The Secret (32 page)

The haziness inside my mind felt like I’d been taking some extreme pain medication. Rob had pulled me out of my Mustang over an hour ago and the only thing I knew was that I couldn’t shake the fact that Lanie needed my help. “I don’t—”

Sam cut me off. “Do you remember seeing Lanie or not?”

I remembered her hand, and the way it slipped out of mine. I leaned back into the doorjamb between Rob’s small kitchen and the hallway. “I remember a dream. And then I remember wanting to come check on her. That’s it.”

Rob turned back to the sheet of paper in front of him. “We need more, Jake.”

I looked over his shoulder at a stenciled drawing of a large, round object with the
Arche
on it.

Marsha drummed her fingers on the table. “And Mr. Drake’s house is empty. Coward. He’s probably on the run—again.”

I stared at Rob’s picture. “What is that?”

Reed leaned back in his chair and took on a patronizing tone. “This is the coin that Lanie’s mom gave her to stop Nicholi.”

I stepped closer to Rob and studied the drawing. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

Reed let out a large breath. “She never used it, because Nicholi told her if she did…you would stay dead.” He cracked his knuckles. “And…your mom told Lanie, before she—” He cleared his throat.

I glared at him.

“Yeah, well, your mom told Lanie that if she ever used the coin…it would ‘take you back’.” He waved his hands around at the last words all ghostlike, and hummed the theme music from the old Hitchcock shows. “Freaky, huh?”

My heart pounded through my chest and my mind felt muddled and disorganized. “Why wasn’t I told about this?”

Sam stood and I felt the jealous rage pour out of him. He gritted his teeth. “She tried nitwit. Yesterday she wanted to talk to you, remember?”

My hand started to twitch and I knew I couldn’t be processing this information correctly. “Wait. Wait…”

Sam glared at me and exhaled. “So did you see Lanie or not?”

The whooshing sound of a loud, untuned radio blared into my head. A flicker of memory came back to me of Lanie getting into Mr. Drake’s car. Pain surged into my mind. “Ahh—”

Rob turned around and put his hands on my shoulders. “What’s wrong, Jake?”

I stumbled back. “The voices—they’re louder…the pain...”

The corners of Rob’s eyes creased. “What voices?”

The pain eased, but sweat budded against my forehead and my body felt hot and cold like I had a fever. I stared into Rob’s eyes and knew I couldn’t keep this secret any longer. “When I came…when I came back from the dead, I—I’ve been hearing voices.”

Rob squeezed my shoulders tighter. “Okay.”

“Ahh.” I squeezed my eyes shut. “Something is happening. The voices…they want something. They want me to do something.” I fell to the floor. Another memory flashed through my mind. “Lanie—he has Lanie!”

Sam moved above me. “Who has Lanie?”

A swarming noise grew louder and I knew my head would explode. “Drake took her somewhere!”

I heard Rob shout something, but the noise in my head was too loud to hear anything.

The feel of warm flesh against the back of my ear surprised me.

Psychedelic lights flashed around me and the voices stopped.

It was dark—and cold. I could sense Sam standing next to me. “What did you do?”

“I’m in your head.” His voice was soft.

A spotlight shined into our faces.

“Sam!”

I heard someone running and then saw a streak of blonde hair run into Sam’s arms.

Shock registered on Sam’s face and then he pulled away from her. “Alana?”

Horror filled me.

She turned to me. “We’ve been trying to talk to you, Jake—” She waved her finger at me like I’d been naughty. “But you just won’t listen.”

Sam’s voice was quiet. “What is happening?”

Alana smiled at both of us and then focused on me. “You’ve got to get to the cave. You’ve got to shut the door. If Lanie opens the door, you have to go in and shut it. You’re the only one who can.”

Episode 36: Last Time

Jake

“How come it always comes back to a stupid, freaking cave?” Reed kept his voice low, but I could feel the angst roll off of him in angry waves.

“Shh—almost there now.” I stopped a few feet outside of the cave. “Alana said the cave is a hotspot. There are a couple of them throughout the world. The Taj Mahal is another…it has some type of ancient connection to the other side.”

