"Mare?" Alex asked.
"Yea, I told you about her, didn't I? Mare? My girlfriend?"
"Oh, right, right, right. The 'girlfriend'. The one several states away."
"Yea, the girlfriend. My girlfriend. And she's going to be all alone on her birthday, again. I guess there's a reason why she always hated her birthday, what with her parents always missing it. But I just figured I'd try to make it up to her with them. Last year didn't go all that well, but I figured this year would work out. Unfortunately, that's another missed opportunity."
"Well, maybe you can talk to your dad about rescheduling it," Eric suggested. "It'll give us some more time to study for it."
"Nope, not going to happen, even for me. Once his schedule is printed out, he wouldn't change it even if the world was ending. I guess we'll just have to watch the launch together on skype."
"The launch?" George asked. "You guys are going to be watching the launch?"
"Yea. Mare wants to be an astronaut, which I think is totally cute, so I was going to go over to her school and watch the launch with her on TV. It sucks that it's the middle of the week and we couldn't just go down to Cape Canaveral to see it there."
"Wait, wait, wait, what launch?" Becky asked.
"Yea, for us non-nerds over here," Eric said.
"Um, excuse me. Not a nerd. I'm a geek, thank you very much," Ellie said.
"It's the first group of astronauts to land on Mars," George said. "You know, the Mars Colonization Project? I've been following MCP for over a decade now. I so wish I had been old enough to send in my application for that first round. That would have been so awesome."
Becky, Sam, Alex, and Eric all stared at George in complete confusion over his enthusiasm. Ellie understood the draw, mostly because of how Mare always talked about going to space. Although she had never felt the need to go herself, she would go if that was the only way she could be with Mare. It was going to be interesting for her to watch Mare's greatest dream come that much closer to her. She was hoping that there might actually be tears.
"Well, maybe something else will come up in the next week or so and my plans won't have to change," Ellie said. "Like an unexpected snow storm or something." She glanced over at Sam, almost daring him to offer to do something in order for her compliance in whatever their plans were. Not that she had any intention of giving in, not even for two tickets to Mars.
"If not, I say we all meet up after the test to watch the broadcast together," George said.
"Meh," Alex said, shrugging.
"I uh... actually have some plans for that day," Sam said. At the time, Ellie hadn't thought much of the comment, other than the fact that she wouldn't need to suffer through his presence while watching the launch.
"Sure, if I have nothing better to do," Eric said.
"Speaking of something better to do, we really do have to study," Alex said. "Ellie, are you and Becky joining us this time?"
"Umm..." Ellie said, trying to sound like she was actually thinking about it. Her eyes, however, invariably fell onto Sam.
"Oh, that's right," Sam said, rather pointedly. "I have some studying of my own to take care of. I hope you folks will be alright without my expert advice."
"As long as Ellie is coming, I think we'll be fine," Eric said.
"Sure," Ellie said, giving a halfhearted shrug. "Why not?"
Chapter Twenty-Two
A Quiet Sunday
By noon on Sunday, Ellie was starting to think they were spending far too much time on this one class. She had plenty of other classes to be worried about, though none of them seemed to have the same immediacy as Physics. Her first test, other than with Physics, wasn't until October, after the third test in Physics. She was relatively confident on the material for this test coming up. The only reason why she was stressing over it at all anymore was because the others were.
It wasn't like she didn't have enough to worry about. Every day it seemed like there were more and more people with the abyssal eyes. It was like they were gathering for something. Like something was about to happen there, something big, huge, monumental. All Ellie wanted, though, was to get a passing grade on her test. Despite the earlier comments by some of them, about the possibility of recruiting more of these people, she couldn't tell if any of the new people, if they were new at all, were new arrivals or new converts. None of these new people seemed familiar to her at all, with or without the eyes.
Everything seemed to come to a head when they were about to break for lunch on Sunday. A group of three abyssal eyed girls, none of whom seemed the least bit familiar, came into the library and settled down at a table two over from the group. Ellie's eyes followed the girls as they made their progress across the main room of the library. When her eyes met Becky's, it was clear that she was feeling similarly shaken by their proximity. Ellie wasn't sure if Becky had gained her own ability to detect them, or if she had just gotten so used to reading Ellie’s expressions when she noticed them.
"Maybe we should break early," Becky suggested.
Neither Ellie nor Becky had noticed that Eric was in the middle of a sentence when she said this. He was left blundering over a few words before he came to a halt in his little speech. "Why?" he asked, once he got over the shock. "We still have some stuff to go over."
"Do we though?" Ellie asked. "It seems like we're just rehashing the same stuff we went over yesterday."
"Well, yea, that's the point of studying. You do this often enough and the stuff just sticks in your head long enough to take the test. Then you get to forget it to make room for the next stuff none of us will ever use. Lather, rinse, repeat, and all that."
"I just..." Ellie started to say. Two of the girls at the other table had started to eye her, looking her way with a ferocity that rivaled her own.
"We'd maybe like to go somewhere a little less... crowded," Becky said.
