Jelly Cooper: Alien (21 page)

Thorn falters. 

“That was a mistake.  I should have taken you before you had the chance to realise what you are.  Then you managed to stop me and I’d exposed myself.  I had to think fast to get out of that one.  In the end, I gave you the rope to hang yourself with and now here we are: one big happy family.”

He spreads his arms out wide, the grin firmly back on his face
as he looks at my friends, tied up on the floor.

I’ve got to get them out.  Maybe I can levitate them…or teleport…can I even do that?

As usual, I’m overcomplicating things.  The answer is simple: if I can’t get them out, get
him
out.

“Think you know it all, don’t you?” I scream at
Thorn.  Got to wind him up, get him
worked
up.  At last, something I have a black belt in.  “Think you’ve got me in the palm of your hand?  You couldn’t be more wrong, you pathetic, two faced –

His eyes flash with anger and I push home the advantage.  I’
m thinking that rash, hothead maniac alien is probably a lot less lethal than cold, clear-thinking maniac alien.  I may be wrong but I’m working with what little I have.

“Guess who’s never going to see
Javoria again?  Go on, I’ll give you three goes.”

I stand in front of him
, my face inches from his.  Our eyes lock and I whisper,

“
I’m going to kill you.  Your race, your pathetic, greedy, murderous race is going to become extinct, one by one.  You first.”

Spit gathers in the corners of his mouth and he snorts deep, heavy breaths through flared nostrils. 

Here he comes
. 

I crouch in fight position and do the one human thing
I’m seriously accomplished at: I wind him up.

“
Oooooooooh, you’re purple face is
so
scary.  Do they teach you that tactic in scare school?  Look at me shaking in my boots.  My little sister’s scarier than that and she’s six.” 

Watching his reaction, I push it that little bit more.

“You are nothing but a failed
bashrak
.  You’re a joke.”

Bingo
.

Spit
flies from Thorn’s lips as he charges.  He leaps for my throat, all of his powers forgotten.  I jump out of the way and plant my foot in his back as he careers past.  Losing his balance, he tumbles to the floor.

This is it.

My eyes lock with Agatha’s for a fleeting second.

She’s breaking my heart, but I have to go.  I throw myself across the room and down the stairs, slamming the door shut behind me.  I reach with my mind and turn the key in the lock, imprisoning my friends with a monster with nothing but black murder in his heart.  My eyes stream with tears as I race out of the front door and through the dark streets of Seabrook, leaving them with a real live nightmare.

If I’m wrong…

I force all thoughts
of them from my mind and focus on running.  It’s the hardest thing I’ve ever done.

A horrible scream pierces the night. 
Neighborhood dogs howl as the shriek goes on and on.  The Hunter is coming.

That’s it, Thorn.  You come after me
.  Forget about them and come after me.

I dig deeper and run for my life.

Chapter Seventeen

The night is supremely knowledgeable.  It knows your inner most fears, your worst nightmares and the things that wake you in the early hours of the morning, leaving you bathed in a cold sweat, your heart thumping against your ribcage.

As I
pound through the streets, I feel the full malevolence of the night closing in around me.  The shadows lengthen and cling to every corner, shaping into hooded demons with gleaming eyes.  His presence is all around.  He owns the night.

I run, not knowing or caring where I’m headed, as long as it takes the Hunter far away from my friends.  I catch the sound of echoing footsteps chasing after me and run harder.

The footsteps grow louder.

“Oh God
,” I whimper, but this time it’s OK to be scared.  This time acting tough isn’t going to save me, because evil is after me and there’s nothing I can do about it.  Whimpering is about all I have left.

I race out of the village and down towards the sea.  He gains on me with every step.

This can’t be happening
.

The ground softens beneath my feet as I leave the pavement and plunge onto the sandy beach.  My hair streams out
behind me as the wind whistles past my ears.

I will my legs to pump harder and they respond, catapulting me along the sandy stretch, but the footfalls still gain.  A harsh, dry, sob rises in my throat.

I can’t outrun him.  I realise this with certainty and stop.

Something very hard and very big cannons into my back, knocking me clean off my feet.  With a cry, I land hard on the sand.  He lands on top of me.

I’m going to die.

I struggle when a strong hand clamps itself over my mouth. 

“No, Jelly.  Be still.”

That’s not Thorn.  That’s Travis. 

I stop squirming and let my body relax.  This is another trick.  Gregory Thorn has assumed the body of Travis to confuse me. 

“Good
,” Travis whispers.  “Now, we don’t have much time.  I’m going to take my hand away, so don’t scream, OK?”

Travis draws back his hand and climbs off me.
I roll onto my back and glower at him.

It’s Travis. 
Travis. 
The guy I’ve adored in secret for months – not even telling Humphrey or Agatha.  Thinking of them makes me want to cry.  I snare my wobbly bottom lip between my teeth and bite down hard, tasting blood on my tongue.  I won’t cry in front of him.  I’d rather die, which is a distinct possibility under present circumstances.

“Jelly, for God’s sake,
keep it together,” Travis whispers.  “He’s coming for you, I can feel him.  You have to blank your mind, quickly, or he’ll be on us in seconds.”

Tears spike my lashes.  “I don’t know what’s happening anymore
,” I whisper.

