He nodded without turning to me. “Yeah.”
I walked next to Lyle while he was looking out over the school parking lot. I gave him a quick glance. He seemed serious, his eyes focused on something with a determined gaze.
“I guess he’s back in town for a while, huh?”
Lyle nodded.
Okay it was clear he wasn’t budging and I didn’t have any way to ease into this. So I just came out with it. With a big breath in I looked at him and said, “Lyle I’m sorry.”
He grinned, which took me off guard. “That’s why you came up here?”
I scoffed, “Well, yeah.” Folding my arms together, I leaned against the small widow ledge. And I confessed, “It… it bothers me that I’ve upset you.”
He shifted his weight to one foot. Other than that there were no major changes on his part.
“So… I mean…” I scratched my head, “Are we good?”
He rubbed his chin. “Avalin, do you remember when we walked home from school that one time? It was the afternoon… and those kids were making fun of you for what happened with your mother?”
I gripped my elbow tightly and felt my teeth clenching. Yeah… yeah I remembered.
“And after everything that happened that day, you looked at me… and you asked me why I stood up for you.”
I looked at him as my eyes watered a bit. He looked back at me with his soft eyes. I noticed they were the opposite of Albert’s. They were calming, familiar.
“I told you that good people need a helping hand once in a while.” He said, “That no matter what you did to me or what you said, I would always be there when you needed me.”
I shook my head. “Yeah and what did I do in return? I almost got you killed.”
“But I did it willingly, Avalin. That’s the point,” he said to me with a small smile. “You didn’t hold a gun to my head and make me take those hits for you. I did it because I needed to. If anything happened to you… nothing would be the same. Nothing would matter anymore. That’s why I was so upset with you when you disappeared. When you left… I felt my heart stop. My world stopped.”
“Tell me about it.”
“Then you get why I was upset.” He sighed, “So… I’m sorry too. I was surprised to see how quick fear and worry turned to panic and anger.” He glanced out the window. “And I was equally surprised at how long those feelings lasted.”
I couldn’t help but smile as he looked back at me. “Please tell me we’re good?”
He gave me a light punch on the shoulder. “We’re good.”
My head reeled back as I praised, “Hallelujah!” I wrapped him into a hug.
He laughed a smooth laugh, “Although the idea of you guilt tripping over me kind of leaves a nice taste in my mouth.”
“What? You’re sick,” I said with a horrified expression. “I’ve been miserable ever since you drove off on me. You have no idea how much you messed me up.”
“Yeah well it shows me you care.”
“You’re about to get my angry face.”
He rolled his eyes in a similar fashion to Reggie. “How terrifying. Oh, speaking of terrifying, you may want to talk to your hyperactive Indian friend as well. Prajna was less than thrilled when you bailed.”
I totally forgot about her. “Oh shit, that’s right.”
“Yeah. She’s insisting you left because of something she did. You should see her moping around school like a lost meerkat.”
“Meerkat?”
“She reminds me of a meerkat.”
I sighed, “Yeah, I’ll talk to her too.”
He nodded. “Good. I’d hate to leave her upset. She talks even more when she’s down, if that’s even possible.” He stretched a bit, but I was surprised by the sudden softness in his voice as he said, “Thanks for coming to clear the air Casper.”
I was about to say something. I had come up with the perfect response to show him I really was sorry. But instead the worst thing that could happen at a time like this did indeed happen. I heard someone call my name.
“Avalin!”
Lyle and I looked down the hallway. I think my eyes got wider than an owl’s.
Albert was walking down the hall, towards me.
I almost shit my pants.
Lyle looked at me. “Friend of yours?”
I was absolutely panicking, “Uh… that… that’s-”
“Avalin,” Albert said to me as he grabbed me by the arm. “We have to go, now!”
“What?” I said. “What are you talking about?”
“They’re here, Avalin. I’ve got no time to explain, come on!”
I tried to yank my hand away from him. “What, what? Explain what?” I couldn’t believe he was just trying to whisk me away right in front of Lyle. I was trying to keep all of this Twined stuff secret for God’s sake.
But his grip wouldn’t loosen. And to be honest it really started to hurt.
It was Lyle who grabbed Albert’s hand, forcing him to let go of my arm. Lyle sized up to Albert immediately, the two of them staring each other down.
“Guys wait!” I yelled, rubbing my reddened wrist.
“Keep your hands to yourself you little piece of shit!” Albert growled.
“Take your own advice, asshole,” Lyle barked back.
I pushed the two of them apart to keep them from killing each other.
Lyle looked at me in shock. “Avalin what is wrong with this douchebag?”
“That’s a really good question!” Turning to Albert I then asked, “Are you out of your mind? What is wrong with you?”
I remembered that Albert had a tendency to read my mind. So I thought to myself and projected it as best I could. “This is Lyle, he’s a friend of mine and he’s not a Twined. Relax Albert I’m not in any danger.”
Albert stopped eyeing Lyle with a hateful glare and looked to me, ignoring what I said to him. “She’s back. She’s back and she’s coming for you, we have to leave!”
