Velocity (35 page)

“Ariel, move,” Henry commanded, and we ran to the mouth of the tunnel. I could still hear Lainey’s tormented wails. The rest of the ceiling behind us caved in, and buried them together forever.

CHAPTER 33

ALL OF US
remaining ran through the tunnel, not stopping to really take in our surroundings as the walls shook around us. Henry clutched our hands together tightly and shot down the hall. I took the lead back to the front door. Chunks of plaster were hitting the wooden floor with hard clunks. It felt like the floor was going to give out.

We raced out the front door. Crossing the lawn, we didn’t stop until we reached the gate, shutting it behind us.

I took quick stock of the survivors―my father, Theo, Lucy, Henry, Harlow, the Taylors, and several others who had been part of our opposition. I didn’t see Jenna’s father.

“Where’s Joe?” I asked no one in particular.

Lucy shook her head to indicate he hadn’t made it.

“Oh,” was all I could manage as tears prickled my eyes. I swallowed hard. Henry gently pulled my head into the crook of his neck.

Mrs. Taylor was sobbing into her husband’s chest. Without a word, they began to walk away. Everyone else who wasn’t with our group had fled down the road.

The orphanage began to shake all the way down to its foundation. The little glass that remained burst out of the windows. Shingles shot off the burned roof. We watched from beyond the fence as a huge cloud of dust and debris exploded.

“Everybody move back!” Hugh shouted. The building collapsed to the ground with an ear-splitting crash that made us cower. Bits and pieces of stone and metal landed nearby, and when the smoke cleared, there was nothing left but an ugly pile of rubble and a haze of dust. Looking at each other, we let up an enthusiastic, cathartic cheer.

The Dark birds flew away toward the trees and disappeared. I saw the white, filmy shapes of spirits moving away from the remains, but they glided off. The black blanket in the sky pulled away. Squinting our eyes, we watched the suddenly bright sun shine down.

I reached up and kissed Henry, feeling the strength of his arms around me. Then I pulled back and assessed our companions. My father was brushing dust off his shirt. Stauner was tying his torn t-shirt into bandages for Theo’s arms. The red line on her cheek had stopped bleeding. The others had dirt and dust and blood smudged on them, but no one was seriously injured.

Henry patted my shoulder to draw my attention. I looked at him questioningly.

“Turn around,” he said. “Someone’s here for you.”

I turned.

Jenna was standing there. I could tell she was free from Dark, her bright blue eyes clear. I smiled widely at her. “Jenna.”

She smiled at me with a twist of sadness. “Hey, chica. I saw you there while I was in my trance. You did an amazing job. I’m proud of you.”

My smile grew wider, but her eyes only grew sadder.

“You have to go, don’t you?” The realization came to me all at once. “Like for good. No coming back.” Our time together was through. There wasn’t going to be a reunion.

“Yeah, I think so,” Jenna said. “But it’s okay. It’s the way it should have been. I just wanted to say goodbye one last time.”

“I don’t want you to leave,” I said, choking on my own voice.

I could already make out the faint outline of the trees and road through her. My tears were coming too fast now to stop them. I wanted to tell her a million things, but I didn’t know what to say.

“I’m already gone. You go and live your life for me. Just don’t forget me. Remember me, and I’ll always be part of you.”

She reached out for me, and our hands just touched with the remaining power around us before they slid through and I felt a thin sizzle of electricity.

“Goodbye,” I said.

Then she turned and with one last smile over her shoulder, she began to run. She ran faster than I’d ever seen her, running until there was nothing left. And in the last instant, I caught a glimpse of Ambrose in the distance, just as she reached him.

I turned back to the others. “When can we get out of here?” I asked.

“I know, I feel kind of weird and tired from bleeding on that seal,” Theo said, tying her hair back. “Maybe I’m radioactive now.”

“Maybe. I always thought you had superpowers, anyway,” I said, smiling at her.

