The Awakening (32 page)

Ninety-five Mississippi, Ninety-six Mississippi …

Seriously, why is this taking so much longer?

I’m just about to step through at one-hundred-eleven Mississippi when Non comes crashing through and tumbles right into me, followed close behind by the others. I scramble up off the ground. “What happened?”

“There were three waiting for us,” Sticks says.

Cap rubs his hand along his piqued brow. He looks nearly as gray as Fray. “I think the distance is getting to me. It doesn’t normally take me that long.”

“Are you going to be okay?” I ask.

He bats away my concern then says the magic word—
startle
.

I wake up in bed, a whole host of emotions tumbling about like clothes in a drier. Luka will be happy to know that I’m back, safe and sound. I was never in any danger at all.

The Best Laid Plans

T
he next day, Cap gathers everyone into Non’s classroom after breakfast—even Anna and Gabe. The only person missing is Fray. Judging by the silent stream of tears sliding down Anna’s cheeks, he’s doing even worse.

Up until this point, the plan had been on a need-to-know basis. The only people who knew were those in the conference room yesterday. Today, Cap lays out the plan in a room that’s as silent as a morgue, but far from dead. Everyone leans forward in their chairs, a mixture of excitement, anticipation, wariness, and fear. I find myself studying Claire the most. She wears Gabe’s poker face. For the life of me, I can’t figure what she’s thinking.

After everyone knows, we begin poring over Shady Wood’s layout and fine-tuning our plans. I can link eight of us. All four of the Fighters. Three Guardians—Non, Gabe, and then surprisingly, Ellen, who wouldn’t be my first choice, but according to Non, casts one powerful force field. The last member of our ragtag army will be Anna. If there were three enemies waiting in Clive’s room last night, there will be even more waiting for us this night. Anna can hide us, which means she needs to rest today. Cap orders her to put down her cloak while Rosie and Bass stand guard for the day outside the warehouse with walkie-talkies to radio us should they catch a glimpse of anyone from the other side. It’s a dangerous move, but a tactical one too. Cap is right. If Anna’s coming with us tonight, she needs her rest. Her cloak cannot flicker.

Declan will take Gabe’s post and stand guard at the door and Link will be at his supercomputer, hacking into Shady Wood’s security system to turns off the alarms and feed the security camera feed into his own computer. As soon as he sees Clive and my grandmother at the gate, he will hack into the system and make it open. The only three without specific jobs are Jillian, Ashley, and Danielle—so they do their part by preparing three hearty meals, looking after Fray, offering words of encouragement and interjecting with the occasional suggestion. Jillian’s eager cooperation, I expect. Ashley and Danielle’s come as a very pleasant surprise.

The only one who remains uninvolved is Luka. He avoids us all, spending the bulk of his time burning off energy in the weight room. Cap isn’t happy about Luka’s decision, but there’s nothing I can do about it. He’s made his choice and I’m doing my very best to avoid his brooding, even if he does wear it appealingly. We don’t speak at all. We barely even see one another. Until after dinner. He finds me sitting on a couch in the common room, looking over a printed-out map of Shady Wood with Cap.

Luka clears his throat and asks if we can have a word. I’m about to say no, but Cap practically pushes me off my cushion. When we step out into the deserted hallway, he pushes the fingers of his left hand into his hair and balls them into a fist at the crown of his head. “You’re really going to do this?”

“You know the answer to that.”

“What if I tell you that last night’s dreams were the worst they’ve ever been?” He takes my hand and pulls me close, his eyes so haunted they make my stomach pucker with guilt. “Please, just listen to me. This isn’t going to work. I’ve had an awful feeling all day and I cannot get rid of it. It keeps getting worse.”

“I’m sorry, but I have to do this.” Even if I wanted to back out now, which I don’t, I’ve gotten too far. I can’t leave my grandmother or Clive or Leela or the rest of our team high and dry, not when the plans are coming together so well. And my dad can’t stay in the box marked
later
forever. He’s innocent. My grandmother is innocent. I’ve had enough of innocent people rotting away in captivity.

