And so are the Drau.
They’re not in a parallel place that doesn’t touch anyone who isn’t part of the game. They’re here.
Really here.
Right now.
My fingers dig into Jackson’s forearm. I feel dizzy, sick, my anger and fear and confusion swamping my thoughts until I think I might throw up.
I look at the walls, so familiar, the top third painted white, the bottom two-thirds beige. I look at the rectangular florescent lights. The ceiling tiles. The banks of lockers lining the walls.
This is my school, and they are here.
In my world. My real world.
The boundaries have failed.
The Drau have pushed through.
Horror tastes like ashes, dry and desiccated.
I step forward. Jackson snags my hand, holding me back. I tug. He tugs back. The rational part of me rears its head and he wins.
Luka says something to Maylene about Sarah and Amy being on their way. He hands over some cash and Kathy hands him a ticket, her fingers grazing his as she looks up at him through her lashes. Either he doesn’t notice the way she looks at him or he chooses not to notice. He heads into the dance.
Seconds ooze past. Ten. Thirty. Ninety.
Then Luka appears at the auditorium doors and signals us. No Drau inside. Not yet.
My heart’s pounding so hard that it’s all I can hear. It takes me a second to realize that Jackson’s talking to Tyrone.
“. . . rule about students only. Don’t want to take a chance on drawing attention. You three head outside. Go around back. Find the rear doors. I’ll crack them open from the inside. Be careful, take your time, and don’t take any risks.”
“Take our time? Guess that’s gonna cost us the time bonus,” Lien quips.
The time bonus for getting the mission done at warp speed. It starts out as triple points and decays by increments of point five. There are a ton of options to score bonus points in the game. Stealth-hit bonus points. Multi-hit. Head-shot bonus points. Tyrone explained it all to me the very first time I was pulled. But I rarely think about points and scores, and in the heat of battle, I never think of my score. I just think of staying alive.
“Are you serious?” I ask, my whole body vibrating tension. “I get that you want to earn your thousand, that you want out. But you’re talking about scoring bonus points when these are people, real people, my friends—” She looks at me, her eyes wide, surprised. She doesn’t understand. She doesn’t know.
And then she does. I see the change in her the second that it hits her. She holds up both hands in front of her like she’s warding me off. Her expression reflects all the worry and distress I feel. She might not know my friends, but she knows what this means: If the Drau can come into my real world, they can come into hers.
“Sorry. We good?” she asks.
“Yeah.” I nod, recognizing how close to the edge I really am.
Kendra’s strangely quiet, hanging back a couple of feet, pale, shaking, sort of huddled into herself. Not good. I’m worried she’s going to freak out again, like she did before the last mission.
Holding Lien’s gaze, I cock my head in Kendra’s direction. Lien sinks her teeth into her lower lip and shakes her head as she falls back to talk quietly in Kendra’s ear.
I glance at Tyrone. He’s watching them, narrow-eyed, and then he looks over at Jackson. He mouths a word, but I’m at the wrong angle to catch what it is.
Some silent agreement passes between them, but I have no idea what.
I walk over to Kendra and Lien and take both their hands in mine so we’re a little circle. “We are all coming back. Remember?”
Kendra lifts her eyes and whispers, “I remember.” But her expression’s vacant.
“Jackson,” I say, wanting to tell him I don’t think she’s all here. And I think that in her current state, she just might get herself—or someone else—killed.
I’m on it.
I gasp. I’d forgotten what it was like to have him push his thoughts inside my head, his voice right there, part of me.
“Go. Get them outside. Back doors,” Jackson says to Tyrone.
Lien shoots him a glare, but doesn’t argue and I have a feeling that’s for Kendra’s sake.
As the three of them jog down the hall, back the way we came, I realize Jackson knew before I did that Kendra was in trouble. That’s what this whole rear-door thing is about. He sent Tyrone to babysit. Which means it’s me and Jackson and Luka. Three of us against who-knows-how-many Drau.
Awesome.
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
I GRAB JACKSON’S ARM. “HAVE YOU EVER BEEN IN A SITUATION like this before?”
“Like what?”
“The game pushing into the real world.”
He bares his teeth in a smile that isn’t a smile. “You ever seen my left shoulder?”
I swallow. Of course he’s seen the Drau in the real world. One attacked him. Scarred him for life.
Incongruously, I wonder what he told his parents about that scar, about how he got it. I wonder if the Committee just planted some bogus knowledge in their heads. Can they do that? I know they can take memories away. Can they add them, too?
The possibility is horrific.
Then another thought hits me. Did Jackson know? Did he know we were coming to Glenbrook? Did he know the walls between our two realities would fail?
Did he choose not to tell me?
Jackson snaps his fingers.
My gaze jumps from his shoulder to his face.
“Stay with me, Miki. Wherever you just went inside your head, don’t go there again. Not till we’re out.” He unstraps his knife from his thigh and shoves it into one of his vest’s many pockets, then does the same with his weapon cylinder.