Karen, Marsha, and Sam clumped next to us as we surveyed the front of the glowing cave. Rob did his invisibility thing, giving Karen a parting wink just before he disappeared completely, and headed into the abyss…I assumed.

Sam rubbed his hands together. “Remember the plan.”

Marsha tapped her lips in a nervous motion. “I don’t understand why we can’t have Alana back.”

Sam frowned. “It doesn’t work that way.”

Marsha jerked her thumb at me. “He’s here. It worked that way for Jake.”

I felt the regret instantly come at me in waves from Marsha.

“I didn’t mean that, Jake.”

I knew that. I knew she didn’t mean that I should be dead if Alana was still dead. I knew she wasn’t blaming me. But…
I
was.

Sam gave me a measured look. “Ready?”

Karen nodded. Reed grunted. And Marsha put her head down.

I met Sam’s eyes and nodded.

Sam nodded with me. “Alright…let’s make this happen.”

I fell into step next to Sam and kept my voice low. “Take care of her if something happens, okay?” I couldn’t stop the nauseated feeling in my stomach as I thought of all the things that could go wrong. As I thought of Lanie’s beautiful, maniacal red hair and her pale green eyes.

Sam hesitated and then his eyes turned to slits. “No matter how much I would like to do that, she loves
you.
It’s like…fate or something.” He smiled. “So get over yourself,
Curtis
, everything will happen just the way it should. You just remember to slip back out before the door closes.”

I gulped back my worry and thought of the mission. “Okay.”

Lanie

It was like a bad movie on rewind—watching them walk into the cave. I was tired of playing this out over and over again. My wrists were bound, holding me in place, but all I knew was that if
I
was the key…if I had been chosen…then it was up to me to end this.

Mr. Drake stood next to me, balancing the book in one hand, and holding the coin out with the other, as he recited the ancient words I didn’t understand.

They fell to their knees, one by one—the power sucked out of them before they could even get fully inside the cave—though they remained conscious.

Mr. Drake tsked his tongue and gestured to me. “And where could your big brother be, hmm?”

Rob materialized behind him and took the coin out of his hands. “It’s not like you to make a move like this, Drake. You’re usually long gone for these things.”

Mr. Drake didn’t seem surprised. He shrugged. “It doesn’t matter, Rob. If you’ve figured out what my son is, you’ve also figured out that you have no choice but to become a disciple.”

Rob glared at him. “If I’ve learned anything from my parents’ lives, it’s that there’s always a choice.” Rob’s glare turned to a scowl. “What are you
doing,
Drake? He’s a kid. Leave him out of this.”

Mr. Drake looked resigned. “It’s hard to control things you can’t see, Rob…isn’t it? Tim. Tell Molly we need help.”

“Timmm.” It was a rush of voices that came from far away and then zoomed loudly around us. And then she was there. A figure in flames.

Molly.

I watched her, every part of me wondering how I would fight her even if I got my powers back. How do you fight fire?

Her intense light dimmed, and the beautiful, dark-haired girl emerged from the flame, moving to stand next to Tim. “You called?”

Mr. Drake pointed to Rob. “Get the coin.”

Molly stepped forward and put a gentle hand on Tim’s head. “I don’t take orders from you.”

Mr. Drake put an arm around Tim protectively. “Don’t touch him.”

Molly hissed and yanked her hand away.

Mr. Drake turned on his parent voice.
“
Tell Molly to get the coin.
”

Tim looked up from his Luke Skywalker. “Okay, Daddy.” He recited what his father had told him.

My heart clutched in my chest. Tim was young…innocent. He didn’t deserve to be mixed up in this.

Rob dropped the coin to the ground before Molly could physically take it from him, clearly afraid at the prospect of her touching him. She plucked the coin from the ground and handed it to Tim, who in turn handed it to his father.

I looked at Mr. Drake. “Don’t do this, Mr. Drake. Let’s figure something else out. This isn’t fair to Tim.”

Mr. Drake didn’t look at me. “It’s too late.” He gestured to the rest of them. “Over there. It’s time, Lanie.”

I shook my head back and forth. “No—it’s not. I won’t open a portal to the other side. It doesn’t matter what you do.” I looked toward the mouth of the cave at Jake, Sam, Reed, Marsha, and Karen, then finally at Rob, who was only a short distance away. They looked nervous, but all of them nodded in agreement.