Strong arms shake me.

“Shut up.  If you don’t get a grip right now, we’re both dead and so are the others.”

“Too late
,” I whisper.  I can feel the Hunter’s presence.  He’s reached the edge of the beach.

Here kitty, kitty, kitty.

Travis’ grip on my shoulders tightens.

Come
out, come out, wherever you are.

Not on your life.  I slam shut the trapdoor to my mind.

“C’mon,” I whisper into Travis’ shoulder.  “Follow me, keep low, and
keep quiet.
”

With a hard shove, I push him off of me and roll free.  Crouching low to the ground, I scuttle along the sandy beach into the shelter of the dunes.  Glancing over my shoulder, I see that Travis is
following.

Diving behin
d one of the larger dunes, I see a grassy ledge overhanging a ditch.  I burrow into the sandy alcove and try to cloak myself in shadow.  Travis lowers himself down beside me. “Someone is looking after us tonight.”

Frowning, I turn my attention to his face, trying hard to make out his features in the darkness.

“How do you figure that?”

“The moon.
  There’s a full moon tonight.  We’re lucky that it clouded over, or he would have spotted us for sure. It’s been humid lately; maybe it’ll thunder.  They hate the thunder.”

How does he know that?

“I don’t know what’s going on, but I don’t trust you.  I don’t trust you one bit.”

“Good.  Think like that and you might liv
e to see the sun rise tomorrow.”

The hairs on the back of my neck jump to salute.

Travis whispers, “We’ve got to –

I hold a finger to his lips.

“Sshhh.  He’s close.”

The hand that I hold to his mouth is taken
in his and lowered.  I try to pull away, but Travis tightens his grip and gives my hand a squeeze.

We both still.

I’m sure that our heartbeats can be heard for miles.  Each laboured breath screams out in the silence, guiding him to our hiding place.

With a burst of intuition, I know that he’s going to find us.  Turning to Travis, I murmur,

“Don’t get the wrong idea, OK?”

Moving quickly, before I can change my mind, I roll on top of him.

“What the…?”

“
Sshh.  I’ve got a plan.  Trust me.”  I pause.  “And whatever happens, don’t move. And don’t make a sound.”

I clear my mind of everything: every thought, every emotion, everything.  I created a void inside and focus on the black emptiness.

She could project visions, like I did back there with you, Jelly, and she even turned invisible when her battery was low, just like –

Thorn’s words come back to me; they flood my head. 
Words that I discarded without a second thought.  Now I pray that he was telling the truth.  I pray with all my heart.

I wish myself invisible.  I harness all of my remaining energy and focus on the impossible. 

Seeing as this is our only hope, it had better be possible.

The thought revolves in my mind.  All else is forgotten.  Straight away, my limbs start to tingle.

I’m air, nothing but air, floating along the shoreline, showered by the salty sea-spray. 

Feeling the Hunter’s arrival, I push myself and Travis deeper into the shelter of the dune.  I can only cover a certain amount of him; the shadows will have to do the rest. 

***              ***              ***

Travis feels the nearness of the Hunter.  He sees me close my eyes and go into some sort of trance.  Clammy sweat breaks out down his spine.  Frozen, he prays doubly hard that I know what I’m doing.  His thoughts are flowing freely, his feelings so raw that they seep from every pore and hang in the air, waiting to be plucked like strings on a bow.

Travis looks at me and sees nothing but the starry sky.  He can feel my weight on top of him and my breath against his face, only I’m not there.  I don’t know how he remembers to keep still, but he does, and then some.  Travis is statue still. 

A movement catches his eye.  Resisting the urge to turn his head, he lays motionless as a tall shadow passes along the ridge of the dune.  A hissing noise reaches his ears; the sound of growing frustration as the Hunter searches for us.

Travis holds his breath and tightens his grip on my arms.

With sudden, unforeseen, speed, the Hunter turns and stares directly at us. A sensation like tiny needle-points pricking the skin sweeps across Travis. 
This is it
, I hear him think. 
He’s found us.  We’ll never outrun him.  Not without a head start.

Travis’ mind is whirling.  What if he can create a diversion? I might get away, get help.

There’s no one here but us chickens.

***
              ***              ***

The seconds stretch.  Travis’ lungs strain with held breath.  He starts to tremble.

Why doesn’t the Hunter kill us?  He’s looking straight at us, surely he can see?

Ssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssss.

The Hunter hisses through his teeth.

‘Go away,’ I will him.  ‘Just go away.  There’s nothing here.’

Thorn curses once, harshly, and turns away.  I clamp my hand over Travis’ mouth.  His breath is hot and ragged against my skin and tremors course through his body.

“That was too close,” I whisper.

Travis doesn’t reply.

For endless minutes, we lie in silence.  I gradually materialize, careful to shield my mind.

I look down at Travis, his body tense beneath me.

Beneath me.

Hello:
awkward moment.  I roll off of him and sit by his side. 

“We can’t stay her
e.”

He shakes his head, silent.

“You’re Kavalrion, aren’t you?”

“No.  I’m something else.”

I falter.

“
Javoria?”

He can’t be.  I feel no connection with Travis at all.  In fact, the only thing I feel around him is uneasy and confused.