Lucas Ryan Versus: The Return (9 page)

LEVEL 17

EVERY DAY IS EXACTLY THE SAME

Another dawn, another day. Surprisingly, the morning went by quick and without too many strange happenings. Vice Principal Chan was absent today. No one seemed to find that weird, even though it was Homecoming day. The biggest football game of the year was just hours away and Ms. Chan was one of the team’s loudest supporters. She’d never miss a game, let alone the biggest one of the season.

As my school day flew by, I realized another dozen or so students were absent as well, and that was just in my classes. Roland and Morgan both kept count of the empty desks in each of their different classes. They accounted for at least eight other students missing. Just like all the other absentees, no one but us seemed to notice or even care about the mysterious vanishing plague.

Thankfully, Ms. Strickland’s class was cancelled due to the mandatory school spirit assembly held in the gym before the yearly Homecoming game. That was fine by me though, I didn’t think I could handle another afternoon with her. Roland, Morgan, Olivia and I parked ourselves at the top of the bleachers trying our best not to seem too distracted.

“It’s a ghost town,” Roland said.

“I was thinking the same thing,” Morgan agreed. She quickly waved to Taylor who was surrounded by his teammates at the back of the gym. He waved back and shot me a concerned glance.

The bleachers looked only sixty-percent full with all the missing bodies. Still, no one but me and my ragtag crew seemed to notice. Ms. Strickland stood at the back of the gymnasium with her arms crossed and one foot tapping the floor. Her extended heels clicked loudly against the scuffed wood below her as her steel eyes surveyed the weathered crowd. It almost seemed like she was taking inventory, mentally checking off the students as she investigated the leftovers. She made sure to make eye contact with Olivia and I whenever possible. Olivia would squeeze my hand tighter every time Ms. Strickland locked onto us. To calm her fears I reached out telepathically with a faint glow of my tattoo.

Olivia, no worries. Our plan will work.

Olivia took a moment to settle herself. She loved sharing thoughts like this, no words, just our minds. Softly, she answered back. *
I trust you, Lucas. *

I hope so.

She smiled.
* No worries, I believe in you. *

Her words filled me with strength. Without any other thoughts, I scooted as close as possible to her, and whispered, “You too.”

3:24 p.m.

The final bell rang, signaling the end of school and the beginning of the nights festivities. First stop, the most important football game of the season. At my locker I waited for the rest of my gang to meet me. We were all going to the game together, except for Olivia. She was picking up Sophia and then meeting her bandmates to set up for the dance. Looking into my locker I noticed one of her guitar picks staring up at me. It was blood red with a skull and crossbones painted across it. I picked it up between my index finger and thumb, and stared at it for a moment. With the first hint of Roland and Morgan coming down the hallway, I tucked the pick into my front pocket.

“Big game today!” Morgan announced, as she strolled up. She was already wearing one of Taylor’s football jerseys. It looked huge hanging along her frame.

Roland added, “And tonight, we get some answers.” I slammed my locker closed and it barely made a sound, like it was covered in pillows. All three of us looked at the locker door and paused.

“That was weird,” I said, dryly. Remembering the trouble I had with my locker when I first found Ripley wrapped in a magical stone, I blushed.

“Yeah, you don’t have the best luck with lockers, Lucas,” Morgan laughed.

Playfully, I snorted, “Shut up.”

We swiftly made our way to the football field of the unbeaten Desert Vista Thunder, or as I always referred to it, the
Holy Lands
. Captain of the team, and Thor look-a-like, Taylor, was the driving force of the
Holy Lands
. When he stepped upon that emerald shaded grass, the clouds would part and the sky would shine down on him and his talent. As we ran up to Taylor to wish him good luck, something grabbed my attention immediately.

The grass felt sticky as we walked, almost as if it was made of velcro. When I looked down to check the soles of my sneakers Taylor stared at me nervously.

“Everything okay, Lucas?” he asked.

“Do you feel that?” I mumbled. Taylor looked over at Morgan for some clarity but she had no idea what I was talking about.

“Feel what?”

“The grass,” I said, flustered. “It’s sticky.” Morgan and Roland simultaneously checked their shoes and everything was fine. It confused me as I checked my shoes again. Now, everything was back to normal. Taylor pulled me closer to him and tried to ease my new panic.

“Dude, you’re putting too much pressure on yourself. You need to sit back and enjoy the show. Try to relax.” He patted me on the shoulder, and continued, “I feel another championship trophy in the near future.”

As his giant smile, built from confidence and perfect teeth, greeted me, I inhaled a deep and soothing breath. “Okay, Tay, you’re right. I’m just overthinking everything lately. My imagination was always a bit of an overachiever.” I looked around me as if I was being watched. Taylor shook his head and nudged Roland.

