by R A Baxter
Clara ran to meet Taylor. “Hey. You want to canoe with me? This is so fun.”
Taylor smiled and nodded. He looked at Jack, who stood strapping on a life preserver.
“Go ahead,” Jack said.
Taylor looked at Jack and then Katie. “I definitely want to canoe with you, Clara, but I need to do something first. Hey, Damien!”
Damien had one foot in Katie’s canoe when he looked over at Taylor.
“Rumor has it you think you’re pretty quick with a canoe.” Taylor fastened a sun-bleached orange life preserver around his ribs.
Damien’s eyes lit up. “Are you really challenging us to a race? You must be coming down with something.”
Taylor shook his head. “Just you and me, dude. Two times to the farthest buoy and back.”
Damien stepped out of Katie’s boat. “I’ll be back before your paddle hits the water.” He winked at her before abandoning her and rushing into another canoe.
Clara sat on the dock to watch the race, dangling her feet over the water.
Taylor shoved a canoe into the water and climbed in. Jack wondered what had brought on this sudden urge to race Damien, then became aware of Taylor eyeing him and tilting his head toward Katie. Jack looked at Katie and realized she was sitting by herself.
“You want to start the race?” Taylor dipped his paddles in the water.
Jack nodded. “Three, two, one, go!”
Damien and Taylor paddled away with all their strength.
Jack took a deep breath and sauntered over to Katie’s canoe. “No sense in us just sitting here.” He pushed her canoe farther into the water and climbed in. He grabbed a paddle and asked Katie for her lanyard.
“We’re not supposed to take these off,” she said.
“It might get wet.”
She handed it to him, and he tossed it on the dock and paddled away, careful to isolate his canoe from the other campers.
“They’re bugged,” he said.
“What?”
“The lanyards. Sherry told me they have listening devices in them. Your father’s company is spying on us."
“I wish I could say that surprised me.”
“Listen, Katie, I’ve heard you’re planning to sleep in the lab tonight. I want you to know that Sherry warned me against it before she left.”
Katie nodded. “I’m having second thoughts about it anyway, after what happened to Alison. You and Taylor went to a lot of trouble to get Damien out of the way so you could warn me. For what it’s worth, thanks.”
Jack nodded. “You still don’t think I look familiar to you at all?”
Katie looked at the dock. “I hate to leave Clara over there alone. We better get back.”
“Please, Katie. Sherry told me other things about Montathena. We share dreams. I recognized you from my dreams the moment I saw you. Are you sure you’ve never dreamt about me?”
“Dreams are just dreams. Shouldn’t we…”
“There was an old woman, a Korean. She was with a gang of her followers. They kept tying you up and forcing me to fight things to save you. There was a manticore one time. A pack of wolves another time. Then there was a gang of thugs. And one time…”
“Okay. Okay.” Katie glared at him. “Do you work for the Intershroud?”
“What? I don’t even know what that is.”
“Don’t play dumb. It’s the parent company that calls the shots at Montathena Research, Baxson Financial, and dozens of other phony companies. My dad’s company is just one of their faces. I know you don’t work for my dad because Damien doesn’t know you, but you must belong to one of their other companies. You couldn’t have entered so many of my dreams without knowing their secrets.”
Jack dropped his paddles on the floor of the boat and looked around. He tried to find the right words. “So, you admit that we shared those dreams?”
“I’m not saying another word until you tell me who you work for and why you’re here.”
“Everything I know about your dad’s company I learned in the last two days. I have no idea why we shared those dreams. Do you know those people? Or that old Korean woman?”
Katie stared at him, waiting for the slightest hint of insincerity, then shook her head. “I assumed you knew them.”
“I never met any of them until I started dreaming about them months ago. I came here hoping someone could make it stop, and next thing I know, I see you. Can’t you tell me anything about what’s going on?”
Katie shook her head. “This one has me stumped, too. I know it sounds strange, but even though I’ve always known my dad was experimenting with dreams, I only started finding out the truth a few weeks ago, from my housekeeper.”
