by Allison West
Bray remained quiet.
"What?" Lil asked. "Don't tell me you agree with her?"
"Jamey's never been great with making friends. You'll be gone and out of the house, I assume. Maybe it would be a good transition for your little sister."
"Maybe." Lil couldn't tell if it was jealousy or something else bubbling inside of her.
Chapter 2
The Academy
Early the next week, Mr. Roberts handed Lil the anatomy exam. There was no way she was going to pass. She could only hope she'd get lucky and guess a few right answers in the multiple-choice section. She'd settle for a nearly passing grade of D.
Five minutes into the exam, while she was still fumbling with the first problem, there was a knock on the classroom door. Her anatomy teacher exchanged a few words with someone in the hall, then he walked over to Lil and loomed above her desk. "Pack your things, Lil." He handed her a note from the office. "Your cousin is here to pick you up today." Mr. Roberts didn't appear pleased with the situation, but there was little he could do to stop it.
Lil didn't know what to say. She shouldn't be leaving school early today. Her cousins lived in Chicago, and there weren't any plans for them to visit. Had something happened to her parents or her little sister? She zipped her bag, tossed it over her shoulder, and handed her blank exam to Mr. Roberts.
"You'll be expected to do a make-up test when you get back."
Lil headed for the classroom door, glancing back once at Bray, who kept his head down, answering the questions on the exam. Lil walked to the office. Her stomach flip-flopped as she saw the stranger who had been in her dream and then outside the classroom window on Friday.
"Hey, Willow. Ready to go?" The boy had a few years on Lil.
She hesitated a second before she signed the sheet for the office administrator and followed the boy outside the building. Everything inside her told her this was a bad idea, but he was her ticket out of class. She needed to get out of her stupid exam, and this was the perfect opportunity. She could walk home after she left the school.
Once they stepped outside the school doors, she took a tentative step away from the stranger. "I'm not going anywhere with you."
He eyed her curiously, and his pale gray eyes sent a shiver down her spine. "Then why'd you leave school with me?"
It was an honest question, but she wasn't sure he deserved an honest answer. "You got me out of an exam I was going to fail." That was a half-truth. She was itching to know who he was and what was going on around here. She didn't like waiting for answers; sitting around idly wasn't part of Lil Porter.
"I'm Rawlie," he said in his thick accent, walking toward a convertible. "I'm here to take you to Nightblood Academy."
Her body momentarily froze in place. Had he said what he thought she had? "I think you have it wrong. You want my sister, Jamey." She cringed the moment the words left her lips. Why would she offer this stranger any information about her younger sibling? Maybe her mom wanted to send Jamey to boarding school, but everything felt wrong. A boarding school wouldn't show up at public school and whisk a student away through a web of lies and deceit. Besides, he was clearly another student, not a professor or the headmaster.
"In due time," Rawlie said. "We need you, Willow."
He was all sorts of trouble. It didn't take a genius to figure that out. "I'm not going with you." Lil glanced at the candy apple red Porsche. The car was gorgeous and obviously new, shiny with black leather seats. It was sporty and no doubt expensive, but she wasn't impressed. It didn't matter what car this guy drove; she was not an idiot. She remembered all the stranger danger warnings and the 'don't trust crazy guys who take you out of class' lessons her parents had drilled into her brain when she was younger. Or maybe the second one, she'd never actually heard, but it was becoming one she'd teach Jamey. She glanced back at the high school behind her. Her options were limited. Rawlie was definitely bigger than she was, but she could outrun him, maybe. A part of her wanted to run, but another part needed answers. Perhaps if her mother hadn't mentioned the words Nightblood Academy, she wouldn't have thought twice about going with this stranger.
His dark locks fell into his eyes, and he pushed them aside. "We don't have much time. I need your help, Willow."
Lil's eyes narrowed. "It's Lil," she said, correcting him. She hated when people called her Willow. "Why should I help you? Why should I even go with you?" She stood beside his car, her heart thumping in her chest as she crossed her arms.
"Jamey's in trouble," Rawlie said.