“All right, Ro, find this guy a seat and go over the plan for the dance one more time. I’ve got to handle some business.” Almost on cue the whistle blew across the field, signaling the start of the game. Taylor scooped up Morgan in one arm and planted a soft and sweet kiss upon her lips. She melted accordingly and he ran off. The cheerleaders chanted and the crowd roared to life with every step of Taylor’s stride.

“Come on, Luc,” Roland insisted.

All three of us ran up to the packed bleachers, dodging the incoming stream of parents and sport fanatics. It was obvious we wouldn’t find any free seating, at least not three seats together. Roland pushed through the mob anyways as I filled with doubt. Suddenly, a buzzing filled my head, drowning out the noise of the crowd. I stopped and closed my eyes as the buzzing intensified.

“Ugh…what the…” I grimaced. Morgan ran up to me.

“What’s wrong?”

I didn’t want to worry her so I lied, “Headache.”

“You need me to get you some aspirin? I think they sell it at the concession booth…”

“No, Mo, I’ll get it.” Another rush of vibrating pain hummed along my skull. I bit down hard and tried to focus through it.

“Okay, Lucas, but hurry back. There isn’t much seating left but we’ll hold you a spot,” Morgan hollered over the wild crowd. She waved for me to hurry along and darted up the bleacher stairs. Quickly, I spun around grabbing the sides of my head. Across the field was a pair of ruthless eyes locked on my dance of agony. Ms. Strickland nodded my way with her familiar smirk. The buzzing doubled its grip on me and I fell over in pain. It took all I had not to throw up.

“What’s happening to me?” I gargled, toward the ground. Ripley awoke in my arm and filled my palm with warm and soothing light. I jammed my hand to the back of my head and the excruciating pain fell away. The buzzing was still there but I could function again.

Thanks, Rip,
I thought, inside my head.

With my hand still wrapped along the base of my neck I looked over to find Ms. Strickland walking into the shaded area that led to the opposing team’s locker room. Without thinking my feet pushed me forward and I ran for the other side of the stadium. Kickoff had just happened as I rushed under the uprights of the football field. She looked back at me, enticing me to follow her before disappearing around the corner. With a crash, I stormed through the door of the locker room to find it empty and black.

“Where’d you go?” I whispered. My hand reached over to the room’s light switch and flicked it up and down with no response. “Great.” Just then the pain returned but this time at the front of my head. I fell to the floor and slammed my fists into the cold tiles. The horrendous sound in my brain now felt as if it was tearing my skull open. I tried to scream but couldn’t. The showers at the back of the room exploded with steaming water. The heat from them crept up on me in a matter of seconds. Through the sticky steam came laughter.

“Who’s there?” I called out. “Ms. Strickland? Is that you?” The laughter grew louder and deeper. I tried to stand up but found my palms stuck to the tiles like magnets. I could slide them around a little but not pull them from the floor. The scalding hot water found my fingers, then my palms, followed by my knees behind them.

“Oh, no,” I stressed. When I finally focused on the fiery water below me I realized it wasn’t water at all…it was blood. I screamed as loud as I could, “Ripley!”

~ Calm yourself, Lucas. ~

“Get me out of here! Now!” I ordered. The blood started to creep up my wrists and forearms, all the way up to my elbows. What was happening? I demanded Ripley to appear. “I need you! Now!”

~ I can’t. ~

“What? Why?”

~ Trapped. ~

And with that, I crumbled. I was on my own. I stared at the blood along my arms and hands hoping to find the strength to stand up. The laughing finally stopped, leaving only the echo of my pounding heartbeat and rushing torrent from the shower heads. Suddenly, they turned off and the steam began to clear. My hands were still locked in place but the painful buzzing in my head was receding. The pools of bloody water started to bubble as if being brought to a boil but the heat was almost completely gone now. Slowly, the crimson liquid pulled away from me, slinking back towards the shower stalls. The lights above began to hum with life and flicker in a strobe effect that made the sight of retreating blood more ominous than before. I shook my head trying to steady my vision in the blinking light. The liquid began to take shape…a haunting shape. A shape I didn’t want to see ever again.

“Ripley, someone’s here…” Ripley never answered me back. I called out again, “Rip?”

The form twitched and clicked, gulping up more sludge until two glowing slits stared back at me. Muscular, ominous, and demonic. I couldn’t bear to look at it anymore. It was impossible what I was seeing. I held my breath and reluctantly pulled at my hands again. Surprisingly, they pulled from the wet floor, no longer covered in blood. The flickering light slowed but still made it hard to see in the distance. I carefully leaned back on my knees and steadied myself to stand but felt too weak to do so. Just as I was about to fall backwards a fortifying hand fell upon my back.

“Lucas.”

My dizzy head whipped around to find Olivia standing behind me, determined and beautiful.

