Reject High (Reject High: A Young Adult Science Fiction Series Book 1) (23 page)

My small breaths hitched as I cried. I shifted my body as much as I could, but the earth didn’t give. I was stuck, and with God knows how much air left, I wanted to give up.

For the first time in a long time, I prayed.
Let me go to Heaven, God. To see my mom again.
Being without her had made me want to die for a long,
long
time. Now that I had a reason to live, I couldn’t. Struggling did no good, so I stopped and let the tightening in my chest continue.

Why did you let her die, anyway?
  She had a lousy husband and a messed up kid who always got in trouble. She deserved better than for her insides to rot.

My heart raced. And Debra! Same crappy husband and she got stuck with me, too. I loved them both, and gave them nothing but pain. I saw their faces in my mind, each wearing a look that said, “I believe in you, even though you’re screwing up.”

And Sasha, who’s forgiven me more times in five days than the law should allow. She saved my life, and so did Rhapsody. I owed them. 

Tingling traveled through my veins. My necklace still hung around my neck! It sent heat to remind me it was there. I remembered Peters saying that green ice grew underground. Soon, the earth moved where I wanted it to move, and I crawled out of my makeshift grave. I hunched over, spitting dirt out of my mouth and brushing myself off.

With my hands on my knees, I breathed, forcing air into my lungs until they burned. I stared into the hole I had crawled out of and looked around for someone to punish. I stood up, cracked my knuckles and rolled my neck. Welker would pay, for everything he’d done to me.

I thrust myself into the sky and straight for Reject High. I touched down in the parking lot, in plain sight. I hoped to run into both Asia and Selby. I had something for both of them.

Like a soldier on a mission, I circled the school and found the retaining wall that led to the basement and contained the source. Pounding the dirt surrounding it with my fists, I sent earth and grass flying off in different directions until I reached the outside of the basement wall. I pummeled the brick until I saw green.

Remembering Peters’ words, I chopped around the source from the outside until I had it plus a layer of brick and concrete surrounding it.

Loading it onto my shoulder, I jumped to the back of Aunt Dee’s house, opened the storm cellar doors, and dumped it into the basement.

No one would dare look there. My aunt kept the area as a museum for Grandma Barbara’s stuff that my mother never wanted to trash. It wasn’t connected to the house, which meant no one would think to look there. It was a temporary hiding place. It would do until we figured out where to relocate the source, since it couldn’t be destroyed.

Eventually, I trudged over to the house’s front entrance, where Debra waited for me on the hot porch. Sweaty, she stood up when I opened the front door and rushed to hug me although I was filthy and might have a maggot or two crawling around my clothes.

“He told me where you and Rhapsody went,” she said of Peters. “What happened to you?”

“Nothing I can’t handle,” I said with confidence, believing I was right. “I don’t think Aunt Dee will let me inside of the house looking like this.”

“She’ll live,” Debra said, putting her arm around me. She wrinkled her nose. “You
will
need a shower.”

I ditched my sneakers at the front door, and Sasha sprang up at the sight of me. She sprinted into the living room, thrust herself into my arms and kissed me, dirty lips and all. “You must really like me,” I said, fully aware that I was nasty.

“You have no idea. This is my
favorite
sundress.”

“Mr. Champion.” Peters’ voice rang with anticipation. “Did you free the source?”

He had a reason to be interested – the thing could keep him alive for however long. On the other hand, he had blackmailed Selby into harvesting all of the green ice.

“No,” I lied. “Someone got to it first. In the meantime, we still have the prisms, don’t we?”

Peters cursed, earning a stare-down from Debra and Aunt Dee. “Yes,” he said reluctantly. “That’s true, but no one else knows about them, or has the ability to remove it. That doesn’t make any sense that someone could take it.”

“Why doesn’t it?” I asked. Everyone, including my stepmom and Aunt Dee, was grim.

“If he found it, it’s all over. What kind of game is he playing?”

Sasha gave him a cold stare. “What are you talking about?”

“While Jason was gone, I checked my cell phone messages,” Peters said. “Welker has Rhapsody, and wants to trade her for the green source. We have until midnight to find it.”

CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE

I play “let’s make a deal”

The evidence of being buried alive was not easy to wash away. The stink of the mud soaked my nostrils, and even the scrubbing I gave myself didn’t help enough. The chill in my spine remained, too.

Debra brought me a change of clothes – blue jeans shorts, athletic socks, a clean Raiders t-shirt and a pair of new black sneakers. I appreciated the gift and would put both to good use tonight. We had to rescue my friend.

