by Alex Hayes
“Grrrr…” Mama Bear scoops up her delinquent and shuffles off into darkness.
Imminent danger over, I wilt against the cold cave wall and fumble for my phone. It buzzes. I leap a foot in the air and almost drop the thing into the gaping crevice.
Idris. Cadi, are you okay?
My heart’s threatening to explode, but other than that…
Fine, I type back in answer, and switch on the phone light. Squatting, I suspend the device over the rent in the Earth. Sheared rock edges a gash that disappears into blackness, its depth indeterminate. With a shuddery breath, I back away.
Where could this hole have come from?
Yeah, earthquakes cause cracks, but this one’s a tad too convenient to be random.
My phone buzzes with another message. You’re NOT fine, comes Idris’s obstinate reply.
I type back, Ok now. Did you feel the earthquake? I’m in the cave. Big hole in the floor. Can you come? Pls!!
Idris responds immediately. On my way. Stay safe!
My fear that this hole has something to do with the Evatenon resurfaces. Could their tech weapons cause a rift like this?
I dial Mr. Scrim’s number. The phone rings and goes to voicemail. I speak quickly. “Mr. Scrim. It’s Cadi. I found something. A hole. Please call me. Right away.”
After texting the same message, I tug up my hoodie to conceal my Livran features, exit the cave and pace in the morning sunlight until a text comes back from Scrim. Being followed. Evatenon. Trying 2 lose.
Oh my god. Where’s he being followed to? He was supposed to be coming here.
My fingers fly over the keypad, texting Idris again. Scrim’s in trouble. Evatenon. Don’t know what to do!!!!
A lifetime later, his text comes back. Shut cave. Meet me @ cabin.
32
Dean
I’m drinking coffee at the kitchen table, trying to lose the mental fog hanging over my brain, when my phone vibrates.
An incoming text. Cadi, I assume, given it’s barely six o’clock. Something must be up.
I catch the sender’s name just as the message flashes off. Mom.
At six a.m.?
Is this to inform me the cops are on their way?
I unlock the phone and swipe to read her message. He’s gone.
All motion in my chest cavity freezes. I’m afraid to interpret what those words might actually mean. My heart shudders back to life and beats double time.
Is this a new game she’s playing?
My need to understand finally overcomes me. What? I text back.
I kicked Daniel out. Your father is GONE.
Holy shit. I can’t pull my eyes from the phone screen. Then doubt floods in. She’s lying, trying to trick me, because she knows she can’t drag us back any other way.
I don’t believe you, I type.
Dean, would I be texting you at this hour on a normal day?
No, of course she wouldn’t.
A new message flashes on the screen. I need to talk to you. Will you please pick up?
Uncertainty delays me for a full minute. But if I don’t listen to her, I won’t be able to tell if she’s telling the truth or not. Texts are so damned two-dimensional.
I thumb tap my answer. OK.
The phone buzzes. I don’t pick up until the fifth ring. “Yeah.”
“Dean! Oh, honey, I’m so glad to hear your voice.”
Her smothering makes me cringe.
“What happened, Mom?” My voice is short and sharp.
She sighs. “We started arguing.” She sounds exhausted. “Your father kept pressing me to send the police after you boys. He said I had rights, that you couldn’t take Ty away like that, without my permission.”
I know this already. I wish she’d just get to the damned point.
“I kept telling him you wouldn’t do anything to harm Ty. That you love your brother and were trying to protect him. But he wouldn’t stop badgering me. He threatened to go to the police himself. And I told him I’d show them what he’d done to Ty’s guitar. But he just laughed and said he’d tell them you’d done it.”
My hatred for that man compresses my heart into a blackened lump of coal.
“But it’s okay, hun, because I saw him break that guitar. And…” she draws in a quiet sob, “he started pushing me around, telling me I wasn’t a good mother, that I’d never stop drinking.”
“So he’s gone?” Disbelief washes over my words.
“After he hit me.” Her voice fades.
“Christ!” I seriously want to kill that asshole.
