Fluorescence: The Complete Tetralogy (78 page)

I glanced back at Lucy and smiled. She smiled back with confidence and I stepped into the glowing whirlpool. It blinded me momentarily, as a whoosh of cool air pushed me through nothingness. Weightlessness engulfed me, but it didn’t feel like falling. Not like being propelled or pulled. I was floating and I couldn’t tell which way was up.

The
illumination
dissipated
and there was ground
beneath my feet. I moved my foot and soft ground moved with it. A breeze licked past my cheeks and I took in a deep breath of warm, salty air. A low rumbling noise filled my ears, tainted by the shrill squawks of seabirds.

I didn’t have to open my eyes to know where I was, so I waited a moment to do so.

I waited until a gentle wave rolled in, splashing against my ankles before retreating back from where it came. Then I opened my eyes and looked down at the sand around my feet. I scanned up to see patches of sea foam dusting across
the ocean surface and the beautiful, majestic blue-green water
of the Hawaiian shores. I sighed. My heart filled with peace.

My shoes were soaked, my feet wet, but it didn’t matter. For a single, frozen moment in time, nothing mattered.

All I could do was smile, close my eyes, and take in a slow
breath of the deeply missed, salty sea air.

It had been so long since I’d been back to the one and only
place I’d ever truly called… home.

Chapter 17

I
t took time for me to channel the negative energy required to create a portal back to the others, but it finally
happened, and I reluctantly stepped through. If my little girl hadn’t been waiting for me on the other side, I may not have.

“We thought you’d gotten lost,” Brian said.

“I did. But not because of the portal.”

“Oh?”

“It took me back to one of the beaches I used to play at
when I was a kid. A stretch of shoreline just behind a
rock formation most people didn’t know about.”

“Did anyone see you?”

“Apparently nobody knows about it still.” I chuckled. “Lucy, I want to take you there someday. It’s beautiful in Hawaii. The air tastes clean and the ocean is so blue it’s…” I drifted off in thought.

“Your shoes.” Alice pointed. “They’re soaked. Are you going to be okay like that?”

I shrugged. “It’s only water. I’ll leave them out overnight
by the fire and they’ll dry.” The damn things had enough holes to drain most of the water already. I think some sand had
even gotten in.

“So I take it they work, then? The portals?” Brian looked at me.

“Uh huh.”

“Did it feel any different than the ones we used before?” Kareena asked.

“No.”

“Good. Maybe they’re right. Maybe these are useful.”

“Mine, too,” Alice spoke up, lifting her arm toward Judas. “This is the wrist with it on there, right, Kareena?”

“Alice!?” Brian’s eyes widened. “No!”

“I want to protect our son as much as you do,” Alice said.
“But we can’t keep doing what we’re doing. We have to change
something. We have to learn new things. Any new ability we can get, we should, because we don’t know where
we’ll be tomorrow, or what the world will be like.” She cupped his cheek
in her palm and stared up into his eyes. “We
need
this, Brian.”

“So you trust it, then? That… thing?” He motioned at Judas and scowled. “Really? And the rest of you think this is a good idea, too?” His eyes scanned Kareena’s and then mine. “Well?”

“I think,” I started, “we need any technology we can get. Anything that might help us.”

“Ugh!” Brian clenched his teeth and huffed angrily. “Shit!
You guys, I don’t like this at all.”

“Just think
of it as if we’re using the Saviors like they used us, alright?” I suggested, trying to smooth the tension. “They took some things from us. We’ll take some things from th
em.”

“What do you think the Prism will think about this?” Kareena asked, intently watching Judas remove his tiny, lighted tools from the inside of his sleeve.

“I don’t know,” I replied. “Hopefully they’ll understand
the circumstances. If they were concerned, shouldn’t they have been here by now to warn us? We haven’t seen them since
he showed up.”

“Guys!” Alice called out. Judas had already finished and
was tucking the instruments back into his hidden pocket. “I’m
going to try it.” She held her hand out and closed her eyes tightly. “What do I do, David?”