"God, what is with you two?" Eric asked. "Yesterday, you just camped out in your rooms all day. Now, you're worried about three extra people? Are you becoming antisocial or something?"
"Maybe," Ellie said. It was better than admitting to the alternative, which, without saying how she knew these girls were different, would just amount to paranoia to anyone else's ears. However, if she did tell them, she was afraid it would sound more like insanity. She wasn't entirely sure that it wasn't insanity. What else do you call seeing things that no one else can see?
"I'm all for a break at this point," Alex said. "And that puts it at three against two."
"Hey, I got tired of studying yesterday," George said. "I just had nothing better to do this weekend, anyway."
"You'll all be thanking me when none of us fail this test tomorrow," Eric said.
"Let's go for a walk, get some food, and meet back here in an hour, okay?" Alex asked.
"Fine, you guys can do whatever you want. I'll be right here studying my ass off. Don't come crawling to me if you flunk out of school, though."
"We won't," Alex and Ellie said together. They laughed at the reminder of their old friendship, their old relationship.
However, for Ellie, the mirth was short lived, lasting only until she got another glimpse of the other table. The three girls were all huddled together, whispering loudly enough to be heard over the distance, though quietly enough not to be understood. Ellie strained her hearing, trying desperately to catch the gist of what they were saying. The only word she could make out was her own name, though.
Alex led the way out of the library. Ellie's eyes never left that other table until they passed out the main door and out of sight of it. Still, she glanced behind them several times, as if to try to see the table through the very walls of the building.
"Okay, what is with you these days?" Alex asked, jarring Ellie out of her paranoia.
"Hmm?" she asked. She glanced over at George, who was traipsing along in their wake, though he seemed more interested in the sidewalk under his feet than their conversation.
"You've been all spaced out since
last weekend. This is so not like you. If I didn't know better... I mean, did they... do something to you up at that boarding school of yours?"
"Do something?" There were several things they did, mostly centered around teaching her some very weird, out there skills and theories on how the world works. She somehow doubted that was what she was referring to and, as another group of the abyssal eyed people passed them, she was rather forcefully reminded of the reason for her being withdrawn. "Uh, no, not-not anything like that. Why?"
"It's just... This isn't the Ellie that I knew and loved."
"Oo-oo-ooh," Becky hooted.
"It's nothing," Ellie said, eyeing another group as they passed. This one was a mix of normals and abnormals.
"It's not nothing," Alex said. "I'm starting to worry about you."
"It is something," Becky said. She eyed everyone they were passing. Without her ability to detect the difference, she seemed fearful of everyone around them. "Just not something we can talk about. Not-not here."
"Wait, you know?" Alex asked. "She knows? How come she knows and I don't. I thought we were... Well, we were trying to be friends again, right? We're in a good place at least, right?"
"Alex, please, not here," Ellie whispered harshly. Even without any of the abyssal eyed people in view, there were bound to be some still within earshot. Not to mention that any number of normals might be on their side. For all she knew, Becky and she were the only ones at that dead parents' society meeting that weren't in on the conspiracy, and that was assuming Becky could be trusted at all. She eyed her roommate for a split second before starting to kick herself over doubting the girl again. She was her only ally in this strange struggle that was going on around her.
"Fine," Alex said, but she immediately turned off the main path. They had been heading towards the cafeteria, but she started walking down another sidewalk entirely. The others quickly fell in line behind her. Ellie hoped that she knew where she was leading them. That she had some idea on where they could go that they wouldn't be overheard. It wasn't until Alex pulled open the door to the Physics building that Ellie knew where they were.
She was a little taken aback by the fact that the building had been unlocked on a Sunday. But as they walked down the hall that led to the lecture halls, it started to make sense to her. Dave had been kidnapped right out of that building, so she already knew that the place had rather lapse security. Ellie let out a strained little squeak when Alex led them into the same said lecture hall, the very one that her father had been kidnapped out of almost two years beforehand.
Alex strode right into the lecture hall, not bothering to look around to see if anyone was in there. With the doors unlocked, anyone else might have also been looking for a quiet place to have a discussion, one that wouldn't be overheard by anyone... or anything. Alex came over to the table at the front of the room, hopping up onto it. Her legs automatically crossed themselves as she slid into place, swinging them back and forth. The posture was very familiar to Ellie. She had often characterized it as Alex's serious look.
"Alright, talk," she said.
"You wouldn't believe me if I told you," Ellie said.
"Ellie, how long have we known each other? If you told me the sky was turning yellow, I'd believe you."
"It is kind of out there, though," Becky said. "I mean secret society kind of out there."
"Wait, is that it?" Alex asked. "Is there a secret society trying to recruit you? I guess I could see that. You are the kind of person those kinds of groups would be interested in. You're smart, beautiful, talented, and with your time at that weird boarding school... I mean, just from what I heard from your dad and the rumors that were flying around at school... If half of that is true, I imagine you're quite the catch, much more so than when we were together."
"What exactly did they say at school?" Ellie asked. She felt uncomfortable talking about the school, which was supposed to be a closely held secret.
