by Peter Telep
“That’s not it,” says the tallest ivy with the thin goatee, whose name is apparently Rattle. “We just want to go home.”
“To what? There’s no one left! Let’s find out what’s going on. Let’s fight. We’ve come this far in our lives, and there’s no way we’ll give up now.”
The ivies stand there, thinking it over.
If Keane were here he would convince these kids how super cool Earth is and that they should help us in exchange for a one way ticket.
Judging from the looks on their faces, I’m not sure any of them knows what to do right now.
But we don’t have all night for them to think it over.
And Hedera realizes that too. “Who’s with me?”
One by one, the ivies step forward and move to her side—
Until Rattle stands alone.
Hedera marches over to him and stares directly into his eyes. He shrinks under her gaze, lowers his head, and then whispers something in her ear.
She faces us and nods.
CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE
The entire caravan of ivies, along with the three of us, are jammed into the four buckets. Grandpa convinced his whole pack to come. They’ve split into pairs, trotting alongside our vehicles and shielding themselves from spotters posted along the Palladium’s walls.
Since we’re riding in the buckets, we’ll head south around the City of Violet, avoiding the crater altogether in order to use the cleared roads to reach Verbena. Drive time is just under an hour, but a full ten hours will have passed since we first left Tommy with my parents. I already wonder if we’re already too late.
At Hedera’s request, I sit beside her in the backseat of the lead bucket—a fully enclosed four-wheeler with sheets of a canvas-like material tied across the broken windows.
I clutch the seat because the ride is rough, but the kid at the wheel just yawns and squints through the taped-up glass of his windshield. A makeshift wiper constructed of a mini-broom with soft bristles swats back and forth across his field of view. The wiper seems meant for sand rather than rain.
Meeka and Steffanie sit up front, and Meeka glances back at me. Mud rings her eyes, and she’s utterly exhausted, but she still manages a smile.
I smile back. Okay, this is dangerous because I like the way she’s looking at me right now.
It’s a look Julie has never given me.
My cheeks warm, so I take a deep breath and turn away to face Hedera. “Thanks again.”
With a nod, she lifts her palm and projects her persona. “You’re welcome.”
“I wish I could be a tough leader like you.”
She chuckles under her breath. “I’m not so tough.”
“You underestimate yourself.”
“My mother taught me how to be strong because she loved me… and because no one else would.”
I nod. “So how did your group get together? And I don’t see any adults like your mother. Are they all back home or did they get taken or something?”
“In the beginning, we just kind of found each other, a bunch of orphans brought together by my parents and a few others. And then people started getting sick, and then my parents died… and it was just us.”
“I can’t even imagine the things you’ve seen.”
“You wouldn’t want to. And I can’t believe you left that beautiful place and came here to save Julie.”
“I’ve known her my whole life. I feel like I owe her.”
“You mean you love her.”
I tense as Meeka tilts her head in our direction.
“Did you hear me?” Hedera asks again.
I hesitate. “I guess that’s personal.”
Hedera raises her brows. “Brave thinks you do.”
“He’s a grren. I doubt he’s an expert on love.”
“I bet he knows more than all of us.”
I shrug. “Maybe so.”
“You look embarrassed. I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have—”
“Hey, it’s all right. I can play that game, too. So… who do you love?”
“Actually, I’ve been in love a lot.”
“Good for you—”
“But they never love me back,” she finishes.
“Why not?”
“Who knows? I always try to be a nice mean when I’m not screaming at people.”
“Ha, well, I think you’ll find someone.”
“Maybe one day.”
“Ashes to bloom, right?”
“You don’t even know what that means…”
“It means I’m lucky to get your help, especially in a place like this.”
Her gaze narrows into a thought. “Before my mother died, she told me I’d meet someone.”
“You will. And your persona’s a blessing in disguise.”
“A blessing?”
“You helped us talk to the grren. And meeting you wasn’t an accident. There’s a reason we’re here.”
She shrugs. “If you say so…”
“My mother taught me to pay attention to the signs. Listen to nature. Look to the skies. I think there’s something to it.”
“I hope you’re right.”
“So… what’s it like in the City of Orchids?”
“It’s wonderful. Just like Florida.”
I wince. “Sorry, dumb question.”
“When I was about ten, my mother showed me what it was like before the withering.”
“Really?”
“I could show you, but it’ll make me cry.”
“You don’t have to.”
“It’s not so bad now. We have the caves. My father said the bomb that hit us was more powerful than the others.”
“I’m so sorry.”
“I know you are. And I know what Julie’s father did. I know all of it.”
“Not all of it. My father came here to kill Solomon.”
“I know,” she says. “He ruined our planet. He ruined our lives. And he should be punished.”
CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR
As we reach the crumbling arena in Verbena, I leap out of the bucket before we’re even stopped. I stand there in the pouring rain, waving everyone toward the opposite end.
I take point, along with Meeka and Steffanie and several ivies carrying powerful flashlights. Hedera, Grandpa, and the other grren bring up the rear.
