Lucas Ryan Versus: The Hive (The Lucas Ryan Versus Series) (13 page)

LEVEL 17:
Going Under

“Whoa, were those gunshots?” Dax asked. The thought crippled me. Taylor and Morgan had slipped out of the soundproof closet we were hiding in, without telling anyone what they were up to. The sound of gunfire brought with it the worst thoughts. Where had those two gone? Were they okay?

“I didn’t hear anything,” Roland said. I could sense he was extremely worried too. His twin sister was his anchor, his weight to this world. He needed her as much as she needed him. If something happened to Morgan, he’d never recover.

“I know I heard something!” Dax declared. Apparently, the soundproof walls weren’t so soundproof.

“How long have they been gone now?” Olivia asked, worried.

“Twenty-three minutes,” Roland said, counting the seconds in his head.

“I’ll give them two more minutes before I go looking for them,” I said.

“You mean,
we
go looking for them,” Olivia corrected me, with an attitude. From my arm came a flash of silver as my gauntlet awoke. It flickered so brightly that I had to turn my face from it. The harder I tried to ignore the light, the hotter it flashed.

“Turn that thing off! I’m going blind over here!” Dax snapped. The silver light stopped flashing and focused a direct beam of light onto his face. Dax froze like a deer in headlights.

“Luc,” Olivia’s hand reached over, grasping my wrist. The bright beam faded away and my gauntlet covered itself in that familiar hue of dark red. Our eyes locked together for a moment.

~ Pick me up. ~

You’re back!
I was actually happy to hear the metallic voice in my head, again.
Can you help me find my friends?

~ Hurry. Pick me up. ~

I ran to my backpack and pulled out the stone. It was dark black, but covered in faint red lines that were swimming just under its surface. They looked like the scales of a snake or lizard.

~ No time left. It is time. ~

“Time for what?” I asked. Roland and Dax stared at me like I was crazy. Felicity glared at me from the back of the room. Olivia ran up, placed her soft hand onto the stone. It turned red again. Her presence with the stone easily calmed me. The stone vibrated softly in our hands for a few seconds before beginning its warnings again.

~ It is time. ~

Time for what?
I asked it again, looking at Olivia for confidence. She frowned.

~ War. ~

The stone washed over in a mirrored shine. The same exact color it had turned before it exploded the first time. Searching Olivia’s face, I found that she shared my fear.

* Luc, this thing is starting to scare me. *

Me too.
I watched Olivia, wishing I understood the stone’s cryptic warnings.

~ War. No more time. War. ~

This doesn’t sound good.
I focused on Olivia’s scared eyes.
Olivia, maybe those were gunshots we heard...

* Maybe you’re right. I have a bad feeling about this, Luc. I think it’s growing. *

She was right. Its size had increased by at least a couple of inches.

~ No time. ~

Another warning. I decided to plead with the stone.
I need you to help me. Please. Where are Taylor and Morgan?
I waited for the rock to answer me, my palms covered in sweat.

~ They’re here. Outside. No more time. War. ~

My gauntlet-phone flickered on again in a shiny silver flash. A dozen strands of light pulled from the small screen and reached for the surface of the stone. The luminescent vines snapped themselves around in the air in the same motion of a bolt of lightning, only in a much slower speed. Olivia tore her hand from the stone and it fell to the floor, but this time it stopped just before it touched the carpet. Silently, it hovered in place, waiting.

“Uh oh...” Roland whimpered. He slowly backed up against the wall, next to Felicity.

“Did those ancient priests ever say anything about this?” Felicity asked him. He shook his head, no.

“It was just a theory,” Roland gulped. I ignored both of them as my head filled with a pounding sensation. The strands of electric light slid down to the floating stone and stabbed their way into its mercury skin. Instantly, the stone doubled in size. Its body morphed into a giant teardrop with the largest end facing the door. My arm was locked to it as if I was chained. I tried to pull from its grasp, but it was no use. Its silver skin rippled as if someone had dropped a pebble into a still pond.

