We just walk up to the gate, my head a swirl of anxiety, sadness, and nerves. It opens before we stop walking and we just continue in.
“Hey, Alex!” somebody calls from somewhere off the driveway, scaring the hell out of me.
I hunker and turn to find the Voice.
A muscleman in a guard uniform is waving at us from the doorway of a small guard shack hidden in the underbrush. Nick.
Cassandra looks at me. I give her a little shrug and rise up slowly. “Hey, Nick.” I wave.
He raises his chin at us and steps back inside.
“That’s just weird,” Cassandra whispers.
I don’t disagree.
The whole area along the side of the driveway is brilliant green and in bloom. There’re more flowers than I’ve ever seen. It’s hard to remember that we’re about to do something horribly dangerous and stupid when there are such pretty things all over.
“It’s really nice here,” Cassandra whispers.
I nod.
The circle driveway comes into view. The car is in its usual place and I briefly wonder who the new lead witness is since Corina left.
“Where are we going?” Cassandra asks.
I slow to a stop and cast down into the Syllogos, searching for the faint sustained notes. They’re close, but it’s hard to tell where, because geography and the Syllogos don’t match up exactly. I think they’re in front of us, toward the main house, but I’m not sure.
“Sabazios first,” I tell her. “I think he’s—” But I’m cut short when the door to the main house swings open. Cassandra and I both tense to run.
“How can I help?” a guard calls to us. I hone in on his music. Alan Garcia.
“I need to see Sabazios,” I tell him.
He hesitates. “I can’t arrange that—I don’t even have access.”
I search his mind. He’s not lying. “Then take me to the place where they take the witnesses when they’re no longer useful.”
“What are witnesses?” He’s honestly confused.
“From the guest quarters in the back.”
“The kids?” He steps out the doorway toward us.
Cassandra rolls her eyes. “Yes, the kids.”
Alan’s eyes look sad. He’s desperate to help us.
I grab his arm. “Just open the door to the Long Hall, okay?”
“Sure,” Alan replies. I can feel his relief. He’s going to be helpful. He leads us to the door to the Long Hall and uses his hand to open it. “This way.” He ushers us in.
“Alex, something’s wrong.” Corina’s worry invades.
I search the Syllogos around me. I hear nothing that worries me. There’s nobody excited or angry nearby. Nobody but Alan and Nick even seem to have any idea we’re here.
“Everything’s cool.” I send back as much relaxed vibe as I can manage, but it doesn’t comfort her. Her nervousness makes me edgy.
“You first,” I tell Alan. “Go fast and get the far door open onto the deck.”
He nods and jogs down the hallway. Cassandra and I follow him, both working hard to keep the psychic wallpaper from decorating the hallway with our lousy happy memories. “What now?” Cassandra whispers as we get to the deck door.
“Sabazios is in Richard’s office.” Corina’s voice is clear in my head. She’s scared.
“What’s wrong?” I can feel her, but she’s not focused on me. Something else has her attention. Something bad. “Corina?!”
“Just be patient,” I tell Cassandra. I listen again. All the music is calm, regular. There’s nothing I can find to worry about. I look at Alan. “Open the gym doors for us.”
“Corina?!” Silence. Silence and fear. She’s so afraid I’m finding it hard to breathe as we walk quickly across the patio to the stairway door.
When she answers, she’s so loud and present, I stumble when she starts talking. “It’s our time, scared boy . . .” And then she’s silent.
It’s not alive Corina, it’s my Voice.
“CORINA!!?”
No response. Just fear.
“What’s wrong with you?” Cassandra asks in a low whisper.
I’m shaking. I can barely walk. “Back at the trailer,” I whisper. “Something bad is happening and I can’t get Corina to talk to me.”
Alan opens the door for us.
“You go first,” Cassandra tells him.
He shakes his head. “It’ll be better for me to secure the door behind you.”
She looks at me, but has no instructions. I’m barely holding it together. “Just go,” I tell her. I can’t stand still any longer or I’m going to vomit.
She walks into the gym.
As I’m walking past Alan onto the floor, everything changes. There’s a charge of energy, something I can’t control. It makes me fall onto my knees. I feel like I’m exploding inside, my organs are popping and my heart has blown up to twenty times its normal size and it’s breaking my ribs with each beat.
Cassandra asks me what’s wrong and I hear somebody making noise.
It’s me. I’m screaming.
“RUN AWAY!” Corina’s voice is so loud that it hurts my mind. The words pound against my eyes. I press my hands against them to keep them from falling out.
“CORINA!!!!” I yell it as loud as I can, inside and out.
“IT’S A TRAP SABAZIOS IS READY FOR YOU! RUN AWAY RUN AWAY!”
And then I’m being pulled under. Corina’s taking me to her. I’m looking through her eyes and what I see is horrendous.
The sky is bright and it’s hot. We’re lying down on a blanket that’s rough under our backs. There are stones underneath it that Corina no longer feels but I’m now aware of. I see the school bus above me. We’re right outside the door.
We can’t move because we’re underneath in the Syllogos. We’re watching instead. Someone is standing over us. A man.
Bicycle Man. It doesn’t look like my hitting him with the rock did any damage at all.
Sal is nearby. I can see him, but he’s not making any sound. Blood pools around him. He’s dead. Erica is next to him. She’s bleeding out. A single soft note, fading.
I try to help Corina get up, but we can’t, not unless we break the connection.
LET ME GO! I tell her. YOU CAN FIGHT IF YOU LET ME GO.
“I’m scared.”
YOU’VE GOT TO FIGHT! I plead, watching Bicycle Man step closer and kneel down, pulling the blade up above his head, ready to bring it down into Corina.
The blade starts its descent . . .
Then I’m back in the doorway at Sabazios’s compound. Corina’s with me in my head. “Alex, I’m scared.”
Then she’s gone.
I’m all alone.
There’s nothing. There’s no music. There’s nothing at all. I can’t hear Corina and I can’t hear Cassandra or Alan, who’s next to me. The Jungle is gone.
I’m completely cut off.
I close my eyes, reach out for Corina, but it’s like I’m in an empty room. There’s nothing but silence.
Someone’s blocked the Syllogos.
I turn toward the door, but it’s already closed. “Open the door!” I yell to Alan.
He holds out his hand to the door, but nothing happens. He looks at me apologetically.
“What the hell?” Cassandra’s behind me.
“It was a trap—they’re all dead.”
“Who’s dead?”
“Welcome back, Alex.” Sabazios’s voice is smooth and familiar. It’s the voice of death himself.
Cassandra and I turn around together, pressed against each other for support. I feel naked without the Jungle. Empty without Corina. Naked and blind. He’s standing at the door to Richard’s office, looking relaxed, like there’s nothing wrong in the world.
The world around me fades to a pinpoint around his face. I don’t even feel the floor under my feet.
He doesn’t react to my approach, but there’s something in his hand. I duck, but he gets me with it. I feel it stick to my . . .