We charge through what’s left of the concert hall, reach the stairwell door, and descend for the subway.
Muddy boots and paws thud on stairs. Lights flicker. The air grows thick and humid.
We near the bottom of the staircase—
Only to find it flooded, our lights shimmering off the cloudy water.
My voice cracks. “No, no, no.”
Meeka shoves in beside me. “Aw, now what?”
I whirl around. “We need to get back outside, go down the street, and see if we can get in from up top.”
“Doesn’t matter,” she says, “If it’s flooded, then they… they drowned. Tommy couldn’t get them out. No way.”
“Maybe he got help!” I shove my way past Meeka and the others and race out of the stairwell.
Steffanie shouts for the group to follow.
I feel dizzy and numb and outside myself, even though I can’t jump. I guess that’s panic setting in.
Wind and rain blow into my face. Piles of rubble blur by. The grren charge ahead of us, bursting into their personas before vanishing.
At the far end of the street, we reach the shattered temple, where the grren personas wait for us. A giant stone Q with slash mark lies broken across the road.
I pick my way over the piles of wreckage and find a long crack in the floor.
The others charge up behind me. Beams from flashlights converge on the opening.
Below lies the basement office where we first arrived, along with our engine buried beneath the stone flooring.
The drop is about three, four feet max.
I rip a flashlight out of one ivy’s hand, and then leap down on a surfboard of rock tilte
d about thirty degrees. My heels make contact, but my boots are out from under me. I slam onto my back and slide down—
Only to get dumped off and fall forward, splashing onto my hands and knees a few feet from the hole that swallowed my parents.
Meeka yells for me to wait as I shine the flashlight down into the hole—
Toward a river of rainwater where my parents used to be.
At this point, there’s no decision-making process.
No time to consider the danger.
I’m already in the air, plunging toward the river with the flashlight gripped tightly in my hand.
The river rushes up and around me, and the water’s thick and warm as I slip beneath the surface.
And wow, it must deep because I never hit bottom. I open my eyes and strain to see. I lift my flashlight, and the narrow beam swipes across the gloom.
Off to the right lies the pile of beams and concrete. I swim there, kicking hard with boots I should’ve removed. I near the pair of twisted girders lying across my father.
With a shudder, I push off from one and swim farther down, my arms burning, my heart thumping in my ears.
I’m not sure I can go on.
Do I want to see this: my parents pale and bloated and dead with their eyeballs hanging out like those people I saw drowned back at the Palladium?
But I have to know.
And I’m running out of air.
I seize the girder and pull myself deeper, sliding beneath the beams. I brace myself.
This is it.
“Doc, never forget that I’m your father, and I’ll always be, no matter what. When you get older, you’ll get mad at me for a lot of stuff. And that’s okay. But nothing can ever come between us because we’re flesh and blood and made of the same stuff. Do you understand?”
“Yeah, Dad.”
Every time we left the island, my father made that same boring speech.
Of course that was him dealing with his guilt. He spent the last sixteen years lying to his son and drugging him.
But maybe, deep down, it was more.
I need to believe it was him saying that he loved me and he was trying to protect me the only way he knew how.
He wants me to forgive him for all of his lies.
And I need to now…
Because there’s no way in hell that Tommy got him out.
I point the flashlight—
Into nothingness.
I blink hard. He’s gone.
I swing around to the other side where Grace was trapped.
She’s not there!
I’m so relieved I feel like crying… but how? The girders and concrete weren’t moved.
I turn and kick up toward the surface, but then someone grabs my wrists.
It’s Julie. In her persona. The cloak flows around her, concealing her body. Her hair’s a wild mane.
She squeezes me tighter as her blue eyes widen.
This is not a vision. I can feel the pressure of her hands and the waves she makes with her body.
For just a second, she looks at me… like she’s missed me, like she needs me… like she loves me…
And then her face twists in pain, as though she’s battling someone or something. Her eyes turn white before she tosses her head back and screams, her voice muted and garbled.
I call her name, but it’s useless, and there’s an icy cold sting in my wrists, like whatever’s hurting her is trying to get to me.
She shrieks again, jerking left and right as though she’s been shackled to a wall and suddenly breaks free.
She lowers her head and stares at me with normal eyes.
But for a moment she doesn’t recognize me.
And then she does.
Now she’s frantic, shouting something, but it’s all bubbles and confusing and—
My body’s rocked with chills as I’m ripped away into a vision of the safe house back in Winter Springs…
A dark staircase…
The rumms lying in their beds…
A door being pushed open, someone sleeping…
And then I’m torn into an explosive burst of light that carries me to the surface. I gulp down air and jerk my head around. “Julie? Julie?”
Someone dives into the river and pops up beside me. It’s Meeka. “Doc, why didn’t you wait?”
“They’re not down there, Meeka! They’re gone!”
“Guys, are you all right?” Steffanie shouts.
Meeka waves up at her. “Yeah, get us out of here!”