Downstairs, Aunt Dee, Peters, Debra, and Sasha waited. Zachary babbled on my stepmom’s lap and reached for me. I picked him up and held him for a few minutes. Who knew when or if I’d see him after tonight?

We quietly nibbled on Kentucky Fried Chicken, mashed potatoes and gravy, biscuits, and corn on the cob. None of us was hungry, but Sasha and I needed the fuel. Activating our powers required concentration and a lot of inner strength. I ate, almost to the point of being sick. One jump and I’d be hungry again.

It was after seven o’ clock when we finished. George needed more green ice. Going to the hospital would be a mistake. Ruby would ask me questions that I couldn’t answer, namely, “Where is my daughter?” I didn’t know, exactly, and “she’s with our principal” wouldn’t reassure her on a Sunday.

If George died, and I’d had the chance to save him, Rhapsody wouldn’t forgive me. If she could have done the same for my mom, she would have.
Crap.
If I hadn’t let my anger get the best of me, she’d be sitting by my side, pulling the skin off of the chicken and complaining about the calories. 

I leaned over to Sasha, who sat next to me and fretted over the mud on her dress. “I need your help.”

“Anything. What is it?”

I told her about my plan to get into the hospital and revive George before rescuing his daughter. She agreed, and edged over to Peters, who readily handed her a prism.

“We’ll be right back,” I said to my family and Peters, and I meant it.

Outside of the intensive care room, Original Sasha came with me. Clone Sasha armed with the description I’d given her, watched for Ruby. She’d whistle once if she saw a dark-haired Hispanic woman with big hips, twice if we needed to hide.  

I slipped into George’s room, with Original Sasha standing behind the tan, floor-length curtain. I spoke into his ear and touched his shoulder. He didn’t respond – sure enough, his coma had resumed. He’d thinned out more since I last saw him. The prism around his neck was clear. I replaced it with the new one.

The physical change in him gave me a reason to relax. Satisfied, I gave Original Sasha the thumbs up – we could go now.

“Thank you, Jason,” said George, grabbing my left wrist.

Startled, I almost knocked over his IV fluid bags. “G-George. S-sorry, I. . .”

“Rhapsody tells me. . .you’re a special boy. . .to
her.”

I didn’t know what to make of it. Whenever Rhapsody called me “special,” she didn’t mean it as a compliment. “I guess. Umm, thank you.”

“Take care of her, Jason. Rana cares about you. She told me so. . .” His voice faltered.

The prism, once a deep emerald green, had faded to a pale lime. He didn’t have much time left, no matter how much green ice we brought to the hospital. That wasn’t a mystery to either of us.

For months, I’d rehearsed a “goodbye” speech for my mom every night once Ray told me she wasn’t coming home again, not knowing I’d never get to deliver it. If Rhapsody wasn’t going to have that chance, I’d have to tell him what I thought she’d want to say.  

“Let her say goodbye to you herself.” I pleaded her case, like I wished someone had done for me. “She loves you. Hang on for her, no matter what.”

George’s new crystal was barely green anymore. He reached for a notepad and pen on the drawer next to him, but his strength was fading fast. Recording his voice on my cell phone would have been easier, but then, Spivey could track us. Having him on our trail was the last thing we needed right now.

George struggled to write, and some of his words ran into each other. Then I had an idea. Original Sasha had already figured out my plan and gave me the go-ahead.

I removed my own prism and pressed it to George’s chest just before his gave out. With his life force renewed, he scribbled a letter to his daughter, tore off the sheets of paper he’d written on, and handed them to me. Clasping his hand over mine, he said, “Give me your word she’ll have this.”

I’d never been more nervous to deliver four sheets of paper in my life. “No worries, George.”

Clone Sasha whistled twice. Rhapsody’s dad was almost unresponsive again. I reclaimed my necklace and hid behind the door with Original Sasha.

Ruby, two doctors, and a well-dressed man I guessed was Rhapsody’s Uncle Harper hurriedly filed into the room. All of them were so consumed with George’s deteriorating condition that they didn’t notice us slipping out. Original Sasha, Clone Sasha and I made tracks for the elevator.

When the doors closed, I crumpled to the ground. Clutching my knees, I buried my head between them and tried to breathe. A hand stroked my head, and another clutched my shoulder.
First panic attack in two years, and it’s front of my girlfriend.
  