“It’s okay, hun. I dialed 911 and Daniel left. The police came and I… I made a report, and I’m going to get a restraining order to keep him away from us.”
I rock back in my chair. The battle was over. I won.
“Dean?”
“Yeah, Mom.”
“Will you bring Ty back now? Please?”
“I-I don’t know.” With Dad gone, things might go back to the way they were, but is that enough? I still have to find a way to go to college.
“I know I haven’t been the best mom, but when your father said those things… Well, I realized he was right.” A watery laugh carries down the line. “For once in his life, he was right. Drink is the devil. Not you or Ty. I understand that now.”
According to Brandon Williams, the only way to resolve a toxic relationship is if both parties are willing to work toward change. And the first step to making change is acknowledging there’s a problem.
Hasn’t Mom just done that? The next step should be easy. Doing something about it. Getting help.
“It’s just when your Gran died…” Mom’s voice cracks.
“I know, Mom. I get it. I’ll bring Ty home.”
“Right now?” She sounds desperate.
“Yeah. Right now.”
“Ty, wake up.”
He groans and flops over. “Huh? Whh… at?” His voice slurs with sleep. “What’s going on?”
I shake his shoulder. “Come on, get up. Get your things. We’re going home.”
“Home?” Ty sits up, bleary-eyed, and leans forward. “Dean, what’re you talking about?”
“Mom called. Dad’s gone.” I grin. “Mom got the message. Him or us. She kicked him out, and she’s getting a restraining order, so he can’t bother us. Ever. Again.” I hope this will breathe life into my brother and wake him up.
Ty rubs his eyes. “But I don’t want to go.”
He’s just groggy. Who’d want to start packing when all they really want to do is sleep?
“Yeah, Tiger. I’d like to go back to bed too, but Mom did a brave thing getting rid of Dad.” I ignore the fact that she invited him over in the first place. People do stupid things sometimes. “We need to go home. Support her. Help her on the road to recovery.”
Ty’s face shrivels up like a sun-dried plum. “Dean, are you crazy? Mom’s the one who brought Dad back in the first place. She’s never going to change.”
“Sure she will. Remember Brandon Williams? The guy at the bookstore, who turned out to be Idris’s dad?”
Ty nods vaguely.
“Well, he wrote a book about bad relationships and how to get out of them, and another book about how to fix yourself. And Mom’s willing to try. To fix herself. For us.”
My brother rolls back into bed. “Fine. Let her fix herself. Then we’ll go home.”
I drop my hands onto my hips. “This isn’t negotiable, Ty. Get out of bed. Now.”
He squirms back to sitting, pulls his arms around his torso, and gives me the most hateful look I’ve ever seen on his face. “You sound just like Mom. Not negotiable… That’s her line. I’m not going.”
Finally, I see a path to freedom, and Ty’s blocking the way. If Mom stops drinking, he’ll be safe and I can move out and get on with my life. Why can’t he see that?
My hands bunch, but I take a deep breath and soften my tone, hoping to win some cooperation. “Come on, Ty… Mom was fine when she was working.”
I snag the sweatshirt draped over the back of a chair and tug it on. “It’s the sitting around with nothing to do but drink that’s pulling her down.”
“Are you serious?” he almost shouts.
A tap at the bedroom door makes me jump. I stride over and open it.
Shri stands in front of me in pale blue pajama bottoms and a spaghetti strap top, with mussed hair and a twisted frown on her face. “Hey.” She yawns. “Thought I heard you guys arguing in here? Couldn’t believe it, but I thought I’d check. Don’t think I’ve ever heard you two going at it before.”
I cross my arms. “We’re going home.”
Her eyes widen and all vestiges of sleep disappear. “You’re what?”
“Going home.” I turn back to my brother. “Let’s go, Ty. Get up and start packing.”
“Wait a second.” Shri taps my arm. “What’s changed and what’s so urgent?”
I don’t have time for this. I want to go before anyone else arrives and tries to talk me out of leaving. This is my one chance to get my life back on track without a crap load of guilt and worry over Ty.
