The Secret (31 page)

I looked down at her and tried to stop myself from thinking about how amazing the scent of her strawberry shampoo smelled right now.

Lanie’s eyes turned sad. “Don’t you understand? All I can think about right now is Jake.”

I pondered what she meant for a second. Then I shook her gently. “You should be
careful
what you choose to think about, Lanie. Sometimes destiny is staring you in the face and you can’t even see it.” I released her and turned away. “I’m getting breakfast.”

Jake

I sat up, the smell of blood and metal sticking to the inside of my mouth. Cold sweat poured down my back. I shivered, but stood and checked the time on the clock: 5:30 AM.

I looked out my bedroom window and thought of Lanie. After I’d refused to speak with her yesterday, she’d left me five texts…which I’d ignored.

I didn’t want to tell her about the voices.

Voices I’d been hearing inside my head since I’d come back from the dead. Voices that were a ménage of garbled static, like a radio that needed tuning. How could I tell any of them? Maybe this was a sign that Tim was right…I shouldn’t be here.

The last shades of night were beginning to clear and yield to the warm hue against the mountain sky. I sat back down on my bed, trying to remember what had woken me.

Pain cracked through my head and an image of Lanie and I formed…holding hands…running…running through a maze inside of an old, English garden. The kind pictured inside of books dealing with things I never cared to read. The voices were following us…echoing like a ricocheting bullet that hadn’t landed yet. And her hand…slipped out of mine…

The pain intensified and the noise grew louder inside my mind.

I pressed my hand against my head. “Stop! What? What do you want?”

“The Chosen.”

The words trembled through me like a cold, whispered chill. An image of Lanie went through my mind.

I stood and tried to steady myself against the dresser. I had thought by not involving Lanie, or any of them, I could protect them. But this, whatever was happening to me, wanted Lanie for some reason—and I couldn’t let that happen.

Episode 35: Appearances

Lanie

A scraping against the glass jolted me from sleep. I sat up and waited, listening intently into the air. Silent dread filled my chest. Dread that lurked inside of me through my waking hours. Dread that knew something was wrong…very wrong.

I squeezed my eyes shut and tried to think of something happy. It was no use getting worked up. Jake wouldn’t talk to me and Rob didn’t have any answers. Answers about why Molly was talking to Tim. And what would happen if we used the coin to stop her.

Another scraping sound made me jump out of bed—all thoughts of sleep now gone. My mind raced. Who would be here at this hour?

I thought of Jake coming to my house that night…that night that seemed like forever ago. The night he’d kissed me.

I moved to the window, hoping that he finally wanted to talk to me. I drew the blinds up and saw a baseball-capped man. I pulled back.

“Lanie.” The voice was muffled through the window.

Confusion filled me, and then I recognized the mustache. “Mr. Drake?”

I bent down and propped the window.

“I’m sorry it’s so early, Lanie.”

His voice was not the teacher voice I’d come to expect…it was desperate.

“What’s wrong?”

Mr. Drake let out a painful sigh. “I need your help.”

The pounding in my heart stilled. “Is Tim okay?”

He put his hand to the window and it fogged against the glass. His voice was low. “I need you to get the coin and come with me, Lanie.”

I blinked and stepped back. “What’s happened?”

Mr. Drake let out a breath. “Tim’s in trouble—and you’re the only one who can help him.”

Jake

My brain throbbed like someone had reached inside my head and juiced it. I cut the engine on the Mustang in front of Lanie’s house.

“Noooo!” The words echoed in my mind.

I tried to open the car door.

An invisible wall pushed me back against the seat.

“The Chosen.” The voice pulsed through me like the last breath of the dead.

I grabbed my head between my hands, the imaginary hand clamping down harder.

“Protect the gateway.” The voice grew to a deafening tone.

I looked out my driver’s side window and saw Mr. Drake and Lanie getting into his black car. I knew something was wrong. The pain eased and I tried reaching for the handle again, but I was pushed back against my seat.

“Lanie!”

Mr. Drake paused before shutting the door as he settled into the driver’s seat, then he lifted a large object into the air, aiming for Lanie’s head.

Icy fear pricked down my spine. Lanie was in trouble—and I couldn’t help her.

Lanie

The smoke from the fire and the smell of death sickened me. I opened my eyes and tasted the mud from the cave on my lips. My hands were fastened behind my back and I could feel a pained soreness already tearing into my wrists.

I heard shuffling next to me. “I was wondering when you’d wake up.”

The fire burned in a red blaze behind Mr. Drake.

I mentally threw him against the wall.

