in a trance.”
I knew it! “How? What are you?”
He smirked, obviously pleased with himself. “Let’s just say adults in your world see us much differently than kids do.” He leaned closer. “It’s kind of like a glamour. Adults see us the way we want to be seen. Kids see us for who we actually are.”
“The scum of the earth?” I challenged right back. “Though I did like you better as a shadow who couldn’t talk.”
“No matter. I got you here, didn’t I?” He raised an eyebrow, which lost most of its effect since he was wearing a hat. All it really did was make his bowler hat sit lopsided on his head. First a police cap and now a bowler hat. Where did he get his weird collection from?
I rolled my eyes. I didn’t want to be around this creep any longer, but I still needed answers. “How did you do it?” I asked. “How did you turn yourself into a shadow?”
“Stellarians fade into shadows in your world. It takes a few hours to make the complete transformation, but the stars drain the light from us.”
“Is that why there aren’t any stars here?” I asked. “Why the constellations are figures in the sky?”
“It’s not the reason. It’s just the way it is. Our world is different from yours. We weren’t meant to exist in your world.”
“And we weren’t meant to exist in yours,” I said, remembering what Melanie had told me about people from my world fading away to nothing in Stellaris.
Bobson smirked.
“How are you back to normal now? You’re not a shadow anymore.”
“We return to normal the moment we come back to Stellaris,” he said. “Pretty cool, huh?”
I looked at Avery and shook my head. This guy was unbelievable. Avery shrugged, like it didn’t really bother him.
“Melanie said all these kids would fade here in Stellaris. Will they go back to normal once they’re home?” I asked.
Bobson didn’t answer. He turned around and yelled, “Break’s over! Back in formation!”
“Wait! We’re not finished here,” I said, but Bobson walked over to the weapon wall and removed a two-sided axe. He picked up with the commands as he circled around his kid-sized army.
Avery tugged on my arm. “Come on.”
“No! That jerk is going to answer me.” I stormed over to Bobson. It wasn’t easy walking around swinging weapons, but nothing was going to stop me. I came up alongside Bobson. His pen was back in his mouth, wobbling around as he yelled. I yanked it out and threw it at a target on the back wall. I got a bull’s-eye.
“Hey, that’s my favorite pen!” Bobson yelled.
I got right in his face, driven more by fear than anger. “I want an answer. Will these kids go back to normal once they’re home?”
Bobson squinted at me. “If they make it home,” he said in a low voice.
That was it. I threw my hands forward, aiming for his neck, but Avery pinned my arms down from behind.
“Let go of me!” I thrashed in Avery’s arms. “We can’t let him do this!”
Bobson laughed. “I knew you’d be the next recruit the moment I met you. You’re a real firecracker. You know that? A fighter. Exactly what we need.” He laughed again. “Although you’d be more intimidating if you weren’t in your pajamas.”
“Melanie has some clothes for her in a bedroom upstairs,” Avery said, loosening his grip on me.
Bobson walked over to a row of lockers against the back wall. He grabbed some army fatigues and tossed them to me. I let them hit me and fall to the ground.
“Let’s get this straight. I’m not one of your recruits. I’m not fighting in your insane little army. I’m getting out of here.” I turned and headed for the door.
“Fine. Wear Melanie’s clothes if that’s what you prefer,” Bobson called after me. “But you will fight. No one is leaving here until this war is over.”
I pretended to ignore him as I headed for the stairs. I took them two at a time, wanting to put as much distance between Bobson and me as possible.
“Ella, wait!” Avery ran up the steps behind me, his armor clanking.
“I’m not stopping, Ave. You can come with me if you want, but I’m getting out of here.”
“You can’t. The portal is gone.”
I paused at the top of the stairs.
“Only Melanie and Bobson know how to open it, and they’re not going to open it until they get what they want.” He stood next to me and looked right in my eyes. “If we want to go home, we have to help them. It’s the only way.”
I didn’t want to believe that was true, but Avery wouldn’t lie to me. I sighed. “So now what?” It was hard to have any fight left in me when I was the only one fighting, the only one who saw that this—all this—wasn’t okay.
“Go get changed and meet me back downstairs in the training room. Bobson’s right about one thing. You’re not all that intimidating in your PJs.” He gave me a half-smile.
I rolled my eyes and playfully pushed him. He could always make me smile. I left him and crossed through the main level of the castle where I climbed the st
airs to the floor where Melanie’s room was. Her door was closed, but the vase and pedestal were cleaned up. I was tempted to kick it over again, but she wasn’t worth the effort, so I kept walking to the bedroom at the end of the hall.
