by Lauryn April
I fumed at his nonchalant attitude, but what choice did I have? I followed Agent Nolan down the hallway, keeping as much distance between us as possible.
“I know you don’t, but you can trust me, Payton. I’m not the enemy.”
“You came into my bedroom at night and drugged me; now you want me to trust you?”
“I injected you with a tracking device. We needed to be able to know where you were when they came back for you…the drugs were just to knock you out. You’re not supposed to remember any of that actually.”
“Well, I do, and none of that makes me feel any better or more trusting.” I shook my head. “You knew this was going to happen to me? Who are you?”
Agent Nolan looked away for a moment. “All you need to know is that I’m part of an organization that’s trying to look out for all of mankind.”
I rolled my eyes: how cliché. “And you do that how? By arresting people like Dr. Strieber? Is he even still alive?”
Nolan chuckled. “You sure have a lot of anger.”
“Yeah, well, it’s been a rough day.”
We turned down another hallway, this one just as empty as the last. I started to wonder if we were the only people in the building.
“Dr. Strieber is fine. He’s already been released.”
“Why’d you take him?”
“We needed to prevent him from removing the chip that’d been imbedded in your brain.”
I stopped walking. “What?”
“We are unable to track their ships, but we can track the subjects they’ve chosen to abduct. It’s the only way we’ve been able to take out as many out as we have.”
“So you were waiting for them to abduct me, so you could shoot their ship out of the sky?” My brows creased and my jaw fell open. “You were going to risk killing me so you could shoot their spaceship out of the air?”
“You didn’t die, did you?”
Agent Nolan continued walking and stopped before a white door. The number 318 was painted in black on the front. He pushed the door open with one hand and waited for me. I wasn’t sure if I wanted to enter.
“Mr. Reed is waiting for you in here,” Nolan said when I didn’t move.
I doubted every word he said. With every step I took I wondered if I were walking into something I wouldn’t walk out of, but other than taking off down the hall, I didn’t really have a choice. Cautiously I stepped into the room. Logan was there. Relief flooded through me. He sat in a chair on the far side of the room, hunched over with his head in his hands. His glasses were hooked into the front of his shirt, their lenses cracked. He looked up, his eyes locked with mine, and hurried to me.
“Oh God, Payton.”
Logan wrapped his arms around me so tightly he squeezed all the air from my lungs, but I didn’t mind. I hugged back just as tight. A long moment passed where we held one another. Logan stroked my hair and ran his hands up and down my back. It wasn’t until Agent Nolan cleared his throat that we pulled apart.
“If you two wouldn’t mind taking a seat, we can get this over with and get the two of you home.”
I glanced at Logan. Silently the two of us walked to the row of chairs on the other side of the room and sat down. Logan grabbed my hand and held it tight.
Agent Nolan clapped his hands. “Okay, so we’re going to have to debrief you, and then we should be able to send you on your way.”
“What?” I asked. “That’s it?”
Agent Nolan smiled. “No, that’s not it. We will be watching you, Miss Carlson, but except for an occasional visit to see how you’re doing, you won’t have any more interference from us. Now, let’s get started.”
The debriefing lasted hours. Agent Nolan wanted to know every detail of my life from the moment I was first abducted. Talking to him was exhausting. He informed us that we were being recorded and took notes as we spoke. At the end he told me the microchip in my brain had been deactivated. When I asked how he continued on as if he hadn’t heard the question. He also never mentioned if whatever he’d injected into me, so he and his buddies in black suits could keep track of me, was deactivated or not. I guessed not. After all, he had said they’d be watching me.
We were given strict instructions not to talk about the Greys or what had happened. We were forbidden from doing anything that would expose ourselves as not being completely human, and all we were told was that there’d be serious consequences from breaking any of these rules.
Eventually we were led out of the room and back down the empty white hallway. We never passed another person, and all the doors we walked by were closed. The hallways we moved down were a twisting maze. When I was positive we were walking in circles we came to an elevator.
Silence filled the metal box as Agent Nolan pressed an unmarked button. Logan grabbed my hand. He squeezed gently. The elevator started to move. During that short ride my mind swarmed with thoughts. I wondered what would happen next, wondered if Agent Nolan had told us the truth. I wondered if there were any other side effects from being abducted, or if the chip in my head had really been disabled. Then, as the elevator doors opened, I wondered if maybe it was over.
Light filled the elevator and we stepped out into a brightly lit entryway. Tall windows lined the wall, surrounding a revolving door. A woman sat with her back to us on a couch, near a small cluster of chairs in the center of the room. To my right a man stood behind a desk, looking as if he were just a clerk at a fancy hotel, as if this wasn’t some government facility. Then again, was it? We hadn’t seen any other agents or anything to give us any kind of clue as to where we were. Maybe that was the point.
The woman turned around. I recognized her as her brown hair swished around her face. It was Logan’s mom. Her eyes went wide as they landed on us. Then she was rushing toward us. Logan let go of my hand as she wrapped her arms around him. Closing her eyes she tugged him against her. She must have been so worried.
