Infestation

by Heidi Lang

  Better hurry if you want to save her.

  Caden went cold all over. That had felt like a message. A threat from his missing brother.

  There was one way to know for sure.

  Caden kicked off his blankets and raced out of the room, taking the stairs down two at a time. It was later than he’d thought, the morning light already trickling over the horizon, sliding warm fingers through the windows in the kitchen as he ran past.

  He barely slowed when he reached his mom’s study, shoving open the door and leaping over the barrier of her protective chalk line, and going straight to the small bedside dresser. When he threw open the top drawer, he froze.

  The bone-handled knife was gone. Instead, a card sat there, covered in his brother’s looping purple script:

  Meet me in the woods.

  You know the place.

  —A

  33. RAE

  Rae’s phone vibrated angrily from her nightstand. Still half asleep, she fumbled for it, her muscles groaning in protest after the events of the last few days. Between the tunnel climbing and the housecleaning, she was sore all over.

  “Hello,” she mumbled.

  “Rae? Are you okay? What’s going on?”

  The voice sounded so panicky that Rae had to glance at the name on her phone. “Caden?” He never sounded like that. “I’m fine. Why?”

  Silence.

  “Is there a reason I shouldn’t be?” she asked cautiously.

  “Oh, no, not at all.” Now he sounded too casual. It made Rae extra nervous.

  “Caden—” she began.

  “Hey, I’m not going to be at school today. But I don’t want you to worry. Everything’s fine.”

  She frowned at her phone. “Obviously everything isn’t, or…” She finally noticed the time and practically fell out of bed. “Oh no! My alarm didn’t go off!” Patrick had called a meeting after homeroom. She could not be late to school today. Still. “Are you sure you don’t need my help with anything?” The internship was important, but Caden was her friend. If he was in trouble, that took priority.

  “No, I’m okay. I’ll call you later, all right?” He hung up.

  Rae stared at her phone for a second, troubled. But she really didn’t have time to worry about him now. She pulled on the first clothes she could find, yelling for Ava.

  No answer.

  “Ava! I need a ride! Please, please, pretty please?” She banged on Ava’s door. Still no response. “Ava?” Rae pushed the door open. Her sister wasn’t there. But then Rae remembered that their mom had the car today. The high school bus came earlier; Ava must have caught that. She’d left all her school papers scattered, though, several pages blowing across her desk from the open window.

  Rae dashed inside and shoved the window shut, locking it, then ran to the bathroom to finish getting ready. She managed to jab herself in the throat with her toothbrush and didn’t have time to brush her hair, just grabbed her bag and sprinted for the door.

  She barely caught the bus in time, sliding in next to Vivienne as it rolled away.

  “Where’s Caden?” Vivienne asked.

  “He’s not coming today. Also, good morning to you, too.”

  Vivienne laughed. “Sorry. Nice look, by the way. I like the hair.”

  Rae’s hand went to her tangled locks. “I slept through my alarm,” she admitted. If Caden hadn’t called, she might’ve missed the bus entirely. “Pretty sure this is not going to be my best day ever.”

  “Especially not when Alyssa sees you.”

  Rae groaned. “I don’t suppose you carry a brush in that monstrosity?” She poked Vivienne’s backpack, wedged between them.

  Vivienne grinned. “It’s your lucky day.”

  Rae seriously doubted that, but she took the brush and hoped it would be true. She had a feeling she was going to need a little luck before this day was through. As she brushed her hair, she surreptitiously studied her friend.

  It was hard not to remember what Vivienne had looked like at Green On!, standing over Priceless Art. Rae opened her mouth to ask her about it, then stopped. What would she say? Uh, so I noticed you were drinking goat blood. What’s up with that, by the way? Even by Whispering Pines standards, that sounded too insane. Sitting here, on a bus surrounded by people, it just didn’t seem like something she could ask.

  Besides, Caden had promised to look into it. Maybe she should wait until she talked to him first.

  Rae worked the remaining tangles out of her hair and stayed quiet. For now.