They’re not in a parallel place that doesn’t touch anyone who isn’t part of the game. They’re here.
Really here.
Right now.
My fingers dig into Jackson’s forearm. I feel dizzy, sick, my anger and fear and confusion swamping my thoughts until I think I might throw up.
I look at the walls, so familiar, the top third painted white, the bottom two-thirds beige. I look at the rectangular florescent lights. The ceiling tiles. The banks of lockers lining the walls.
This is my school, and they are here.
In my world. My real world.
The boundaries have failed.
The Drau have pushed through.
Horror tastes like ashes, dry and desiccated.
I step forward. Jackson snags my hand, holding me back. I tug. He tugs back. The rational part of me rears its head and he wins.
Luka says something to Maylene about Sarah and Amy being on their way. He hands over some cash and Kathy hands him a ticket, her fingers grazing his as she looks up at him through her lashes. Either he doesn’t notice the way she looks at him or he chooses not to notice. He heads into the dance.
Seconds ooze past. Ten. Thirty. Ninety.
Then Luka appears at the auditorium doors and signals us. No Drau inside. Not yet.
My heart’s pounding so hard that it’s all I can hear. It takes me a second to realize that Jackson’s talking to Tyrone.
“. . . rule about students only. Don’t want to take a chance on drawing attention. You three head outside. Go around back. Find the rear doors. I’ll crack them open from the inside. Be careful, take your time, and don’t take any risks.”
“Take our time? Guess that’s gonna cost us the time bonus,” Lien quips.
The time bonus for getting the mission done at warp speed. It starts out as triple points and decays by increments of point five. There are a ton of options to score bonus points in the game. Stealth-hit bonus points. Multi-hit. Head-shot bonus points. Tyrone explained it all to me the very first time I was pulled. But I rarely think about points and scores, and in the heat of battle, I never think of my score. I just think of staying alive.
“Are you serious?” I ask, my whole body vibrating tension. “I get that you want to earn your thousand, that you want out. But you’re talking about scoring bonus points when these are people, real people, my friends—” She looks at me, her eyes wide, surprised. She doesn’t understand. She doesn’t know.
And then she does. I see the change in her the second that it hits her. She holds up both hands in front of her like she’s warding me off. Her expression reflects all the worry and distress I feel. She might not know my friends, but she knows what this means: If the Drau can come into my real world, they can come into hers.
“Sorry. We good?” she asks.
“Yeah.” I nod, recognizing how close to the edge I really am.
Kendra’s strangely quiet, hanging back a couple of feet, pale, shaking, sort of huddled into herself. Not good. I’m worried she’s going to freak out again, like she did before the last mission.
Holding Lien’s gaze, I cock my head in Kendra’s direction. Lien sinks her teeth into her lower lip and shakes her head as she falls back to talk quietly in Kendra’s ear.
I glance at Tyrone. He’s watching them, narrow-eyed, and then he looks over at Jackson. He mouths a word, but I’m at the wrong angle to catch what it is.
Some silent agreement passes between them, but I have no idea what.
I walk over to Kendra and Lien and take both their hands in mine so we’re a little circle. “We are all coming back. Remember?”
Kendra lifts her eyes and whispers, “I remember.” But her expression’s vacant.
“Jackson,” I say, wanting to tell him I don’t think she’s all here. And I think that in her current state, she just might get herself—or someone else—killed.
I’m on it.
I gasp. I’d forgotten what it was like to have him push his thoughts inside my head, his voice right there, part of me.
“Go. Get them outside. Back doors,” Jackson says to Tyrone.
Lien shoots him a glare, but doesn’t argue and I have a feeling that’s for Kendra’s sake.
As the three of them jog down the hall, back the way we came, I realize Jackson knew before I did that Kendra was in trouble. That’s what this whole rear-door thing is about. He sent Tyrone to babysit. Which means it’s me and Jackson and Luka. Three of us against who-knows-how-many Drau.
Awesome.
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
I GRAB JACKSON’S ARM. “HAVE YOU EVER BEEN IN A SITUATION like this before?”
“Like what?”
“The game pushing into the real world.”
He bares his teeth in a smile that isn’t a smile. “You ever seen my left shoulder?”
I swallow. Of course he’s seen the Drau in the real world. One attacked him. Scarred him for life.
Incongruously, I wonder what he told his parents about that scar, about how he got it. I wonder if the Committee just planted some bogus knowledge in their heads. Can they do that? I know they can take memories away. Can they add them, too?
The possibility is horrific.
Then another thought hits me. Did Jackson know? Did he know we were coming to Glenbrook? Did he know the walls between our two realities would fail?
Did he choose not to tell me?
Jackson snaps his fingers.
My gaze jumps from his shoulder to his face.
“Stay with me, Miki. Wherever you just went inside your head, don’t go there again. Not till we’re out.” He unstraps his knife from his thigh and shoves it into one of his vest’s many pockets, then does the same with his weapon cylinder.
