Lucid (4 page)

*
***

The day after the terrible dream was a Saturday, which meant no camp. I was lucky there wasn't any camp, because I woke up at half-past noon
.

“Well, looks like you're not dead, after all.” Kyle's greeting rang through the kitchen. He had nerve. This was the earliest I had seen him conscious since he was in high school (and sa
ying that was even a stretch.) He was still in his PJs and busy making two triple-decker BLTs, minus the L and the T and with liberal amounts of mayonnaise.

“It's Saturday
.
” I found my voice came out hoarse and my throat a little scratchy. Surprisingly, Kyle noticed.

“Dude, if you're get
ting sick, stay away from me
.
” H
e backed up, even though I was on the other side of the counter. “I'm going to a rockin
' show tonight, and if I start vomiting I swear I'll—“

“I'm not sick,” I protested, clearing my throat. “My throat's just dry.”

“You don't
look good, either
.
” Kyle raised his eyebrows. “I mean worse than normal. You're all pale, and you look exhausted.”

“What, so you actually care about me?” I only said it to shut Kyle up. I felt a little anxious, though. Did the encounter with the woman do something to my physical body? Was I going to ev
entually end up like the souls?

“Hey, did you even hear me
?
” Kyle's angry outburst brought my brain back to reality.

“What?” I asked stupidly. Kyle sighed and finished making his heart-stopping lunch.

“I said your little girlfriend called,” h
e repeated as he put stuff back in the fridge. “She seemed really upset that you were still asleep. Better call her before she breaks up with you.”

“She is
not my girlfriend!” I shouted angrily. I was still worried. Tiff might've thought I had gotten caught or something worse. Without saying anything else, I returned to my room
.

Sure enough, my cell phone showed I had a missed call. Tiff probably called it first and then called the house after. I frowned as I picked the phone up from my bedside table. I'm usually a pretty light sleeper, so the ring should've woken me out of my sleep
.

“Finally!” Tiff exclaimed as she answered the phone. “Don't do that again! I thought you were turning into one of those shells!”

“Good morning to you, too,” I replied, taken aback by the lack of any greeting. “It's not like I chose to stay asleep! Trust me, after you hear what happened last night you'll—”

“I already heard it from Mitch
.
” Tiff cut me off. For some reason, I felt my shoulders tense. So, Mitch woke up before I did. Was he even affected by last night's events?

“Anyway, I'm trying to research any groups named Chimera.” Tiff ignored my pause and continued talking
.

“What's that?”

“Are you kidding me?” Tiff asked incredulously. I could visualize her rolling her eyes. “That's the name of the group that scary woman works for! Mitch saw the name on the collar of her uniform. You didn't notice?”

“Uh, I was kind of busy trying to find a way to
escape
!” I said defensively. “You didn't see that lady when she stepped onto the bus. It was really scary! I just wanted to get o
utta there as fast as I could!”

“It's
okay
, I'm not saying you're a wimp!” Tiff stopped me before I could shout any more, which was probably good. I wasn't mad at her, anyway. “Actually, I think Mitch just got lucky, but still, I want to see if it's a real organization.”

“It is real! We saw her!”

“You saw her while you were asleep
.
” Tiff corrected me. “I want to see if I can find anything in the real world.”

“Oh
.
” I was still getting over the relief that Tiff didn't think I was a wimp. Not that I was flattered or anything; I was just glad she didn't think Mitch was braver than I was
.

“Well, do you want to come to my house today, so we can research Chimera together?” I asked.

“Hey!” Kyle shouted outside my door; he had obviously finished his BBB sandwiches. Two minutes must have set a new world record. “Your little girlfriend can't come over today. Adam and Fletcher are coming over!”

“It's all right
.
” Tiff had heard Kyle through the phone and the door. He wasn't exactly soft-spoken. “My house is better, anyway. My mom wants to take me clothes shopping this evening
.
” I could almost visualize her grimacing
. “We can pick you up after that.”

“
Okay
.
” I hung up my cell phone, stood up, and stretched. It didn't make sense for me to still be so tired after sleeping for so long. But I wasn't really sleeping, I guess
.

