Edge of Time (5 page)

R
iley sprawled on the farthest bunk. She wasn't sure how she'd gotten there. One minute she was about to render first-aid, the next, the impressions, feelings, memories, tastes and emotions of someone else flooded her mind like a tidal wave. It had been awful. Now the room was spinning lazily and her stomach was threatening to turn inside out. Gino hovered at the end of her bunk, looking sheepish. Riley ignored him.

Mary Beth pulled a chair over to the side of Riley's bed. She cocked her head to one side and watched, reminding Riley of a plump pigeon. “How do you feel?”

“What's it to you?” Riley muttered.

“Nothing,” Mary Beth replied. “But if you're going to puke all over my bunk, don't expect me to clean it up.”

“Maybe you could cut her a bit of slack, M.B. I mean, she just got here and everything.” Gino was flushing and rocking on the balls of his feet. He didn't look at either of them.

“Excuse me.” Riley sat up. She swung her legs over the edge of the bed. The floor tilted dangerously for a second before settling down.

The door to the outside stairs opened and Darius tumbled in. He had his arm around a familiar-looking boy who was barely standing and bleeding from his forehead. Both were dishevelled. Darius' lip was cut. The door slid shut behind them and vanished.

“Arm it,” Darius gasped. “They're right behind me.”

Anna waved her orb and the lights of the bunker took on a reddish hue. The temperature dropped enough to be noticeable. Anna grasped the newcomer under his arms and she and Darius carried him over to the bunk next to Riley.

“What happened?” The boy was conscious but sounded weak. “Where am I?”

“Good question.” Anna turned to Darius. “Where's the other?”

“Dead.” Darius hit the brace of the bunk bed with a closed fist. “Missed him by minutes. Three Emissaries, all armed.”

“Where are they getting the weapons?” Anna's hands gripped her hips. “I've never seen this before.”

“Beats me,” Darius replied.

“I wish you'd drop the annoying colloquial slang, Darius. It's wearing,” Anna snapped.

“It's my home planet,” Darius shrugged. “I think it suits me.”

“It sounds childish. Peter, are you injured anywhere else?” Anna asked as she waved her orb over his torso.

So this was Alec's brother, Riley surmised. No wonder he looked familiar. A bit stockier, more rounded, with lighter hair and eyes and an incongruous earring in his left lobe, but similar enough.

“He took quite a punch to his stomach,” Darius advised. “Rhozan had already taken over several people and was just waiting.”

“How?”

“I have no idea. Unless it was Alec.” Darius looked at the farthest bunk where Alec still lay. “They probably heard him in Africa.”

“You felt it?” Anna asked, slipping the orb back into her pocket.

“Are you kidding?” Darius rubbed his jaw ruefully. “The kid's lightning. Are you okay?” He reached out and touched Anna's shoulder for a second, before she pulled away.

She didn't look at him as she headed back to Alec's side. “I managed to get my shields up in time.” She sat back down on the edge of Alec's bunk and brushed a lock of hair off his forehead. “I wasn't expecting it. What did you tell him to do?”

“Just the usual.” Darius sighed. “I'm not sure how we'll get out. There were four of them inside the warehouse.”

“Impossible. The shields haven't lessened. I've monitored it.” As if to reassure herself, she created another screen in mid-air. “See, there, in place.”

“Go and look for yourself, if you don't believe me.” Darius dropped into a chair and closed his eyes.

“Are you all right?” Anna asked, the barest hint of warmth in her voice.

Darius smiled but didn't open his eyes. “Anytime you want to come over here and check me out is fine with me.”

“What's going to happen? I mean, with the Emissaries upstairs? How will we get out?” Gino asked.

“Get Darius some juice, Mary Beth,” Anna said briskly. “He needs to regen. Don't worry, Gino. They can't get in here.”

“You said they can't get in the warehouse, but Darius said they had.” Gino's Adam's apple bobbed up and down.

Riley watched with satisfaction. Anna's hold over this little party was weakening. She could feel the building anxiety. Any minute someone was going to try and leave. The only snag was the Emissaries waiting upstairs. If they were the same as the woman in the subway station or the others back home, she was in trouble. One had been bad enough, but four?

Peter sat up on the bunk beside Riley and looked around. “Where am I?” He caught sight of Alec. “Hey,” he shouted, “what have you done to my brother?”

The lights went off.

“Nobody move!” Anna shouted. “Darius?”

The lights flickered for a moment before coming back on. Anna and Darius faced one another, their orbs held outwards, flashing a faint bluish lightning from one orb to the other.

Peter grasped the brace of the bunk bed and leaned forward. “What's going on?” he whispered.

“I dunno,” Riley replied.

“Check the perimeters,” Anna instructed.

Darius nodded briskly and traced a screen into the air with his orb. Immediately it filled with moving symbols.

Alec gave a pathetic moan. Riley crossed to his side. She dropped to the edge of his bed and grabbed his wrist. His pulse was strong and steady. Other than some slight static electricity, he seemed to be fine.

“What's the matter with him?” Peter leaned over her shoulder.

“He took some kind of seizure,” Riley replied. “Does he have any medical problems that you know of?”

“Are you a nurse?” Peter asked.

“First year pre-med. This coming September,” she added. “Answer my question.”

“No. He never even gets a cold. It's ridiculous.”