I wasn’t happy about wearing anything of Melanie’s, but it was better than blending in with Bobson’s army. The bedroom was huge. Not as big as Melanie’s, but still. I scanned the massive walk-in closet. Most of the clothes looked like they were never even worn. Some still had the tags on them to prove it. I took out a purple sequin number and cringed. Ugh! Either Melanie had a crazy relative with really bad fashion sense or they threw one heck of a Halloween party around here. My eyes lowered to the tag. Macy’s? They had Macy’s stores in Stellaris? Either this world was almost identical to mine, or something really strange was going on here. But then again, if they stole people from Earth, what’s to say they didn’t steal other things too? I put the dress back and found a pair of jeans and a plain black tank top. I had to cuff the jeans up, but the top fit okay. I couldn’t find socks anywhere, but there was a pair of sneakers hanging from a shoe rack next to the closet. I slipped them on. A little snug in the toes, but they’d do. I quickly tied them and ran down the hall to meet Avery. I wasn’t afraid to be on my own in Stellaris, but I felt better when Avery was nearby.
As I got closer to the stairs, the sound of voices made me slow down. I stopped and looked around. Melanie’s door was still closed. I tiptoed to it and pressed my ear to the door, but the voices weren’t coming from inside her room. Turning back to the stairs, I noticed another door at the other end of the hallway. Light streamed out from under the door. I walked closer, straining to hear. Melanie was definitely inside. Her voice was small and shaky. Too small and shaky to make out what she was saying. Then I heard another voice. A man’s voice, strong yet soothing. Someone was trying to console Melanie. But who? Her father was missing. I didn’t think she had a brother. The family portrait in the hall only showed Melanie and her parents, so that probably meant she was an only child. So who was Melanie hiding in this room? A secret boyfriend? I hoped he was her boyfriend. Maybe Avery would get over his crush then. I shivered, not wanting to think about Avery having feelings for Melanie.
I leaned in closer and accidentally bumped the doorknob with my hip. I cringed at the rattling sound it made. “Who’s there?” Melanie called.
I turned and ran for the stairs. I moved so quickly I skipped just about every other stair. At the bottom, I ducked into the sitting room and held my breath. I hoped Melanie wouldn’t be bothered enough to come investigate the sound. Looking around, I noticed the sitting room was positioned in the middle of the castle. That meant there was another door leading out of it. I had no idea where the door would take me, but I bolted for it. Without even looking, I turned the knob and ducked into the room. The darkness made me blink. Everything in Stellaris was so bright, but this room was the exception.
I felt along the walls for a light switch and walked right into something big with pointy corners. I rubbed my thigh where the edge had jabbed me. Reaching out, I felt along the surface, realizing it was a desk I’d walked into. I fumbled in the dark until I found a lamp and switched it on. Even in the soft yellow glow from the single bulb, I could see I was in a room like I’d never seen in my life. My eyes went up and up and up, searching for a ceiling I couldn’t find.
“What is this place?” I asked, not realizing I was talking out loud.
“Nowhere that concerns you.”
More lights flickered on, and I turned to face Melanie.
“Did you get lost? Or are you snooping?” Her eyes were puffy and red, but they didn’t soften the expression on her face at all. She was pissed.
“Actually, I am lost.” I paused and looked around the room. “But if I were snooping, I think I’d be completely justified seeing as no one in this place will answer any of my questions.”
“What is it with you and questions? Why do you need to know so much?”
I couldn’t help myself. I laughed. “You can’t be serious. You and your—what is Bobson anyway? General in your army?” I waved my hand, dismissing the question. “Whatever, it doesn’t matter what his title is. He’s a jerk. The point is you two kidnapped me and all the others, and you expect us to do whatever you say, no questions asked? Are you really that stupid?”
Melanie took such a deep breath her chest actually stuck out. If I wasn’t so angry I would’ve laughed at how ridiculous she looked.
“You would do well to remember you aren’t in your world. Things don’t work the same way here.”
“And how exactly do they work?” I asked, trying to match her bitchiness.
“People know their places and act accordingly.”
I raised an eyebrow at her. “Funny, because I’d say it looks as though your place is holed up in your room whining over your troubles while everyone else is forced to fix all your problems against their will. Honestly, I’m surprised you’re even down here. Are you sure the long walk down the stairs wasn’t too much on you?”
Okay, I knew I was being a—well, I was being a bitch. But Melanie brought out the worst in me.
