Somewhere in the Middle

by Linda Palmer

  No matter what happens…

  Why would he use that particular phraseology? This was America, home of the free, and he was eighteen, which meant he could legally do anything he wanted except buy liquor. Not that he’d go against his dad’s wishes. And not that I even wanted him to. All the same, I was suddenly sorry I hadn’t insisted we confront his father together. Surely I could make him understand that their secrets were safe with me.

  The sound of laughter drew me to the den when I got inside the house. I found my family watching home movies of past Christmases. Transferring all the old VHS recordings to DVDs had been my dad’s gift to my mom. I joined them in hopes old times would cheer me up. And maybe they did, but only a little. I kept glancing at my silent cell phone, wondering if Roone had forgotten his promise to call. I considered calling him, but decided not to since it might be a bad time, as in right in the middle of a father-son argument over me.

  In the end, I left the den not very long after I entered it and walked down the hall to my bedroom. There I stretched out on my bed, listening to the rain pattering my window panes and staring at the ceiling. After a half hour of that, I called Dayna.

  “Merry Christmas, chica,” she said by way of answering.

  “Ditto. Did you get some fun stuff?”

  “Yeah, you?”

  I rattled off a list that included clothes, money, gift cards, and new headphones.

  “Beats?” she asked, referring to the Dr Dre headphones every student at McAlister would’ve died for.

  “Yep.”

  “That’s so not fair. I got knockoffs.” She said something to someone with her.

  “Who are you talking to?”

  “Gavin.”

  Of course. It was only right they should be together, and I should’ve been with Roone, too. “Something happened tonight.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “Roone told me he loved me.”

  “Holy crapoly! When? How? Where? Why?”

  Chapter Twelve

  I gave her the scoop, well, most of it. I didn’t mention Leif or Roone’s love-of-my-life wording for some reason. When we said our goodbyes, I called Sid. The only son of two popular pediatricians, he rattled off a gift list I couldn’t quite believe, though I didn’t begrudge him a thing. I had love in my life, something he’d probably only get if he left the bigots in our small town far behind. True to form, Sid gave me heartfelt congrats when I got around to telling him Roone and I were for real. And I ended the call feeling better and with a smile on my face.

  Still awake at eleven, I finally decided to risk waking Roone just to hear his voice. The call went straight to voicemail. Based on that and the late hour, I assumed he did what I usually did, turn my cell off every night while it charged. Unlike a lot of girls I knew, Dayna included, I didn’t freak if my iPhone took a well-deserved breather.

  Sunday morning I woke to stormy skies and a huge drop in temperature. The ice encasing our winter grass made each blade look like an inverted icicle. Every tree branch and power line had been glazed to match, which was probably why my bedside clock wasn’t working. Somewhere a line had snapped from the weight, leaving families without electricity. Fortunately, we had a fireplace, a gas water heater, and a gas stove. So while there wouldn’t be any TV or computers to keep us occupied, the house would be warm enough, and we could still bathe and eat.

  “Power’s out all over town,” said my dad when I got to the kitchen.

  I saw he was wearing his uniform and just about to walk out the door.

  “Your mom left about an hour ago. She got there okay. Said the roads were slick on the bridges and at the intersections, but doable. All the same, I hope you won’t get out unless it’s important.” He pulled on his standard issue jacket. “Is Roone all electric?”

  “I honestly don’t know.”

  “Well if he is and they need a generator, we have a spare in the garage.”

  “Okay. Um, dad?”

  “Uh-huh.” He was looking all over for his deputy cap.

  I took it off the top of the fridge and handed it to him. “Roone and I are dating now.”

  “I know.” Dad patted his pockets to be sure he had his wallet and phone.

  “I mean really dating. The act is over. And there’s something else.”

  “What’s that?” He picked up his radio.

  “We’re nuts about each other.”

  That got his attention. “This is news to you?”

  “Well, yeah.”

  Grinning Dad gave me quick hug and kiss. “Then you and your guy are a lot slower than I thought you were, because I saw it in both of you the night of the dance. Call if you need me, okay?” With a wink and a smug smile, he left, letting in a swirl of chilly air before the door shut behind him.