A few seconds later, a long piece of rubberized cable drops through the hole, and the ivies haul us back up to the office.
Once we’re up top, I sit by the hole, catching my breath and shaking my head in disbelief.
“They’re really gone?” Steffanie asks.
“Yeah,” I answer. “I know, it’s impossible. Unless Solomon took them and jumped away.”
“Maybe he did,” Meeka says. “And that’s what Grandpa saw. That’s what scared him.”
“But what about Tommy and Blink?” I ask. “Are they gone now, too?”
“Why would Solomon take them?” Steffanie asks.
“I don’t know. Maybe to torture my father again.” With a loud groan, I get back on my feet and glance around. “Wait a minute. All the gear’s gone. Maybe Tommy just left.”
“Doc?”
I know that voice. I twist around…
And there’s Keane standing at the edge of the hole. His hair’s jutting out in ten positions, like he’s just woken up.
In fact, he has.
He’s shirtless and wearing a pair of Batman boxers, along with some earbuds. The cord dangles across his chest like it was ripped free from the iPod I loaned him.
“No,” he shouts. “This isn’t happening. I’m not here!”
His knees buckle against the stronger gravity.
He raises his palms, shakes his head, and steps back.
“Keane, look out!” I holler.
But it’s too late.
His bare foot comes down into thin air—
And he falls back into the flooded subway.
CHAPTER THIRTY-FIVE
I thought this night couldn’t get any stranger. I take three giant steps and go for Olympic gold, soaring through the air and down into the hole.
This time I hit the water like a rock, and it’s a lot harder to kick back up. I break the surface and spot Keane drifting away from me because he’s kicking in the wrong direction and slapping at the water like he’s being attacked by a shark. Nope, he can’t swim at all. In his defense, he did a fantastic job navigating the shallow end of Julie’s pool during my birthday party, but that won’t help now.
And neither will the added gravity.
He looks so stressed out that I’m not even sure he notices me swimming toward him.
A railing near the end of the platform rises out of the water, and he’s heading toward it.
I yell at him to turn and grab it.
But he doesn’t. He’s oblivious.
Wait, there he goes. He swings around and at the last second, bang, he’s got it.
“Just hang on,” I order him. “Be right back.”
I throw myself around and swim toward the dangling piece of cable. I’m nearly out of breath as I grab it and then paddle back toward Keane.
He looks funny with his hair slicked back.
“Grab it,” I say, shoving the cable in his face.
He lifts his arm as though in slow motion. “What the hell’s going on?”
“You’re asking me?” I shout. I blink water from my eyes and glance up at Meeka. “Hey! Start pulling!”
She and the ivies drag us back so we’re positioned beneath the hole. I release the cable so they can haul up Keane. He clings to the wire like a shipwreck survivor being air rescued by the Coast Guard.
It feels like forever, but they finally get him past the hole and toss the cable down to me. I catch it, and the biggest of the ivies, along with Meeka and Steffanie
, pull me up.
Getting over the edge is the hardest part. Pieces of sharp metal extend here and there from the concrete, and I need to squeeze between them as I crawl out.
I collapse near Keane, soaked and breathless. Been here, done this, and I’ll never do it again.
“Batman? Really?” Meeka asks, frowning at Keane’s superhero boxer shorts.
“That’s awesome,” Keane answers. “Not are you okay? Wow, Keane, you almost died?” He glances around. “I don’t believe this! Why am I here?”
Steffanie and Hedera join us as we huddle around Keane.
“What’s the last thing you remember?” Meeka asks.
“It’s kind of embarrassing.”
“More than wearing Batman underwear?” Steffanie asks.
“Would you let him talk?” I ask.
“Thank you,” Keane says, raking hair out of his eyes. “So anyway, the last thing I remember was going to bed.”
“At the safe house,” I say, getting a chill.
“Uh, yeah, where else would I be?”
“Keep talking.”
“So I was having this dream—
“About Julie,” I finish.
“Yeah, how did you know?”
“Uh-oh,” Meeka says, turning to me. “You sure you want to hear this?”
I wave her off and face Keane, even more intense. “You didn’t use the engine to get here, did you?”
“I don’t remember. But this is the last place I want to be!”
“Then what happened?” I ask.
“I saw Julie, and she was trying to tell me something, but there was no sound.”
I lean closer to him. “Are you sure it was a dream?”
He shrugs. “I guess it felt real. I was looking at her lips, trying to figure out the words. Then I was floating. I open my eyes, and I’m standing over there, looking at you.”
I turn to Steffanie, Meeka, and Hedera. “They brought him here.”
“Who?” Steffanie asks.
“Solomon and Julie. I saw her while I was underwater, looking for my parents. I mean she was in her persona.”
“I am so confused right now,” Meeka says, putting a hand on her forehead. “Please, someone, please… bring me back to reality.”
“Look, there’s no way Keane jumped from Earth without help,” I say. “And the only one who can do that is Solomon.”