“What did she say?”
“Mind-blowing stuff. She told me about the Intershroud and how it destroys lives. She belonged to a group that opposed them until someone at my house discovered her. She was preparing to run away when she told me there were hidden cameras all around my house and that my dad’s employees were watching me in my dreams.”
“Why would they do that to you?”
Katie shrugged and furrowed her brow. “They’re looking for my mother. She took something from them, and they hoped she’d contact me—as if she cared one bit about me.”
“If they were watching you all the time, how could we have shared dreams without them knowing about it?”
She put a finger on her nose. “Ding, ding, ding, that’s the million-dollar question. Damien’s one of the people the Intershroud sent to spy on me, but it scared me how angry and surprised he looked when I told him I’d dreamed about you.”
“So, you have no idea how you ended up in my dreams?”
She scrunched her mouth as she thought about it. “Now that I think about it, there was a Korean man that guarded me sometimes. That must be it! He must’ve found me alone in my dream and then made me dream to that old woman. Maybe he belonged to her gang.”
Jack leaned back, smiling wide. “That has to be it. Thank you. I don’t know if it fixes anything, but it’s great to finally have a workable theory.”
Katie waved at Damien who was completing his first return to the dock. He slowed his pace and glared at Jack, having no reason to worry about Taylor half a lap behind him.
“Why did you even come here?” Jack lifted his hands. “Your dad owns this camp. Your sister founded it. I wouldn’t have stepped foot here if I knew what your housekeeper told you.”
Katie’s face reddened, and she stared at her feet. She shook her head and frowned. “I hardly know myself. I guess I just didn’t care anymore. After the company found out about my housekeeper, Stephani, one of my dad’s associates demanded that I join Montathena and I refused. But no one cared what I wanted, not even Damien. I guess I just gave up.”
“It surprises me to hear you say that. You were such a fighter in those dreams. I never imagined you as someone who gives up.”
Katie gave a weak smile. “I didn’t know what I was getting into. I’m really scared now. My dad’s partners arrived a few hours ago and one of them wants all of us assimilated.”
“Assimilated?”
“I think that is what they do in the sleep lab. Damien keeps telling me it’s safe, but I think he’s only saying that because he’s scared of that old geezer, Mr. Lynch.”
“You mean, Curtis Lynch? Sherry gave me a book he wrote. He’s here?”
“Him and Damien’s father. Even Avard and Farley are afraid of them. There’s no chance we’ll be able to avoid the sleep lab.”
“You’ll have to escape with me and Taylor then. We’ll all have to. I’ve been trying to come up with an escape plan, but you must have connections. Maybe you can find where they’re keeping our car keys and my car.”
Katie frowned. “No one here cares what I want. They don’t care about anybody. You can’t run away from them. I know, I tried. I ran away from home once, but they found me within hours and started watching me ten times as much.”
“There’s got
to be something we can do. There’s a south gate that’s always locked. They only use it for access to a trail that runs along the mountainside east of here.”
“I told you, I can’t—wait a minute.” Katie looked down at the pocket of her jeans and shoved her hand inside. She pulled out a torn fragment of yellowed newspaper, unfolded it, and held it out to Jack.
“Please tell me you didn’t leave this under my pillow during Farley’s speech this morning.”
“I didn’t give you this.” Jack unfolded the weatherworn paper and read the words scribbled diagonally across its crinkled surface in dull black charcoal:
KATIE
DANGER
TRAILHEAD
DUSK
“It’s got to be a joke. Maybe Damien wrote it.”
“He wouldn’t do something that creepy. It had to be someone from your cabin, probably Travis.”
Jack nodded. “I can see him thinking he could fool you into meeting him alone at night.”
“Whoever wrote it, tell him to get a life. It’s disturbing finding something like that shoved under my pillow.”
Jack folded the note and tucked it in the pocket of his tee-shirt, then stared at her glistening eyes. “If it helps. I already told Travis he didn’t have a chance with you, what with a guy like Damien as a boyfriend.”
