18

My head hurts. My chest hurts.

It feels like someone has been beating me with a hammer.

I pull a shallow breath into my lungs and, holy eff, it hurts. There’s a moment when I see yellow sparkles, and I flinch, thinking the Xua are here. I try to get away, to run, but I can’t. Something is holding me in place, and except for that brief moment of light, everything is as dark as midnight.

Did they get me?

Did that frenzy strike us, and did I get possessed? Is this what it feels like to have a Xua inside you?

Trapped, stuck in darkness, unable to break free.

Oh Lord, no, no, please…

Then another thought thunders through my mind.

Gabe.

Where’s my brother?

I pull in another shallow, painful breath and another. I swallow, and finally I think I might be able to speak. I don’t have enough strength to scream, although that’s what I really want to do. My words come out like a hoarse whisper.

“Gabe… Where is my brother? Is he safe?”

Something touches me, and I recoil.

“Sara, everything’s okay; be quiet.” It’s Natalie. But this doesn’t make sense. Are we both possessed? What’s going on?

“Where’s Gabe?”

“I’m over here,” my brother says in a soft voice. “Now shut up—we’re listening to what’s going on outside.”

“Outside… Am I in the alcove?” I ask.

“Shhh, yes. Quiet. They might be able to hear us,” Billy says from somewhere farther away in the darkness.

Something touches me again, and I realize it’s a hand. Someone is taking my hand in hers. I think it’s Natalie.

“Where’s Justin?” I ask.

But no one will answer me.

That’s when I hear the frenzy outside. A muffled thumping and buzzing seeps into the alcove, combined with the horrific babble of people choking and crying. It sounds so hopeless. No one could survive this.

Panic surges through me.

Justin’s out there. He must be. He’s fighting to protect us.

Why can’t both the boys I love be safe?

I know it then, just like I know that I’m trapped in here and there’s nothing I can do to save myself.

I’m in love with Justin. I don’t have a crush on him. I’m not “falling” for him like girls fall for a different guy every week at school. And I never had a good reason for not telling him how I feel. The Xua go after everyone, not just the people I care about.

They want every single human dead.

I might be locked behind a wall, and everyone might want me to stay quiet, but maybe he can hear me, even if his skin sites aren’t working.

“You have to stay alive, Justin,” I whisper. “No matter what. I love you.”

I think I hear a pause in the fighting, as if all of heaven and earth stopped to listen to me. My heartbeat ratchets up a notch, and I hope that the Xua didn’t hear me. But they must not have, because when the fighting starts again, it’s fiercer, wilder, louder. I can’t tell from my vantage point, but it almost sounds like we might be winning.

…

Morning comes in a breathless lull, like the entire world has grown tired of screaming and wailing. Like a baby after a long fitful tantrum, dragging one last breath into its lungs before letting out yet another earsplitting howl. Except that howl never comes.

The world is silent and still. Beams of sunlight spill under the door that I couldn’t see until now. Shadows inside the alcove grow long and pale. I can see why I felt trapped last night—the space is so narrow. It’s probably why Justin and Carla stayed outside.

They couldn’t have fit in here.

There’s been so much noise and chaos for so long that I don’t recognize these sounds of silence. The metallic creak of a broken road sign swinging in the wind. The rushing whisper of leaves in the trees. The sound of my own heartbeat, steady and fast.

Wait.

I bolt upright.

It’s morning.

I frantically scan the hidden chamber. Everyone is here: Natalie, Billy, Ella. All of them are staring at me. Only one of us has fallen asleep, probably because of that Syn-Op I gave him last night.

Gabe.

He’s alive.

Did we win?

Every muscle in my body relaxes, joy floods my chest, and I can’t wait to open the door. Justin has to be out there; he has to be safe. I pull myself to an awkward crouched position, the best I can do in this cramped space. My fingers trace the wall, searching for a handle or a knob or a latch of some sort that will open the door. But Natalie grabs my arm and holds me in place. She shakes her head, puts one finger to her lips.

“But Gabe’s alive,” I say. “It’s morning.”

She pulls me away from the door and shakes her head again.

I struggle to get away. This is what I’ve been trying to accomplish in all fifteen of my lifetimes—Gabe is alive!

“Let me go,” I tell her.

She pulls me even farther away from the door.

I hear it then. Something is trying to get inside. It’s digging, making a soft scraping sound against the door. I cock my head and lean forward, trying to figure out what it could be. Then I glance back at Natalie and Billy and Ella. Gabe is awake now, too.

We speak in the softest of whispers.

“What is it?” I ask them.

“I don’t know,” Billy answers. “The frenzy is gone. It left about half an hour ago. I think you fell asleep. Then, when the sun came up, this started.”

“Whatever it is, it can’t be the Xua,” I say, no longer keeping my voice down. “Aerithin promised! We just had to keep Gabe alive until morning—”

The creature outside lets out a horrid scream, so loud it penetrates my bones, so strong I’m sure it can be heard for miles.

Icy dread washes over my body.

It’s a Xua, and it’s letting its brothers know where we are.

Panic grips me. But I can’t allow fear to take over right now. I need to get my brother and my friends to safety.

“We have to go,” I say. “Get ready to fight when I open the door.”

We all pull out our laser switchblades and power them up. Natalie checks to make sure her gun is loaded. Billy brushes his hair out of his eyes with one hand, slips his backpack over his shoulder with his other. Ella stumbles to a crawling position, dark circles under her eyes and one hand clutching a car jack.

This girl is ready to rock and roll.

Gabe frowns at me. “But you said everything would be fine in the morning—”

“I was wrong,” I say, fighting the despair that gnaws at me.

Natalie grabs her knapsack. “Maybe Aerithin meant later in the morning, like ten or eleven o’clock?” There’s a glimmer of hope in her eyes as she asks the question we’re all hoping is true.

Maybe Aerithin lied. Or maybe he was wrong. Maybe the Xua found a way to change destiny and nothing Aerithin said matters. A soul-crushing dread fills my chest, and I need all my strength to take the next step.

“As much as I want that to be true,” I say, “we have to focus on the here and now. We have to fight our way out before more Xua arrive.”

I find the door latch and get ready to push it open, worrying that the bright light will stun us, and the Xua will rush in, and there might be more of them than we can handle. This could be our last fight, our last few moments on Earth. I’m hoping Justin is out there somewhere, and that I’ll get to see him one last time.

“Stay with me,” I say. Then I swallow, tense my muscles, and get ready to swing my laser switchblade. I quietly unlatch the door.

“Three, two, one…”

I kick the door open, and I’m blinded by the morning sunshine that I’ve been waiting fifteen lifetimes to see.