1 A Scary Dream

Jack walked back to me from the front of the plane. He glanced at Taylor asleep in my arms, then asked softly, “Can we talk?”

I nodded, and he sat down in the seat across the aisle from me. Speaking in a hushed tone, he asked, “Why are we going back to America if Abi’s still in Peru?”

“We don’t know if she’s in Peru.”

“Ostin said she was abducted by Peruvians.”

“He said he thinks she was. But even if she was, we don’t know where they took her after they grabbed her in Texas. She could be anywhere.”

His brow furrowed. “You can be sure as hell that we’re not going to find her in Idaho.” He growled the state’s name like a slur.

Taylor suddenly shifted in my arms. “Did you say something?” she asked sleepily.

“I’m sorry,” I said, tightening my arms around her. “Jack and I are just talking.”

“Sorry,” Jack said.

Taylor yawned. “It’s okay.” She nestled back into me.

Jack looked at me again.

“I know how you feel,” I said. “But we just barely escaped with our lives. For all we know, what’s left of the Chasqui and the entire Peruvian army are out looking for us. We’re still on their Most-Wanted Terrorists list. And Cassy needs medical attention. We need to get her help, regroup, and make a plan. I don’t want to get anyone else killed. And neither do you. We’ve all lost enough of our friends.”

From Jack’s expression, I could tell that what I’d said stung. After all these years, Jack was still suffering from the loss of Wade. I don’t think that will ever go away. After a moment, he breathed out slowly. “You’re right. I’m just freaking out. I feel like I need to be doing something.”

“That’s how we felt when you disappeared,” Taylor said, suddenly sitting up. “We were out of our minds.”

Jack looked at her, not sure how to respond.

“We need to make a plan,” I said, then in a softer voice added, “And we need to recover from our losses.” I looked at him, fighting the sudden emotion I felt. “I need to recover.”

Taylor turned her head back and kissed me.

“I’m sorry,” Jack said. “You’re right. I just feel responsible that she’s gone. If I hadn’t pushed her away…”

“Don’t do that to yourself,” Taylor said. “She was doing what she wanted to do. She wanted to go to school. Nothing you could have done would have changed that.”

“Whoever took her had a reason for picking her out from all of us,” I said. “So you know they would have found her wherever she was.”

Jack nodded slowly. “Sorry to wake you,” he said to Taylor.

“It’s okay,” Taylor said. “Just try to get some sleep.”

Jack returned to his seat at the front of the plane.

“He’s blaming himself,” Taylor said.

“I know. Zeus is blaming himself too.”

“Neither of them could have stopped what happened. Especially Zeus.”

“I’m sure he knows it, but a grieving heart isn’t always rational.”

“I know.” Taylor laid her head on my chest.

I kissed the top of her head, then lay back to get some sleep. About an hour later Taylor let out a stifled scream and her body jerked. When her eyes opened, she was whimpering. She wiped her eyes but didn’t say anything.

“Taylor, what was it?”

“It was so real.”

“What was?”

She continued to cry.

“Taylor, what was so real?”

“My dream. It was so horrible.”

She sat up, pulled a napkin from the seat pocket, wiped her eyes, then looked at me, her face filled with pain. “No matter what happens, you can’t go back to Peru.”

“If Abi’s there, I have to go.”

“No! You can’t go to the jungle. Any jungle.”

Her forcefulness surprised me. “What did you dream, Taylor?”

She was quiet for a moment; then she said with her chin still quivering, “We were in the jungle somewhere. We were all on our knees, handcuffed. None of us had our powers. It was dark except where there were torches. There were people in the shadows chanting something like ‘cheespa.’…”

“Cheespa?”

“Something like that. They just kept chanting that word over and over. And there was this guy in a red hoodie. His face was completely dark, but I could see his eyes. They glowed red.

“You were kneeling before him. He said, ‘Finally the great Michael Vey is brought to his knees.’ And then he said something about how, after one tribe would conquer another, the victor would kill the other tribe’s king in front of his people so the defeated tribe would know they had truly been conquered.” She paused, her breath heavy. “I can’t forget what he said next. I’ll never forget it.” She looked up at me. “ ‘This night, in this ancient valley of’—I think it was Río Annie—‘Michael Vey the great dies.’ ” She started sobbing again.