“Olivia!” I screeched, with a cracking of my voice. Her eyes held me for a moment before pushing past me to the back of the room. She squinted in a desperate ploy to make sense of what she was seeing. I turned back to the shower stalls, sheepishly finding my footing again.

“Do you…see that?” I asked, hoping I wasn’t having another one of my epic hallucinations. “Please tell me you see it.”

Olivia slid by my side, never taking her eyes from the impossible form in front of us. Slowly, her hand caressed mine with her warm fingers tangling around my palm. She stiffened as if she had been turned to stone.

In the weakest of whispers, she said, “Yes.”

The lights popped completely on in a flash. The blinding light washed over us revealing nothing but an empty and ordinary locker room. No steam, no blood, no monsters. Olivia and I exchanged a horrified but relieved stare. We knew we weren’t crazy. We knew what we saw. We knew things had just gotten much worse. With a gulp, I tightened my grip on her hand and whispered…

“He’s back.”

LEVEL 18

AMEN

The football game was a blowout. Taylor threw for nine touchdowns and ran for over three-hundred yards. He seemed to be getting better at the game, even though that didn’t seem possible. Championship trophies and MVP awards were given out in accordance but my experience in the locker room dampened his winning mojo. As we met Roland and Morgan in the school parking lot, outside the gymnasium, Taylor stopped me and asked.

“Are you sure it was him?”

“Yes.”

“General Love,” he doubted. “The demon from another dimension that tried to enslave the school and eat you like a Pop-Tart.”

“Yes.”

“The freaking monster that almost killed us all…”

“I wouldn’t make that kind of thing up, T. Olivia and I saw him.” I settled myself and continued with a new doubt creeping in. “We saw something, like, the essence of him. It wasn’t him, but it was him. Do you know what I mean?”

Taylor tried to understand but I think he was too scared to let the thought of General Love’s return completely resonate with him. “I’m not sure, Lucas. We watched that thing…I mean him, die.”

“I hope so.” I knew what I had seen. I knew the same disheartening feeling of despair in his presence. General Love was back, or close to it.

Thankfully, Morgan broke the uneasiness between Taylor and I with a leap into his arms and a giant kiss upon his lips. Taylor held her in his arms wrapped in a perfectly tailored suit as her silky dress reached for the ground. Roland turned away from us, disgusted with the sight of his sister in the throws of young love.

“Knock it off, Mo! I just ate!”

Sliding back to her feet and fixing her dress, she snarled, “Shut up, I’m happy.”

From the building came the first sounds of Olivia and her band beginning their first set. Drums thundered and Olivia’s voice announced their first song of the night. The guitar squealed from the doorway as each group of students passed through. I nodded toward Taylor and Morgan.

“Let’s do this.” Quickly, we all made our way into the gymnasium.

Homecoming was a crazy time here at Desert Vista High. Not only was our school obsessed with adding the most ludicrous themes to each and every school dance, the Student Council was dedicated to topping themselves every year. Last years Homecoming shenanigans were based around a pirate theme, and yes, the photographs of that night were as bad as you’d think they were. This year they voted for an angelic theme.
“A Night with the Divine,”
is what they called it.

The gym was covered in white fluffy clouds and a sea of fake angel wings. The kind you’d purchase at a cheap Halloween store. Every couple received a pair as they walked through the golden arches made from Styrofoam and glitter. As I looked out over the crowd of dancing students, most of them with bouncing halos above their heads and fluttering ivory wings strapped to their backs, I cringed. There was fewer kids here than last year but still a full house.

From the stage, Olivia and her band, SISTER RED, came to life. Her guitar slung across her back with the strap snugly hugging her torso that was covered in a worn red flannel shirt. She shifted in her boots as she sang directly at me and snarled behind the microphone, accordingly. Resting atop her dark straight hair was a pair of bright red devil horns. Always the rebel. It brought a much needed smile to my face. My hand slid into my pocket and rested along the tiny surface of her guitar pick. My favorite lucky charm.

With a wave I mouthed the word, “Hi.” She blushed a little and directed my attention to the side of the stage where Sophia was bouncing in place. She had a small pair of devil wings strapped to her back and a small plastic pitchfork in her hand. She furiously waved at me when she saw me and I let a small laugh escape. In her hair was the protective Jynshee Ring. Its shine unmistakably magical. I wondered if Olivia knew her baby sister had come tonight prepared for the worst. I stepped forward to talk to her when I was suddenly ambushed by the last person I wanted to see.

“Lucas! We need to talk!” Felicity screamed in my face.

“Felicity, not now. I can’t do this tonight,” I groaned, and tried to turn away from her. Taylor and Morgan had already faded into the crowd, trying to enjoy a dance before we proceeded with our plan for the evening. Roland rolled his eyes at the sight of Felicity and gave me a sharp nudge with his elbow.