  I hugged myself in the aftermath. “Brrrr.”

  “Are you cooking breakfast?” Cory, scratching his bare belly, joined me in the kitchen. Bleary-eyed and with a serious case of bed head, he couldn’t have been awake long.

  “I can. But I’ll wait until eight since Eli will probably be up by then.”

  He glanced toward the microwave and then at the clock radio on the counter, neither of which told him the time.

  I explained. “Power’s out.”

  Cory yawned. “Bummer. Just here or all over town?”

  “All over, I think.”

  “Does Roone have gas?”

  “Not in front of me. Unlike the Thorsen guys, he’s way too polite for that.”

  My sleepy brother got the joke a little late and burst out laughing. “Good one.”

  I rolled my eyes. What was it with guys and fart jokes? Not that I couldn’t blame myself for this particular one. “I don’t know if they’re all electric or not. I’ll call in a minute to ask and make sure they’re okay.”

  “I like that guy. Too bad you two are pretend.”

  “Actually, what you warned me about has happened.”

  “Which is…?”

  “Love has jumped up and bit me on the butt.”

  Cory’s eyes lit up. He grinned really big. “I knew it! Dude had that look in his eye.”

  “What look?”

  “That I-can’t-believe-she’s-with-me one.” He slowly nodded, clearly lost in thought. “He’s a nice guy. Mature for his age, don’t you think?”

  “Yeah, I do.” Amazed that my usually oblivious Dad and brother had seen something I hadn’t, I went to my room to turn on my phone. I sat on the side of the bed and called Roone even though it was only seven-thirty in the morning. But he didn’t pick up. So I texted him instead: Got power?

  I waited two solid hours for his answering text, but never got it. I called him again at noon, but he didn’t answer. That worried me a little. Had something happened to him? My thoughts immediately went into a tailspin. Roone had wrecked his bike on the way home last night and been killed, but his dad hadn’t bothered to call me. Or maybe he’d made it home and confessed our love, upsetting his father so badly that they’d fought to the finish. Or maybe their power had gone off in the wee hours of the morning, and they’d simply frozen to death.

  By then, I’d run out of crazy maybes, which left a simple one: Roone’s phone had died, and he couldn’t charge it because he had no electricity. That meant if I wanted to talk to him, I had to drive over there. I finally did it around five-thirty, accompanied by Eli, who’d thrown a royal fit when I tried to leave. He’d apparently colored a picture of Thor that he wanted to give Roone in person.

  Though it was still very cold and oddly dark out—I actually had to use my headlights—we got to the Thorsens’ without anything worse that my back tires fishtailing once on a patch of black ice.

  The house lay in darkness, so no power there, either. I suddenly remembered Roone and his brother entertaining themselves by playing that glowing ball game, both of them shirtless in the snow. Realizing that they’d probably be warm even if their house was without heat, I felt a little foolish for driving over. Then
a new worry surfaced—what if Roone was breaking the news of us gently to his dad. Would our suddenly dropping by screw up his timing?

  I sat in my car in the driveway for a couple of minutes with the motor running, staring at the house and wondering whether we should go or stay. Or maybe I hoped Roone’s clairaudience would alert him to my presence and save me from having to knock on the door. Why I was so nervous, I had no idea. I wasn’t usually like that.

  “I want to go in,” said Eli, reminding me I wasn’t alone.

  Reluctantly, I killed the engine and got out of the car. I released Eli from the seat belt. He got the picture he’d colored, as well as the Thor gear he’d brought along. The icy lawn crunched under our feet as we approached the house. I avoided the sidewalk, which could be slick, and took great care on the front steps, too. Finally I stood face-to-face with the cut-glass inset, Eli hopping from one foot to the other in his eagerness to see Roone. I tried the bell before I thought and then laughed at my own stupidity as I raised my fist to knock.

  The door swung inward the moment my knuckles rapped it.

