“Lucas, can you hear me?” he asked, again.
“T?” I mumbled raspy and dazed. He leaned down to me, surveying the room for any signs of approaching danger.
“Hey brother, it’s me. I’m here,” Taylor said.
“Where am I?”
“The cafeteria. You want a pudding pop or something?” he joked. His sense of humor cut through the medication overload and I tried to sit up.
“Sure,” I smiled with a light cough.
“How you doing, Lucas?”
“I feel like dirt.” Sitting up fully, my eyes focused on the room. The General’s men had left me in the main corridor of the school cafeteria. It was empty and clean. Taylor stood tall next to my gurney.
“Well, you look just as good!” he teased, again. “Can you walk?”
“I think so, but what are you doing here? Where is the rest of the gang?” I vaguely remembered moments before. Moments of my friends and the soldiers talking, but it was foggy and disjointed. “I’m having the hardest time remembering anything.”
“They’re leaving as we speak. The General let us go. Don’t you remember? You did it. You saved us. Everyone’s heading home,” he smiled, and sat down next to me on the gurney. The new scar along my inner wrist and forearm began to hum, just below the skin. My head cleared itself of the cobwebs and my pain went away.
“Why are you still here?” I asked, with a crooked smile. He nudged me in the arm with a giant elbow.
“To save you...again.”
“Really?” I said, sarcastically.
“It’s my job, remember...”
“Oh, yeah,” I laughed. It felt good to joke with him. It felt normal and normal was a welcomed change. Sadly, I couldn’t keep my mind from wandering though. Had the mysterious stone really been alive? Was it dead now? What was this mark on my arm? But the thought that kept tumbling around my groggy head was, why would General Love just let us go? I didn’t trust him a bit.
Taylor broke my train of thought, “Our cell phones are working again.”
I looked down at my scar, where the stone had turned my cell phone into a magic gauntlet of power before falling to pieces and leaving its mark on me. Taylor noticed I was concentrating too hard on the red welts on my arm.
“I called your mom,” he said.
“You did? Was she freaking out about everything that happened here?”
“Not at all.”
“What? Why not?” I asked, worried. Taylor ran his hand through his messy blonde hair.
“Because outside of this school, nothing has changed. There was no panic in the streets, no uproar about the school being hijacked, no emergency vehicles...nothing.” He shrugged confused, but relieved. “Even the cops this morning...it was like they were never here.”
“I don’t understand.”
Taylor pointed toward the cafeteria door, “Because out there, Lucas, it’s normal. Only in here were things tripping like the Twilight Zone. No one knows what happened here. Your mom thought I was crazy interrupting her work and asking about you and todays events. She thought we were playing a joke on her. I think it pissed her off a little. Sorry about that,” he sighed.
“No one knows,” I gasped.
“We’ve been fighting this secret battle for hours and it’s still only first period,” Taylor held up his cell phone to show me the time on its screen. It had only been thirty minutes since I walked into the school, this morning.
“The day just started, Luc. We’ve been locked in some time warp all day, and I think it’s because of that,” he pointed to my scar. “Your secret.”
I hopped down from the gurney and Taylor followed. A new energy raced through my veins. My hand tightly covered the humming scar as I tried to make sense of this new development.
“Believe,” I whispered, barely.
“What did you say?” Taylor asked. I shook off his question and turned to him.
“Why would the General just let us go? He never got what he was after...the stone. It doesn’t feel right.”
“What are you getting at?”
“T, did you actually see everyone leave?”
“Umm...no. Why?” He was officially scared now. My eyes spied a small black bubble made of plastic or glass, stuck in the corner of the ceiling. A tiny red light blinked from the middle of the bubble. I think it was a camera or monitoring tool. My wrist and fingers began to tingle just below the scar on my arm, as if warning me of something.
I pointed to it fiercely, “Because I think they’re still watching us! And if they’re still keeping track of us, then they’re still tracking all of us!”
Anger welled up inside of me and I reached around me for the closest thing I could get my hands on. It turned out to be an empty metal baking pan. With a snap of my wrist it flipped through the air, crashing into the black sphere and shattering it to the floor. The red light flickered away to nothing. Taylor stepped up to the mangled camera and focused on one important thought.
“Morgan! I’ve got to make sure she is safe.”
“Morgan?” my voice cracked. In the middle of this crisis I hadn’t noticed just how close those two had become. “You and Mo?”
He nodded yes, “I’ll explain later.” He grabbed me by my arm, “Come on, let’s get out of here. They’ll be coming for us for sure, now.”
I pulled from his grip, “Not yet, T. I’m not done here.”
“Luc?” He stared at me as if I was crazy.
“Go, now. Get to Morgan and the others. I know she’s probably counting the seconds until she’s with you again,” I said, distant.
“I’m not leaving without you,” he growled.
I closed my eyes, concentrating as hard as I could.
Are you still here? I asked in my head. Nothing, no answer.
Are you really alive? I searched my thoughts waiting for an answer. The past few days played through my head at light speed. The moments with Olivia seemed to play a bit slower than the others.
“Lucas! There’s no time, we have to go!” Taylor begged. He tried to push me out the door, but I fought him, quickly jamming my eyes closed even tighter.