“Mom kicked Dad out. That’s what.” I turn my hands out, shoulders lifting. The rest should be obvious. “I’ll just be gone a couple of days, okay? And I’ll come back. Once I’ve sorted things out with Mom, made sure she’s signed onto a recovery program, I’ll be back. Promise. And before you say I should talk to Tom, I will. I’ll call him in a couple of hours. When he’s awake. I’ll explain everything. I’m sure he’ll understand.”
Shri blinks and shakes her head. “Seriously, Dean? You think he will? Because I sure as hell don’t understand any of this.”
My jaw tightens. The last person I expected pushback from is Shri. She’s supposed to be on my side.
“Dad’s gone. Mom wants us home. End of story.” I grab my duffel bag from the closet and start filling it. “Ty. Pack. Now.”
He mutters to himself but moves toward the closet.
Shri starts up again. “Listen to yourself, Dean. End of story? Wasn’t your dad’s arrival the end of the story? The final straw? Just because that problem’s gone away doesn’t mean the dungeon’s any less dark.”
I clench the edge of the duffel bag. “Yeah, but there’s light at the end of the tunnel now. All I have to do is go back and fix things.”
She mouths, What the hell, her eyes rolling. “Okay, wait. You just spoke the definitive word. I, meaning you. That you are going to fix everything.”
“So?” I throw a stack of T-shirts into the bag.
“Dean, please. You cannot fix your relationship with your mother alone.”
“I know. She’s gonna help.” I gather socks and underwear, and shove them into my bag.
“Is she, Dean? Has she ever tried to help herself before? Or has she always relied on someone else? Like you? Or your gran?”
I huff. “I gotta try, Shri. I gotta try.”
“Okay.” She sighs. “Fine. Go. But don’t drag your brother back into the dungeon with you. You said yourself he’s been a new kid since he got here. No more obsessions. No more phobias. Throw him into the same environment, and he’ll fall right back into the same patterns. Let him stay here until you’ve had that conversation with your mom.”
No way. “I can’t. Mom wants him home. We’ll work through everything. Make the necessary changes, Shri. I promise.”
Tears form in her eyes, but their gaze holds steady. “If he doesn’t want to go, then you’re not taking him.”
My temper hits the roof. “What did you just say?”
She rises to her full height, jaw taut and eyes determined. “You heard me, Dean. I won’t let you take him. Screw up your own life, but don’t screw up his.”
“Yeah!” Ty shouts.
I hardly hear him because I’m zeroed in on her. “I’m trying to unscrew our lives. Do something before it’s too late.” I give her a frigid look. “What about your mom, Shri? Did you ever give her a second chance? Did you even want to?”
Tears slide down her cheeks, and I feel like the biggest asshole.
“No, Dean. I didn’t. Because she was already dead.”
A thick lump rises in my throat, but I swallow it. “Well, I’m not going to sit back and wait till the same thing happens to mine.” I look at Ty. “Are you coming?”
Ty’s eyes drift from Shri, then back to me. Anger burns in their sapphire depths. “No way. Shri’s right. You’re crazy. If you wanna try and fix Mom, go ahead, but I’m not going back. I hate that place and I hate her. She treats us like we aren’t worth shit.”
“Ty!” I can hardly believe he just swore.
He ignores me and keeps going. “All she wants is some stupid guy to take care of her. If that’s what you wanna be, fine. Go ahead and be her slave, but I’m not going with you.”
I pull up my sweatshirt sleeves, feeling hot already. “Fine. Stay here. I don’t want to listen to you bitching about it all the way home, anyway.” I stride out of the room, bag in hand, shaking my head with disgust.
33
Cadi
Phone pressed into my ear, I leave the forest and shift back to human form as I race up the slope toward the cabin.
Mr. Scrim’s voice sounds breathy. “Cadi… we’re in a bit of a scrape.”
A scrape? Still moving at Livran speed, I stumble over the grass, my human body unable to sustain the pace. “What’s wrong?”
“He’s after us. One of the Evatenon warriors.”
My lungs scream for oxygen. “Where are you?” I pant, heart pumping in overdrive as I run up the hill.