Katie glared at him, her lips pinched tight. “He’s not my boyfriend! Things have changed since we came here though, and I like where it’s going. I don’t want anything to mess it up.”
“I wasn’t trying to make you mad.”
“It’s not you. It’s them and their constant meddling with my life. Yes, I felt the same things you felt. The Intershroud gets into my head and messes with my mind, but I refuse to give in to my feelings toward you. They aren’t real! I won’t accept them, and I won’t allow you, or anybody else, to manipulate my thoughts and feelings.”
“Katie, I’m sorry, I don’t know what to say.”
“Then don’t say anything.” She stared at him wide-eyed and resolute, though her lower lip twitched slightly. “I refuse to have feelings for someone just because some jerk planted them in my dreams. Dreams are just dreams. I care about Damien. He’s real. I’ve liked him since we were kids. I have to live my life in the real world, and you should do the same.”
Jack tensed up, desperate to hide the knots twisting within his heart.
Katie looked away.
“I see what you’re saying, Katie, but who’s to say what’s real and what isn’t? You can’t just—”
Katie screamed. The canoe twisted to one side and Jack scrambled to grip the gunwales, water swallowing him up. Laughter assaulted his ears. Confused and alarmed, he and Katie gurgled and flapped their arms and legs in the cold water. Jack stared daggers at Damien when he saw him. The young man grinned and patted the sides of his canoe. He’d rammed and tipped Jack’s boat.
“Rookie mistake, not paying attention to superior canoeists,” Damien forced his laughter and directed Katie to take a firm grasp of his muscular right arm. He grabbed the opposite gunwale with his other arm and heaved her into his canoe.
As soon as she settled herself on a seat, Katie shoved Damien hard in the chest, knocking him to the floor of his canoe. She hugged herself, shivering and frowning, turning away from Damien and treating Jack to a brief show of empathy with her eyes. Damien climbed back onto his seat, grabbed the paddles, and dipped them in the water before rowing away.
Taylor arrived seconds later, breathing heavily and glistening with sweat. He gave Jack his hand, but the canoe nearly tipped him out when he attempted to pull Jack in.
“I’ll just swim to the dock. It’s not far.” Jack dived forward and swam, putting all his anger into each stroke.
Taylor rowed alongside him. “What a jerk! Not cool.”
Clara waited for them at the dock and ran to Taylor when he arrived.
Jack pulled himself up onto the dock and sat freezing, frowning, and staring into the murky water.
“You still want to canoe with me?” Clara wrung her hands together and stared at Taylor.
He shook his head and pointed at Jack.
“Go ahead, Taylor,” Jack said. “I’m not going to be good company for a while. Go have fun.”
Taylor nodded, took Clara’s hand, and helped her into his canoe. “Okay, but if Damien comes within ten feet of me, he’s going into the water, even if I have to dive on top of him.” He sat down and paddled away.
Jack shivered and watched them row away, then turned to stare at Katie. He grinned at the thought that she was fighting feelings for him, but the smile quickly went away. It was too late. He’d lost the battle for her affection. She’d never trust her feelings for him. One thing, however, was certain. He wouldn’t let the Intershroud assimilate him. He’d find a way out of this fortress no matter what it took.
Wood timbers held a sloped wood-slat canopy over the outdoor dining area, shading campers from the hot noonday sun. Katie shared a white plastic table with Marina, Barbara, and Clara while the boys of their neighboring cabin huddled around an adjacent table.
Katie poked at her sandwich and pretended not to notice Jack at the far side of his table, staring at his plate of untouched turkey pita and sliced cantaloupe. She regretted what she’d said to him at the lake, but she knew it had to be done. Jack needed to understand that nothing she dreamed with him could be trusted. She didn’t understand why the Intershroud wanted to connect her with Jack. She only knew it had to be stopped, even if it hurt.
The clatter of a chair flying to the ground captured Katie’s attention. A stocky Hispanic boy tackled a smaller red-headed boy and wrestled him to the concrete floor, knocking a large cookie out of his hand. The Hispanic boy stood up and kicked the other boy before heading to get another cookie.