"How do you know my sister?" Lil's eyes narrowed. She had been foolish enough to give the stranger her sister's name. Was he using it against her, or was Jamey in trouble? She shifted anxiously on her feet, her hands sweating as she worried about her little sis. Jamey hadn't always had the easiest childhood, plagued with autonomic dysfunction. There was a time when they thought she might actually die.
How could her mom consider sending Jamey away? It made no sense.
Yes, Jamey's health had gotten under control over the last year with finding a neurologist who specialized in autonomic disorders, but that didn't make things any easier.
Besides, her mom had turned into one of those helicopter parents. Lil had been surprised to discover she was finally going back to work and even more shocked when she heard that they wanted to send Jamey away to some weird boarding school. Unless, was she sick again? Was the academy an excuse to get her treatment elsewhere or worse…
"We don't have much time."
Lil was torn in two. She shouldn't go with Rawlie, but the thought of something happening to her sister was even more terrifying than any gruesome scene she could imagine landing in herself. "What happened?" She looked back as the main door to the school opened and the principal came outside to the lot. It was now or never. If they waited any longer, he'd be wondering why she wasn't in class.
"If we're leaving, now would be a good time." Rawlie jumped into the car, not bothering to open the door. He unlocked the passenger side and Lil pulled the door open, glancing back at the principal before getting into the car. A moment later, Rawlie sped off and away from Twain High.
"What happened to Jamey?" Lil asked, demanding answers.
Rawlie didn't answer her. The drive was like nothing Lil had ever experienced. She secured her seatbelt, tightening it as much as possible. The wind burned against her flesh, tearing at her skin worse than the most painful sunburn she'd ever experienced. The forest shifted in waves around them. She opened her mouth to speak, to ask what was going on, but the words didn't come. The forest grew darker the faster they drove. The trees billowed overhead, and though it was spring and there had been leaves on them, the dark forest looked dead. Lil glanced back behind them, seeing a shift and a ripple, the same odd glimmer she'd seen when Rawlie had first appeared outside the school.
"Where are we going?" Lil choked out, gasping for air. A bird swooped down just above her head and she flinched, swatting it away. She'd never liked birds, and she definitely wasn't a fan of ones with large, sharp talons coming at her face.
"Yeah, I don't like birds, either. Getting to Orenda through the forest isn't an easy drive. It'll be okay." Rawlie moved an arm to cover and protect Lil while he drove with the other.
"Orenda? Where the hell is that?" She couldn't remember any children's hospital with such a name, not in Missouri and certainly not anywhere else. Jamey had spent her fair share of time in and out of the hospital, doctors' offices, and even had a trip to the Mayo Clinic up in Rochester, Minnesota. Answers were never easy to come by. Her symptoms had been so many, and with such a rare disease, it had taken years for a diagnosis.
"Please tell me she's okay." Lil didn't want to think that her sister might have taken a turn for the worse. It wasn't like cancer, where there were stages of remission and worrying about reoccurrences. Jamey would have this genetic disorder until the day she died. Lil was fortunate she had not inherited the gene. There were times when it was better controlled with
medication, but the drugs didn't always work, and unfortunately, the fact she had Vascular Ehlers Danlos Syndrome meant her days were numbered. There was no cure. One day, she would most likely die of an aortic aneurism. That assumed she was careful not to play any high impact sports. With her thin collagen, it wouldn't take much to rupture an organ.
Lil's eyes widened with alarm as the dead trees closed in on them. The roar was as deafening as a lion's, causing the windshield to shudder and her heart rate to quicken. From a distance, she could make out the faintest hint of pink light streaming in from the edge of the forest. She doubted they'd make it in time. The forest was swallowing them whole. "I want out!" she screamed, fear overtaking her.
"If we stop, we're both dead." Rawlie didn't let up on the gas. He pushed the pedal harder to the floor, his arm protecting Lil from anything that might attack as they narrowly escaped the forest. He should have put the top up on the convertible before they left, Lil found herself thinking. A moment later, they reached the clearing and Rawlie put both hands back on the steering wheel as they came to an abrupt halt.
