Alphas (22 page)

Charlie punched some numbers in the side of her skeleton key, then inserted the A-shaped end into a slot to the right of the
door. The slot glowed bright neon blue, and the cement door immediately lifted open, revealing a large vestibule and a ski-lift
chair waiting to whisk them toward the boys.

“This is serious-leh amazing,” Allie gushed.

They were who-knew-how-many feet underground. Dozens of tunnels branched out in all directions like tracks at a busy train
station, only they were hewn from glass, not concrete. Eerie blue light waved all around them, making pale Charlie look like
she was a member of the Blue Man Group. Allie realized with a jolt that the glow came from the walls—which were actually those
of a giant aquarium. In the ceiling overhead, the walls next to her, and the chilly glass beneath her feet swam thousands
of the most exotic, colorful fish Allie could possibly have imagined.

Charlie checked her aPod. “Skye’s really late. Do you think something happened?”

Allie couldn’t bring herself to respond. The splendor of her surroundings was too much to process. It was more romantic than
Disneyland at night.

Just then a loud
BAAAAMMMM
echoed through the tunnels. Footsteps and whispers followed. Schools of fish scattered. Allie’s heart revved.

BAAAAMMM!

Charlie retrieved her skeleton key from her pocket. The door lowered and the lights shut off. They were trapped inside. “Hide!”

“Where?” Allie panicked.

“Shhhhhh,” Charlie hissed.

Allie pressed her back up against the nearest wall-slash-aquarium. Was the glass double-paned? Were the fish trying to break
through? Was the water seeping out of the aquarium into the tunnels, where it would surely flood and drown her? The air was
thick and sticky, and each breath felt like she was snorting a milk shake. She was no longer part of a beautiful seascape.
She was encased in glass, trapped in Sleeping Beauty’s coffin.

Just like in the fairy tale, a kiss was inevitable. But would it be her true love’s—or the kiss of death?

Bam! Bam!

The footsteps were getting closer. She’d have her answer soon.

Charlie locked hands with Allie J in the dark. They were pressed up against the aquarium on the tunnel just left of the vestibule,
and Allie J kept muttering something about milk shakes.

BAAAAAM!

They squeezed harder.

BAAAAAM!

And harder.

If Shira caught Allie J, she’d go back to her fans and successful career. Big deal. But Charlie? She’d be on the next PAP
to some boarding school in New Jersey with no hope of ever seeing Darwin again.

“What should we do?” Allie J chattered.

“Shhhhh,” Charlie hissed, more frustrated with herself than with the songstress. She usually had all the answers. And now,
when she needed them most, she—

“Charlie?” a familiar voice whisper-called through the concrete door.

“Skye?” Charlie and Allie J giggle-sighed with relief.

“Let me in!”

Charlie reinserted the key into the padlock. It flashed once. The lights flickered on, and the door began to lift slowly.

A flurry of footsteps sounded in the outer vestibule. Either an octopus was on the loose, or Skye was not alone.

“Great directions,” she limped forward.

“Hello, pretty, pretty fishy.” A red-haired bun-head tapped on the glass, drawing a heart with her polished fingers around
a yellow-and-blue swimmer.

“Wow. This place is amazing,” said the pretty Hawaiian girl. Charlie recognized her and the one with the big head from the
spa. “It feels like we’re in a video game.”

“See, I told you I wasn’t the spy. Would a spy bring you here?” Skye flashed a knowing wink at Charlie, like their secret
was still safe with her.

HA!

“You brought them here to prove you’re not a spy?” Charlie snapped.

“Yup.” Skye nodded proudly and knelt to examine a little puffer fish beneath the floor. “And they believe me now, right?”

The bun-heads nodded yes, still marveling at their surroundings.

“So where are the boys?” asked a girl with pencil-straight posture.

Charlie lowered the temperature on her uniform to keep from boiling over. She had never been so angry in her life: not when
Taz head-bombed her Popsicle-stick replica of the Empire State Building; not when that little boy in Greece swiped her backpack;
and not when Shira ripped the picture of Darwin out of her cameo bracelet. Because those people hadn’t taken her trust and
tap-danced all over it. They’d never pledged friendship. They’d promised her nothing. And Skye had.

“What are you doing?” Charlie demanded. “This was supposed to be a secret thing. We said to the grave, remember?”