I sighed and crossed my arms, wishing there was someone there to hold me. My mom couldn’t be there. This was something I’d never be allowed to tell her. I glanced over my shoulder, looking for Agent Nolan, but he was gone. When I turned back around Logan and his mom parted. Then Linda engulfed me in a hug. I was shocked at first. I’d been starting to think that she didn’t like me, but her hug was so warm. There was no denying that she cared for me as well.
“I’m so glad you two are okay, both of you,” she said.
I found the comfort I needed. I knew then that I would never be alone. This was over, and I was okay.
Epilogue
The second I stepped inside my house I took a deep breath, feeling more grateful to be home than I ever had before. I immediately showered and changed into clean clothes. Then I went down to the kitchen to make myself something to eat. That was where Mom found me when she came home from work – sitting at the breakfast counter eating a turkey sandwich.
“Payton, where have you been?” she asked, startling me. I choked on a bite of my sandwich.
Somehow I managed to convince her that Jo and I had been out with the cheer squad after class. I’d told her my phone had died and I’d forgotten to tell her we were staying at Hailey’s. I’d missed school that day, but Agent Nolan had called me in sick so they never called home to check where I was. At the end of it all Mom scolded me for being so irresponsible, but that was it.
I walked to Jo’s after that. I knocked. Her front door opened and Jo’s arms were around me before I even had a chance to say hello. I hugged her back. For a little while I allowed myself to be encompassed in her familiar scent. I still had to remind myself that I was safe now.
“Nikki and I watched the crash last night, and then there were all these news reports about how there was another meteor, and you weren’t at school today and I couldn’t get ahold of you….” Jo took a breath.
“It’s okay, Jo, I’m okay.”
“Where were you?”
My lips thinned, but I didn’t say anything. I shrugged. Tears filled my eyes. Jo
sighed and her eyes went wide, then she hugged me again.
A week later I sat on my couch, twirling a gold coin in the air. Sacagawea’s face did flips, hovering above my palm. The doorbell rang. The coin dropped into my hand, and Logan and Jo came around the corner. Jo carried a large bowl of popcorn, and Logan had sodas in each hand.
“Is that Nikki or Hailey?” I asked.
Logan peeked out the window.
“Neither,” he said. “Pizza, you have the money?”
I picked the twenty off the coffee table and handed it over with my gold coin. Logan set the sodas down and took the money. He eyed the gold coin, then looked at me.
“What? I wanted to leave a better tip. It’s a dollar…Mom forgot to leave me pizza money.”
Logan laughed as he walked to the door. After he’d paid the pizza delivery boy, Hailey and Nikki arrived, pushing past him while he carried the pizza and bread sticks to the coffee table. Almost as soon as he’d set the box down it was empty.
We watched movies and talked and laughed. Jo and Hailey got into a popcorn fight, tossing the golden kernels across the room. As the night wound down I lay on Logan’s chest, listening to the beat of his heart as the movie played.
Everything was perfectly normal.
Then the lights flickered. I sat up. Everyone else had fallen asleep. Jo and Nikki were curled up on the couch. Hailey was wrapped up in the other arm chair. Logan too was in a deep sleep, his head leaning back, body slouched in the chair. The lights flickered again. A moment later the entire living room filled with light.
It filtered in through every window, so bright the window panes didn’t even cast a shadow. No, this can’t be happening. I shook Logan’s arm, trying to wake him.
Wham!
The windows flew open – every single one. A gust of cold air filled the room. I shook Logan harder, but he wouldn’t wake. My breath was ragged, my heart pumping wildly in my chest.
“Logan!” I yelled. “Logan, wake up. Please wake up.”
Nothing.
The wind thrashed through the windows. My hair whipped around my face. I got up and shook Jo, then Nikki, but no one would wake. Tears were running down my face, and I ran my hands through my hair. The lights grew stronger until I was squinting, trying to make out the shapes of my own furniture.
“What do you want?” I screamed. “What do you want with me?”
The white faded away, light disintegrating into a thin fog, and I came through it. My eyes popped open. Heavy breaths fell from my lips. I sat up so fast my head spun, remembering the intense light that’d filled my living room.
I was in my own bed now. Moonlight shined between the blinds. I closed my eyes and took a few deep breaths.
It was just a dream.
I remembered now. I remembered falling asleep, waking only after the credits started to roll. Everyone had gone home after that, and I’d gone to bed. Glancing at the clock, I saw it was barely after midnight. I hadn’t been sleeping long. I ran my hands through my hair. Sighing, I thought about trying to sleep again, but I was too wound. Getting out of bed, I walked to the window. It was closed, but the blinds were open.
I peered into the night. Stars twinkled above, and across the street Logan sat on his roof. There was something comforting about seeing him there. I opened the window, feeling the chilly air rush in. Logan looked at me from across the street. I waved and he smiled.
He waved me over. After throwing on a pair of jeans and grabbing a sweatshirt, I sneaked out the front door and made my way across the street. I knew Logan’s mom had left for work earlier that night, so I let myself in and went up to his room.
Logan grabbed my hand as I stepped over the window ledge. He put his arm around me as I sat down. I leaned my head against him and we stared up at the night sky. We spoke little as we sat out on the roof. There was nothing that needed to be said. They were gone, they weren’t coming back, and as I stared into the vastness of the universe, I felt a part of something bigger.
