“You’re jealous,” Julia said, “because he dumped you in like one second. As a matter of fact, that’s all you were to him in the first place, seconds.”
When Tanner glanced at Darla, he didn’t think her mouth would be able to get much wider.
“Zachary!” she screeched. “Are you going to let her talk to me like that?”
“Chill out ladies, there is enough of The Zach to go around.”
“I’m watching you,” Darla said to Julia through her teeth.
Tanner had lost his appetite. He tried to ask Julia with his facial expressions: What the hell do you think you’re doing?
She ignored him.
“Everyone,” Zachary said in an announcement voice. “I think I’ll move the meeting up to tonight. We have a new recruit and an about-time returning one. He put his arm around Julia.
Tanner winced.
“As planned,” Zachary continued, “it’ll be at my house in the red media room. Jules, give Tanner directions later.”
“Sure, sweetie,” she said as she smiled at Darla.
Zachary looked at Tanner. “Bring your nerve. That’s all I’m saying.”
Wednesday Afternoon: Tanner waited for Julia outside the front doors of the school. When she walked out, he grabbed her by the arm. “What are you doing?”
“What?” she said. “Oh, the directions… sure.” She nodded her head to the right and walked. He followed. They went to the end of the sidewalk next to the street.
“What are you doing?” he whispered. “This isn’t a game to me. If I can’t find—”
“Relax,” she said and took a piece of paper out of her bag. “Look,” she whispered. “I’m tired of just watching them get away with this. I want to relearn what to do so I can maybe start converting these kids back one by one. If you’re willing to die for one person, perhaps I should stop sulking about my feelings being hurt and give these kids back their lives, and their own minds, even if they do have the minds of three-year-olds. So I’m in. Got it?”
He stared at her for a moment, her bright green eyes glistened with intensity, and he noticed her face was dotted with cute little freckles; he figured the reason he hadn’t noticed them before was because they had been hidden under makeup.
She said, “I know how to handle myself.”
“And Zachary, it seems.”
She smiled. “Yeah well, it was the only way I was going to get back in. I had to tell him how sorry I was.” Her hair blew softly in the wind. “And beg his forgiveness. And flirt just a little… it didn’t take much. Anyway, I’m in.”
“Fine,” he said. “Where does The Zack live?”
“Before I give you this,” she flapped the paper in his face, “I want to warn you that I think he’s planning something dangerous.”
“Dangerous? What? Two video games at once?”
“No, seriously. They like to test their limits. You know, on second thought maybe I should go on my own and refresh, and that way you won’t have to get mixed up in the whole mess.”
“No, I’m going.” He snatched the paper out of her hands. “Maybe you shouldn’t get involved again.”
“Right. Look, just don’t do anything stupid tonight. You don’t have to do anything they say.” She stared at him for a second longer before walking to where the bikes were parked.
Tanner exhaled and put his face up to the sky feeling the hot sun on his face. “Dangerous geeksters. Hmmm. This ought to be one interesting night.”
Chapter 15
Located in one of the newer parts of the neighborhood, Zachary’s house was almost identical to the two houses on either side of it; all three were large two story brick homes with tiny front lawns. The yard consisted of only grass and concrete, except for one lone garden gnome that had been painted completely red.
As he thought about it, Tanner actually seemed to like the idea of a tight-knit community. He just wished the one he lived in wasn’t so dang weird. He didn’t dwell on the strangeness for too long. He knew that if he slowed down and analyzed why he stood on that sidewalk at that particular house, he might decide to run in the opposite direction instead of walking up the path.
Tanner rang the doorbell, wondering what he would encounter. He kind of hoped it would be like a college fraternity initiation of some sort, like the ones he had watched in movies where they all wore black hooded capes. The way Julia talked about the Princes one would think that they did some really scary stuff. He thought maybe he should brace himself for sacrifices and under-the-breath chanting. Yeah, right. He’d amused himself so much that by the time someone actually opened the door, he was laughing out-loud.
