Secret Skies, page 11
No one said a word to me, or even looked at me, as I walked. It was weird. It seemed as if I was invisible or something. I looked down at my hand. Nope, not invisible. Maybe no one cared enough about some teenager walking down the hall. There were certainly enough teenagers here that I would be dismissible.
I arrived outside the gym and I gasped at what I saw inside. Ben was standing on the mat, Norman pacing back and forth in front of him. My heart seized as I watched Norman reach out and push Ben in the shoulder.
Ben’s face remained impassive. It was as if he didn’t even care at all. Ben grabbed Norman’s hand and twisted him around, pulling him into a chokehold. Norman grinned, a malicious, triumphant grin.
I ran up to Ben, yelling at him. “Ben, what are you doing? This isn’t you!”
Ben never even turned toward me. I waved my hands in front of his face and he didn’t even blink. My eyebrows drew together in consternation. I put my hand out and tried pushing Ben on the same shoulder, but he didn’t budge. It was as if he were made of rock. I cried out in frustration when all of a sudden, I heard a laugh behind me. As fast as possible, I swung around and saw Zeek leaning against the doorway. He stood with his arms crossed and he was examining me like I was a little bug that crawled out of the nearest rock.
“Why can’t he see me?” I asked, tears filling my eyes. I hated myself for not holding them in and for letting Zeek see me in a vulnerable state.
“Maybe he doesn’t want to,” Zeek said with a sneer. He looked me up and down. “I don’t blame him, you know. What a weakling. Still. Ella already got to you.”
I flew at Zeek in a rage, my fist held out and ready to land on his face. Zeek sidestepped me and I reared back to avoid hitting the doorjamb.
“You know why I’m a better fighter, Samantha?” Zeek asked, stalking around me.
“You’re an artist. Not a real fighter.”
Zeek laughed. “You know it’s called martial arts. But that’s not the point. I’m better than you because I don’t care anymore. You know, I don’t care if I get hurt. I don’t care if I hurt you. Your brother will be like that soon. He’ll be leagues ahead of you.”
I raised my fist to punch him again before slowly lowering it. This wasn’t the tactic I should be using. I learned that last time.
Zeek laughed again. “See? You don’t even have the guts to punch me.”
I shrugged. “You say you don’t care. That’s not what I saw last time. You do care. You do care that they are all saying you’re not as good as Corey.”
Zeek’s mouth twitched, and his jaw clenched. “First of all, no one says that. Second, you tried that last time. It won’t work again.”
“Really? It won’t work to remind you that Corey was the one who had the great idea to paint the cafeteria? It won’t work to remind you that Corey has better technical skills? That he has better heart in his paintings?”
With each sentence, Zeek’s face grew redder and redder and his eyes turned darker and darker. As soon as I paused, he lashed out, coming toward me with spit flying out of his mouth.
“I am the better one! I am better than everyone!”
His right fist came toward my face, and I dropped down in a squat. His fist met with the doorjamb as I kicked my leg upward, right in between his legs. He screamed in rage and bent over, trying to grab me by my shoulders. I sprang upward, shoving my shoulder directly into his stomach. He fell backward with an oof before standing back up. By that point, I had already started running out the door.
“Just you wait, Samantha. You’ll see me again.”
Chapter Eighteen
The springs in my bed creaked as I sat up with a jolt. I sighed, plopping back down. I was on the bottom bunk—which wasn’t my favorite—but at least I could sneak out easier. Swinging my legs over the side of the bed, I made sure to avoid stepping on Max. He volunteered to sleep on the floor the first night.
Holding onto the wall, I made my way to the bathroom and turned on the light. My eyes seemed darker than usual and there were circles under them. I looked plain tired. Sighing, I turned on the water to wash my face. The water barely dripped out, but it was enough to create a little pool in my hands. I was so busy staring at it that I was surprised when a hand touched my back. Before I could even think, my leg kicked straight out behind me and I heard an “ouch.”
Turning around, I saw Max standing a few feet behind me, rubbing his knee. “I moved out of the way fast, but you still got me a little.”