Acknowledgments
To the person who just read this book, thank you. Without you, and readers like you I’d still be writing for my own enjoyment. I’m so glad I could share this story with you.
Thanks to my family, friends, and boyfriend, Brandon. You all know what you do, and are amazing for it.
Special thanks to my business partner and friend, Jen Naumann. I’m so glad you decided to go on this crazy journey with me.
To my amazing editor, Victoria Shockley. I don’t know what I’d do without you.
And, to my beta readers, thank you for all of your thoughts and inspiration.
ALSO BY PHANTOM OWL PRESS
Keep reading for an exclusive preview of Paranormal Keepers
An exciting new YA Paranormal Romance
by Jen Naumann
Available March 11th 2014
On Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and Kobo
www.JenNaumann.net
ONE
It’s funny how things can change with the passing of time. Well maybe not so much things as people. A year ago I would’ve been with my boyfriend Gavin, hanging with our friends while the guys played video games, or trying to find a place to fool around without being disturbed. I never missed any of Gavin’s games in all three seasons, and waited for him by our lockers between classes, sometimes just to steal a kiss. We spent every free moment together when he didn’t work or have practice, and nights I didn’t have dance class, which really didn’t leave us much extra time outside of school. Still we managed to be the kind of “it” couple everyone else found nauseating because we were that into each other.
But all of that was before the night that forever changed my life–before everyone decided I killed him.
No one will say it to my face, but it’s so obvious they think I actually murdered Gavin. As if I would actually want to hurt the guy I was in love with. Still, I see it in their eyes, the way they avoid crossing my path as if I’ll snap and go after them next. I hear it in their accusatory whispers that fill the hallways as I pass by. The signs that I’m generally considered guilty are everywhere.
Although I’ve become better at ignoring the ridiculous rumors, they still have a way of festering, worming their way into my heart that’s already been shattered. Because I still miss Gavin, more and more every day. And I’d do anything to see him one last time.
It’s the reason I sit alone against his headstone as I’ve done a dozen times in the past year, anxiously waiting for the ghost of my dead boyfriend. I’ve researched anything and everything I could find on communicating with spirits, hopeful that if I made contact with Gavin, he could tell me what attacked him. I once tried using a Ouija board from the hippie store downtown, but the only strange thing that happened was a sporadic flicker of my bedroom lights.
The moon’s bright enough that I can make out the ordinary sights of the cemetery. Granite of all different colors and shapes bearing the names of mothers and fathers missed by a list of grieving children, tall crosses and stone angels watching over those with particular religious beliefs, even an old crypt with the remains of some rich, local celebrity who died so long ago that no one knows much about him anymore. There’s a damp, sweet smell embedded in the air, still lingering from the brief rain shower earlier in the afternoon. Although I’m not really afraid, my breaths sound extraordinarily shallow, and I swear I can feel the dirt wheezing underneath me.
I don’t believe in the whole thought process behind cemeteries—a place to bury your dead loved ones under the ground where their bodies are left to rot and decay among the tree roots and bugs, only to stand over them while trying not to picture their exposed bones grinning up at you through six feet of dirt. It’s hard not to picture postmortem Gavin, his beautiful face marred by the thing that attacked him.
Times like this when my mind is free to roam, when I actually sit down to piece everything together, I can’t help but wonder if his death really was my fault.
The beginning of the end started like any
other Saturday night since we started dating the summer before sophomore year. Gavin came by my house for carry-out pizza before we headed to our friend’s house. On the way there, he was unable to keep his hands or lips to himself.
Giggling, I tried to wrestle his hand out from underneath my shirt. “If you don’t pay attention to the road, we won’t have to worry how we’re going to talk your dad into giving you time off from the shop for Mexico. We won’t have to worry about anything. Ever again. Seriously, Gav. Could you at least pretend you’re paying attention to the road?”
He flashed me a brilliant white smile that came from his mom’s insistence of using bleach strips. His sky-blue eyes were so alive in that moment, turning my insides to goo. I’d do anything to see him light up like that again. “I can’t help myself. All I could think about all day was what I was going to do to you once we were alone.”
“Hmmm...I’m sure your dad was impressed with how focused you were.” I pulled his wandering hand across my shoulders, wiggling into his side and inhaling the musky scent of the cologne I gave him for his birthday. “Seriously, though, what if your dad won’t give you the time off? And what if you can’t come up with the money in time? We’re buying our tickets soon. Will you please at least consider borrowing a little cash from my parents? You can always pay them back.”
“I’ll find a way,” he promised, kissing the side of my head. “Maybe I can sell some straw hats on the beach so my old man doesn’t think I’m going to spend the entire winter break being a bum.”
“But you aren’t going to be a bum,” I said, kissing his jaw and running my hand through his coarse, dirty-blond hair. “We’re going to lay out to work on our tans, take a sailboat out to work on your sailor skills, hide out in the cabana and let you work on me.”
Gavin hummed with my kisses as he parked behind the line of cars near Alec Porter’s driveway. “You don’t really think your dad’s going to let us spend that much time alone, do you?”