  * * *

  As Rae sat through the morning’s announcements in homeroom, she couldn’t stop thinking about Caden. He’d sounded so scared when he called her. She should have insisted on finding out why, instead of worrying about catching the bus.

  “And finally, Dana S. students, some terrible news,” Ms. Lockett said over the loudspeaker. “I have just been informed that we have another code yellow. Curfew will be enforced. All after-school activities will be temporarily postponed.”

  It felt like a terrible omen. Rae glanced at Vivienne, who looked as worried as she felt. “You don’t think Caden—”

  “No,” Rae said quickly. “I talked to him this morning.”

  But code yellow meant someone was missing.

  Alyssa leaned in close to Rae and Vivienne. “My mom told me Coach Briggs didn’t show up for work yesterday,” she said quietly. “And no one knows where she is today.”

  “Oh no!” Vivienne said.

  Several kids turned to look at them.

  “Shh,” Alyssa hissed. “No one’s supposed to know about it yet.”

  “Why not?” Rae asked. “Isn’t that the point of a code yellow?”

  “Code yellow is only for students,” Vivienne said. “Missing teachers get a different code.”

  “Shouldn’t that alert be going out, then? If Coach Briggs is…” Rae couldn’t bring herself to say it.

  “Like I said, no one’s supposed to know yet,” Alyssa said firmly. “We don’t want a panic.”

  The bell rang, and Rae gathered up her stuff, her stomach twisting. Another student had gone missing. It felt like a repeat of her first day at school, when kids were vanishing only to be discovered later with their eyes torn out. And a teacher had vanished too? She thought Alyssa was wrong; a panic was definitely in order.

  She, Vivienne, and Alyssa were the first ones in the old science room, but Becka and Matt soon joined them.

  “How’s your assignment going?” Becka asked.

  “Oh, really good. Amazingly,” Vivienne said. “We have this in the bag.”

  Becka smirked. “That’s not what I heard.”

  Rae and Vivienne looked at Alyssa, who went pink. “What? I didn’t say anything!”

  “You must have heard from an unreliable source,” Vivienne told Becka.

  “I guess we’ll see,” Becka said. “Rumor has it Patrick is choosing the winners today.”

  Rae shot Vivienne a questioning look as Becka, Alyssa, and Matt took their places at the other table.

  “News to me,” Vivienne whispered.

  The door swung open, and Nate staggered in and flopped into the seat next to Vivienne, clearly exhausted.

  “Wow, you look terrible,” Rae said.

  “Yeah, well, you have toothpaste on your shirt.”

  Rae glanced down. “Dang it.”

  “Sorry, I didn’t have the heart to tell you,” Vivienne said.

  “And neither did Alyssa. Very unlike her.” Rae glanced at the other girl, who was anxiously whispering with Becka and Matt. Had they really discovered the secret behind Whispering Pines’s stone wall?

  “Someone,” Nate continued, “decided to give me a midnight wake-up call. I couldn’t go back to sleep after that.”

  “Oh. Sorry, Nate. Didn’t mean to bug you.”

  Nate sighed. “That was terrible.”

  “Hey, I’ve been thinking about the spaceship,” Vivienne said. “Would bugs be able to fly that thing?”

&nbs
p; “Of course not,” Nate said.

  “Then what did?”

  Rae frowned, realizing what Vivienne meant. It was so obvious, she couldn’t believe she hadn’t wondered the same thing. “What else is on that ship?” Something else must have come to their planet with the centipedes. Something that Green On!, and Patrick, were keeping secret and possibly hidden away in one of their underground labs. She pictured the alien her dad had photographed.

  “One mystery at a time, folks,” Nate said. “Let’s focus on the bugs first, okay?”

  “Hello, interns,” Patrick announced, striding into the room, his suit crisp, his hair perfect. “I see we’re missing someone.”

  Rae glanced around and realized Blake wasn’t there, his usual chair between Alyssa and Matt sitting empty.

  “Blake is checking on his uncle,” Becka said. “Apparently no one has seen him in a few days?”