My heart sank when I realized I had actually injured him. I got over it real quick, though, when I understood I had finally taken Max by surprise. In all of our practice sessions so far, it had been nearly impossible to get a good hit in. Max laughed low as he watched my expression change from concerned to delighted.
“Good job,” he said. “You got me. Is everything okay? I saw a light on.”
“Yeah, I guess. I just had a bad dream,” I said while shifting from foot to foot and looking down, unable to look him in the eye.
“Do you want to talk about it?”
“It was about Ben. I think that...well. Nevermind. I don’t want to talk about it right now,” I said, finally looking up at Max.
“That’s okay. Want me to tell you a story?”
I nodded, and Max motioned for me to follow him. He stopped me outside the room with all the bunk beds. Max snuck inside and came back out with a couple of blankets and a pillow. He led me to the room with all the couches. Max put the pillow down on the couch and fluffed it up. When he was done, he whispered to me to lie down. Eyeing him, I did as he asked. As soon as I was comfortable, he put both blankets over me and tucked me in, even getting the blanket under my shoulders. He sat down on the floor next to my head and started his story. I closed my eyes and listened, trying to breathe deeply, like Nettie had taught me. It was about a man and a princess and a giant turtle with spikes on its back. It sounded suspiciously familiar, and I cracked an eye open to see Max fighting off a grin. I smiled, closing my eyes and settling down.
Max’s story must have worked wonders, because the next thing I heard was the girls all talking in the kitchen near where I had been sleeping. I sat up on the couch and rolled my head. The pillow had probably saved me from any real bad kinks, but my neck was a lot more sore than usual. Flinging the blankets back, I swung my legs out and went to find out what was going on.
All the girls were sitting at the kitchen table—holding mugs or cups—talking about their favorite bands. I sat down next to June, holding my hand up to hide a yawn. Rain smirked at me and said, “Long night?”
I looked at her straight in the eyes, keeping my face expressionless. “I slept like a baby until I had a nightmare. Then I slept on the couch. Alone.”
June looked at me, the concern shining in her eyes. “What was this one about?”
“Ben,” I said. “We need to talk.”
June got up and followed me out of the kitchen. We found Tom outside doing jumping jacks and I motioned for him to come on over. When we were all standing together, I told them everything that had happened in my dream last night. June crossed her arms and tapped her shoe frantically, the little taps muffled by the ground, while Tom just stared at me with his mouth open.
“What do you want to do?” asked June.
Tom continued to stare at me, and I glared at him. “We need to do what we set out to do. Find Mom and Dad,” I said.
“I need to get these devices made, Sam. I can’t just leave.”
“I know,” I said. “But I can. If Tom can stay with you, I can go with Max to find our parents. We can bring them back and then go get Ben. Before anything worse happens to him.”
Tom coughed and looked at his shoes. “This might just be a dream.”
I shrugged. “I know. But what if it isn’t? It’s not like my other dreams, the ones where I just wake up and everything is fine. I feel it.”
Tom nodded. I told them about some of my nightmares that had happened since we set out from Bunker 3 and how my wrists still twinged now and again. Tom grimaced and wouldn’t look at me straight.
“Won’t you need more people than just two?” he asked.
Honestly, I had no idea. We didn’t know what we were going to face. What if there were hundreds of meras guarding our parents?
“I don’t know. We have to talk to the others anyway,” I said.
My siblings followed me into the base, and we gathered everyone to talk. Nate and Max were in the lab, poking around on the device, and the girls were eating lunch. We sat down to join them at the table and made up our own plates. We needed to eat before we tried to hatch plans. Empty stomachs make bad decisions. Or so my mom would say when I was hangry.
When we all had finished eating, I sat back in my chair, the wooden rails squeaking, and said, “Okay. I have an announcement.”
“You decided to dye your hair pink,” said Nate.
I tilted my head and gave him a salty look.
“What?” he shrugged. “It’s plausible.”