“I know, I’m sorry. But they won’t tell.” Skye smiled innocently. “They promised.”

“Just like you did?” Charlie snapped.

“You’re so cute!” Ophelia, oblivious to the argument, pressed her lips against the glass and kissed a pearly pink starfish.

“See? They’re totally harmless.” Skye looked at Charlie with big pleading turquoise eyes.

Charlie opened her mouth to scream, but couldn’t. What was it about pretty girls that made them so impossible to reprimand?
It felt like smacking a flower.

“If we get caught, it’s your fault,” Charlie hissed.

“Don’t worry.” Skye limped forward and tried to hug her. “I never get caught.”

Charlie didn’t hug back. One lone eel slithered under their feet. Maybe Shira was right. Maybe there was no such thing as
true friends—just relatives and contacts. And if that was true, she had nothing to gain by sharing the tunnels.

“Mission off!” Charlie barked.

“What?” the redhead squeaked.

Skye’s eyes widened with hurt, like Charlie actually had smacked her.

“It’s too risky.” She nudged everyone back through the door to the staircase, then activated the skeleton key.

The bun-heads began moaning their disappointment.

“I told you, Charlie,” Skye urged. “I never get—”

But it was too late. The door began to close. Just before it shut they heard the
whoooosh
of the chairlift as it sped off.

“Whoooooo!” Allie J called. “See yaaaaaa!”

“Allie J, no!” Charlie cried. But the dark-haired singer was gone. How had she not noticed Allie J had left the group?

“We need to go after her,” Skye said, her eyes wide with hope. “What if she gets into trouble and needs us?”

The girls nodded their agreement.

Charlie knew their pleas had more to do with chasing down the boys. But at the same time, Skye had a point. Allie J shouldn’t
be down there alone.

With a reluctant sigh, Charlie reinserted the key.

“RE-JECT-ED!”

“What?” she gasped. Her insides melted to wobbly goo.

She entered the code again: 2-4-2-7-5-4-3

“RE-JECT-ED!”

2-4-2-7-5-4-3

“RE-JECT-ED!” 2-4-2-7-5-4-3

“RE-JECT-ED!”

Charlie covered her mouth, warding off the panic-puke. “Oh. My. God. Shira knows.”

As if on cue, all five of their aPods beeped.

SHIRA: ASSEMBLY IN 20 MINUTES. REPORT TO THE PAVILION.

“Ohmuhgod!”

“What are we going to do?”

“Run!”

Everyone raced for the hatch.

Skye grabbed Charlie’s arm frantically. “What about Allie J?”

“We can’t help her now,” Charlie replied coldly. After all, Darwin was great in a crisis. He would take good care of her.

But as usual, Charlie was on her own.

Skye wasn’t the only one who found God in the Pavilion. Alpha lips were moving at a frenzied pace as the remaining girls—minus
Allie J, who was still missing—prayed for salvation amid the random claps of thunder.

“It’s gonna be me.” Charlie bit her thumbnail. All the lights on campus were back on, blindingly bright, like an interrogation
room. “I’m the one who stole the key and brought everyone down there.”

“Yeah, but it’s my second offense.” Skye rolled her swollen ankle. The pain had lowered to a three. “Besides, I can’t even
dance. So what good am I?”

“You have a point there,” Triple scoffed, examining her hair extensions for split ends. Her lack of anxiety made Skye hate
her even more. Or was that jealousy? If Skye had half of Triple’s discipline, this contest would be over by now. But she didn’t.
Not even close. And now her mother and everyone in Westchester would know she didn’t have drive to back her talent. Sure,
Madame P would probably still use her as an example in dance class—an example of failure.

The thunder was getting louder. Shira was on her way.

“Maybe it’ll be Allie J,” Skye whispered to Charlie. “She’s not even here.”

Charlie didn’t bother to turn her head. “Maybe.”

Even though Skye had apologized fifty times, Charlie was still mad about the surprise guests. All Skye could do now was talk
to Charlie like everything was okay between them. And eventually it would be. It was a technique she’d used dozens of times
on her friends back home and it always worked. “You think Shira will notice Allie J’s not here?”

“I took care of it, okay?” Charlie whisper-hissed. She nodded to a chair in the back. A girl with jet-black hair and green
eyes was reading her aPod.