The side of Mr. Drake’s lip turned up. “Okay.” He gingerly opened the book again and started to recite something.

Jake grabbed his chest. “Ahh!” He fell over onto his side.

I stared at Mr. Drake. “What are you doing?”

Mr. Drake held the book in the air with one hand, the coin once again gripped tightly in the other. “I can open the portal without you, Lanie. But I have to use the coin. And your boyfriend will die. Is that what you want?”

He started to read again, and Jake screamed out in agony.

I bucked against the wraps around my wrists. “Stop it!”

Reed lunged for Mr. Drake, but he held the coin up to him and Reed went flying back against the wall.

“None of you seem to be getting it. I control everything right now.” His eyes looked unsure as he looked at Tim. Then determination shifted into place. “And I’m opening this.” He took a step closer to me. “You have to choose, Lanie. Open the portal with your powers…or I open it, and Jake dies.” He looked at Jake and I could see the mixed emotions on his face at seeing him suffer. “Everyone has a choice to make.”

J
ake turned to me, sweat pouring off of him, like he’d been engaged in some massive fight. “Don’t do it, Lanie. Please…don’t do it.”

My heart pounded inside of me. I looked at Rob, who stared back at me. He winked like he knew something.

I looked at Sam who resembled some sort of caged animal—his hair messed and his fists clenched. He nodded at me. “You’ve got to open it, Lanie.”

Marsha crossed her arms and looked ferociously at Mr. Drake. “Do it, Lanie.”

Karen scrunched up her face. “Do it.”

I was confused. How could they want me to open a portal to the other side? It felt like they knew something I didn’t. I closed my eyes and tried to calm the pounding in my heart. What were we going to face if I opened a door between worlds? What darkness would I be unleashing?

“Don’t do it, Lanie.”

I opened my eyes and looked over at Jake.

Jake
.

His ocean blue eyes and his arms that, when I was in them, made me feel like I was home. I felt a tear go down my cheek. I looked at Mr. Drake. “Why should I open it?”

Mr. Drake smiled. “I still have the coin. Your powers won’t work on me.”

I looked at Tim.

Mr. Drake sighed. “And Molly will hurt you and your friends if you touch Tim.”

Molly hissed into the air.

Rob cleared his throat and I turned to him. “It’s alright, Lanie.”

I sighed, resigned to trusting the others, even though Jake was still telling me not to, like it was all part of some larger plan. “Let Reed untie me, and I’ll do it.”

Mr. Drake nodded. He looked to Reed. “Go ahead.”

Reed stood from where he had been thrown from the force of the coin and moved to untie me. He whispered, “Just get out of the way when it’s opened.”

Mr. Drake walked over to Tim. “Come here, son. It’s time to give you a special gift. A gift that will make you powerful.”

Tim stood and eagerly went to his side. “Like the Jedi, Daddy?”

Mr. Drake swallowed and blinked his eyes. “Yeah…like the Jedi.” He knelt next to him and hugged him. “I love you, son. Remember that.” He stood and pointed to the back wall. “There, Lanie. Right there. Imagine a circle—with a mark on it—just like this coin.” He held it up and recited some words out of the book.

My stomach burned. I closed my eyes and pictured the coin against the back wall of the cave.

A loud explosion ripped away the side of the mountain and left a gaping hole. Wind whooshed around me. Black ash materialized into the symbol, like a crack of a shadow between worlds.

Before I knew what was happening, Jake rushed at Mr. Drake. “Give me the coin!” He grabbed it out of Mr. Drake’s hand, and then turned and dove into the portal.

“No!” My heart felt like it would stop.

Mr. Drake shook his head like he was waking from a bad dream. He turned to me. “Take Tim to his mother. I’ll take the book in and make sure the door gets shut.”

I was so confused, but I put my arm around Tim. “I thought you wanted him to be the Emperor?”

Mr. Drake shook his head. “I couldn’t risk Molly realizing my real intentions and trying to stop me. I had to get the portal open and get everything that belongs to the other world back inside.” He held up the book. “That includes this and
me
, as last of the original seven…and Jake has the coin.”

The wind grew stronger around him.