  “Hmm. That’s unfortunate,” Patrick said, but he didn’t sound too bothered by it.

  Rae exchanged a worried look with Vivienne and Nate and was sure they were thinking of that empty yurt, that open goat pen. What if Gary hadn’t just moved away?

  Patrick’s phone went off, the soft nondescript ringtone filling the science room. He picked it up and listened a moment without saying a word, then hung up.

  “Wrong number?” Nate asked.

  “Something like that.” Patrick smiled around the room. “I have been very impressed by all of your efforts this week, both in this classroom, learning how to take proper samples and work in a hazmat suit, and in your chosen tasks. Our initial training phase will be coming to an end soon, as I plan to choose my winning team… today.”

  Becka shot Rae and Vivienne a small, triumphant look.

  “Whatever,” Vivienne muttered.

  “You will each have one final task,” Patrick said. “Whoever completes theirs first wins. Simple, right?”

  Rae very much doubted that.

  “Ms. Wilson, Ms. Lockett, Mr. Garcia. Please wait outside while I speak with the other team first.” Patrick waited until they were gone, his arms crossed, one foot tapping slowly and methodically, like a clock. When they were alone, he said, “Mr. Cliff has done some truly remarkable work in the lab these last few days, studying our specimen, taking soil samples, creating a solid hypothesis.”

  “Nice job, Nate,” Vivienne whispered.

  “Not just nice,” Rae said. “Truly remarkable.”

  “Thanks.” Nate beamed.

  “If you’re quite done?” Patrick raised his eyebrows.

  “Sorry,” they all muttered, grinning.

  “After perusing Mr. Cliff’s work, I must agree with his conclusion that Whispering Pines is in the midst of an infestation. One that could become deadly, if not dealt with immediately. But I am also convinced that there is an easy solution.”

  “And what’s that?” Nate asked.

  “Isn’t it obvious? Kill the queen.”

  “What about the males?” Nate frowned.

  “I believe—and Doctor Nguyen does as well—that, like the smaller worker versions, they will die soon once the queen is dead.”

  “How are you going to kill the queen?” Nate asked.

  “Me?” Patrick laughed. “Mr. Cliff, this is your task. It will be up to your group to take care of this.”

  There was a moment of shocked silence. “You want us… to go into the tunnels and kill the queen?” Vivienne asked slowly.

  “And destroy her nest, too, if you can.”

  Nate exploded up from his seat. “No,” he said. “No way!”

  “Mr. Cliff—”

  “I can’t… I can’t go down there again.” Nate was shaking all over.

  “Yeah, this seems a little extreme for a middle school internship,” Rae said.

  “Ms. Carter, what if I were to tell you that I’ve discovered the answer to your question?”

  Rae blinked. “My dad?” she whispered, ignoring Vivienne’s quizzical look. She had never told Vivienne about her missing father. “You know where he is?”

  “I do.”

  Rae’s vision went blurry with unshed tears. Her dad. “Is he alive? Is he safe?”

  “I will tell you everything I know. After this current problem is dealt with.” His expression softened. “But yes, he’s alive, and safe.”

  “Then where—”

  “After, Ms. Carter. You have my word.”

  Rae felt her face going hot, her eyes threatening to spill over. She blinked rapidly. Her dad was alive and safe. She had to believe Patrick was telling her the truth.

  “And Ms. Matsuoka. I have a solution to your problem, too.”

  “A cure? A real cure?”

  Now it was Rae’s turn to stare at Vivienne’s profile. A cure for what?

  “I don’t believe in fake cures.” Patrick chuckled.

  “And what about me?” Nate demanded, crossing his arms. “What could you possibly offer me that would get me to go back into that dark underground hellhole filled with killer bugs?”

  Patrick spread his hands wide. “Exactly what you have been looking for from this internship. A full-ride scholarship to the university of your choice. And it would be your choice, Mr. Cliff. I am very well connected. Just say the word, and you will be accepted anywhere.”