“It’s okay,” said a gentle voice that sounded a lot like my mother’s. “It’s alright.”

Sobbing uncontrollably, I curled into a ball in the corner of the elevator. Its lights, music, and the cool hardness of the wooden interior – everything faded away.

My mom and I were cocooned in darkness. She was beautiful, with long, natural, dark brown hair held back with brown turtle combs. Her smile lit the darkness. “Jason,” she said to me. Her voice gushed with love. “Jason, Baby, please get up. Be strong.”   

When Ray said “Be strong,” he really meant “Stop being a punk.” But this time, it was
different
. I crawled to my knees, and the blackness faded away. Sasha had recombined. She wasn’t covering her eyes. She had watched me fall apart. She’d seen me powerful, and now she had seen me terribly weak.      

Sasha pulled the emergency button on the elevator to get it moving again and locked eyes with me. “That was a little scary,” she said. “Are you okay?”

“Yeah.” There was nothing else for me to say. “Sorry.”

A mutual understanding passed between us, that we wouldn’t talk about it any further. “Can I ask you a question?” she asked as we walked through the elevator doors and into the hospital lobby.

“Sure,” I said, hoping she wouldn’t ask about the past couple minutes. 

“You were going to tell me about the source, weren’t you?”

After dating for barely a week, she could see right through me? “That obvious?”

“No,” she admitted. “I guessed. But you just told me. Where is it?”

I waited until we reached the parking lot to elaborate. “Are you going to tell Peters?”

Sasha’s brow furrowed. “Why wouldn’t we tell him? He’s helped us so far.”

There were a thousand reasons not to trust our teacher, so I rattled off a few. “Remember when he was in the basement with Selby?”

“He said something like, ‘If you haven’t harvested them all’. . .but what does that mean?”

We rushed across the street. “Did you see what happened to George? Without green ice, he’ll die. So will Peters.”

“You think he’s after the source for himself.
That’s
why you didn’t tell him about it.”

I nodded. “You think he’s working for Welker against us.”

Sasha reached behind her neck and unhooked her necklace, handing it to me. “I don’t need to split to figure that one out.”

The pieces started coming into place. Peters had hit me with his car because he knew it would key my powers. He’d shot me to test them further. Rhapsody was invisible at his house. How did he detect her? Was
that
his ability? Did he even have one? His house was ridiculously high-class for a public employee in his forties. Welker must be paying him well. 

Near the loading dock at the back of the hospital, Sasha waited, shifting her weight from one foot to the other. Once, in between jumps, she told me how romantic it was for me to pick her up and soar into the sky. So I did it as much as possible. But, while I wanted to pull her into my arms and lift off, I
couldn’t.
Something held me back – stopped me from jumping.

“Sasha, can. . .?” 

“No,” she said. “I can’t move either.”

“Nor should you try,” said a voice familiar to both of us.

Welker stepped in front of us, with Selby to his right and Asia opposite him. He waved his right hand, showcasing a ring with a ruby center jewel the size of half of a walnut. Several dozens of smaller white ice stones surrounded the band, reflecting the evening sunlight.

Wearing a pair of blue slacks, loafers, and a yellow Polo shirt, he looked like he’d get in a round or two of golf after killing us. “Where’s the source, Jason?”

Both of us could speak, but Sasha couldn’t duplicate and my strength switched on and off. Trying anything more than talking wasn’t a good idea. Since Welker can control minds, he probably knew I wouldn’t risk jumping and having my powers short-circuit in mid-air.

“What makes you think I have it and Peters doesn’t?”

Welker tapped his temples with his forefingers. “He doesn’t need it. I only ask nicely once.”

Sasha piped up. “Try
twice.
And say ‘please’ this time.”   

Taunting a mind reader probably wasn’t her best move.
What was she trying to do?
Then I thought about a Pudgy Burger, fries, and a vanilla cola. I stared at Asia, who’s kind of a skank.
What fifteen-year-old wears thigh-high leather boots in the spring? Who are her parents?

Welker rubbed his face. “Where’s the green source, Jason? I’m not asking again.”

“I thought you only asked nicely once,” Sasha asked. “What’s the problem,
Sir?”

Selby cracked his knuckles and tried to look menacing, but his mean face made him look constipated. I tried not to laugh at him, but I’ve never been good at not laughing at him.

“You want me to find out?” Asia pointed at Sasha. “She doesn’t like close spaces.”

Sasha’s lip quivered and she cursed at Asia. “I trusted you.”