“Uh. Well,” I stammered. “I don’t know how you
r fluorescence works, actually. I mean, what makes it glow?”

“Getting pissed off seems to work.” Kareena smirked.

“I’m not mad at anyone right now,” Alice replied. “Judas
, what do I do?”

“
Ask
the child to
help
,” he
replied
, looking down at Solus.

“Solus? Can you…”

He was already lifting a hand toward his mother’s. He cupped
his fingers over her wrist and teal light radiated from his hand. A subtle glimmer of neon green fire lit her shoulder,
emanating through the back of her shirt. Pencil-thin lines of hot green light crackled down her skin, racing toward her hand.

She grunted in pain and a ball of energy shot from her wrist into the air, transforming into a spinning oval of white light.

“I did it!” She opened her eyes. “Thank you, Solus.”

Solus forced a toothy smile in response and Alice laughed.

“It’s nice to see you smile,” she said.

W
e could all tell he was forcing it, but the fact that he even tried meant he was beginning to understand how we worked
. He didn’t seem dead to the world by any means, but the kid needed to learn to not stifle his emotions.

“Are you absolutely sure about this, Alice?” Brian asked, taking her hand.

“Yes.” She smiled. “Absolutely.”

“And what about Judas?”

“Mom will understand, Brian. You know that.”

“It’s still a lot to take in.” He looked at the translator.
“Can you go into the other realm until we’re able to introduce
you properly?”

Judas acknowledged the request with a partial nod and then
lifted his hand and spread out his fingers. Green
fluorescence saturated his hand and he faded into soft white smoke.

“
I’ll go through first with
Lucy
,” I suggested. “
Then
Kareena
can send Judas through and she can follow. Then you two
and Solus, just to be certain the portal stays open long enough
for us all.”

“Okay,” Alice agreed.

I reached for
Lucy’s
hand and, together, we passed through
the swirling white light.

After the initial blindness, blurred surroundings, and cool
rush of air, we arrived in a darkened room. Light from the portal
cast a soft, TV-like glow to us, making our shadows
bounce
from wall to wall. The floor was soft. Carpeted. I
stepped forward slowly, Lucy’s hand still tight in mine, and
raised my fingers in front of me. I felt the wall. Textured paint of some kind. Warm, not cold. We were indoors, at least.

Kareena and Judas popped out behind me. She moved out of the way just as Alice, Brian, and Solus came through.

The portal collapsed into itself and vanished, leaving us all in pitch darkness.

“Where are we?” I asked.

With a click, the lights came on. Alice had flicked on a switch beside me.

“We’re in Jane—Alice’s mom’s—basement,” Brian announced
, looking around. “I lived with her for a little while after my mom overdosed. Well, her mom actually had legal custody of me at the time.”

“Nice,” I said quietly. “At least someone cared enough about you to go through all of that.”

“It wasn’t a nice time for me, regardless.” Brian walked over to the dresser beside the bed and picked up the digital clock. “This thing right?”

“Time zone difference, remember?” I reminded.

“Oh. I forgot about that. Do you think she’s even home yet?”

“I can go up and check,” Alice replied. “I just don’t want to give my mom a heart attack. It’s been a while, you know?
I’m sure she’s not expecting us all to just pop out
of the basement like nothing happened.”

“And with our kid,” Brian added.

“Yeah.” She tangled her hands together. “What do I do?”

“Let’s go upstairs and see if she’s home.”

“Hey, wait!” I said, blocking Brian from walking past. “What if Judas
and
Solus are in the other realm while you’re
talking to your mom and introducing us? That way, you can explain to her about him before she has to actually see him and the translator. Wouldn’t that be better? Or… easier, at least, for her to take in?”

“That’s a good idea.” Brian bent down to look Solus in the eye. “Can you do that for us, Solus? Can you stay in the other realm while the rest of us talk to Alice’s mom? We’ll tell h
er about you and then you can say hello. Okay?”

Solus tipped his head to the side and narrowed his eyes. He nodded and walked toward the blurry white shape that
was Judas. He lifted his hand and parted his fingers. Streaks
of blue and green light swirled through his skin, up his wrist,
and toward his fingertips. Then he faded into a transparent white shadow.