~ Believe! This is war! ~

I believe! I believe! But what the heck is happening? What are you?
I begged it for an answer.

~ This is war! ~

Are you a weapon? Is this why you were sent here?
Dread stampeded my brain.

The stone started to hum with a violent pulse of energy that created ice cold waves of air. With each pulse it seemed to build in intensity. It reminded me of a powerful engine revving itself alive.

~ Believe! ~

“Open the door!” I demanded. I could see in my head what was coming. The death, the destruction, the horror...the war. I think
it
was showing me and the images terrified me.

“That ancient key looks pissed!” Dax joked, from the front of the room. His joke sent shivers of anger throughout my body. I hated his voice, his mouth, his face. My aggression doubled and I was ready to fight. I was ready for war. The mystic engine roared louder, accelerating my heartbeat as it did.

“The door! Now!” I was out of time.

“But what if the General is out there?” Roland argued. He didn’t understand just how close I was to losing control.

“Now! I...can’t...hold it...much longer!”

~ Fight! ~

My blood pressure popped in my ears as a new thirst for battle ached everywhere. “This...is...war!” I growled.

My feet were pulled out from under me as the armored teardrop blasted forward. It disintegrated the soundproof door and jerked me through it, like a rag doll. A thousand splinters rained down behind me, covering everyone in debris. I flew into the main room with the force of a rocket, twisting and turning. It dragged me through the air in circles as if I was an out-of-control firecracker. It bounced from wall to wall with the ferociousness of a caged animal. Around the large Music room we spun. I was getting dizzy...too dizzy.

~ Outside. They’re outside. Fight! ~

Taylor and Morgan entered the Music room from the door that led to the auditorium stage. Smoked billowed inside our room and quickly found itself caught in my whirlwind. It stung my eyes and throat, making it hard to keep fully conscious.

“Lucas!” Morgan gasped from below me. Taylor slammed the door closed behind him, cutting off the smoke. He looked hurt but okay. Seeing him like that awoke my anger again. It started to sedate me as if I was becoming a zombie. My body grew limp as it twirled around the room. I couldn’t take anymore of this. It felt as if I was going under.

~ Fight! ~

“I can’t! I’m not ready!” I hollered through the air. The stone stopped immediately in the middle of the room, but I kept soaring through the air like a dart, stopping only when my body collided with the wall and then the entire drum section below it.

THUD! CRASH!

Chairs and different sized drum parts flew everywhere, covering me in broken instruments and pain.

“Lucas!” Olivia screamed from the giant hole that used to be the closet door. She ran out for me and everyone else followed.

“It is a weapon...it has to be!” Roland called out. Taylor rushed up to the stone that now hovered just a few yards from me. It had already shifted back to its original shape. The strands of silver light were still attached to my arm and alive with energy. Taylor pulled back his hammer and swung it as hard as he could. The steel hammer ricochetted off the stone as hard as he had connected with it. Pain shot up his arms and the hammer jumped from his hands with a jolt.

“Ahh!” Taylor grimaced, holding his stinging hands together. The stone showed no visible damage from his powerful swing.

Olivia lifted my motionless body up off the floor and across her lap. My arm dangled, still tied to the stone. The strands of light began to darken and turned an unhealthy color of brown. The sickly shade crept along the strands, reaching the surface of the stone in seconds. The stone changed to the same grim brown color and the strands fell away like dust and ash.

“Lucas is hurt. We have to do something!” Olivia panicked. The screen on my gauntlet came alive again. The glass was now cracked down the center of the screen. Olivia’s fingers slid over the damaged glass when words started typing themselves across the screen.

________________________________

...............................................................

THEY ARE COMING. OUTSIDE. SOON.

NO MORE TIME. WAR IS COMING.

BELIEVE. POWER FADING. BELIEVE.

POWER LOW. FIGHT. POWER DOWN.

WAR IS COM...BE...L...I..EV...E...

...............................................................