“A few miles away on the interstate. I haven’t much time left. Is Dresandar there?”
Idris? I slow down before I collapse. “Not yet, but he’s coming.”
“Good. Cadi, the Evatenon are extremely dangerous.”
Like I don’t know that already. I clutch at my chest and rub my fingers across my crystal. Its gentle hum of reassurance is hardly enough.
Mr. Scrim’s voice grows softer by the minute. “He cannot be allowed to assimilate a Livran. You must kill yourselves rather than be taken.”
Kill ourselves! Is he serious? Panic explodes inside me, stealing my breath completely. I fall to my knees, dropping a hand onto the thick grass to keep from falling on my face. “And you’re leading him here?”
What kind of logic is that?
Deep breaths. Take deep breaths.
“Yes.” The carer’s voice fades in and out down the line. “You must work together and destroy him. I’m almost out of time. We’ll be there soon.”
Wait. What? Who’s we?
Scrim continues, “I need Dresandar for—” An explosive crackling fills the line, and we’re disconnected.
Oh my god.
I struggle back to my feet and hurry the rest of the way up the slope and round to the front of the cabin. Idris hasn’t arrived yet, but I sense his approach and will him to move faster.
I dial Mr. Scrim’s number.
No answer.
What are we going to do? How are we going to beat another Evatenon?
I rub my forehead, struggling to contain the steely cords of tension binding in my chest. Those suckers are walls of muscle. They’re like Humvees on steroids.
I stop short and order myself to calm down. Deep breaths.
Idris will know what to do. He may not appear mighty or imposing as a human, but he’s hard-assed in Livran form. He beat the last Evatenon we fought. He’ll do it again. All he needs to do is get here.
Reaching the corner, I scan the driveway and realize Dean’s car is gone. I rest a hand on the log wall and breathe in the warm scent of pine needles and loamy earth. That’s when I hear a sniffle in the early morning quiet. Then another.
Someone’s crying.
I round the building and spot Shri sitting on the front steps, head stooped and shoulders shaking.
What the heck.
In all the time I’ve known her, I’ve never seen her cry.
I jog to her
side. “Shri! What’s going on? What’s happened?” My mind gallops through a thousand scenarios, most of them involving at least one enormous blue alien. “Is someone hurt?”
She wipes her face with her fingers and looks up. Another sniff and she shakes her head. Her phone rests on her knees. She drags her hands up her pajama-covered thighs.
I drop onto the wide stone step beside her, breath catching in my throat. “Please tell me no one’s dead.”
Her brow crinkles as she stares at me through teary eyes. “Dead? Why would anyone be dead?”
I grip my knees. “Just tell me what’s wrong.”
She clears her throat. “Dean went home. I tried to stop him before he left.” She lifts her phone and checks the display. “And he isn’t answering my messages either.”
I lift my palms and press them into my forehead. “Is it because of what I told him this morning?” Why couldn’t Dean understand what I was saying? Talk about unimaginative.
Shri’s head shakes. “His mom told him she’d kicked out his dad, and it was safe to come home.”
“What?” I knew he had family problems, but… “His dad?”
My eyes scan the crown of the driveway, sensing Idris’s approach, then they dart back to Shri.
“His dad’s abusive. Dean’s mom kicked him out once, but he came back. He pushed Ty and broke his guitar, so Dean brought Ty here.”
Shri digs out a tissue and wipes her nose. “His mom called this morning and said his dad was gone. But that’s not going to change anything. His mom’s a drinker and no better. But Dean can’t see that. He thinks he can fix his mom, but he can’t.”
I throw my arm over her shoulders. “Did he take Ty with him?”
“No.”
Jeez, really? “Why not?”
“Because Ty didn’t want to go and…” She sucks in a deep breath. “I stood up for him, so Dean’s pissed at both of us. He took off, and he’ll probably never speak to me again.”
I give her a squeeze. “Well, I think you did the right thing.” Except that Ty would’ve been safer if he’d left with Dean. And so would Shri. Damn it. “Dean will get over it. But we’ve, um, got a bigger problem coming our way.”