by Blair Drake
“We went over it. In the darkness. You didn’t even know. Go blindly over the bridges. Be swift and fearless in the dark, and you’ll both make it. We made it, Reese!”
“You’ve been here before?”
She nodded.
“You were the foolish child Endel was talking about. You’re the one who came back after going through the portal.”
“Don’t be mad at me.”
“Why did you do that? How could you do something like that?”
Raven kept darting her gaze down the tunnel, which was becoming brighter again as Reese’s emotion surged.
“The soldiers are coming.”
“Forget the soldiers! Tell me why you did…” Realization slammed into him, making it hard for him to breathe. “You didn’t come with me to escape, did you?”
“Reese.”
“Tell me!”
She shook her head slowly.
“You only came to make sure I made it to the portal. Why? How could you leave here and come back? Why would you come back after you escaped?”
Tears sprung up in her eyes but remained unshed. “Who will be here to help the others when they come through? Who will make sure they have a chance? So many never make it.”
The sound of charging footsteps in the distance filled his head as he tried to process what Raven had just admitted.
“You’re not coming with me?”
“The soldiers are coming,” she said, sniffing.
As the noise down the tunnel grew louder, Raven turned away from him as if she were embarrassed.
“Please don’t laugh at me, Reese.”
“Laugh at you? Why would I do that?” He huffed. “I think we’re beyond that, aren’t we? At least I hope we are. We’re at the end of the line and you just sprang this on me as if it’s nothing.”
“I need to change.”
“What?”
“There is a little section of the doorway that has enough of an opening giving me enough room to shrink down and move beneath it. If I can get to the other side of the door, I can unlock it and you can come through. I have to do this or they’ll capture us.”
She looked away from him and Reese realized they really didn’t have that much time together. There was so much he wanted to say to her, and yet she wouldn’t look at him. She clung to the door with her head pressed against the metal.
“Don’t look at me, Reese. Please don’t look at me.”
And then it hit him. He was the one who’d felt like a freak all this time, but Raven felt shame for how she was. She didn’t want him to see. How had that happened? After everything they’d gone through, how could she feel shame?
“You don’t have to be afraid to show me yourself,” he said. “I won’t laugh at you. I promise.”
“I don’t want you to see.”
Reese placed his palm on the metal door. “Beyond this door is the portal?”
“Yes.”
“And you know how to get us there?”
“I need to…change.”
“Then do it. I’ll close my eyes if you want me to. But you don’t have to hide yourself from me. I think you’re perfect just the way you are.”
Raven turned to him, and he saw the tears flowing down her cheeks. “Really?”
“Yeah. And we’re both getting out of here together. You’re coming with me, Raven. I’m not leaving you behind. Do you hear me? We’re doing this together.”
Raven nodded, and sniffed back her tears. Then she placed her ear against the door and listened. When she pulled back, she said, “I don’t hear anything on the other side of the door. I don’t think they’re out there now. But the soldiers are fast. As soon as they see the door is open, they’ll come charging inside toward the portal. We need to be fast.”
He grinned, and felt a little bit of satisfaction. “I’m fast.”
She rolled her eyes at him. “You’re cocky, too. And I’m not as fast as you are.” Her expression suddenly became serious.
“I’m not going to leave you behind, Raven. Don’t even think of it. If I have to pick you up, and carry you through that portal, I’m not leaving you behind. Do you hear me?”
Shyness overtook her, and she lowered her gaze. “You know, when you’re not being an idiot, you’re actually kinda nice. Sweet even.”
“Sweet? Nah.”
The sound of charging boots was getting louder. Raven glanced over her shoulder and then looked up at Reese as she ran her hand on the door. “Lift me up?”
He put his hands around her waist and lifted her, unsure of what she was doing as she ran her fingers over the top edge of the door. Then her face lit up.
“Here! It’s a small crack but it’ll do.”
“What do you need me to do?”
“Just hold me still and…”
“And what?”
“Close your eyes. Please. I don’t want to look at me when I do this,” she said quietly. “Please?”
He frowned. “Why? Do you have to get naked or something?”
She shook her head, but something was definitely taking a bit of confidence away. “Don’t make me beg.”
“It’s cool. Are you afraid you can’t do it anymore?”
“No, I can still do it. I did it when I went looking for water the other day.”
“That’s how you found the aqueduct?”
She shook her head quickly. “I knew the water was there. But the door was locked. I unlocked it.” She giggled. “And then you walked right by me and didn’t even know it.”
He stared at her for a long while he took all that in.
“Don’t look offended. There are things I can do that you can’t do. Now close your eyes.”
Reese did as he was told. He listened to the sound of footsteps getting louder, but he knew they were still far enough away for them to escape. He didn’t know why he knew that, but he did. And while he was thinking, the weight of Raven in his arms seemed to evaporate until he had to open his eyes to know for sure that she had disappeared.
Within seconds, the door opened and Raven stood there.
“You did it!”
Her smile was wide. “I told you.”
“Yeah. That was seriously cool.”