Catching her breath, she stared up at the bright pink sun. It wasn't a dream. It never was, was it?
"Orenda isn't like your world." Rawlie shut the car off and got out. "Come on. Don't waste time outside; it's not safe. We need to move, now!"
"Orenda?" Lil jumped out of the car, rushing after Rawlie and following him up the porch steps. The house looked just like her house back home, except there were no neighbors. Bray's house didn't exist—only the grass that extended as far as Lil could see and the strange forest across the street. It sure as hell didn't look like any academy she'd ever seen.
"Come inside." Rawlie ushered Lil into the house, past the squeaky screen door. He closed and locked the solid wood door behind them.
If it hadn't been for the frightening drive, Lil would have stayed outside and demanded answers. She had the strange feeling that outside wasn't safe. The stone in the pit of her stomach hadn't ceased to ache.
"Answers, now!" Lil demanded upon seeing the familiar house, but knowing it wasn't her home. "Is Jamey here?" she asked, moving between the rooms downstairs, looking for her little sister. The house looked the same until she reached the stairs. Pausing, she examined the pictures lining the wall. Every photograph was of Lil and a young boy with a mess of brown hair and steel-blue eyes. One photograph at the top of the stairs contained the three of them—Rawlie, Lil, and the little boy. Nothing in this house made any sense, but that was the least of her troubles. At least her sister was all right, hopefully. If this wasn't a hospital, then Jamey was hopefully still in school. Lil ascended the staircase, finding a little boy—the same one from her dream—standing in the loft, looking lost. "What the hell is going on?"
"I'm Jamie," the young boy said, "but you're not Willow." His sad eyes made her stomach flop.
Heat rushed her cheeks. "No. I'm not your sister… and I don't have a brother," she said, acknowledging things were different here. She didn't quite know where here was, though. She glanced at Rawlie. "Explain yourself!"
"Take a seat." Rawlie gestured toward the sofa in the loft. Unlike her home, where the loft was allocated as a computer room, this loft had been heavily furnished as a living area.
"I'd rather stand." She wasn't about to make herself comfortable. "Why did you kidnap me?"
Rawlie held up a hand. "It's not kidnapping when you agreed to come with me."
"Under false pretenses!" Lil couldn't believe the guy. Not to mention, she still didn't know where the hell she was.
"Listen." Rawlie perched himself on the arm of the sofa. "Willow was taken." He glanced at Jamie, his eyes glistening. "It's okay. Lil is here to help us get her back."
"Willow? Who's Willow?" Lil asked. "The girl in the picture on the walls?" She'd seen the familiar face, but it was all foreign to her. She had no memories of this place. This wasn't her home or her family.
"The girl you met the other night, when you visited us here. How were you able to do that?" Rawlie asked.
"I don't know. I was asleep. At least, I thought I was sleeping." Lil pinched the bridge of her nose, frustrated. "Is that why you took me? Where am I?"
"In a parallel world." Rawlie remained calm, answering her questions.
Her eyes widened, and she slowly sat down at the edge of the sofa. She needed a minute to gather her thoughts. What he'd said sounded insane. Had she gone mad? No, she was definitely awake as far as she could tell, and this world, everything in it seemed real. The only thought that crossed her mind earlier had been the words Rawlie and her mother had both revealed to her. "Does this have anything to do with Nightblood Academy?" Lil asked. She couldn't get that name out of her head. What kind of a school was it? What was going on?
Jamie's brow furrowed. "How do you know about the academy?"
"You answer my questions first." Lil folded her arms across her chest. "How is any of this possible?" How would she ever find her way home? Where was home? A parallel universe didn't sound believable, but what she'd experienced while traveling through the forest, that seemed even more unlikely.
"I don't know. Our worlds always have had soft spots allowing travel for certain individuals. There used to be an academy that taught us to harness our abilities and helped the Nightblood's develop their purpose. The school was abandoned about eight years ago. I was able to bring you here because I'm a Nightblood, but I don't know how you crossed over on your own. It shouldn't be possible and certainly not with Willow guarding the gate."