Grinning, I turned to everyone else. “I need to go find my parents, but June needs to stay and make more of those devices. Our options are for me to wait or for me to go without her.”
“Then wait?” said Rain.
Grimacing, I looked at Tom, who still wouldn’t look me in the eye. “That’s the problem. I have reason to believe that Ben is in trouble, or will be soon. We need to get him back as fast as we can.”
Max looked at Nate, a frown forming on his mouth. “We can’t all leave June unprotected. If anyone finds out what’s here, she’s in big trouble.”
“Well,” said June, “who is going to stay with me then?”
We all looked at each other when Max put his hand down gently on the table and pushed himself up from his chair. “Alright. This is what’s going to happen. I’ll go with Sam. I have enough fighting experience and she’s getting better every day. The rest of you will stay here. It’ll be easier to have just two navigating to the other mera base and enough of you will be here to keep June protected.”
This was exactly how I wanted it to happen, and I was glad that Max stepped up and took charge. I was still relatively inexperienced, and definitely not the leader of our pack by any means. But Max. Max was definitely experienced. He knew what he was doing when it came to meras.
“Do you guys agree?” asked Max.
Crystal, Nettie, Rain, and June all nodded in unison. Tom was looking down at the table, a giant frown on his face. Nate was tapping his fingers on the table, mouth in a grimace.
“Yo. We got this,” Nate said finally, sitting straight in his chair. Max nodded at him and stared for a few seconds. It was almost as if they were reading each other’s minds.
“Tom?” asked Max.
Tom looked at Max and nodded, still frowning. “I’m down.”
Max nodded. “Looks like we’re good to go. Tomorrow, Sam and I will leave.”
Now I understood why Max wanted to leave tomorrow. It would give us enough time to pack and prepare, but I knew the anxiety sitting at the bottom of my stomach would only dissolve when we left. All I needed to do was focus on the next step: getting my parents.
“I’ll need your help until then, Sam,” said June.
It wouldn’t be a problem to help June, and I actually preferred to help because it would be a good distraction. Max informed me he would get our packs ready to go so he could make sure we had enough supplies between the two of us. When June was done with her lunch and clean up, I followed her to the lab. There had been a stale smell in the base, but since we’d been cleaning it out, the stench was replaced by the aroma of bleach. I didn’t know which of the two I thought was worse, but I’d rather the place be clean. June pulled out the device from under the table and put it next to a notebook and handed me a pen.
“Back to this,” she said.
I sighed and sat down on the stool. It was tedious work, but someone had to do it. After an hour of working, though, my hand was tired, and I needed a break. Sliding off the stool, I headed outside to run around the base for a couple of minutes. Yesterday I had moved quite a bit, cleaning and walking to the base, but today I hadn’t done any type of exercise. My muscles were aching for it and I wanted to run.
Crystal was already outside, putting more towels up on the same tree we were using for the sheets. She waved to me but didn’t stop to talk, so I stretched and got ready to run. I ran around the base a few times, and she waved each time I saw her. The fourth time, though, Crystal was gone. I figured she went inside and ran another three times before heading inside.
Still sweaty, I sat down on my stool in the lab and started writing again. Another half hour passed by when Nettie walked into the lab.
“Hey, Sam. Have you seen Crystal?”
I looked up from my notes. “Yeah, she was outside drying towels.”
Nettie wrung her hands, her eyes welling up with tears. “She was supposed to help me go through our packs, but I can’t find her anywhere.”
My heart rate sped up. Jumping down from my stool, I told June and Nate that Nettie couldn’t find Crystal. We checked all the doors in the lab, but she wasn’t anywhere in there. Then we moved on to the next room, making sure to thoroughly check it. We picked up the others along the way and everyone scoured the base.
“She’s not here!” cried Nettie, still wringing her hands.
Max and I looked at each other. “I’ll search outside,” he said. “Lock up.”
“I’m coming with you,” I informed him, following as he left the base. “You guys stay here just in case she comes back.”
Tom shut the base door behind us, and the metal clanged as he barricaded the entrance.