________________________________

The screen blinked itself off. Olivia grabbed my other hand and checked for my pulse. I was unconscious, but still aware of her actions. Still aware of everyones actions. Impossible, I know, but so was everything else that had happened to me in the last twenty-four hours. Maybe I was inheriting some of my own magic from the stone.

“Taylor! He’s still got a pulse, but not much. Help me get him to the closet again...we don’t have much time!” Olivia yelled.

“What did that armband say?” Taylor asked, leaning down and scooping my lifeless body up.

Olivia’s face fell hard in dismay. “They’re coming.”

Taylor looked over his shoulder at the exit leading to the burning auditorium, “I know.” He carried me back into the large closet room, laying me down gently at the back of it. Olivia followed closely. She curled up next to me as the power flickered on and off a dozen times, finally leaving us in the dark, again.

“They’re here,” Olivia said, mortified.

Taylor ran back into the main room to find Roland comforting his sister, Morgan. She was holding his hand and crying. It hurt him to see her so scared. Dax was staring at the stone.

“Come on,” Taylor snapped, smacking Dax on the shoulder. Taylor ran up to the main entrance door, locking it as fast as he could. Dax grabbed the nearest desks and chairs, and began piling them in front of the door. Neither of them said a word to the other. Felicity walked up to the levitating stone and knelt down in front of it for a better look. The surface had started to wither and flake, as if it was drying out or dying. It was fairly translucent now, with the shade of brown darkening around its edges. She watched as something rolled over inside of it, leaving her breathless with big, teary eyes.

“I don’t think it’s a key...” she whispered, to nobody.

LEVEL 18:
Enchanted

The stars glimmered along the ceiling of my bedroom, brightly. Tiny white pinholes peeking from a blanket of black and navy blue. It was calmingly beautiful. Wiping away the crud inside the corners of my eyes, I became engulfed in one simple thought.

“I’m hungry.” Sitting up in my bed, I stretched my arms toward the night sky ceiling, “I wish I had some candy...”

A full bag of gummy bears appeared in my hands. The small colorful candies brought a heavenly smile to my face. I snatched one from the bag and my teeth fell into its chewy, cherry flavored head. It dripped with delicious juice that slipped down my chin.

“Juicy!” I said, not remembering that gummy bears didn’t usually drip with liquid goodness. I hopped from my bed, cleaning my chin with my hand and walked over to my computer. Two words were flashing on the multicolored monitor.

_________

..................

TELL HER

..................

_________

Purple lightning covered the ceiling made of stars above me, but did it with no sound. The light show filled my bedroom with a million shadows. One of the shadows caught my attention. It was large and moving like a serpent. It slithered around my room, dodging my piles of video games and mess of dirty laundry. As it slid around teasing me with its true shape, I bit down on another candy and smiled.

“You want a bite?” I asked, holding out an orange piece of candy. The moving darkness shifted away from the gummy bear and coiled itself around me like a giant spring. A pair of yellow slits opened in front of me. I think they were eyes. They stared back at me as the lightning storm peppered the whole room.

“Beeeeeeeliieeeeeeeeevvvvvvvve...” it said, like a snake. The shadow tightened around my torso before launching us upward into the dreamy nighttime ceiling. I waved goodbye to my bed, flinging another bear into the air. It tumbled along in slow motion and finally landed in my mouth with a satisfied chomp.

“Mmmm.”

***

“Please wake up, Lucas...we need you,” Olivia pleaded, soft and soothing. I slept peacefully, hearing and seeing everything around me as if I was still conscious. An amazing side effect from bonding with the stone, apparently. Laying in Olivia’s safe lap, I could sense everyones urgency about the coming onslaught.

“Please, be okay...” she whispered.

“Olivia, you better come see this,” Dax called out. She reluctantly let go of me and made her way into the larger part of the Music room. She stood amazed as the walls began to peel down. The paint slid downward as if being scrubbed away by an enormous, invisible squeegee. One wall, then the next. It happened so fast, she barely had time to process what she was seeing. As the paint disintegrated away, it exposed strange writing on the walls. The letters were charcoal black and each one as large as a stop sign. One by one each letter revealed themselves, becoming a sentence. Everyone read the words in unison...