“I don’t want your apology.”

“It’s all I have to give. I can’t give you what you want, Luka. I’m going.”

“Then so am I.”

“What?” I shake my head. We’ve already made the plan. Three Guardians will come tonight. Luka won’t be one of them. “I promise, it’s fine. I’ll be fine. I understand why you don’t want to be there.”

He laughs a laugh devoid of all humor. “Tess, you don’t understand anything. If you’re going, I’m going. I can’t stay behind and let anything happen to you.”

“Nothing will.”

Luka brings his lips to my forehead, then wraps his arms around me in a cocoon of safety and warmth. It’s in this place that I want to close my eyes and exist forever, here in Luka’s arms. My entire body aches with the longing.

I love him.

The realization doesn’t just sink in, it bursts forth. So powerfully I have to bite my lip to keep the words from pouring out. When he pulls away, his eyes search mine. “Will you do me one favor?”

Yes, a thousand times over. Anything and everything for this man who holds my heart. This man who has given up so much for me.

“Tonight, when you fall asleep?”

“Yeah?”

“Find me first for once.” He brushes his lips against mine, then walks toward his room, leaving me breathless in the hallway.

*

I fall asleep thinking about Luka, bringing to mind the most random of things—the broadness of his palms, the scar on his right elbow. The way he bites his thumbnail when he’s deep in thought, the muscle that ticks in his jaw whenever he’s angry, the messiness of his hair when he’s stressed, and the way his touch makes me tremble. The quiet authority he exudes without even trying—the kind that makes a person feel like things aren’t spinning out of control after all. His humble confidence and his fierce protectiveness and his undivided attentiveness—as though whoever is talking deserves to be listened to. The playful way he jokes with Rosie and the friendly way he used to interact with Leela and the heady way he looks at me, like I’m the only girl who exists.

I fall asleep loving Luka Williams a thousand times over, and when I wake up, I find myself on our beach. It’s been so long since I’ve been here that joy bubbles inside my throat and trickles out like laughter. I want to run out into the waves and spread my arms wide beneath the sun and be here, in this place where time stands still and nothing bad happens and it’s just me and this boy I love. But I can’t. We have an important mission to accomplish and if I let myself stop now, for even a moment, I’m not sure I’ll get going again. I walk along the shore as he stands from his spot in the sand.

He smiles a slow, teasing smile—one that has my stomach doing somersaults. “You found me first.”

“The only reason I pick you last is because I’m afraid you’re going to talk me out of whatever we’re about to do.”

“Any chance of that happening now?”

I shake my head.

He lets out a long, resigned breath. And then, without warning, he cups his hand around the back of my neck, pulls me in, and covers my lips with his. His fingers reach up into my hair. His other hand creeps up my ribcage, pulling me closer. Until our bodies touch and I’m clutching the fabric of his shirt and we’re kissing like we can’t get enough of each other. I know I’ll never be able to get enough of him. It’s a hungry, desperate kiss, one that leaves my lips bruised and my world rocked and my entire being flushed.

Luka runs his thumb along my jaw and kisses the tip of my nose. “All right, then. Let’s do this.”

It takes a second—or maybe several—to gain my bearings. To remember where we are and what we’re doing and why it matters. When coherency returns, I close my eyes and one-by-one, I find the others. First Cap, then Sticks, Jose, and Claire. Anna, whose dreams turn out to be very slippery things. And then Non and Gabe. Ellen will have to be left behind, seeing as Luka has taken her spot. The nine of us stand on the beach, which lost its cozy, intimate feel the second Claire arrived. I wish, more than anything, that we could do this without her, but we need every Fighter we have.

The nine of us form a lazy circle and clasp hands. Once we’re all joined, I think about my grandmother and the joy that will come when she’s free. I think and I think and I think. But nothing happens. We’re still here, on the beach.

I hold tighter to Luka and Cap’s hand and try again.

“What’s wrong?” Cap finally asks.