  The house was unlocked? For some reason my heart dropped straight into my stomach even though I knew some people left their houses open during the day, something my crime-conscious dad would never allow. Now what? I glanced at Eli. He shrugged like a little old man, which would’ve lightened the moment any other time. Squashing my unease, I opened the door a scant couple of inches more and put my mouth to the crack I’d made.

  “Hello? Anybody home?” All I heard was the eerie echo of my own voice. Finding my courage, I boldly pushed, increasing the opening enough that I could slip inside the house, Eli so close behind that he bumped into me when I stopped. “Hel-loooo!”

  No answer.

  A dozen scenarios blasted me. They were in the backyard, upstairs, out to eat, at Home Depot buying a generator… The possibilities were endless, and there I stood in their foyer, uninvited. I instantly backed out the way I’d come, stepping on my little brother’s toes in the process. As I did, my gaze landed on the entry table a couple of feet away. I could just make out three cell phones lying on it.

  I froze. Unless all were stone dead and, therefore useless, there was no good reason for them to be there. Though confused and not a little frightened, I pushed the door completely open. “Wait here, buddy.”

  “No way.”

  With a sigh, I grasped his wrist and made myself go inside again. Something was very wrong. I had to figure out what it was. Fumbling for the light switch, I flicked it a couple of times just in case. Of course, it didn’t work. Wishing I’d brought along a flashlight, I began to explore in the dark, my pulse pounding in my ears as I ventured forward a few feet, still attached to my little bro. “Is anyone in here?”

  Just ahead a shadow shifted and divided from the wall to become a tall male. I nearly fainted with relief. “There you are. Whew.”

  He didn’t answer. A camp lantern’s light suddenly pierced the blackness.

  I squealed and fell back, knocking Eli into the wall. I instantly laughed at myself, a sound that faded into silence when the light was raised higher to reveal who held it.

  My heart stopped. “Teo?”

  “Hello, Everly.”

  Now my heart shifted into overdrive. My wary gaze narrowed as I instinctively stepped in front of Eli and held him behind me. “Where’s Roone?”

  “I was just about to about to ask you that.” Teo moved closer.

  “Well, I sure don’t know.” I took a matching stepping back and felt Eli stumble. Noting Teo’s immediate smirk, I wished I hadn’t shown my fear. “He hasn’t answered my calls, so I came over to make sure he was okay. Why are you inside his house?” Teo sure as hell hadn’t been invited.

  Teo advanced again, his long black hair loose and swinging with every step. I instantly thought of every bad martial arts movie I’d ever seen, racial stereotyping I didn’t condone but couldn’t seem to get out of my head now that it was there. It didn’t help that he moved without making a sound and wore black leather everything except his deep purple T-shirt, just visible under his jacket. “I was hoping to talk to him, but as you now see, no one’s home.”

  “And you came inside anyway?”

  His soft snigger derided me. “Isn’t that what you just did?”

  “I’m his girlfriend.” I backed up all the way to the front door, where I turned to look at Eli. “Go to the car now.”

  He stuck out his bottom lip and shook his head. I saw him tighten his grip on the plastic Mjölnir.

  Teo clearly liked that. “Are you really Thorsen’s girl, Everly? I’ll admit I’ve been confused, though I think I’ve got it now.” He was so close I could feel his hot breath fanning my hair. “It wasn’t easy. One minute you’re reminding him that you’re just friends. The next he’s calling you the love of his life.”

  I softly gasped. “How could you possibly know that?”

  “I’ve had my eye on you for a while.”

  “You’ve been stalking me?”

  Teo shrugged. “You’re a girl worth stalking.” He suddenly reached around me and shoved the front door shut, an unexpected motion that made me recoil. Eli, trapped behind my body, peeked around me. I knew what he saw: a house that looked spookier by the second with walls that seemed to be closing in.

  I kept a hand on my brother’s head to keep him where he was. “I don’t understand.”

  “My father, Li Sun Qing, sent me here to find your boyfriend and take him back to Början, where his psychic skills are badly needed.”

  “Your real name is Ching?” I said it just the way he did.