“Hey, you.” Kyle was still outside my door. He opened it without knocking
.

“What?” I raised my eyebrows. Kyle's presence in my room usually followed with money being stolen
.

“What are you researching?” Kyle asked, plopping down on my bed. I caught a whiff of his B.O. and made a note to grab the air freshener on my way back from the bathroom
.

“You heard me
.
” I rolled my eyes. “We're looking up c
himeras. It's this monster in Greek mythology that's made up of a lion, goat, and snake.”

“Gross
.
” Kyle said it, as if it were a compliment. “Those Greek
s told some messed up stories!”

“It breathes fire, too!” I egged him on. If
Kyle was in a good enough mood he'd wonder why he was in my room and leave
.

“But how come you're looking up this lion thing?”

“Because…” I thought of something that would bore Kyle. “We have to do a project on a mythological creature, and Tiff and I are partnered up.”

“Oh
.
” Kyle remained on my bed and stared at my face. I couldn't believe he was suspecting something more to my story. He wasn't a regular Sherlock, that's for sure
.

“Um… staring contest?” I asked him, breaking the silence. Kyle seemed to snap out of it.

“Just don't gi
ve your girlfriend your disease,” h
e teased before leaving my room and slamming my door shut
.

If I wasn't mistaken, I could've sworn that was Kyle's way of saying he was worried about me
.

.

Day 3

Night

Tiff and her mom picked me up sometime around seven
. Apparently, Mrs. Brightly thought Tiff needed a complete makeover; I had to move several bags in order to sit down.

“Open any and you're a dead man,” Tiff warned me from the passenger's seat
.

“Tiff!” Mrs. Brightly chuckled, though. She was a pretty cool mom, as far as moms go anyway. She looked back as she backed out of my driveway. “So, what do you two have planned for tonight? Another video game party?”

“No, M
om
—
” Tiff said patiently, “
—
w
e're actually starting our summer homework.”

“Well, that's no fun,” her mom said absentmindedly as she drove down the street. “One of these days, I'll beat your score, Tiff. “Her daughter snorted from the front seat. "
Well, your father and I are going to dinner with a few people around eight
. Do you want me to order any food?”

“Chinese is acceptable.” Tiff answered before I even had a chance to think about food.

“Figured you'd say that
.
” Mrs. Brightly looked in the rearview mirror at me. “Is that cool, Devon? I really shouldn't feed her addiction, I know.”

“That's fine
.
” I smiled back. I saw her reflection frown at me.

“You look a little worn down, Devon
.
” S
he turned on the light to get a better look at me. “The circles under your eyes are dark. Are you getting sick?”

“Erm
, I don't know
—
” I shrug
ged, trying to sound nonchalant, “
—
I guess it's just the long hours at camp finally getting to me.”

“Well, you should ta
ke a break before school starts,” Mrs. Brightly advised. “Summer is supposed to be for relaxation. I don't see the need to put you kids to work just yet.”

If she only knew what
other kind of things I had been doing with my summer.

We finally made it to Tiff's house. Her dad wasn't home yet; he was on his way back from another art shopping-spree. Tiff placed the order for Chinese and then pulled me upstairs to her room.

“
Okay
, I didn't notice until my mom said anything, but you
do look awful!” She frowned at me. It struck me how much she resembled Mrs. Brightly
. “What happened last night?” She sat down on her chair and watched me intently.

“I thought you heard it all from Mitch
.
” I folded my arms and sat down on the edge of her futon. I didn't mean to sound angry; it just came out that way.

“Only because he got to me first
.
” Tiff shrugged. “But I'd rather hear your side of it.” I took a deep breath before reliving my experience. It felt worse having to go through it a second time, even though I was safely in Tiff's nerd cave.

“And I guess the worst part of it was that I really thought I wasn't going to escape.” A chill went through me as I finished my story. “I really don't wanna go back there again.”