“It’s going to be one of those nights,” he said, then scurried off toward the back of the room to get a better look at the chaperones for the dance.

“I can’t sleep anymore!” Felicity hollered, over the music.

“And how is that my problem?” I snapped.

“Because ever since we’ve been back, things are different. You’re different. I’m different!”

“What are you talking about?” I stepped back from her. Her eyes welled with tears and a pair of wings perched just past the tops of her shoulders. They flapped slightly in place, tickling the ends of her curly hair that dangled down.

“I have the same dream every night. It’s horrible. I can’t take it anymore!”

“Calm down, Felicity.”

“Don’t tell me to calm down! It’s all your fault!” she screamed. Some of the crowd watched us as others avoided our drama completely.

“Give it a rest. I’m having nightmares almost every night, too. Sometimes I’m even having them during the day!” I scolded, as the image of the monster from the locker room stained my thoughts.

“You don’t understand, Lucas…”

From the stage Olivia watched us closely. Frustrated, I huffed, “I don’t have time for this.”

“You don’t understand, I’m not dreaming about the monsters we’ve seen, at least, not anymore.” Felicity took a shaky breath in. “I’m dreaming of something much worse.”

“And what is that?” I asked, not really caring.

“You.”

Confused, I gulped. “What?”

Felicity stepped up closer to me with her head pointed to the ground as if she were embarrassed. “Us. I dream of us…together.”

I was speechless.

She wasn’t. “I have feelings for you.”

“Huh?” I choked.

“I know it’s crazy but it’s true. Lucas Ryan, you are my exact opposite, my sworn rival, and I can’t get you out of my head,” she said, with the pulsating music splashing around us. I couldn’t believe my ears. This had to be some ploy, some sick joke. How could my archenemy have a crush on me? My head started to spin with the overwhelming realization.

“Felicity…” I began to mumble, but she cut me off.

“Lucas…I think…I think I…”

I stepped back from her and threatened, “Don’t you dare finish that sentence!”

“…love you,” she whispered, terrified. With a quick kiss upon my lips she turned from me and ran off in tears. I was frozen in a blanket of teenage angst. After a few moments I turned to find Roland’s shocked face filled with laughter. His eyes bulged from their sockets and his face mirrored mine, in shock. He stopped his fit of laughter long enough to point toward the stage.

“Oh, no,” I mouthed, silently. Slowly, I turned to Olivia who was staring laser beams of jealousy into me. I waved toward her, sheepishly. She stomped her foot and tore a loud distorted chord from her guitar strings. The sound crashed into me. Roland walked up to me and placed an arm around my shoulder.

“No worries, she’ll understand,” he chuckled. From the stage Olivia stuck her fist out in front of her and aggressively flipped me her middle finger, then continued playing her guitar in a fit. Roland looked at me with a crooked smile. “Maybe not.”

Taylor and Morgan snuck up on us and joined the conversation.

“Hey, you two, it’s about time we initiate our plan,” Taylor said, confidently. I agreed with a slight nod of my head, my eyes still watching Olivia. Felicity’s emotional bomb had left a bad taste in my mouth, and it showed on my face.

“We can scoot out the side exit. It’s not being watched at the moment,” Roland stated. He pulled me in the direction of the exit when Morgan stopped us.

“Wait a second,” she said, unsure.

“Not now, Mo, this is the plan. Remember?” Roland pouted. Neither one of the Saint twins knew that Taylor and I had already decided it was best that he came along on the mission instead of Roland, but I held my tongue.

“I know, but I think Taylor should go with you two.”

Taylor looked at her surprised. He smiled wildly. “What? Are you sure?”

“Yes.”

“But what about our date? Morgan, this is your night. I want it to be special,” Taylor said, like a knight in shining armor. She melted in his shadow and placed her hands on his big chest.

“It is special, Tay. I’m so happy right now but this night is about something much more important. We need answers. Besides, Lucas needs his bodyguard,” she teased. Taylor leaned down and kissed her.

“Okay,” he whispered, proudly. Roland tapped his watch impatiently and announced.

“We need to go, boys.”

“Mo, keep your eyes peeled. Don’t let Sophia out of your sight and text us if you see anything strange,” I ordered, finding my mental balance again.

“I can do that,” she smiled.

“Give us about thirty minutes. If you haven’t heard anything from us by then, get Olivia and Sophia out of here,” I warned.

With a fresh batch of fear in her voice, Morgan asked, “Jeez, Luc, what exactly do you expect to find in the library?”

I glanced down at my arm and the markings came to life with a soft pulsating purple light, as if to warn us all of something. I swallowed down a giant chunk of oxygen, and said…

“The truth.”