Are you still there? Please, I need answers!
~ Believe. ~
“I knew it!” I screamed. Taylor looked at me as if I had finally lost all my marbles. “T, get out of here. Hurry!”
He stepped back from me, “You’re scaring me, brother.”
“Trust me,” I smirked. “Find the others, make sure they’re safe. I think I just put an important piece of the puzzle together. I’ll catch up with you.”
“Trust you?”
“T, I have to do this alone.”
“And what if you’re wrong?”
“Then we’re all screwed,” I smiled. “Tell Olivia I’ll pick her up Friday night, at 7.”
“What?” he asked, lost. With all my might, I shoved him through the cafeteria door and locked it behind him. He pushed and pounded on it, loudly. For a split-second I thought he might knock the door off its hinges.
“Believe,” I said to him through the door.
“Lucas! Are you crazy?”
“I hope not...” I barely said, and stared down at the scar on my wrist. It was now glowing in a bright gold light that sparkled along the edges of the symbol.
~ Believe. ~
“I do,” I grinned.
~ Believe in me. ~
With my glowing arm in front of my face, I said, “I have so many questions to ask you. I need answers. I wish I could talk to you...”
Time stopped inside the room and the golden light shifted to a cool silver hue. Purple energy escaped from my fingertips and burned into the floor in the shape of the symbol on my forearm. The two colors painted the empty room, making it harder to see. From the symbol on the ground came a thick black smoke. It billowed up in huge chunks, twisting and expanding until it blanketed the silver and purple light. It was morbid and beautiful as it covered the floor and walls. I took a small step toward it and it reac
ted to my movement. The velvety smoke rippled violently, pulling itself together as if trying to form a shape of some kind.
“Wow,” I was stunned.
As I watched the spectacle before me, an image appeared in my head like a realtime daydream. It was the hallway just before the main entrance doors of the school. Roland, Morgan, Dax, Felicity, Olivia and Sophia stood talking, and I could see and hear every word inside my mind.
Why hadn’t my friends left this horrible school yet?
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
IN THE SCHOOL HALLWAY...
“Do you think we should have let Taylor go after Lucas by himself?” Morgan asked. She walked slowly, side by side with her brother.
“I was wondering the same thing, Sis,” Roland said. As they approached the front doors to the school, they stopped. Felicity followed closely behind, completely annoyed by Morgan’s question and shoved through both of them with a grunt.
“Outta my way, losers! If you want to spend another minute in this mental ward, then so be it! But I’ve got better things to do then worry about some super jock and the stupidly annoying Lucas Ryan!” Spit flew from her rant. Morgan wanted to reach out and throttle her, but Roland stopped her with a gentle touch of his hand.
“I couldn’t have said it better myself!” Dax added, and pushed through them as well. The twins ignored him though. Roland turned to Olivia and Sophia.
“Do you think we’re doing the right thing?” he asked them, unsure.
“Not at all!” Sophia snapped. “Lucas never gave up on me, on us...we shouldn’t be leaving without him!”
“Sophia, stop it. You don’t understand...he promised me,” Olivia tried to reason with her.
“Promised you what?”
“To get you out of here...safe. No matter what,” Olivia said, sadder than she was expecting.
“But what about Lucas?” Sophia wailed.
“Soph...”
“No, Olivia! This isn’t right! We have to go back for him!” Sophia scolded, tearing her hand away from her big sister’s grip.
“Uh oh, sounds like someones got her first teenage crush!” Dax laughed, obnoxiously.
“Shut up, Dax!” Olivia smacked him in the chest. He filled with a pout and crossed his arms. From behind them came a familiar laughter that echoed down the hallway. Sophia turned around to find the haunting shadow of General Love creeping its way toward them. They all spun around, shocked by his presence. His soldiers ran up, blocking the entrance. They shoved Felicity and Dax backwards, away from the exit.
“Oh no...” Morgan cried out. The shadow of General Love grew larger as he closed the gap between them. His features were hidden by the darkness, but they could still see the outline of his missing ear. When the light finally found his face it revealed that not only was his ear missing, but now, a third of his face was gone too. In the place of his missing skin was a black liquid that gurgled like boiling water. Black ribbons of smoke trickled upward from the open wound and his eye gleamed bloodshot red. His face was sickening.
“Where do I take this pain of mine?” he smiled, reaching up with his hand. With his fingers he ripped another chunk of flesh away from his face, revealing another blood red eyeball. He dropped the piece of skin to the floor and Felicity covered her mouth with a dry retching noise.
“What are you?” Olivia asked, shaking. She pulled Sophia back to her, wrapping her arms around her, tightly.
Slamming his boot into the floor with a clap, he said, “A lie.” His soldiers all slammed their boots into the floor, copying the General’s stomp. All of them repeated the General’s words in a chant.
“A lie!” they all serenaded. The sound forced everyone into a small huddle of terrified prisoners. General Love hissed and his soldiers surrounded them.