“Allie J!” Skye cried.

“Shhhh!” Charlie warned. “It’s just a hologram.”

“How cool.” Skye tried to smile, but she had a feeling it came off as more of a frown. If Allie J was “there,” Skye was back
at the top of the hit list.

A band girl dragging a midsize wheelie hurried by.

Skye filled with hope.

“What’s with the suitcase?” she asked. “Convinced you’re going home?”

“No, this is my clarinet.” The girl gave a nervous laugh. “There’s been tons of sabotage in the wind section. I can’t leave
home without it.”

“I know what you mean.” Charlie nodded knowingly. “You can’t trust anyone around here.” She shot a pointed look at Skye.

Skye’s ankle throbbed and she fought the urge to roll her eyes. It wasn’t a matter of trust. She hadn’t set out to break their
pact. She just wanted it all—dancers, boys, friendship, and adventure. Wasn’t that the alpha way?

“Charlie, I…” She wanted to apologize again, but the words tasted more fake and cheesy than Kraft Singles. She wasn’t sorry
for bringing the dancers. They trusted her now. She was just sorry that her actions had made Charlie so mad. And that wasn’t
an easy thing to explain.

“Students.” Shira’s voice boomed throughout the room, silencing everyone immediately.

Skye dutifully began clapping along with the others.

“I expected more.” Red hair flew wildly around her shoulders. She looked like a demon about to feed.

Skye’s limbs tingled in fear. The sting of adrenaline warned her that danger lay ahead. Her body couldn’t run… but her mind
did. There were so many things she hadn’t done yet.

I never learned to fly a PAP.

I never made it to the zoo to pet the baby animals.

I never lip-kissed Taz.

I never got to show Mimi what I’m made of.

I never got to star in a dance performance.

I never made my mom proud.

The last thought made Skye ache all over.

Onstage, Shira was stomping around. “I started this academy because I grew tired of seeing potential alphas on TMZ, dancing
on tables and falling out of cars without underwear. Who they were wearing or dating or drinking became more important than
what they were actually doing with their lives.” Shira’s hair settled on her shoulders like a bird landing on a perch. “I
hold you to a higher standard. My standard. And I demand that you back up your extraordinary talent with extraordinary judgment.”

Skye massaged her restless legs.
Just tell us already!

“There is a time for mating. After all, the world always needs more alphas. But that time is not now.” Shira gazed out over
the crowd.

A bolt of lightning sliced through the air, just missing the PAP landing outside.

“When you break a rule, you break my trust. If I can’t trust you, you don’t belong here.”

Triple nodded in agreement. Charlie twirled her bracelets. Skye was too scared to move.

A sharp pain sliced through her ankle. Like her grandmother’s arthritic wrist could predict rain, Skye’s soreness told her
something major was on the way.

She leaned forward in her chair. So did Triple, Charlie, hologram Allie J, and everyone else in the room.

Shira opened her mouth to speak.

EEEEEEEEEEP!

Huh
?

Shira lifted her aPod from the pocket of her billowing black dress. Fiona raced onstage and whispered in her ear. Shira’s
face darkened, her brows furrowing behind her lenses. Thunder rolled and lightning crashed.

“Ahhhh!” the clarinet girl screamed, breaking under the pressure.

Shira looked up at the audience, as if remembering they were there. “We will reconvene in the morning at 7 a.m. sharp.”

Skye and the others gasped as Shira cliffhangered their night. Every cell in Skye’s body was firing. She wasn’t sure she could
last another minute without knowing her fate.

“Enjoy this night, ladies,” Shira said as she walked off the stage. “It might be your last.”

Half an hour later, Skye lay in bed, balling her fluffy, star-speckled comforter in her sweaty fists. Triple Threat was purring
peacefully, knowing she was safe. Charlie flipped from side to side trying to get comfortable. And hologram Allie J was fast
asleep.

Skye begged her inner self for an explanation. Something to help her understand why she had such a hard time following rules.
Why she couldn’t be disciplined, like her mom, or dedicated, like Triple. She balled up her sleeves and whipped them across
the room. Why bother with self-expression when the “self” she was expressing always got her in trouble?

Staring at the empty lavender slipper hanging from her lamp, Skye couldn’t help but think that her hopes and dreams were a
waste of time. Unless…