The pre-teen boy at the door said, “They’re upstairs, dork.” He walked away, leaving Tanner to shut the door.
“Great,” Tanner said. “Nerd by association.”
He actually started to feel a little anxious as he walked up the stairs, and then landed in a spacious, open room. A few feet in front of him a double doorway led to another room, its darkness broken by an occasional blast of light and accompanied by the sounds of Star Wars. To the left of the stairs were three closed doors, and to his right sat two round tables, some straight-backed chairs, and a bar that stretched across the back wall. Zachary, Sean, and Johnny sat at one of the two tables.
“Howdy, Tanner,” Zachary said. “Grab a chair.”
As Tanner neared, he saw cards lined face-up on the table as well as little rocks and dice.
“You play Magic?” Zachary asked.
“No, but I’ve seen it played before.”
Zachary looked at the cards in his hand. “What about other card games? Red Dragon, Yu-Gi-Oh, Pokémon?”
“No,” Tanner said, a little disappointed that this big scary meeting consisted of geeks sitting around playing some geeky role-playing game. He should have figured.
“Is everyone present?” Zachary glanced around the room.
“They are now,” Julia said as she came up the steps.
Tanner had to look at her twice. Where her old style sent the clear message that she wasn’t to be messed with, her new fashion shouted, “I’m a girl!” She even carried a huge, brown purse.
“Welcome back, Jules.” Zachary stood up. “I trust you know everyone. Read any good books lately?”
“What do you mean?”
“Just wondering if you had anything new to contribute since we last read together?”
She shook her head and gazed at Tanner with her eyebrows high and her eyes wide. She shrugged her shoulders. Tanner turned away, trying to hide his aggravation. Zachary was going to see her sarcasm if she didn’t cool it.
“Is everyone ready to rock and roll?” Zachary said. “First thing on the menu tonight is to initiate Tanner and reinitiate Jules.
“What are you talking about, Zachary?” Julia said. “We never did anything like that before.”
“We do now,” Darla said as she walked out of the movie-room. She had her arms crossed and a smirk on her lips.
Tanner said, “I’m ready. Tell me what silly thing I have to wear or who I have to kiss.”
Zachary scratched his ear and smiled with his teeth slightly biting his bottom lip. “It’s a game.”
“Nope.” Julia shook her head. “We are not playing any games.”
“Jules,” Zachary said, “feel free to leave. The same goes for you, Tanner. If you don’t want to play a silly game with a bunch of nerds, you can leave. There’s the stairs that lead to the door.”
“Don’t let it hit you,” Sean said.
“I’m staying.” Tanner folded his arms across his chest. “I’ll play.”
“Good man.” Zachary looked at Julia.
“Tanner,” Julia said. “You don’t understand—”
“I can handle myself.” He knew his tone sounded perfect for the “we’re not friends anymore” act. In all honesty, he meant it and sort of hoped she would go ahead and leave before she messed everything up.
“Fine.” She threw her arms u
p in the air.
“Now that that is settled,” Zachary said, “let the games begin. Oh, and one more thing. Jules, you’ll have to go into the red room with Darla.”
“No way! I’m not going anywhere.”
“Well, Tanner, I’m afraid we can’t proceed any further.”
“Julia…” Tanner pleaded with his eyes. And wondered why the hell she was doing this to him.
Julia stared at him for a second. Tanner watched her determination finally soften into quiet tears as she pressed her lips tightly together. She shook her head and walked into the other room. Darla followed, shutting the doors behind them.
“Now that we have the women out of our hair, we can have some fun. Clear the table, boys.”
Johnny picked up their cards and put them away while Sean went over to the bar and brought back a tray with five different-colored shot glasses, setting them on the table.
“This game is really simple,” Zachary said and handed Tanner a silver flask. All you have to do is pour the contents of this into one of the cups, and I’ll guess which one.”
“Whatever,” Tanner said. Lame. Wanting to get on with it, he started unscrewing the lid.