“I’m not sure.” Is it because I’m trying to bring too many with me? I close my eyes again and try harder, but every time I should jump, nothing at all happens. I’m still here, on this beach, while everyone watches with an equal mix of curiosity and concern. I look at Luka. As my Keeper, he has many powers. Is one of them the ability to stop me from dream-hopping? “Are you doing something?”

Hurt flickers across his face.

I don’t mean to sound so accusatory, but he’s tried to stop me before. I’m confused. And slightly panicked, because the entirety of our plan depends upon me jumping to my grandmother’s dream with everyone else. If I can’t get us there, then we’re done before we even got started.

“Why don’t you try Clive?” Cap suggests.

I have no idea why Clive would work when I know so little about him, but since I’m currently out of options, I take Cap’s advice. My face scrunches with concentration. There’s a shift. A drop. And we’re there. Clive stands at attention in a dream space with only the barest traces of fog remaining.

I should be happy. Relieved. But my success only increases my sense of panic. I turn to Cap with my heart in my throat. “Why did that work? Why couldn’t I get to my grandmother?”

Luka gives my hand a reassuring squeeze. “Can you get to her now, from here?”

I quickly shut my eyes.

Elaine Eckhart. Elaine Eckhart. Come on, Grandma, where are you?

It’s no use. I don’t even feel like she’s close. It’s like she’s not sleeping. Maybe that’s it. Maybe my grandmother is awake. I exhale. Without all the sedatives being pumped into her system, it would make sense. We take a moment to regroup. We had planned on breaking Elaine out first, since nobody from the other side has been in her room. We’d have time to remove her constraints and safely lead her to a supply closet down the hall from Clive’s room, where we figured we’d run into the most trouble. Now however, that won’t work. It takes some collective brainpower, but once we have the kinks worked out and a new plan in place, Anna casts her cloak and I pull all nine of us through the doorway.

There are five of them tonight. White-eyed men standing equidistant from each other around the periphery of Clive’s room like enemy soldiers. Thankfully, they can’t see us. They can’t even sense us. Anna’s cloak makes us completely invisible to them. Too bad that doesn’t make their presence any less unnerving. Cap steps to the edge of Clive’s bed and shakes him awake. His eyes open and he sits up. The enemy shifts to attention. Thankfully, Clive is not strapped to his bed, so removing his constraints in front of our malevolent audience isn’t something we have to worry about.

Sticks and Non move to the door and peek out. The coast must be clear, because they wave Clive ahead. As soon as he stands, one of the white-eyed men steps toward him, but not fast enough. Gabe throws out a shield so strong, it hurls all five against the wall and they crumple to the floor, unconscious. We hurry out into the hallway. I keep my eyes trained straight in front of me. I don’t look left, and I don’t look right. This is the third floor. I’ve been in some of these rooms before. What I saw back then, I don’t want to see now. It was disturbing enough the first time.

The lack of doctors and nurses—the utter emptiness of the place sets my heart to racing.

Sometimes, the anticipation of what’s to come is almost worse than whatever thing is coming. Like watching a scary movie when you know something is lurking behind a corner, ready to jump out. Once whatever it is has done its jumping, things aren’t so scary. I remind myself that it’s 12:30 in the morning. Besides the security guards, everybody is sleeping. And thanks to Link and his ability to short-circuit the security cameras, the guards won’t see Clive wandering the halls.

We continue toward the stairwell, and as we do, we come across a room with a door that’s wide open. I don’t mean to look. I really don’t. But what’s inside, or rather, what’s
not
inside, stops me mid-stride. Row upon row of hospital beds. Each one is completely empty. “Where’d they go?”

“Where did who go?” Non asks.

“The patients. When Luka and I came here before, this room was filled with patients in medically induced comas. But now …” Now they’re all gone.

Cap gives me a firm nudge to keep going. Time is of the essence and we aren’t here to solve riddles. But now I can’t help but look. Into every room’s window, I peek. And every room is as empty as the one before it. Cap hurries us along, shuffling us into the stairwell, away from those haunting rooms. We hurry to the fifth floor. Luka is right beside me, radiating so much warmth that the cold impression those vacant hospital beds left behind loses its edge.