___________________________________________

“THIS NIGHT IS SPARKLING.

I’M WONDERSTRUCK.

I WAS ENCHANTED TO MEET YOU.”

____________________________________________

On the opposite wall, another familiar sight materialized.

“I don’t believe it!” Roland gasped.

“Is that...?” Morgan asked, mesmerized. She forced her eyes to focus harder on the inconceivable image.

“It’s one of Luc’s favorites,” Roland said. They all stood before a giant sci-fi movie poster of the James Cameron classic,
Aliens
.

“Yup...” Taylor spoke up, spinning around the large vandalized room. “It’s Lucas’ bedroom.”

More familiar things appeared from nothing, a giant computer screen, a couch big enough for Bigfoot to call home. Taylor laughed, shaking his head in disbelief. Olivia spun around the room trying to understand what she was seeing. She stopped on the large handwriting on the opposite wall.

“Is that his hand writing?” she asked the twins, with wide, wobbly eyes. Roland winced as he realized what they were all seeing.

“Yes, it’s his personal journal. I had snuck a peek at it once, and he tore it from my hands in embarrassment. He didn’t talk to me the rest of that weekend,” Roland said, winded. Morgan walked up to Olivia.

“It’s beautiful, isn’t it,” Morgan whispered in Olivia’s ear.

Olivia nodded slightly, looking back toward my sleeping body, “I know.”

“I think it’s about you,” Morgan added. Olivia took a deep breath.

“What the hell is going on?” Dax sounded off, ruining the mood.

“I don’t know,” Olivia said, to herself.

Suddenly, a gentle tapping started to fill the room. It sounded as if thousands of marbles were peppering the floor, ricocheting off of everything. The sound grew stronger, filling the room with the next impossibility.

“Gummy bears? It’s raining gummy bears!” Felicity said, dumbfounded. The different colored mammals bounced off everything in the room, filling every nook and crevice. Roland and Morgan stuck their arms out, scooping up as many bears as their hands could hold. Taylor leaned his head back, letting a couple candies land in his mouth. He chewed them with a look of amazement and worry.

“Lucas’ favorite candy, gummy bears,” Taylor grunted, confused. Olivia slipped a green bear between her lips, studying the torrent of sugar. She strained to see through the falling colors before coming to an astonishing conclusion.

“He’s dreaming,” she smiled. Everyone looked at her as if she were insane or close to it.

“What?” Dax asked, upset. Olivia avoided him, turning toward the stone.

“He’s dreaming and that thing is projecting it into our world, our reality. They’re connected and I’m afraid it’s getting worse,” she whispered. She looked up at the words along the walls one last time before running back to my dreaming body. The rest of the gang followed, quickly.

***

“Where is everybody?” I asked my empty bedroom. The walls fell backwards revealing an endless ocean. I looked down to find I was standing on the crystal blue water. It was squishy and warm. Giant gummy bears floated past me like brilliant candy icebergs. The sun and moon were high above, spinning around each other, locked in a dizzying dance that caused the sky to pull from blue to black and back again, like a strobe light. It was stunning.

“Olivia!” I called out, and it echoed along the shiny waves of water. “Wow, I wish you could see this...”

Bubbles exploded from the water, startling me a little. I whipped around, splashing the water with my bare feet. From the bubbles appeared an oversized tulip, as big as a minivan. It was smoldering in a deep purple glow and swaying softly, even though there was no breeze. The giant petals peeled upward into the flashing sky, revealing my wish.

“Olivia!” I gushed. She stepped up to me, moving like a dream. She was wrapped in a silver wetsuit. The color reminded me of the stone. She lifted her hands holding something within them. She said nothing, but asked me to take the surprise with only an intense look in her eyes. I couldn’t see what she was offering me, but I reached for it anyway, trusting her completely.