Mr. Drake raised his eyebrows and held up the coin in his hand. “I realized that if this coin could block Nicholi, it could probably block you.”

Anger burned through me. He’d tricked me into going with him and bringing the coin.

“Daddy…” I saw Tim move beside Mr. Drake.

Mr. Drake smiled down. “Yes, Tim.”

“It’s almost time, Daddy.”

Mr. Drake patted Tim’s head. “Tell Molly just a little longer. The rest of them will be here soon enough. Go back to your action figures.”

I watched as Tim ran over to a make-shift village of Star Wars like the one in his room.

Mr. Drake knelt beside me. “I’m sorry, Lanie. I really am. I just—I just couldn’t run anymore.”

I turned my gaze back to him and didn’t try to hide the anger inside of me. “What happened to protecting your son?”

His eyes turned sad. “You’re right. I didn’t want to involve him. But you can’t really run from spirits, can you?”

I didn’t say anything.

Mr. Drake took his glasses off. “Sheila’s gone.” His eyes got watery. “She said she never signed on for this.” He let out his breath and looked at me. “I guess it’s a good lesson in choices—right? You can’t always control what’s going to happen.”

I stared at him, my mind turning the colors of white, black, red into a collage of family pictures that I’d seen on the wall of his home. “So you embrace it? The thing you can’t outrun…you become?”

Mr. Drake’s lips tightened. “I really thought I could run away from the madness of The Foundation. I thought I could somehow let Tim have a normal life—a normal family—but I was wrong. He can’t be normal when he has a father who has made so many stupid mistakes.”

I looked at Tim and then back to Mr. Drake. I didn’t want to ask—but I had to know. “You
wanted
to talk to the dead?”

Mr. Drake played with the coin in his hands. “No. I wanted to
control death
.” He stared into my eyes and shook his head. “I wanted to be able to see the truth of all things.”

I rolled onto my side and tried to understand. “You’re not making sense.”

Mr. Drake looked back at the coin. “My mother died a year before that fateful trip to the Taj Mahal. And I wanted to talk to her so badly. I wanted to know that this wasn’t the end. That life wasn’t over after death. I wanted to see the truth about what lies beyond this life.”

“And Tim magnified that gift.”

He nodded. “I thought Molly was torturing Tim.” He bent closer to me and lowered his voice. “But…she’s not.”

My heart pounded in my chest.

Mr. Drake straightened and a glint of admiration sparked in his eyes. “His gift is far beyond talking to Molly.”

I couldn’t breathe.

A small derisive laugh escaped his lips. “He—he tells me that the spirits listen to him…they have to.”

I tried to spit out some dirt. “You mean…he
controls
the spirits?”

Mr. Drake looked down. “Why do you think Molly only talks to Tim? Why hasn’t she appeared other places?”

It was a good question, one I had asked myself on many occasions. “I don’t know.”

Mr. Drake lifted the corner of his lip in the way he did when he lectured something important to his class. “He controls it all.”

Understanding snapped inside my brain like a rubber band being set free. “Molly is tied to Tim. That’s why she only talks to him.”

A sneer covered his lips. “It’s complicated, but all you have to know is that I’m not running anymore. I’m embracing. It’s time to accept things. Accept things that are true. Accept that this is what he is…and help him.”

The spot on my head where Mr. Drake had knocked me out started to throb in pain. “I don’t understand.”

Mr. Drake bent to throw a log onto the fire and then glanced at me. “We need you.” He held up the coin in his hand. “I guess it always comes down to you, Lanie.”

I inhaled sharply and the dust from the ground made me cough. I tried to turn my head to the side, but this only brought more dust into my nose and I coughed again.

Mr. Drake was beside me, opening a water bottle and pushing water into my mouth. His temperament softened. “Drink up.”

I drank the water distrustfully. “Why do you need me?”

Mr. Drake put the cap on the water. “Because you create things.” He paused. “And Tim needs you to open up the door Molly stepped through to come to this side.”

Now I knew he’d gone over to the insane category. “What are you talking about?”

Mr. Drake smiled. “Ever wonder why this cave is so important? There are two ancient portals in the world. One of them is the Taj Majal—and the other one is here.” He shrugged. “Most tourist spots are there for a reason—a reason that’s been forgotten. The portal is here, but you can’t see it. Molly came through it. But, as you know, there was a price.” He licked his lips. “I need that door opened permanently to ensure my son’s success.”

“Success at what?”

Mr. Drake looked at Tim proudly. “Success…at being the
Emperor
.”

Jake

Rob scowled and pounded his fist into the table. “You don’t remember the last sixteen hours?”