She’d been talking crazy talk. Reese wasn’t going to let Raven sacrifice her life by staying here when she had the chance to come back with him. Whatever happened when they got through that portal, they’d be able to deal with it together. She wouldn’t be alone anymore.
“There’s the portal. I see it, Reese!”
Reese stared at the round swirl of air a few hundred yards in front of them. “That’s it?”
“Yes. And it’s open! Isn’t it wonderful? You made it, Reese!”
He grabbed her hand. “We made it. I told you. I’m not leaving you behind.”
Her expression showed how torn she was. “But they’re coming, Reese. The soldiers are coming. The closer you get to the portal, the harder they’ll fight to stop you.”
“I don’t see any soldiers.”
“Don’t you hear them?”
“We’ve been hearing them for the past few minutes. We have time. We can get through the portal together.”
She yanked her hand out of his grip. “The portal is shrinking.”
He turned toward the portal to see if it was true. Sure enough, the green streaks on the outer rim had disappeared. “We have to…”
Raven was running in the opposite direction.
“Raven, come back!”
“You have to go now, Reese. The portal is closing! I’ll hold back the soldiers.”
Terror struck like lightning, right to the heart of him.
“They’ll kill you, Raven. No!”
He started to run back toward her. He’d meant what he’d said. He’d pick her up and carry her through the portal if he had to.
“I’m not leaving you here, Raven!”
She stopped running and turned to him in horror. “What are you doing? You have to go back to the port
al!”
“You can’t give up your life for every sorry person who comes in through that portal,” he said. “I won’t let you.”
“Does that mean you too?” she asked. “Because if I had left when I had the chance to leave, I wouldn’t have been here for you either. You wouldn’t be going home. And now you can.”
He couldn’t find the words. It was as if someone had turned on a vacuum and sucked all his words out of him.
She shook her head and started to turn.
“You’re not some sacrificial lamb, Raven,” he called out. “Endel can’t make you stay here. It’s wrong.”
Tears filled his eyes and he quickly wiped them away so he could see her. He didn’t want to stop seeing her. He didn’t want her to be gone.
“Endel didn’t make me stay. He was very upset when I came back.”
“You chose to stay here on your own? Why would you do that?”
Raven shook her head as tears filled her eyes again, she walked toward him quickly until she was standing in front of him again. She glanced over her shoulder as if to make sure the coast was clear. “You don’t understand, Reese. I can’t go back to where I came from. I don’t belong there.”
“You don’t have to go back there. You can come back with me.”
“I can do good here. I can use whatever freakish powers I have to help people. Here I have a purpose. If I go anywhere else, what am I? I’m nothing.”
He couldn’t believe what she was saying. “That’s not true.”
“Think about it for a minute. Even you thought it was funny. Even you thought I was a freak.”
He shook his head.
“Don’t lie to me, Reese. After all this, please don’t lie to me. I told you more than I’ve ever told anyone. I told you the truth. So don’t turn around and pretend that none of it matters. You of all people know that it matters.”
He bit his lip to keep himself from denying what she was saying. She had confided in him. He had laughed at her. It was shameful, and he’d done it. He searched his mind for a time when he hadn’t had that shame himself, the same shame she felt now. Certainly, it was before his father had left them. There had to have been a time it wasn’t there. But he couldn’t remember. How pathetic was that?
“We said we’d get through this together.”
“You’re wonderful, Reese Calamita. I meant what I said. I’ll never forget you.” She reached up and kissed him on the cheek. “Go, while you still have time. I’ll hold them back.”
Reaching in his pocket, he grabbed the talisman and pulled it out, handing it to Raven. “Take it.”
Raven looked at the talisman and shook her head. “Bu you need this. You came here with this.”
“And it helped guide me home. I want you to use it to guide you to find me. If that’s even possible. Take it!”
“Go. Please!” She was crying now, and she wasn’t bothering to hide it. “Remember me, Reese.”
He turned to leave and then stopped. What was he doing? How could he leave her here to fight these soldiers alone?
“No. I can’t.”
“What?” She shook her head wildly. “What you saying? We came all this way. You’re almost there.”
He thought of something his father used to say that he never understood. “Almost only counts in horseshoes and hand grenades.”
She frowned, and laughed nervously. “What the hell is that?”
He chuckled, rubbing his face with his hand. “To be honest, I’m not entirely sure. I think it means that you’re not there until you’re there. So it doesn’t matter how close you get.”
“Reese? They’re coming.”
He held up a hand to silence her. “I’m not going without you, Raven. And I’m not arguing about it. We went through this together, and we will finish it together. We’re going to get all the way to that portal. Do you hear me? I’m a freak at my school. So we’ll be freaks together.”
“I’ve never met anyone like you,” she said looking up at him with a mixture of admiration and skepticism. “Are you for real?”
“I ask myself that all the time. To be honest, most days I have no clue.”
She laughed again, and this time she bent her head but still looked up at him with those beautiful eyes he’d come to really enjoy seeing. They were comfort. They were friendly, and exotic, and pretty in a way he hadn’t seen pretty in a girl before.