“One minute, before you do that…” Zachary said. He turned to Sean. “The tie, and let Tanner see it first.” Sean showed Tanner a dark tie and put it up to his eyes. “Can you see anything?” Zachary asked.
“No,” Tanner replied.
Sean took the tie back and tied it around Zachary’s eyes. Zachary turned around, no longer facing Tanner. “Now pour the contents into one of the glasses.”
Tanner glanced inside the glasses at what appeared to be water. He smelt the top of the flask—no odor—and decided to pour its contents into the red cup.
“Did you pour it?”
“Done.”
“This is very important,” Zachary said, still facing the opposite direction. “So please pay attention. Saying nothing else, and slowly, one by one, from your left to right, tell me the colors of the glasses.”
Tanner shrugged his shoulders and glanced at the twins and noticed that they were suddenly fidgeting. “Blue… pink… red… purple… yellow.
“Here are the rules,” Zachary said as he turned around. “The first rule is the most important one. Do not tell me, under any circumstances, where you poured it… or I will make Jules drink it.”
Tanner felt his heart quicken by a tad. Something was wrong.
“Is that understood?”
“I don’t know.”
“You agreed to play,” Zachary said firmly. He snapped his fingers in the twin’s direction. Sean, with napkin in hand, snatched the flask from Tanner’s hands. “You got it?”
“Yep,” Sean said.
“There is no turning back now,” Zachary said. “So you had better listen up.”
“Look,” Tanner said, not liking the new smart tone Zachary fed him. “I don’t do threats.”
“You poured concentrated liquefied arsenic into one of the five glasses. It is odorless, tasteless and deadly toxic. I will guess which one you poured it in by drinking one at a time until only the glass with the arsenic is left.”
“Yeah, right.”
“I understand your skepticism. Nevertheless, let’s not forget rule number one; if you in any way indicate or try to give away the true identity of the cup, I will make Jules drink it. Are you willing to take the chance that this is a joke?”
“That would be murder! Games are one thing, but that’s stupid.”
“Yes, you would have murdered her, by being ignorant. Your fingerprints are all over your flask that you purchased online.”
Tanner looked at the flask that Sean held with the napkin. Sean pointed at its corner. “You even splurged for initials.”
Tanner stood up abruptly, his heart already believing what his head didn’t want to admit. “I don’t want any part of this.”
“It’s only a game,” Zachary mocked. “Do as I say, and we’ll get through this. Now I don’t plan on anyone dying here tonight, so follow the rules. This isn’t my first time. Let yourself enjoy the adrenalin rush. Sit.”
If pure adrenalin made you feel like you were going to puke, Tanner wanted no more of it. He thought about all of Julia’s warnings, about everything she had said about them getting more and more dangerous. No wonder she chose to leave the freaks. “Let’s get this over with.” He sat back down.
Zachary said, “Johnny is going to hand me one glass at a time. From left to right, the first one is blue.”
Tanner watched as Johnny handed Zachary the blue cup. Zachary’s hands shook, which intensified Tanner’s fears. Zachary licked his lips but said nothing. In one quick burst, he drank the contents and slammed the cup on the table. “Now, if I already picked wrong, the arsenic will affect me in one to five minutes. We’ll wait.”
They waited. Even though Tanner knew Zachary had picked up a safe drink, his hands shook, and each minute that went by he felt more and more sweat accumulate on his forehead.
“Time,” Johnny said peering at his watch.
Zachary said, “Johnny, hand me the pink cup.”
When Johnny handed the cup to him, Zachary didn’t say anything or hesitate; he quickly poured it in his mouth and waited until time was called again.
Tanner thought his heart would burst out of his chest… the red cup was next in line. He fought the urge to jump the table and spill the glass because he would rather something happen to Zachary than to Julia. He sat still with his mouth shut. His eyes began to burn as he held back tears of anger. He was horrified that they would go to such extremes to fake him out—at that moment he had nothing else to hold onto.