“It’s just a dream,” I said, trying to comfort her. “Just a dream.” I said it, but in my chest I felt dread. So far, all of her dreams had come true.

I was still holding her when Ian walked up to us. He looked at Taylor, then crouched down in the aisle.

“We have a problem.”

“What is it?”

“Cassy still has three pieces of shrapnel in her body that the doctor in Puerto missed. Two are lodged in muscle, but one piece has worked its way up toward her heart. There’s a jagged edge less than a centimeter from her heart. It has moved several millimeters since she left the hospital. If it punctures her aorta, we’ll lose her.”

“What can we do?”

He looked at me intensely. “I have an idea. Can you still magnetize like you did when you climbed the Elgen boats?”

“I haven’t done it in a while, but I’m sure I can.”

“If I show you where to put your hand, you might be able to pull the shard back a bit. Even a few millimeters will make a difference.”

“Does Cassy know?” Taylor asked.

He shook his head. “Not yet.”

Cassy was sitting only a few seats in front of us. She was reclined with her eyes closed. Taylor, Ian, and I walked up next to her. Ian put his hand on her arm. “Cassy.”

Her eyes fluttered, then opened. “Hi,” she said softly, looking over the three of us. “What’s going on?”

Ian said, “You know that shrapnel in your body? There’s a piece near your heart that worries me. We’re going to see if Michael can magnetize and pull it back.”

“What do you need me to do?”

“Just be very still. Relax.”

“Okay.”

“Where should I put my hand?” I asked.

“Try to put your fingers between these two ribs and pull it in this direction,” he said.

“This might be a little uncomfortable,” I said to Cassy.

“That’s okay.”

“Ready?”

Cassy nodded.

I put my hand against her and magnetized. After a half minute I asked, “Anything?”

“No. Cassy, can we pull up your shirt?”

“Yes.”

Ian pulled it up, exposing her torso and bra. I put my hand on her flesh. “Here?”

“A little more to the left. Can you focus the magnetic force a little?”

“I can use two fingers instead of four.”

“Try that.”

I carefully placed two fingers between her ribs and again magnetized.

“It’s vibrating,” Ian said. “But no movement yet.”

“I’ll try harder.”

I tried again but with the same result. I breathed out. “I need Tessa.”

No one said anything. Then Cassy closed her eyes, pushing out tears.

“I’m sorry. I wasn’t thinking.” I breathed out heavily. “Taylor, get Nichelle.”

Taylor brought Nichelle from the back.

“What do you need?” she asked.

“I need you to strengthen me. We’re trying to move some shrapnel in Cassy’s body. I’m not strong enough.”

“Got it.” She put her hand on my shoulder. “Tell me when.”

“Now,” I said. I could feel the immediate increase in my electricity. “Is it working?”

“It’s vibrating more,” Ian said.

Taylor’s necklace pulled up from her blouse, floating from the magnetism.

“It’s moving.” Ian put his hand on mine and guided it to the left. “A little this way. Keep going.”

I pushed harder. I could feel Nichelle doing the same as power surged through me. My fingers were shaking.

“It’s working. Keep going.”

The exertion was draining me. I didn’t know how much longer I could keep it up.

“You got it,” Ian said. “You can stop.”

Nichelle and I stopped at the same time. I exhaled loudly, and Nichelle let out a slight groan. “That was a killer,” she said.

“Well, it worked,” Ian said. “It moved a full centimeter. Good job, you two.”

Cassy wiped her eyes, then looked at Nichelle and me. “Thank you.”

“Thank Ian,” I said. “He’s keeping you safe.”

“I know.” She looked at him. “Thank you, Ian.”

“You’re welcome. I need you to move as little as possible until we get those pieces out of you. The rest of you looks okay for now.”

“You take it easy,” Nichelle said. She returned to her seat.

Taylor leaned over and kissed Cassy on the forehead. “We love you.”

Cassy smiled lightly. I was glad to see this. Up until now, Taylor had seen Cassy more as a rival than as a friend. We went back to our seats.

“You pulled the shrapnel away from her heart. But her heart is still broken from losing Jax,” Taylor said.

“I know,” I said softly.

“I read that the heart beats more than two billion times in someone’s lifetime.” She shook her head. “How can something so strong be so fragile?”