“Call your mother when you get home. She made a mistake, Reese. But that doesn’t mean she doesn’t love you. That’s a great thing, you know. Love.”
Reese peered down at the portal and saw the outer blue rim had disappeared. The portal was collapsing! His heart hammered in his chest at what he saw. He was out of time.
“You’re really not coming with me, are you?”
Reese knew the answer. Raven was walking backwards as she shook her head.
The talisman in her hand glowed. It made her smile.
“Look, it’s blue.” She wiped a tear from her cheek. “The Gray Cliffs Academy sounds wonderful. Whatever it is you wanted to run away from, it doesn’t matter anymore. Those reasons no longer exists. I can’t tell you how I know that, but I do. You have to go, Reese. Before the portal closes.”
She turned and ran toward the darkness. The thumping of drums and the sound of boots were now echoing off the concrete walls. Reese was terrified for her and what she was facing alone just to save him.
He turned toward the portal and started running. The portal glowed and then another ring of color collapsed.
“Raven!” he called out, knowing she couldn’t hear him now, and wouldn’t answer even if she did. She had disappeared into the darkness. Something told him that even if he turned back now and ran after her, he wouldn’t find her. He prayed that she would find a safe place to hide. And that she’d make it back to Endel’s shop where he would take care of her.
His heart ached as he ran. The glowing portal was shrinking each time he pounded his foot on the ground. The portal was collapsing right before his eyes!
Reese ran harder, pushing himself to his limit. He wasn’t at the track at school. He just ran, heart pounding in his chest, feet burning from hitting the hard concrete. This was a sprint for his life, not a trophy. If he didn’t make it through that portal, he really would be stuck here forever.
Another color ring disappeared, and then another. He sucked in a deep breath of rotten, musty, and dusty air, and ran with all his might. The center blue ring started to fade. The portal was closing right before his eyes, and he was still too far away.
Energy. He needed to use his own energy to keep it open. He’d done it before. He had this covered.
He forced himself to concentrate and let the energy flow through him until he felt his body hum the same way the talisman had hummed in his palm. His fingers tingled and his feet were hot and bursting with energy as he ran. And then, with a burst of energy, he closed his eyes and sprinted harder, diving into the small circle that was now his only way of escaping the underground world.
Reese hit the ground with a thud. When he opened his eyes, he knew he was no longer in the underground world. He looked around, trying to get his bearings and realized he was on the floor in the hallway outside the headmaster’s office.
Jasper peered down at him as if horrified. Yes, it was his friend. It wasn’t a mechanical creature or a soldier or some strange scrap yard gnarly. He’d never been so happy to see Jasper in his life!
By the expression on his face, Jasper was about to deliver a heavy dose of sarcasm. “Dude! What the hell you doing on the floor?”
Reese took a deep breath, and then another as he looked around. He still felt disoriented. But the air was cleaner, and the light was so bright he had to blink his eyes to keep it from hurting.
“Geez, Sable is going to think you’re a tool,” Jasper said. “Stop wiping the floor with your clothes. You’re embarrassing me.”
“When has that ever been a problem?”
Reese chuckled. He d
idn’t care what anyone thought of him. Not after what he’d been through.
“Okay, sure, if you want Sable to think you’re a perv who likes peeking up girl’s uniforms, go for it. Leave me out, though. She’s in Lalane’s office. Check her out when she comes out. Come on. Get up.”
Lalane’s office. Reese took in his surroundings fully as he got up from the floor and straightened his back, pulling out the kinks that living surrounded by cold concrete had put there. He was back in the school, and he was standing in the hallway in front of the headmistress’ and headmaster’s offices, just as he had before all this bizarre underground stuff began. The large picture window at the end of the hall had sunlight streaming through it and shining on the freshly polished floor. Sunlight. He laughed with sweet relief. He never thought he’d be so happy to see sunlight again!
The familiar smell of the disinfectant the custodian always used on Sundays when he cleaned the floors in preparation for the coming week still hung heavy in the air as if he’d just mopped them. The inviting scent of food being prepared in the cafeteria kitchen tickled his nose. He didn’t care what they were serving today. Anything was better than what he’d had these past few days.
“What are we doing here again?” Reese asked, trying to remember why they’d been called down to the office.
“Beats me. I think Lalane is going to give one of her GCU recruiting lectures again. You didn’t fill out an application yet, did you?”
Reese shook his head.
“Guess they don’t get enough tuition money from Gray Cliffs Academy so they’re going to soak us by making us go to Gray Cliffs University. Geez, be cool,” Jasper said, ribbing him as Reese continued to take in every detail of his surroundings. “Sable will be coming out soon.”
Reese grinned as he straightened his jacket. He glanced down at his clothes. None of the tears he’d gotten to his uniform during his journey underground were visible now. He reached for his wrist and pulled the sleeve of his blazer up. His watch was there. How? He inspected it quickly. The second hand was even moving.
“It works,” he muttered.
“That old thing? All this time you’ve been saying it’s broken,” Jasper said, looking at it quickly and then looking back at the closed door to the headmistresses office. “Now you don’t need to get a new one.”