“What do you want from us?” Roland asked. General Love reached through his men and grabbed Roland by his neck, and pulled him closer. Roland winced in pain, trying not to make direct eye contact with him. At the same moment a flash of purple and gold light emerged from Sophia’s back pocket. The soldier closest to her took an awkward step back from it. It seemed to irritate or hurt the soldier. She quickly removed the demolished gauntlet screen and held it up to her face. The soothing light caressed her terrified expression, decorating her tiny freckles in lavender hues.
A sneer filled the General’s lips, exposing needle-like teeth, “What do I want?”
In almost a slither, he leaned into Roland and said...
“The truth.”
LEVEL 22: The Energy
The truth was finally here. The truth was magical. This truth was unbelievable. This impossible truth covered itself in dangerous beauty. Seeing the stone’s hidden truth was amazing, but I don’t think I was ready to accept its truth, our truth. The stone’s true identity was in front of me now. I wasn’t ready.
~ Believe in me. ~
“I’m trying!”
~ Believe, Lucas. ~
“Gimme a sec!” I whined. I closed my eyes hard, but I could still see it. The stone’s epic design etched onto my inner eyelids. Slowly, my eyes peeled open again and I surrendered as the truth overtook me.
~ See me. ~
“Okay.”
I had a nightmare once when I was 8 years old. Born from the stupid decision of watching a movie I shouldn’t have. I can barely recall the movie anymore, something about a possessed doll with a knife and its appetite for blood, but I remember every torturous moment of the dream. This nightmare was so bad that it has stayed with me ever since. At the time, I remember being so scared that I couldn’t even leave my bed and run for the safety of my parents bedroom. So, I shivered in my cocoon of covers and sweat, frozen with fear. I thought I would never feel that kind of fear again, until this moment.
Black velvet smoke swished around the room in waves, like silky liquid. Along the floor it danced, sliding itself into the corners of the room and covering the walls. Silently, this rolling flood of smoke began to take a shape. It pulled together to form a body that was unmistakably snakelike. It was thin enough to see through and whipped back and forth like a tail of a kite fighting to free itself from its captive string. Silver shaped scales began to form along its curves as if burned into place. Each one ended in a pointy tip with an electrical spark popping from it. I couldn’t see any legs, but it had at least four arms or appendages. They were long and lanky with matching scales on fire. At the end of each arm was a three fingered claw, black as night. The sharp fingertips clicked together, dripping sparks to the smoky floor.
“Impossible,” I almost gagged in fear. Three whiplike tails emerged from the magical mist, each with its own different and deadly tip. The tail in the middle was longer than the other ones at its sides. It had a vicious looking spike that seemed to change its shape at will. Each new form more menacing than the next. The two outer tails moved almost like legs, but with giant sickle shaped tips that scratched along the walls and ceiling with a nerve rattling scraping sound.
The tangle of monstrous appendages were tied together by a steel plated chest of vibrating scales. Within this torso sprouted a long neck as long as a giraffe. The creature’s shoulders were thick and did not move, making its slender neck a statue of metallic stone that towered above my pale face. This menacing neck led to the head of my secret beast. This was the hardest part to describe. It was slightly long like a lizard, or dinosaur, but with a stubbed nose that held two almond shaped slits for eyes. They smoldered in a deep fire-burst of yellow, with red sparks of lightning that reached for the ceiling. Pulses of purple energy reflected just beneath the pupils, depending on what direction you stared at it. Even though its head didn’t move at all, its eyes seemed to follow me wherever I moved. Which wasn’t much because of the absolute amazement I was locked in.
No mouth or outline for a mouth of any kind, that I could see. No nose or nostrils. As I studied its head closer I realized it wasn’t breathing at all. It just hovered there in existence. While parts of its iron torso shifted and clicked
wildly throughout the room, other body parts seemed still and almost transparent. As if they weren’t all the way there, all the way in this realm or dimension. My head pounded with the ridiculous thought, but it was happening right before my eyes. The pounding progressed to dizziness and I leaned backward fearing I may pass out. Luckily, I caught a well-placed chair and sunk into its arch safely. The vertigo disappeared in an instant.
“Whew...that was weird,” I mumbled. My right wrist tickled with a building heat, pulling my tired stare down to it. The creature’s eyes watched me as I pulled my wrist up to my face and found that it was engulfed by a swirling storm of black liquid smoke. It spun around my arm and hand like a miniature hurricane. Streaks of electricity crawled along the hairs of my skin, outlining the foreign symbols left from my missing gauntlet. My other hand began to reach for it when it became completely clear I wasn’t sitting in a chair at all. My body rested atop a small puff of smoke that fit to my body like a throne fits a King. Air shot from my mouth in a thin stream and drilled into the smoke directly in front of me. The giant beast shivered.
“Whoa...sorry about that,” I said, embarrassed. The creature’s eyes seemed to smile before me, filling me with a new and weird calmness. The excess smoke twisted and morphed before my face like the white cottony clouds on a beautiful spring day. Instantly, I started to see familiar shapes; castles, birds, a rocket ship, even a bunny wearing a top hat. The images brought a funny little smile to the edge of my mouth. I had almost forgotten all about the mysterious alien in front of me when its reptilian head slid down, aligning itself with mine.
Lucas Ryan Versus: The Hive (The Lucas Ryan Versus Series) Page 15