“Thank you,” I smiled, just before my hand touched the unseen gift. At that moment, the waters of the calm ocean rumbled to life. The water formed into many different funnel shaped twisters that shot themselves upward. All of the ocean water filled the sky, smothering the spinning sun and moon, in a matter of seconds. Above us the water settled itself over our heads. In this wild dream it became our new sky, our blue heaven. It was beyond peaceful and serene.

***

“He’s really dreaming?” Roland asked, leaning over me. “That’s just...crazy.”

“That’s not all...any of you happen to notice the clock lately?” Taylor called out. They all watched as the hands of the school clock spun backwards. Then, without warning, the hands of the clock would stumble forward and then backwards again.

“The General should have found us by now,” Taylor said.

“We’re in some kind of time flux,” Roland explained. He grabbed the touchscreen tablet again and held it up for the rest of them to see. The digital clock was spinning with numbers, up and down. “See.”

“He’s buying us time,” Olivia said.

“Huh?” Morgan asked, bewildered.

“He’s keeping the inevitable attack from happening,” Roland added. “He’s protecting us.”

“Really?” Morgan couldn’t believe her eyes. She stared at the racing clock numbers harder.

Roland leaned over to Felicity with a goofy smile, “Well, maybe not you.”

She stormed out of the room and they all embraced a much needed laugh. Seconds later, thunder crashed from inside the walls of the room, shaking them back to the moment.

“Great, now what?” Dax complained. With another rumble of thunder the hidden room washed over in a thick, pounding rainstorm. Fat drops of rain fell everywhere, but fell upward, drenching the ceiling. Puddles formed in seconds and the thunder shook at their feet. They all stared in awe, speechless.

Olivia blocked the upside down rain from me as best she could, “What’s going on in there, Luc?”

***

I couldn’t see the ground anymore, just the rolling clouds and gray skies below my feet.

“Fancy meeting you here!” I teased the silent Olivia. A smile curled along her lips. She nodded to the gift in her hands, waiting patiently for me to take it. It was a small red sphere about the size of a baseball. The sight of it confused me. She placed my hands onto it, gently.

“You want me to open it?” I asked, already knowing the answer. As I scooped up the orb I began to twist at its sides. Slowly, the ball unscrewed with a soft clicking noise that reminded me of an old clock timer. It separated into two halves with a black ribbon in each of them. They stretched up for me, begging to be picked up. There was something written along them in a delicate amber colored print. Each individual ribbon containing just one word. The two pieces twisted their way up, hovering before my face. Together they formed a message that scared me.

“Tell me,” I read. Two simple words that filled me with fear, turning this dream into a personal nightmare. I blushed, not sure what to say. She watched me with her piercing brown eyes, floating closer to me. I looked around the environment, trying to absorb every sight and sound. With a slow and drawn out breath I grabbed the two ribbons with my hand. They tied themselves around my fingers, snugly.

“Please, Lucas. Tell me,” Olivia said, enchanted. I melted and gave in.

“Okay...”

***

“I think he’s waking up!” Olivia shouted. She had spent the last twenty minutes by my side while the others examined the wilted stone. They had discovered a small crack that curved along the side of the stone. Miniature gold sparks leaked from the new slit, spilling out onto the floor like tiny explosions. Felicity slid a curious foot underneath the waterfall of sparks, letting the falling embers tickle her toes through her sandal. A soft chuckle escaped her as she played around, overlooking the unknown danger.

“Ugh...ouch...” I mumbled from the floor. Olivia held onto me tighter as I awoke from my spellbinding dream.

“That’s it, Luc...wake up,” she said, with hope blooming.

“Olivia...” I whispered, still dazed. “Olivia, I...”

She placed her ear closer to my mouth, not being able to understand me as I could barely speak.

“I’m here.” Her face tensed up.

“I...” My head pounded.

“Tell me,” she whispered. A faint cough slipped from my mouth.

“I, I...love you...”

Olivia froze, holding my hand, tightly.