  “That’s right. My father is dictator of planet Början.”

  “Wait…Början is a planet?” I focused on Teo in an attempt to ignore the crazy thoughts now exploding inside my head.

  “You mean Roone hasn’t told you? I thought you were the one.” He made that sound like a bad thing.

  I was too shell shocked to answer.

  Teo’s cold eyes assessed me and my little brother the whole time. “If I’d only known…” He sighed dramatically. “Now I’m going to have to kill you both, but not until Roone gives himself up, of course, which is exactly what he’ll do once he finds out you guys are with me. Isas, Jun, Sheng…you can come out now.”

  The hall was suddenly alive with shadows that became men as they walked into the circle of Teo’s lantern light. Weirdly tall and obviously strong, they all appeared to be older than him and, to the one, eyed us without emotion. Since what I could make out of their features were similar to Teo’s, I assumed they were all the same race, which definitely wasn’t Roone’s. “I still don’t get what’s going on.”

  “I’ll give you the short version. My father has discovered the existence of another plane he’s now dying to explore. Roone’s currently the only psychic with enough power to predict wormholes and keep them open long enough for us to invade any habitable planets.”

  “Say again.”

  “You’re boyfriend’s an alien, beautiful, and so am I.”

  The dark began closing in. And though I tried to fight it off, my traitorous knees buckled beneath me.

  “Everly!”

  Stinging slaps to both cheeks yanked me back to life. Dragging my eyelids up, I found Teo’s face right over mine. It took a second to orient, but the sound of Eli’s whimper did the trick. I sat straight up, my heart jack hammering against my ribs and saw him standing a few feet away. One of the guys stood beside him, a heavy hand on Eli’s shoulder.

  Teo rolled his eyes. “Chicks. What are they good for, men?”

  “Banging,” said one of the three standing around me. I did not like his leer.

  “Breeding,” said another.

  “Bait,” said the third.

  Teo nodded. “Yeah. The three Bs.”

  At that, I hopped up. My head swam, but I didn’t let on. “Eli, come here.”

  “Don’t worry about your bro,” said Teo, smirking. “Isas loves little bo
ys. Don’t you Is?”

  Isas touched Eli’s sweet head in a way that made my skin crawl.

  I swallowed a scream. Keep your cool, Everly. Eli is scared enough. “Did you just say ‘bro?’”

  Teo grinned. “You seem surprised by our slang.”

  “It’s very American, and how can you speak English, anyway, if you’re really from another world?”

  He grinned. “Mindboggling, isn’t it? But we’ve long kept an eye on Earth, courtesy of my Uncle Os. And I’ve also been living on this shitty excuse of a planet almost as long as Roone has.”

  At that moment, Eli lunged toward me, a move Isas stopped by lifting him right off his feet and setting him back where he’d been. My stomach lurched. I swallowed hard. If that creep touched my brother again…

  I slowly exhaled. “You’ve been here four months?” Roone had mentioned that number to his brother.

  “Give or take. I knew our guy was in this vicinity. I just didn’t have any recent pictures of him. That meant I had to sit tight and monitor everything in hopes he’d blow his cover. As soon as I read the local color piece about a dance and rogue chandelier that miraculously didn’t kill anyone, I dropped by McAlister, Alabama, for a closer look. And who did I find? The big-hearted fool of a psychic I was looking for.”

  “He did it to save me.” I blurted my thoughts before I could filter them.

  Teo nodded. “And the bus thing, too, I guess. That totally cinched it, by the way. I knew for sure that I’d found him then.”

  Feeling decidedly shaky, I sagged against the table. When I caught Eli’s eye, I forced a smile, my silent promise everything was going to be okay. But was it? My gaze flicked all around in search of anything I could use as a weapon. I saw nothing past our circle of light, which threw creepy shadows on the faces of Teo and his horrible men.

  Horrible men? Try spacemen.

  Aliens.

  E-freakin’-T.

  And Roone was one, too. I suddenly remembered all the terrifying sci-fi movies I’d watched through the years. Oh God. “Is this how you really look?”