“Get out of my father’s study,” she practically growled.
“Your father’s study?” I looked around again. It made sense. The room was full of books. It looked like one of those old libraries where there are so many books they have ladders attached to the shelves so you could roll them from one end to the other. “Guess he liked to read.”
“He likes to read,” she corrected me. “No one comes in here but him. It’s his private space. Now get out, before I help you out.”
That was almost funny. Melanie was a hothead, but she didn’t look like she could pick up a two-pound weight, let alone remove me from this room.
“What’s with the ceiling? I mean, where is it?” I asked, ignoring her threat.
She glared at me for a moment before crossing her arms in front of her chest. She tilted her head back. “It’s a dome ceiling, but it’s covered by a sliding black slab. It’s hard to see without all the lights on.”
“Well, yeah. I mean the ceiling is like a million feet high. Why is this room so…tall?”
“It’s an observatory. It’s three stories high. My father only opens the ceiling when he’s—no! That’s enough. You need to join the others and stop asking so many questions. I don’t have time for this.”
“Why? Am I cutting into your whining time or your lock-yourself-up-in-your-room-and-pretend-this-isn’t-happening time?”
“Need I remind you that you are in my world, in my house, wearing my clothes?” Melanie’s face was getting closer and closer to matching her bloodshot eyes.
“Need I remind you that you had me kidnapped? I didn’t ask to come here. I’ll gladly leave. Just show me the door.” I slammed my hand down on the desk and a metallic clanking sound overhead made me jump. The black slab was sliding into one side of the wall. Light streamed into the room, and I found myself looking at what could only be Sagittarius’s backside.
Melanie pushed me aside and pressed the button on the side of the desk. “Get out of here! You have no right to be here.”
“What’s the big deal anyway? In my world, we have planetariums and observatories to look at the stars. You don’t have stars, but I guess I could see why you’d gaze at the constellations.” I tilted my head to the side as Sagittarius’s tail swished. “Although I can’t say this particular view is breathtaking.”
The black slab slid back into place with a loud bang. I stared at Melanie. Her nostrils flared, and her eyes bored into me.
“You don’t understand anything about Stellaris. Your incessant questioning is only going to lead to more questions. Leave this room now, and don’t ever come back. You are to stay with Bobson unless you are directed otherwise.”
I stepped toward her, close enough that our shoes were touching. “No one directs me to do anything. Got that?” I slammed my hand down on the ceiling release again befo
re I stormed out of the room. Childish? Yes. But I couldn’t think of any other way to annoy her at the moment.
I headed back through the sitting room and was about to turn right to find Avery and the others when an idea slammed into me like a Mack truck. Melanie was still in her father’s office. If I was ever going to get a peek at that room and find out who the mystery man was, it was now. I turned left and sprinted up the stairs. I ran at the door, reaching for the knob. I figured the element of surprise would give me the upper hand. No knocking. Barge right in. Except the only thing I barged into was the door. The locked door. I rubbed my forehead and listened for sounds from inside the room. Nothing. Whoever was hiding in there was doing a great job.
Footsteps on the stairs made me jerk my head around. Melanie was coming. Not that I cared if she found me snooping again. What could she really do to me? But then I remembered what she’d said. People like me fade away in this world. What if she trapped me here? I’d already pissed her off enough. If she found me trying to get into her secret room with her secret boyfriend, she might go ballistic. I frantically looked for somewhere to hide. This was the only room on this side of the staircase. A weird looking cactus-like plant stood in the corner next to the railing. I wasn’t convinced it would conceal me, but I didn’t have any other options. I ducked behind it, wedging myself between the wall and the prickers, which instantly attacked every part of my body.
I could only see Melanie’s shoes through the branches of the plant. At the top of the stairs, she turned toward her room. I closed my eyes, relief washing over me. But when I opened them again, I saw Melanie stop. She turned around and headed past the staircase. She was coming this way. I’d seen enough cartoons to know that burying your head so you can’t see someone doesn’t make you invisible. If I stayed put, Melanie was going to find me.
There was only one way out of my hiding place without being seen. I had to go over the railing and hang there until Melanie was out of sight. I put one hand on the railing and pushed myself up. Prickers pierced my jeans and embedded themselves in my leg. I squeezed my lips together to keep from screaming. I couldn’t back up to remove the prickers, which meant I had to slide my leg sideways and rip the jeans…and most likely my skin.
Magic and Shadows: A Collection of YA Fantasy and Paranormal Romances Page 39