My heart stopped. “Jes-” I stopped myself before I said her whole name. “The Shadow Lynx? She’s here?”
Albert nodded grimly.
“But… I haven’t seen her at school since…”
“Well she’s here now. And that means you’re in danger. I need you to come with me. We have to get you someplace safe.”
Lyle shook his head. “Safe? Why, what is he talking about?”
“Lyle it’s complicated. I have to go.”
“Oh no, Avalin don’t you dare!” he said. “I don’t want you going anywhere with this prick!”
“Are you serious?” Albert interjected. “Avalin if you listen to him you’ll get us killed! All of us! That Twined will not discriminate between her target and innocent bystanders!”
I grimaced at the thought. I knew that Albert was right. “Lyle, I’m so, so sorry. But there’s just something going on right now and I don’t want to put you in danger!”
“Put me in danger of what?” Lyle asked. “You’re freaking me out Avalin, what’s going on?”
Suddenly the door to Lyle’s classroom opened. We all flinched as Mrs. Bingly popped her head out.
“Is everything all right out here?” she asked with a voice of worry.
Lyle looked to me. I just stared back, unsure of what to say.
Finally I was able to mutter, “Yeah. Everything is fine.”
Bingly nodded. “Well alright… if you all are sure everything’s alright. Lyle, are you coming back to class?”
Albert patted me on the shoulder. “Avalin, we don’t have time to waste, let’s go.”
He started walking down the hall without me. I began to follow after Albert until Lyle called my name.
“Avalin! Wait!”
I turned around and looked at Lyle. I saw his expression, saddened and confused at the fact tha
t I was leaving him again. I was doing the exact thing I had just got done apologizing over. But I knew deep down that Albert was right. If I stayed here then the entire school was in danger. I couldn’t take that risk. This was for Lyle’s own good. It was for everyone’s.
I gave him an apology with the look in my eyes, a farewell in my expression, as I slowly backed away. He didn’t chase after me but I could feel the pain I was causing him. I couldn’t tell him what was going on. There just wasn’t any time to explain myself. I was selfish enough as it was… I couldn’t make him suffer for that.
I finally turned around and walked towards the steps leading downstairs, feeling Lyle’s eyes watching me from where he stood.
It took everything that I had in me to walk away.
CHAPTER 10: MAKE BELIEVE, SHALL DECEIVE
We kept walking down the steps that led to the school’s lowest floor. I wondered why we were going to the lowest level when the student parking lot was right across from the side entrance on the floor above us. It seemed like a longer trip and we were in a hurry.
“Where did you see her?” I asked Albert as I trailed him as best I could. Thankfully he didn’t leave me in the dust although he could have.
He walked around a corner and I followed after. It brought us to a long hallway filled with lockers.
“Albert.”
“What?”
“I asked where you’d seen her.” My voice lowered and I said, “Jessica.”
“I saw her outside walking around, spotted her from the higher floor.”
I shook my head. “Where outside? She isn’t near the faculty parking lot, is she?” If she was, then getting to Gray’s Prius would be harder than I thought it would be.
“No I saw her near those tennis courts.”
I stopped for a second. “She was near the tennis courts? That’s right where we’re headed.”
Albert stopped in his tracks. He turned to me. “What?”
I nodded. “Yeah.” I pointed in front of us and said, “If we keep down this hallway that’s exactly where we’ll end up. We need to get back to the parking lots.”
He rubbed the back of his head. “Yeah… that’s a better idea. Where is that?”
“It’s where you saved me from Jessica before. Just up the stairs we came from and down the reading hallway.”
“Okay. Let’s go.”
“Oh, better idea. We make for the nurse’s office.”
“The nurse’s? You sure that’s a good plan?”
“Yeah Gray should be able to help us.”
Albert didn’t seem to agree with me there. “I don’t think that’s a good idea Avalin.”
“Why not?”
He sighed, rubbing his chin.
“What? Do you know something I don’t?”
“I just don’t trust her.”
I gawked at him. “You don’t trust her? She saved our lives, how can you even say that?”
“Well I mean… yeah. Yeah I guess you’re right.”
“Gray said you’re the one who came to her in the first place. If you don’t trust the woman why do you even stay around her?”
“It’s complicated Avalin.”
“Yeah well you know we don’t have time for complicated right now. If Jessica catches us things will be very simple. So either we go to Gray and get help from her or we let evil Ms. Bitch Puss claw our eyes out. I prefer not to deal with the latter, so if you please?” I gestured towards the stairs we had just come from.
Albert sighed. “Fine.”
But he didn’t move from his spot. I eyed him for a minute, looking him over. Something didn’t settle right with me. He felt different today. That energy he exhumed which typically drew me to him, it wasn’t present. The air around him wasn’t sparking; it didn’t make me tingle like usual. Maybe we just weren’t very synchronized anymore.
He looked at me. “What’s wrong?”
I lied, “Nothing.” But the feeling of uneasiness didn’t go away.
But as I looked at Albert, another figure caught my eye. Behind his back, someone was walking towards us. I couldn’t see too clearly because of the light shining in from the doors on the far end of the hall. I thought it was Jessica at first and my heart stopped for a second. But it wasn’t her. The outline didn’t match her body shape.
