Fluorescence: The Complete Tetralogy (80 page)

“Oh, nothing.” I wasn’t going to say anything else about how small I felt right then in front of her parents’ million-
dollar house. If only I could give something like that to Lucy.
Gleaming stone pillars on both sides of the archway leading to the hardwood and stained glass front door.

We didn’t need that kind of extravagance. Really. Money
buys a lot of things, but this… this kind of paid-for happiness didn’t jive with my definition of necessity.

I dragged behind her a few feet to keep an eye on Judas
as she marched up the concrete steps and knocked on the door
with her knuckles.

“Mom!” she yelled, impatiently tapping her shoe on the ground.

I held my breath as she waited.

“Mom! Damn it. Where are you?” She knocked again,
harder, and then pushed the off-white button beside the
doorframe, setting off the doorbell. “It’s me. Come get the door, please!”

“Maybe they’re not home,” I whispered.

“They’re home.” She veered back to look at me. “They’re home, okay? I’m sure they are. The upstairs light is on in Mom’s office. They have to be here.” She turned and lifted her fist to bang on the door one more time.

The door clicked and she lowered her hand.

“See. I told you,” she said, glancing at me and then eagerly looking back at the door, biting her lip as a smile lit up her face. Something I hadn’t seen before.

“Kareena?” a male voice said.

“Jordan!? What the hell are you doing here?”

I perked up, but stayed where I was, listening from the driveway.

“I-I was gonna ask you the same thing. We all thought you’d been kidnapped and murdered or something.”

“No. I’m fine, as you can see. It’s a long story, okay? Right
now, tell me where my parents are, please. It’s important.”

“Kareena,” I called. “Is everything okay?”

“Yes.” She turned. “This is my cousin, Jordan. Get over here, David.”

I hesitantly neared the front porch and walked up the steps toward the ornate glass and dark wood front door the young
man was propping open. He looked to be in his early twenties and had dark tan skin, a short buzz cut of black hair, and wore thin-rimmed glasses. His dark blue button-up collared shirt made me think he was in some
kind of
technology field. Or maybe I was just assuming since he fit the stereotype.

“Who is he?” Jordan asked suspiciously.

“The guy who
kidnapped me,” she replied without an ounce of sarcasm. “Just kidding. He’s a friend. He’s been
helping me out since I left.”

“You
left
? So you’re saying this whole mess was volunta
ry?” Jordan looked disgusted. “Kareena, I know you’ve done some weird-ass crap in the past, but this… this is just—”

“Let us in, damn it!” Kareena roared. “This is my house!”

“Okay! Okay!” Jordan flinched and stepped away from the door. “Sorry.”

She barged in and swung the door wider open behind her for Judas and me to follow.

I didn’t spend much time looking at the ornate stairwell
just off to the side of the entrance, or the elegant white trim outlining the mahogany floorboards below my tattered shoes. I didn’t dwell on the cathedral ceilings above or the
sparkling crystal chandelier twinkling through the doorframe of the next room.

I didn’t have time to feel like a nobody.

“So where are my parents?” Kareena asked again, poking
her head into the kitchen, then returning to stand beside me.

“Your dad’s in the hospital and your mom’s staying in a
nearby hotel. They’re paying me to watch the house for them
while they’re gone.”

“What!?” Kareena’s eyes widened. “What does he have? Is he okay? Is my mom okay? Jesus. You know she has anxiety attacks.” She jerked her head toward me. “Did you hear that, David!?”

How could I not when she had just screamed it in my face?

I nodded.

She returned her attention to Jordan.

“What does he have, Jordan!?”

“They, uh, don’t know.” He shrugged.

“What do you mean they don’t know? How can they not k
now what he’s got? It’s not like we don’t have enough money
to pay a specialist. What are they thinking it is? How long has he been in there? How long have you been—”

“Kareena.” I took her hand. “Calm down.”

“How am I supposed to calm down,” she shrieked,
jerking her hand away from me, “when my parents are in trouble?”

“
Kareena, please.” I gave Jordan a look implying he should give us some space and he got the message and backed
away.