“I'm not sure what happened to him. Anna,” Riley pointed out who was Anna, “found him unconscious. I think he was fooling around with one of these.” She held up her orb.

“Did he swallow it?”

“Don't be an idiot,” Riley scoffed. “He'd have choked.”

The overhead light got redder.

“Look, what is this place? Why did that guy bring me here? Who were those nuts who tried to kill me? What's going on?”

“These people are aliens from another planet.” Riley couldn't help but grimace as she heard herself speak. It sounded so crazy. “Anna and Darius have kidnapped all of us and brought us to train to fight the bad guys who are about to invade our planet.” She waited for Peter's scathing response.

Peter leaned forward and lowered his voice. “I saw him lots of times. He was following me around for the last couple of weeks. I thought he …” Peter blushed. “I warned Alec to stay away from him, but Alec never does what he's told.”

“Yeah, well, too late now.” Riley dropped Alec's wrist back on the bed, suddenly aware that she'd been holding it far too long. She focused on a chip in her black nail polish.

“How do we get out of here?” Peter asked.

“The only door opens with this.” Again she held up the orb. “I'm not sure exactly how it works. I've been waiting for a diversion so that I can slip out. Could be soon, too. Something's happening.”

The lighting got redder.

“What's with the stupid lights?” Peter asked. He gave his brother a shake and jerked his hand back as if he'd been burned. “What's with him?”

“Alec seems to be filled with static electricity. Don't ask me how it happened. It won't hurt you.” Riley neglected to mention anything about contacting Alec's mind because it hadn't happened. It had all been a figment of her imagination. “The lights are some kind of warning sign. Darius thinks those people who hurt you followed you here and that they're waiting outside.”

Peter blanched. “There were four of them. I've never been so creeped out in my life.”

“Like zombies?” Riley asked. “Just focused on you and nothing else. And no one else seems to notice, right?”

“How did you know?”

“It happened to me. Several times. I thought, at first, that it was, I dunno, weird. Like something out of a bad horror movie. But I shook them off. No problem.”

Alec moaned and raised a shaky hand to his forehead. “What are you doing here?”

Peter shrugged. “What's it to you?”

Alec struggled to a sitting position.

“How do you feel?” Riley asked in her most professional manner.

“All right, I guess. Bit of a headache. What happened to me?”

“What do you remember?” asked Riley.

Alec's forehead wrinkled in concentration. “I guess I was holding the orb Darius gave me, and I …” He trailed off, a strange distant look sliding over his features. All of a sudden his eyes widened. He pointed at Riley. “You were there. In my head.”

“No way.” Riley started to get up.

“You were, I know it.” Alec grabbed onto her arm and a trickle of electricity shot up into her shoulder and neck. “You're going to your sister's cuz you hate it at home. You think your new stepmom is a witch. You don't think you're pretty.” Alec could barely get the words out fast enough.

“That's enough.” Riley shoved at him. “Get away from me.”

“What's going on?” Peter tried to wrest Riley's arm free.

Alec ignored him. “But you are pretty,” he babbled. “Really hot, actually.”

Suddenly he stopped and let go. Riley clasped her arms around herself and backed away. Alec panted slightly, watching her intently as a dull flush rose up his neck.

“Both of you are total idiots,” Peter said.

Riley didn't answer. Alec didn't have a chance to speak. At that moment, the bunker was attacked.

T
he walls echoed with the sound of a thunderclap that shook the very air as huge cracks appeared on each of the four walls. Alec fell off the bunk and onto the floor and bashed his elbow on the bed frame. The floor tilted. Riley tumbled out of sight. Peter grabbed onto the brace of the upper bunk to prevent himself from falling.

The glow from Anna's orb mixed with Darius' and grew to dazzling brightness. Alec grabbed his own without thinking.

“Rips, underneath?” Anna shouted.

“Impossible. He can't make them appear,” Darius gasped as he waved his hand furiously at the transparent screen.

“Doesn't matter now. We have to get everyone out.”

“We can't transport them all,” Darius shouted back above another hideous cracking.

The air in front of Alec began to shimmer. He squinted. The hazy air began to sparkle, expanding slowly and growing between himself and Peter. Mesmerized, Alec couldn't move.

Peter leaned over, holding onto the edge of the upper bunk to steady himself and swaying slightly. With his free hand, he pointed at the shimmer and mouthed something, but Alec couldn't hear it over the roaring that seemed to come from everywhere at once.

An odd feeling crept over his skin the more he looked. Something really bad would happen if the sparkles touched him. Alec slid onto his back, easing away without taking his eyes off the shimmering. He bumped into the bed. He glanced under the bunk as briefly as possible. Riley was on the floor on the other side. She was yelling something he couldn't hear and waggling her fingers, encouraging him to slide under the bunk towards her.

He didn't hesitate. He thrust out his arm to her.

The shimmering lights moved closer.

Alec's fingers touched Riley's and he clasped tightly.

He turned back just in time to see Peter's arm reach through the shimmering air.

“No!” Darius yelled as he ran towards them. He grabbed for Peter, but in the instant he did so, Peter disappeared
into
the sparkles like he was sucked down a drain.

Alec opened his mouth to scream but before he could draw breath, Darius threw himself down on top of him. There was a yank, a pull and then … nothing.

The bunker around them vanished.