Farley watched from the lodge balcony, smiling.
Taylor, Ming, and Travis had stood up to make room for the fight. They grabbed their chairs and carried them to Katie’s table. Taylor waved Jack over, but he shook his head and turned back to his plate of food.
“We’ve started on Derek’s assignment,” Taylor squeezed his chair next to Clara’s.
“Three lies or truths about yourself that will fool everyone,” Travis said. “The cabin whose members can fool the most people gets a prize.”
Ming thought for a few seconds, then shook his head. “This is impossible. I totally suck at lying.”
“Liar,” Marina said.
Taylor laughed. “No, he actually does suck at it.”
“I’d say our cabin has that prize in the bag,” Barbara said. “No one’s beating Clara. You’ve seen what she writes in her dream journal. Go ahead Clara. Try to fool us.”
Clara’s eyes gleamed and she smiled. “Let’s see. I have an uncle that died, but my mom says he’s alive again. My other uncle, on my dad’s side, used to be a ghostwriter for a famous author. I lived in a cabin in the woods with my mom for eight years. I never watched TV all that time. And, I’ll someday free the Great Sprite from captivity.”
“You only need three, Clara.” Katie sensed her face turning bright pink. “Please don’t include your dreams on your list. It makes you sound crazy.”
“They were all lies,” Barbara said.
“Nope.” Clara giggled. “Only one was a lie.”
“You’re amazing,” Taylor said. “Which one was the lie?”
“You’ll have to figure that out in Derek’s session,” Clara said.
Taylor laughed and shook his head.
Derek step up behind Taylor, his face somber. He tossed a lanyard across the adjacent table to Jack, then handed another one to Ming. “Don’t leave your cabin without these anymore,” he said. “People will be arriving this afternoon to put a stop to these attacks on Farley. You don’t want to find out what’ll happen if they think you don’t belong here.”
Jack and Ming slid their lanyards over their heads. Derek stepped aside to make room for Damien, his father, and Mr. Lynch.
&n
bsp; Damien looked around the tables and, raising one hand, counted the faces in the immediate area with his index finger. “Looks like the whole research team is here. We have the honor of a visit from two of the top executives at Montathena Research. This is my father, Fenton Murdock, and this man over here is Curtis Lynch. If you’ll give him your attention, he has an exciting offer for you.”
Jack’s eyebrows rose, and he looked at Taylor.
“It’s good to see young people taking an interest in cutting edge technology,” Lynch leaned on his octopus handle cane. His forced smile revealed crooked yellow teeth. “The data you’ve provided us will not only serve you well but will help us to improve our technology. I’m sure you’ve heard we already recruited your friend, Jorge, and we’ll soon bring on Tony and Carl.”
Tony and Carl each sat up straight. Carl nodded his head.
“As a reward for your cooperation, we’re proposing to offer each of you an additional two-thousand dollars.”
“Dude,” Taylor smiled and looked around. The others grinned at each other.
“To earn the bonus money, however, we’re asking each of you to sleep in the research lab tonight. We gain enormous amounts of data from the lab readings, and you’ll find it quite comfortable.”
“What about Alison?” Barbara folded her arms and glared at Lynch.
Fenton stepped forward and stared her in the face. “There’s no need to worry about that. We’ve discontinued use of the sleep medication that caused her allergic reaction.”
“It didn’t sound like an allergic reaction to me,” Marina said. Everyone turned to her and showed surprise at hearing such a bold statement from the shy girl. “She kept screaming about something happening in her head. I don’t think you’re telling us the whole story.”
“It’s not our wish to hide anything from you,” Fenton said. “Alison didn’t want us to tell you this, but the attacks on the camp caused her a great deal of anxiety. She had a panic attack, which her allergic reaction amplified. That’s why we’ve ordered additional security for tonight, in hopes of ending these attacks. I assure you the sleep lab will be perfectly safe.”