But the figure got closer and closer. And I saw who it was.
“Avalin, get away from him!” a familiar voice boomed at me.
My vision cleared. Another man, who looked exactly like Albert, was walking towards me.
My eyes widened. “What the hell?”
The figure started to dash forward.
“Get down!” he yelled again.
With no time to react, I dove to the side just in time to see Albert, or rather someone who looked like him; tackle the Albert that was standing in front of me. I yelled out as I slid on my rear while the two men, identical in appearance, rolled around in the hallway punching at each other.
A pair of arms picked me up gently. I turned around to see Ms. Gray lifting me to my feet.
“What the hell is this?” I asked in panic.
Gray pulled her hair back. “A Twined took Albert’s appearance.” She looked at the two young men wrestling with each other. “Shit. Did you see which one tackled which?”
“I don’t know who the real one is!” I yelled. For all the love of what is holy, I felt like I was in one of those ridiculous movies about clones. Where the good clone and the bad clone get mixed up and the tussle coincidentally tosses the laser, armed of course with one last shot, to the helpless female lead who proceeds to shakily scan each one with the gun saying “I don’t know which is which!” and the clones are saying “Shoot him!” “No, shoot him!”
But this problem was real. If I couldn’t tell the real Albert from the fake one then this could get very ugly, very fast.
“The Twined who you were talking to was not the real Albert!” Gray said as she wracked her brain with ways on how to split the two apart.
“Okay well how do we tell which one is Albert?” I asked hurriedly.
“I don’t know. You can’t Track and you’re not Joined, so we can’t use a Marker here.” She bit her lip. I noticed she unintentionally made me sound completely useless.
“Can he still read my mind?”
Gray snapped her fingers. “Yes! Say something to Albert telepathically!”
I nodded and looked down to the two Alberts in the hallway. One of them pushed the other into the lockers so hard that many of the locker doors snapped off the hinges.
“Albert, listen to me. Make a gesture, something so that I know which one is the real you!”
One Albert tackled the other to the floor.
“I’m a little busy Avalin!” A voice resonated in my ear. The two Alberts had their hands full pummeling each other. It was a vicious fight, like a battle between two lions. The messed up part is one Albert seemed just as strong as the other.
“Albert, listen, let him get on top of you.” Thinking quickly, I walked over and picked up one of the broken locker doors lying on the floor.
“What?!”
“Just do it! Trust me!” I said in my head. “Is he on top of you yet?”
Suddenly one Albert seemed to let himself go. The other Albert rolled on top and straddled the lower one, pinning him down and sending punches flying for his face.
“Yes, yes!”
The Albert on top, the one I believed to be the clone, found his punching to be less effective. So he decided to quickly reach in his pocket and brandish a knife. That right there told me he was the fake. The real Albert wouldn’t even need a knife.
And then I did what I believe was the single most badass thing in the history of my life.
I took that locker door in my hand and
, with all the strength that my karate class bestowed upon me when I was fourteen years old, swung it forcefully in an arc at the Albert on top. It smacked him in the face so hard that my arms shook. The Albert on top actually was pushed off the other and landed on his back with a thud on the hallway floor, immobile and unmoving. His knife skidded across the hall, out of his hand.
I breathed out in relief. I heard Gray do the same thing behind me.
The Albert on the bottom winced as he picked himself up. I dropped the locker door as I glanced to make sure the other Albert wasn’t moving. I bent down to the real Albert, who wiped at a stream of blood coming out his nose.
“Speak to me,” I ordered him.
He nodded. “It’s me, it’s me.”
I breathed out with ease once I verified his identity. And I felt that spark flutter through me when I got nearer to him. This was the real Albert. Thank God.
“I’m really getting tired of having my ass handed to me,” he said. I couldn’t help but worry as I put a hand on his shoulder. At least this time his injuries weren’t life threatening and I thanked the skies above for that.
“Are you all right?” I laughed nervously out loud, impressed with Albert’s resilience. “You took that like a champ.”
“Why are you laughing? Ow,” he said as I pressed on his nose.
I grimaced. “He broke it.”
“Thanks for the diagnosis doctor. Ow.”
I pulled my finger away, “Sorry, sorry.” I stood up and he got to his feet, holding his nose. “We should get you to the nurse’s office,” I said.
“What about him?” Albert asked, gesturing to his other self.
I shrugged. “Don’t ask me.” I glanced over at Gray who was making sure the other Albert wouldn’t be moving any time soon. “I’m still trying to figure out who the hell that is.”
CHAPTER 11: OVERRULED, NEVER FOOLED
“Ow.”
“Sit still.”
“Ow!”
“Stop being a baby, Albert.”
“Ow, ow! I said ow!”
“Freaking A, Albert, please hold still.”
I sighed as I sat back on my knees. I was in front of Albert who was sitting on an ugly orange chair in the nurse’s office. He moaned as he held his nose, freshly broken from the scuffle with his little clone. I was pretty much on my knees in front of him, trying to reset his nose. I attempted to do so in the least awkward position possible.
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