  Nate stared at him. And then he shook his head. “No school is worth dying over. And no amount of money is either.” He looked at Rae and Vivienne, almost like he was willing them to rise in protest with him.

  But Rae knew she couldn’t. She had to do whatever it took to find her dad. And Vivienne wasn’t standing either.

  “Fine.” Nate backed away. “You’ll have to do this without me.”

  “I thought you hated social loafers,” Vivienne said.

  “This is not just some group science project anymore. This is insanity!” He turned on Patrick, desperate. “Why us? Why not a team of highly trained adults?”

  “Because, Mr. Cliff, I believe in all of you. As I’ve said before, you children are the ones who will save this world. You see things that others just walk on past. You noticed these bugs first, and I have every faith in your abilities to handle them.”

  Those words spread through Rae’s chest, warm and validating. Until Patrick added, “Also, the tunnels are a little narrow for adults.”

  34. CADEN

  Caden had watched Rae board the bus, comforting himself with the knowledge that she should at least be safe for now, but that did nothing to quench the gnawing feeling in the pit of his stomach. He had to get to the cabin. Whatever his brother was up to, Caden was sure it would be bad news for everyone else.

  He grabbed extra purification salt, a flashlight, and two granola bars. At the last minute he also took the rose quartz his mom had been using in their training sessions together, tucking it safely into his pocket before heading for the waiting trees of the Watchful Woods.

  The woods didn’t seem nearly so scary with sunlight streaming all around him, and his hike was pretty uneventful, other than getting turned around twice. The stone wall had shifted again, and it took Caden a bit to figure out where he needed to go. But eventually the trees opened up, revealing the cabin from his dream.

  He never thought he’d see it again. It looked just as he remembered it from his first—and only—time opening a rift into the Other Place. He’d been successful then. He wasn’t sure he would be as lucky this time.

  He left the false safety of the trees and walked across the overgrown yard to the porch. The rotting boards moaned and shrieked under his feet, but when he tried the front door, it swung open easily.

  “Hello?” Caden called. “Aiden?”

  He thought he could hear something moving inside, but no one answered. Tentatively he let his awareness float gently outward like a dandelion seed on the wind.

  Immediately he sensed that deep, consuming nothing that marked his brother. Only it seemed larger now, as if it had expanded to fill the entire house.

  Caden pulled the f
lashlight out of his backpack and turned it on, the cheerful glow oozing into the dark. He stepped forward, leaving the door open behind him. In the living room, the old battered couch had been pushed to the side, just like in his dream, its hulking shape hidden in the shadows, and the fireplace was cold and bare. But on the mantel above it, in the place where he’d once seen a jar full of eyes, sat a few candles.

  He recognized them. His mother’s good ones, the ones she only used for her biggest spells.

  Something on the couch whimpered, and he turned back, shining his light on it.

  Three people sat huddled together on the cushions, their mouths hanging loose—and the holes where their eyes should be huge and black and empty.

  The flashlight toppled from Caden’s numb fingers and rolled across the uneven floor, its beam illuminating slices of the room, other faces, other empty eyes.

  Gasping, he dove for the light, clutching it in shaky hands. “B-Brandi? Jeremy?” He recognized them as two of the victims of the Unseeing. Neither of them responded. He swept his light around the whole room, counting the others.

  Eight. All of the kids the Unseeing had attacked.

  Slowly they all turned toward him, the caverns of their gaping eye sockets drinking in the light. The one closest to him—a girl with long blond hair—stood. “Eyes,” she said, her voice a low, deep growl. She took a lurching step forward, her hands extending.

  Caden inched back toward the door, horror gripping his heart in icy claws.

  Jeremy stumbled to his feet, his own empty eyes fixing on Caden. “Lovely eyes,” he mumbled, shuffling closer.

  “Lovely, lovely eyes,” the others echoed, all of them swaying in unison, taking small, uneven steps toward Caden, their hands reaching.

  Caden tried keeping the light on all of them at once as he backed up, his other hand clutching his pendant protectively.

  “Hello, little brother,” Aiden said from behind him.