Alice walked by and started up the carpeted staircase on the other side of the room. “I’ll come back for you in a bit.”

Brian jogged after her and followed her up the steps. The basement door opened with a soft click; they waited at the top
of the stairs, and then ventured into the house. I heard
their footsteps on the basement ceiling as they walked across the
room. I glanced at Kareena. Her eyes were firmly set on Solus and the Savior.

Lucy squeezed my hand. “How long do we have to wait here?” she whispered.

“Not too long, I hope.” I brushed a hand over her hair. “Let’s just try to be patient, okay?”

“Okay…” she mumbled.

I heard heavier footsteps overhead pounding swiftly across from one end of the room to the other and then going silent.

“I bet that’s her,” I murmured.

We waited about fifteen minutes before I got antsy and needed to check things out myself. “I want to go up and make
sure everything is alright. They’ve been quiet for awhile.”

“Hurry up,” Kareena said, crossing her arms. “I don’t want to be left alone with this guy for too long. I don’t know if I can do much if he decides to try anything.”

“I’ll just be a sec. Lucy, stay behind me.” We crept up the stairs and I stopped every few steps to listen for movement. I heard voices. Brian. Alice. Another muffled female voice.

It had to be Alice’s mother.

I turned to Lucy and brought my index finger to my lips. “Shh.” She pretended to zip her lips closed with her hand. I turned back toward the door at the top of the stairs, turned th
e knob slowly, and pushed open the door a crack. The voices
became clearer.

“Brian?” I called quietly. “Alice?”

The rumble of footsteps across hardwood floor had me pulling the door closed again.

“It’s okay, David,” Brian said, opening the door. “You guys can come up now. I was just about to get you.”

“Thanks.”

He held open the door and I guided Lucy out with me.

“Kareena!” Brian shouted through the doorway. “Bring the others up with you.”

“Others?” I heard the female voice repeat in the room just around the corner.

Lucy broke free of my grasp and darted back down the basement steps.

“Lucy!”

“It’s alright!” Kareena shouted back. “She was waiting on Solus. I’m coming up now.”

“Come with me,” I heard Lucy squeal excitedly. “We’re going to meet Alice’s mommy.”

Lucy came out of the basement with her hand curled as
if she were grasping something. Or someone. The subtle, faded
outline beside her was Solus, holding her hand like a ghost. It was a little unnerving.

Brian directed us into the next room—a dining room—where Alice’s mother stood waiting.

“Jane, this is David and Lucy,” Alice said. “And, of course
, Kareena.”

The poor woman wasn’t all that old, maybe a handful of years older than me, but she looked like she’d been through
hell. Her brunette hair was a tousled mess tucked back behind
her ears and the dark shadows beneath her eyes made her look restless and worn.

She approached and looked me over. “Is this the other one?” she asked. There was a judgmental air to the way she analyzed me. “Isn’t he… the one who hurt you, Brian?”

“Yes,” Brian confirmed. “But it was only because he was
protecting his daughter.” He gestured at Lucy, who
was standing between Kareena and me, her hand still cupping the
phantom, Solus.

“She’s adorable,” Jane said, bending down to smile at Lucy. “Nice to meet you, Lucy.”

Lucy looked up at me with widened eyes and pointed at her pressed lips with her free hand.

“What’s she doing?” Jane cocked her head.

“You can talk now,” I said, laughing.

Lucy “unzipped” her mouth. “Nice to meet you, too,” she replied with a big, warm grin. “This is—”

“Wait!” I cut her off as she started to point at Solus. “Not yet, Lucy.”

“Sorry.”

“Mom.” Alice fidgeted. “There’s something we need to tell you.”

Jane’s smile faded and a look of worry wrinkled her brow.

“You remember how the Saviors let what was going to be our baby die?”

Jane gasped and covered her mouth.

“Well, it turns out there were actually two. Twins. One boy and one girl.”

I heard Jane’s breath quiver as a muffled whimper escaped her mouth.