"Gate? How do you people know about me? How'd you know about Jamey?" Lil was still concerned for her sister. "Is my sister safe?" Lil need to know Jamey was back in her world, unharmed. It still made no sense to Lil that her mother wanted to send Jamey to Nightblood Academy. Her mother couldn't possibly know about parallel universes, right? It was absurd! Lil wasn't special. Jamey was different, sure, but not a Nightblood. Right? Her world was mundane.
"Willow and I occasionally travel to your world, when we need food or supplies. Right now, we need your help, Lil."
"Help, how? I don't understand what's going on." Lil rubbed her forehead, feeling nauseous and confused. Would this day ever end?
"Eilith has taken Willow. We believe you're the only one who can help us bring her back to our world, Orenda."
"Orenda?" Lil repeated. Would she ever wake up from this nightmare?
Bray waited by Lil's locker as the building cleared out and the other students rushed to the bus. He glanced down at his watch, slung his bag over his shoulder, and headed out to the parking lot.
He climbed into his car, surprised Lil hadn't returned to class. He'd been in the middle of his anatomy exam when she'd escaped the test. He assumed she had come up with an excuse to leave early. He started the car and pulled into traffic at the back of the line. On the way home, it was impossible not to drive by Lil's house. He parked the car in his driveway and walked across the street. He knocked three times on the front door. There was no response.
Of course, Lil wouldn't be there. If she'd left early, there must have been an emergency, probably with Jamey. It didn't explain why she hadn't texted him, but perhaps her mind had been somewhere else. He didn't blame her. He tapped a message to Lil. R u ok? Call me. It was short and simple, to the point. He wanted to know everything was all right.
Two hours later, Bray was sitting in front of the television when there was a persistent knock at the door. He paused the show on the DVR, got up, and didn't bother with the peephole. He threw open the door, expecting it to be Lil. Maybe she hadn't answered his texts, but she did tend to show up unannounced quite often.
"Jamey?" he said, surprised to see her standing on the porch steps.
The young girl's eyes were brimming with tears. "Lil's not home. Is she here?" Jamey asked.
"No." Bray walked back in, shut the television off, and grabbed his phone and keys. He slid his shoes on and followed Jamey outside the house. "We should go back to your house. Did you call y
our parents?" If Jamey was all right, then where the hell had Lil gone?
"I knew something was wrong when she wasn't home." Jamey wiped the few stray tears as quickly as they fell. "I can't reach Mom, and Dad told me to find you. He thought she might be over at your house."
"We should call your father again. Lil left school early."
"What? Why would she do that?" Jamey asked. "Did someone come to pick her up? Who? Why would she go with them? You're her best friend, Bray. You have to know something." She sounded as desperate as he felt.
"I wish I did. I don't know why she'd leave. I thought something might have happened with you. I guess she knew who picked her up?" Bray didn't have an answer to any of Jamey's questions. He called Lil's father, telling him the situation. Bray led Jamey across the street, promising to stay with her until her father returned home.
Bray and Jamey waited in the living room, until there was a knock at the front door. "Stay there," Bray said. Jamey sat on the sofa, crying. He walked to the door and glanced through the peephole to find two police officers standing on the other side. Bray let the officers inside and closed the door.
"I'm Officer Roberts, and this is Officer Johnson. We're here to investigate the disappearance of Willow Porter. Do you mind if I take a look in her bedroom?" the younger, pudgier of the two asked.
Did Bray have a choice? "Go ahead." Bray gave them permission, and the older officer walked upstairs. He hated that they were rummaging around Lil's bedroom without her permission. She'd hate it too and would find it unforgivable that he'd let them into her private space. If there was any chance it could lead to them finding her, he'd accept responsibility. Even if it meant she'd want to kill him. "You should start with our school, Twain High," Bray said.
"We have an officer investigating at the school. The first two hours are the most crucial. Is there anything else you can tell us?" the younger officer asked, pulling out a pad of paper to take notes. "Did you see who picked her up? Does she have a boyfriend?"