"Well, your dad confirmed that he was kidnapped already, so there's no point in denying that. He said that you'd be safer there because they're supposed to be good at handling 'that sort of thing'. Then there were the news items about strange car chases and a car crash on an airport runway down south of the city. Your entire neighbor said they saw you being kidnapped. Not to mention what little I could find on the internet about your school. I mean, it doesn't even have the address to the place."
"I don't think it even had an address," Ellie said, only half joking.
"You know, a secret society might actually explain it," Becky said. "They act like one."
"Well, yea, of course," Ellie said. "Of course it's... some kind of secret society, though not the kind you're thinking about."
"How is that?" Becky asked.
"Well, it's like... I can't really explain it. I just..."
"She can somehow tell when someone is in the group," Becky said. "It's kind of driving me nuts just knowing about it, and that there are a lot of people in it. And I mean a lot of people. Like fifty, a hundred people."
"Pretty much everyone in our dead parents' society group," Ellie said.
"Are there any of them that aren't in the group?" Alex asked.
"I... I don't know. It's kind of hard to track a hundred people. I just... It feels like they're multiplying."
"Well, if you're so worried about them trying to recruit you into their little club, did it ever occur to you to just tell them no?" Alex asked.
"These aren't the kind of people that take no for an answer," Ellie said.
"We should tell her," Becky said.
"Tell me what?"
"You mean about the..." Ellie trailed off. She glanced over at Alex, unsure if she would be able to handle the truth about her friend. Whenever she had seen the two of them together, it seemed like Alex almost idolized Sam. It would break her heart to know. "I don't--"
"She has to know who she's hanging around with," Becky said. "I nearly had a heart attack in the cafeteria yesterday."
"What? Sam? Sam is part of this group?" Alex asked.
"No," George said. "Not Sam. We love Sam."
"He's practically their ring leader," Ellie said. She gave Alex an apologetic shrug, hating the heartbroken look on her face. Even right after they had broken up, Ellie never would have wanted to cause her harm. "Whatever they are, he's at the heart of it."
"Whatever? Don't you mean whoever? They're still people, aren't they?" Alex asked.
"I'm... I'm not so sure," Ellie said.
"One theory we were floating around before was that they're demons," Becky said. "Or possessed by demons. That girl, Rebecca Anne, she's from Seattle."
"Sam's from New York," George said.
"So? Barry's from Rhode Island," Becky said.
"Wait? Barry?" Alex asked. "Your Barry? He's one of them, too?"
"You know about Barry?" Ellie asked.
"She's in my Chem class with us," Becky said. "It's the three of us at that one lab table. Seriously, Tuesday is going to be a nightmare; a whole two hours with the three of us sitting there, pretending he's normal."
"But, that's just it. They are normal, aren't they?" Alex asked. "In some secret society or whatever, but... I mean, what makes you think they're not just... human?"
"Umm..." Ellie said, trying to figure out just what to say without sounding completely crazy. "It's... When I see them, it's a visceral reaction. I'm gripped with this level of fear that I just can't explain. It's like... It's like I need to run away from them. Not just feel like I should run away from them, but straight out need to. Other than the hour that I was stuck sitting near Barry, which was no picnic I can tell you, the longest time I've ever been with one of these people was when Sam cornered me after the LGBT meeting."
"Wait, he did what?" Alex asked.
"Oh, right, I never told you about that part. Yea, he came up to me after everyone else left."
"Yea, I remember that part," Alex said. "He wanted to talk to you."
"He wanted to force me
to come with him. I'm still not sure what he wanted from me, what he wanted to do to me. But whatever it was, I think that was when he was going to recruit me. I've been avoiding as many of those... people as I can ever since the semester started."
"If it's just fear... I mean, you've never been all that social. It's a new place, new people, you just need to get comfortable again."
"No, that's not it. I... I mean, I didn't have that problem at boarding school."
"You were distracted then, weren't you? Because of what happened with your dad."
"Alex, I know what I'm talking about here. These people... They're not people. They're something else. I'm just not sure what they are."
"Well, now, I have to disagree with you there," Becky said. She leaned against the table next to Alex, as if to ally herself with her, like she was declaring that she was no longer on Ellie's side. "They're still people. Whatever they are, they might not be human, or entirely human, but they're still people. The alternative is that they're monsters... or animals. They're talking, thinking people who live amongst us without killing us en masse. They can be reasoned with, like with what happened with Rebecca Anne and the guard. That means they're people."
"Wait, what guard?" Alex asked.
Ellie quickly recounted the events of Friday night, leaving out the parts about the research they did and how they found out where her room was. Alex seemed most surprised by how capable she had become during her time at boarding school, mostly the breaking into the window and running away from the girl like she was a rabid dog.
"Maybe it's some kind of infection," George suggested. "Like rabies." Ellie was surprised that they both made the same comparison. She still didn't know George all that well, he was more Alex's friend than hers.
"Still, it doesn't mean I have to let them infect me with it, too," Ellie said. "I don't owe them anything, even if they can't control what they are."
"Very few people can control what they are," George said. "You of all people should know that."
"Yea, very true," Alex said. "Though she did try."
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