“I don't think that's up to you
,
” Tiff said as she typed away on her computer. I realized how much she acted like her precious machine. She was all about logic whenever she got uncomfortable around people; so much for opening up to her
.

“I don't know why you and Mitch are the only two who are lucid in that place, but it must be happening for a reason. I think that you guys should get to the resort the woman talked about and learn about its inner workings.”

“That's if we figure out how to get to the resort first
,
” I reminded her. “We don't even know if that's what it really is!”

“Well, that's what we're doing tonight.” Tiff was firing away again. “And, look, Mitch is online. He can help us.”

I wasn't too thrilled about working with Mitch again, but three people researching would be better than two. Well, Tiff did most of the researching, as usual. As soon as the food came, I was too busy scarfing down crab rangoons. That was another thing I had noticed; I felt pretty achy and hungry after I woke up from my dream. I guess escaping from creepy ladies in blue suits took a lot out of you
.

“Any luck?” I broke the almost twenty minute silence. Tiff clicked on a page before turning around. She was eating while working and currently had half a piece of boneless chicken sticking out of her mouth. Yeah, Mom and Kyle, I silently thought, you think she should be my girlfriend. Cute
.

“I either get a bunch of mythology pages or links to book vacations
,
” Tiff answered, twist
ing her chair in an agitated way
.

“Well, the souls on the bus thought they were going to a vacation resort.” I took a look at the page Tiff was currently on. It was a pretty standard vacation website. The pictures on the site were of different paradises all over the world, and there was a smiling, perfect couple running on a beach together.

I saw
my mom look at those kinds of sites before, even though we could never afford a vacation like that. Our idea of a vacation was a trip to visit my g
randma for a couple of days. These Chimera resorts boasted large beaches, luxurious rooms, free Wi-Fi
, and video games.
That sounded more like a vacation to me
.

“Mitch doesn't seem to think the two are really related, though.” Tiff was reading her IM box now. “He said that the lady might have pretended she was from the resort to keep the souls calm.”

“I don't know
.
” I swear I wasn't arguing with Mitch just because I didn't like him at the time. “The souls don't seem too bright; the lady could have been in a regular business suit, and they probably would've believed her. No one ever se
ems to want to leave the ship.”

“I don't think we should jump to conclusions yet.” Tiff was still reading Mitch's responses. “I'm not ruling out the possibility of a connection, but why would a resort company want to keep people asleep forever?”

I wish I had an answer
. I normally do. Want me to solve a complicated math problem? I'll do it in five minutes. Need several award-winning science fair ideas? Sure thing. Explain why an evil lady wanted to put people in comas for the sake of a resort? I got nothing
.

“Tiff, Devon!” Tiff's parents had come back from their dinner. “We're back, and Tanya is outside!” That was my cue to go
.

“We'll see what happens tonight, I guess.” Tiff stood up and stretched
.

“Yeah, I guess.” I looked at the screen gloomily. The truth was that I hoped I didn't go back to the ship again. Now that I knew there was someone else in charge of the dream, it made the situation more real, and that scared me
.

“You alright
?” Tiff asked, poking me on the shoulder
.

“What? Yeah.
” I lied. I knew Tiff didn't buy it, but I wasn't going to be a big baby in front of her. Then she'd only talk to Mitch about this stuff; I bet Mitch wasn't scared at all. He
'd handled the situation so well last time. I just got in the way
.

“Look, it sucks that you have to go through all of this,” Tiff said. “But I also know you're a smart kid, and you'll stay out of trouble. I'll help you in the conscious world as much as possible, and you've g
ot Mitch when you're dreaming.”

“Yeah, I bet Mitch would rather me not be there, though,” I grumbled
, without really thinking
.

“I don't think so,” Tiff mused. We walked down the stairs to the living room. “Would you want to be back in that ship alone? I know you were the first time, but now that you know it's not safe, aren't you glad there's someone else on your side?”

“Yeah,” I admitted. I knew I would've probably been turned into one of those souls if Mitch wasn't there to save me. It would just be nice for me to do the saving next time. Tiff said I was smart, but I wasn't sure that was also true for my dream self
.