Chapter Nineteen
Max asked, “Where did you last see her? Let’s start there and move outward little by little. She couldn’t have gone far. Her shoes are still here and all of her supplies.”
He was right. Her shoes were by the door, and her pack had been in the kitchen with Nettie. We started circling the base, beginning at the laundry tree. Crystal wasn’t on any side of the base, and Max walked directly to the tree and kneeled down on the ground, looking intensely at the mud and grass.
“What are you looking for?” I asked.
“Footprints,” he said. “Maybe she just went to get water or something.”
“There’s water inside, though,” I said.
Max grunted in reply, still inspecting the ground. He crawled toward the forest, pointing out footprints the entire time. “Look. These are hers. But these bigger ones are not.”
He looked up at me, an expression of resignation on his face. I was afraid I might know who—or rather what—had made those footprints. He stood up, following the footprints. We slowly moved deeper into the forest. Max held out his arm, stopping me, and put a finger to his lips, eyes wide. I looked where he pointed and saw Crystal on the ground, unmoving, surrounded by broken trees. Her eyes looked closed, but I couldn’t tell for sure this far away. Max slowly inched forward, stepping carefully around twigs and crunchy leaves. We reached the spot where the broken trees met the forest. Crystal’s eyes were closed, but at least she was breathing. Why in the world had she wandered all the way out here to take a nap?
I stepped forward to find out if she was okay when I heard a whooshing sound. Looking up, I spied a giant mera in the sky, its wings beating to the pace of my heartbeat. It landed right above Crystal. My heart pounded in my rib cage and my face broke out in a heavy sweat. The smell wafted to my nose, and I gagged, trying to breathe through my mouth. The mera folded its wings and its tongue slithered out.
“My food. Not yours,” it said, the voice sounding in my head like the other meras.
Crap, I thought. I didn’t bring my knuckles.
“Max,” I said, crouching low. “I’ll take the right side, you take left?”
“Sam,” whispered Max. I wanted to turn around but I couldn’t tear my eyes away from the mera. We lost the chance to surprise the enemy. If we rushed it, we’d have a better chance of throwing it off.
“Sam,” he whispered again. “Please, look at me.”
I turned and looked at him, and his face was so sad it made me want to cry. He looked like someone had just told him that his favorite puppy died. I stopped planning for a minute. “What’s wrong?” I asked.
“Sam. I’m so sorry,” he said.
“For what? Nevermind! We have to move!” I said, turning back to the mera. Whatever he was apologizing for could wait. Crystal was in danger and we needed to do something now. I ran toward the hungry mera. It reared on its hind legs and roared, and I kept running. Max caught up next to me, keeping my pace. Good, he was on board with my plan.
“Sam, I’m so sorry,” he said again.
And then Max turned into a chimera.
Chapter Twenty
When we were in that first city fresh out of Bunker 3, I thought seeing two meras transform up close was enough to scar me forever. It was imprinted on my brain, a horrible memory haunting me randomly throughout the day. And night. I figured, hey, it was a good thing these memories were popping up in my head. They were a reminder. Meras were the enemy. If I kept remembering, I’d be able to get used to it. Then next time I ran into them again, if we fought meras at any point, I’d be prepared.
I was not prepared.
I stared at Max, completely frozen, and the only thing I could think was: What. The. Crap.
My eyes could not stop staring, no matter how much my brain told them to close.
My eyes kept staring as his body split in two.
My eyes kept staring as I saw his tendons, bones, and vessels rending in half.
My eyes kept staring as an enormous creature emerged from Max’s body, covered in his blood.
My eyes kept staring, despite warning bells going off in my head, as he shook his body. Its body? I didn’t even know.
The meras we had seen in the city were completely silver with silver-black wings. The creature that emerged out of Max was silver, but tinted with gold. Its wing membranes were silver, while the bones running throughout were an obsidian black. There were also deep red lines running from the tops of the wings to the ends, like vertical stripes. His eyes were no longer the green I loved to look at but were red, laced with yellow. The scales around the eyes were obsidian black and glinted in the sunlight.