“The red cup,” Zachary said. Johnny handed it to him. Zachary held it in his shaky hand and brought it closer to his mouth. He stopped and cocked his head. “This cup holds the poison.”
Tanner released his breath and sat back in his chair.
Zachary yelled, “Psych! You thought you had me, huh? I know it’s the purple one.” He tipped the cup up and drank it down, smiling victoriously.
Tanner felt his stomach hit the floor. “Oh shit!” he screamed. “I put it in the red cup!” He stood up and pointed at Zachary. “The poison was in that cup!”
Zachary pulled the blindfold off and stared wild-eyed at Tanner. He glanced at the twins and then back to Tanner. “No, you didn’t. It was the purple…” He coughed and grabbed his throat. He stood up and started spitting on the floor and holding his stomach. Hunched over, he began to gag and convulse.
“Do something!” Tanner yelled at the twins. “Go get help!” He raced over to Zachary, grabbing his shoulders as Zachary stood up and turned to face him. It took Tanner a second to recognize the expression: amusement.
Zachary smiled, followed by his silly giggle. He pointed at Tanner and burst into loud hysterical laughter. “You should have seen your face, Dude.”
Tanner turned when he heard the twins laughing behind him. Johnny fell to his knees, laughing in long shrieking cries. Sean held his stomach as tears rolled down his face. Zachary laughed all the way over and opened the movie room door. Julia about fell down, she had been leaning against the door. This made the boys laugh even louder.
Since Tanner’s wobbly legs refused to hold him up any longer, he sat down. The geeksters had gotten him good. If that’s what needed to be done in order to be included in their circle, it had been worth it.
Chapter 16
“What’s going on?” Julia hadn’t succeeded in getting any information because the Princes had not stopped laughing. She studied Tanner, who sat at the table, his hand over his chest like it kept his heart in place. His eyes glistened with confusion. She had warned him. “What happened? Zachary, what did you do?”
When Tanner spoke it cut the boys’ laugher short. “That was great! I’m impressed. You knew exactly which one I picked. How did you do that?”
Zachary looked at him with all seriousness. “I can read minds.”
The boys bus
ted out laughing again.
Julia shook her head. “Tanner?”
“They played a little game with me,” Tanner said all smiles. “It’s fine…”
“They obviously scared you to death. You’re as pale as I am. This isn’t funny.”
“Chill out, Julia,” Tanner said meekly. “It’s cool.” He turned away from her to look at Zachary whose laughter finally started to fade. “So? Am I in?”
“In? Now that is really funny. Do you seriously think I would fall for your dumb charade?”
“What?” Tanner stood straight up. “I don’t understand.”
Zachary adjusted his tie. “Who do you think you are dealing with? Some moron? I knew what you guys were up to.” He looked at Julia. “But I haven’t figured out why. Why would you pretend to want to be our friends? What is it you want? Why the big show?”
Tanner’s mouth had dropped open, words seemingly caught in his throat. His attention slowly turned from Zachary to Julia. She didn’t like the way he glared at her.
“Come on Sean,” Johnny said. “All that laughing made me hungry.”
“I think I smell cake,” Sean said.
They ran down the stairs.
“Did you two honestly think you could fool me?” Zachary said as he stepped toward Julia. “Did you forget I can read people? I changed the minds of an entire school. If I keep this up, I can change the world. I will make it a better place.”
“You’re delusional,” Julia said. “You’re not making anything better by controlling what people think. This is all about you and your hunger for power.”
His brows came together and his mouth tightened. For a second she thought the vulnerable Zachary she had known for most of her life would reveal himself. Instead he vigorously shook his head like he was getting rid of any negativity. Squeezing his eyes together for a second, he stared at her in all seriousness. “This is about being kicked, punched, thrown around, humiliated, called names… I’m doing something positive about it. You don’t get it. You fit in, both of you do—even though you guys have jets, you aren’t wired the same way we are.”
“I don’t think Julia fits anywhere,” Darla said.
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