“I’m just going to go upstairs for a minute,” Jordan said, his voice shaking. “Try to relax and I’ll tell you more when you’ve calmed down.”

He darted up the staircase and I heard a door close on the second floor.

“Kareena,” I took her gently by the forearms. “Let’s sit down and think about this for a minute. Okay?”

“What’s there to think about, David?” She shoved me away again, but I held tight enough that she couldn’t escape.

“Your dad’s in the hospital and your mom’s with him. They’re in good hands.”

Kareena’s brilliant green eyes judged me for a fool.

“I need to go see my dad,” she said. “What if he has this shit the Saviors caused?” She shot an angry glance at Judas and made a fist. “I need to go see him now!”

“And do what!?” My fingers pressed into her arms to make the point and keep her attention.

“David. Let me go!”

“Do what, Kareena?”

“I-I don’t know,” she muttered, quieting down. “I don’t…
know.” She stopped resisting me and I released her.

“Exactly. And we don’t know what we can do—if anything at all, at this point.”

“But, what if he dies? What if my dad dies thinking I never came back? And what if my mom loses it after that and then… Oh, shit. I have to go see them, David. I just…”
She lifted her wrist and turned to Judas. “Can you alter mine,
too?” A flicker of pink light shot through the white of her right eye.

I grabbed her and pulled her away from Judas before she could channel any more energy.

“Kareena, no!”

The door upstairs clicked open. Footsteps thumped down
the staircase.

“What’s going on?” Jordan asked frantically. “Is he hurting you? Should I call the cops?”

“Stay out of this,” I yelled back at him. “You have no idea
what you’re getting yourself into.”

Jordan backed up and clutched the guardrail so tightly, his knuckles turned white.

“I’m… I’m just going to go back upstairs and—”

“No!” Kareena looked up at him. “Jordan! You don’t
understand. Get back down here, please. I’ll explain everything
to you.”

“No,” I whispered. “No, you won’t.”

“Would you rather he call the police?”

I gritted my teeth. “No,” I hissed. “But…” I glanced at the drifting white silhouette behind her.

“We can trust him,” she said, pushing away from me to meet Jordan at the base of the stairs. “Jordan, we
can
trust you, right?”

He nodded nervously. “Yes.”

“Good.” She rolled her shoulders back, lifted her chin, and looked down her nose at him. “Because if you screw us, you’ll be sorry. I’m sure as hell not afraid of hitting a guy with glasses, even if you are related to me.”

We sat and talked for a few minutes. Jordan thought we were both crazy, and against my better judgment, I asked Judas to reveal himself momentarily in an effort to convince him we were telling the truth. All it took was a brief flash of
the pale thing and Jordan was damn near clinging to the ceiling.

But when he finally calmed down, he listened, and listening
made him understand. We weren’t out to hurt anyone. We didn’t ask for this.

“I’m going upstairs to grab few of my things and a change
of clothes.”

“Uh… y-you can’t do that,” Jordan stammered.

“And why not? Have you been playing dress-up?”

“No! Kareena, you don’t get it, do you? Everyone really does think you’re dead.”

“What? I thought they were still looking for me? Why would they—”

“They found your blood all over the place after that huge earthquake in—”

“I didn’t die there! I got hurt, yes, but they didn’t find my body, right?”

“Well, no, but it was enough for them to make a case that you’d gotten buried beneath the rubble somewhere. I’m sorry, Kareena, but that’s what happened. How long did you expect your parents to keep looking for you after they got the news?”

She dropped her head down. “Longer than this…”

“We need to get back to the others,” I said, trying not to sound inconsiderate. We couldn’t stay out for too long and I was worrying about Lucy already.

“I don’t want to go.”

“We have to,” I reminded, touching her hand.

“Can I just take one last look at my room before I go? Just… look out the window, so I can remember what it felt like before everything went to hell? Please? I may never get the chance to come back.”

I hesitated.

Those rich leaf-green eyes pleaded for me to let her go.

So I did.

“Okay. But please don’t be long. We
really
need to go.”

Kareena tried to smile, but her quivering lip wouldn’t comply. Then she got up from the couch and walked toward the staircase. She made her way up, each step coming down so softly, I couldn’t hear it, but I watched her get to the top and turn to walk across to the door on the other end of the upstairs railing. She twisted the knob and walked inside.

I waited as patiently as I could while Jordan seemed to study me.

“So, uh, your accent. Where are you from? Boston?”

“New York.”

“Ah.” Jordan swallowed and looked down at his lap.

“So, are you, uh, her boyfriend?”

“No.” My leg started to twitch.
Damn nicotine withdrawal.

“Oh. Okay. What kind of work do you do in… New York?”

“Look, kid.” I glared at him. “I don’t feel like making small
talk right now, alright?”

“Sorry.” He clasped his hands together while we sat in silence for a few more minutes.

“I hope her dad is okay,” Jordan uttered.

“Me, too.”

I know Kareena’s more fragile than she pretends to be. Sure, she’d been through a lot of hell with Brian’s brother, Taylor, but it left a mark on her—one people couldn’t see on the outside.

It was there, and it had changed her.

“Come on, Kareena! We gotta go!” I stood. “Kareena!”

We waited a few more minutes until I heard the muffled blare of police sirens. I shot up from my seat.

Damn it.

“Now!” I yelled one more time.

Kareena popped out of the room upstairs and hurried down the stairs.

The sirens grew louder. Closer. My palms were sweating already. I snagged Jordan by the collar and sneered. “You called the police didn’t you, you little pr—”

“No!” Kareena grabbed my arm and started prying me off him. “He didn’t!”

“Then who—”

“I-I did.” She looked away.

“What!?”

“I’m… I’m sorry, David.”

“Why would you do something so stupid? We can’t let the police find us.”

“We need help, David! We need a hell-of-a-lot more help
than we’re going to get hanging around with a couple of
teenagers. We have Solus and he’s supposed to be the key, right? Maybe we can get some doctors or scientists to help us—”

“Are you out of your mind!?” I released Jordan and he nearly toppled over trying to catch his balance. “They can’t
find me! I can’t let the cops find me. Some of them back home
already saw my light and—”

“So I’ll show them mine, too, and we’ll be okay. My dad’s a
big name in this town. We’ll be okay, David.”

“
No. No, we won’t.” I marched toward the front door and saw lights flashing. Police sirens whirred from
the driveway. “Shiiit!”

“
David, please! Listen to me!” Kareena grabbed my
shoulder.

“No!” I veered around and yanked my arm out of her grasp. “You listen to
me
, you ignorant… little… bitch.”

She gasped and covered her mouth.

“Sure, I’m wanted for robbing that damn convenience store to get you guys some cash, but I’m on the records for a shitload more than that. If they run my prints, I’m screwed. They’ll lock me away for good.”

“Holy shit! I didn’t know—”

“You didn’t need to know. I didn’t tell you because you didn’t need to know!”

“Well, what am I supposed to do now?” she whined.

The police were already in the driveway. I heard them outside the window via a loudspeaker.

“We have the house surrounded,” one said.

“Wait,” Kareena asked, her brow furrowing. “What are they doing out there?”

“What did you tell 911 was going on?”

“Uh. I may have told them my house was being invaded and that I needed help ASAP.” She grinned sheepishly.

“What!? Why would you make up shit like that?”

“Well, how else would I have gotten them here before you decided to up and leave? Don’t worry, okay? I’m going to go talk to them. I’ll fix things.”

“Stay here!” I grabbed her by the wrist and pulled her to my side. “No. You’ve done enough for tonight. We have to get out of here. Where’s—”

I hadn’t seen Jordan for several minutes.

“Where did he go?” My heart was about to bust out my chest. I couldn’t get arrested. I couldn’t get taken away from my Lucy. “No!” That’s when I heard another door open from the other side of the room.

“He’s in there,” Jordan’s distorted voice said from the other room.

Heavy footsteps.

There were cops in the kitchen. Armed cops.

“Step back from the woman,” one of them shouted. He clutched a taser in his hands. “Step away from her and this will all go down easy. Okay?” He took a step closer and I let go of Kareena’s wrist. She let out a scared, high-pitched whimper and stepped back.