An engine drew close, and a van drove up on the lawn and through the gate. Ivy was encrusted to the side of its navy blue exterior. I recognized it as the van Warwick had used to kidnap Alyssa and Jenna, and I raised my eyebrow.

The door opened and Hugh popped out. I hadn’t even noticed him leave. He pulled the other doors open.

“This was parked behind the house. Keys were in the ignition. There was a jump box in the back, so the battery’s good to go. There’s enough gas to get us out of town,” he explained. “And should be enough seats for everybody. Let’s boogie.”

Several people had already gone on their own way, but the remaining cluster of us jumped in. There were two rows of seats up front, and several boxes to serve as benches in the back. The van was otherwise empty except for garbage and cans on the floor. Aunt Corinne sat up in the seat next to my father.

“Are you sure you can drive this thing?” Corinne asked him, wrinkling her nose.

“Watch me,” he said humorously, rolling his eyes.

Stauner had us drop him off at the police station. “I need to do clean-up duty,” he said, shaking hands with Hugh. “It’s been quite a night.”

“Yes it has,” Hugh agreed.

An explosion erupted from downtown, and all of our heads shot up. Hugh drove was driving towards it, and passed by on the street. It had come from Hawthorne High. Smoke was pouring out of the hole where the fountain used to be. I could see another plume of smoke in the direction of the library.

“The seals all exploded,” I said, staring.

As we passed through town, people were coming out of their houses, looking dazed but relieved as they squinted at the sun. Moms and dads were hugging their children. Some people were standing out by the road, drinking. As we passed the NOW LEAVING HELL sign, news vans and ambulances were racing in. Hugh switched on the radio.

“After appearing as a black spot on the radar map for almost a full day, the small town of Hell, Michigan has reappeared,” the newswoman intoned. “Meteorologists are blaming it on a phenomenon called ‘black fog’. Fears of a sinkhole or underground gas leak have been ruled out…”

Abandoned robes and masks lay all over the road. I tried not to pay attention to the bodies, to pretend they were just part of the Halloween decorations.

Henry, Theo and I were all clustered on the back bench seat. Harlow sat huddled down, quietly lost in her own world as she stared out of the window. Her bloody hands rested in her lap. I leaned my head against Henry, slumping my shoulders.

“Where should we go?” Theo asked her mother, who was sitting across the way with a big streak of dirt across her forehead.

Theo’s phone rang, making us all jump. It beeped an alert that the battery was about to die.

“It’s Alex’s mom,” Theo said, hitting the screen. Mrs. Perkin’s voice came through the speaker clearly.

“
Theo, you need to come to the hospital. It’s Alex…”

The phone beeped once more and died. Theo’s face went white and she turned to me. “We need to go to U of M.”

###

When we arrived at the hospital, Theo, Henry, and I ran in, bypassing the nurse’s station. I could barely keep up with Theo as she raced down the crowded halls, not paying much attention to the others there. Grim determination had set in on her face. She was preparing for the worst.

I followed behind her. The door to Alex’s room was shut. Theo steadied herself and stopped for a moment with her hand on the door, right under a tag with his name:
A. Perkins
.

“I can’t go in there alone,” she said, looking up at me with tears in her eyes.

I squeezed her shoulders, feeling tears sting the back of my own. “It’s okay. I’m with you.”

She wiped her cheek and steadied herself, nodding as she shut her eyes. Then she opened the door.

Alex was sitting up in bed, watching TV, remote in hand. The bandages on his head were drooping a little, but he pushed them back. “I can’t believe they lost another game,” he said, shaking his head. He looked to the open doorway, and smiled. I watched him swallow hard and shudder with emotion.

“Hey, you.”

Theo walked to his beside. Her face broke out in a shy smile. “Hey. What’cha watching?”

“Football. Me and mom were catching the highlights on Hell going crazy, but they haven’t updated yet. Did it really turn into some demonic playground?”

“For a little while, yeah. The high school blew up.”

“Sweet.” His eyes swept over her. “Are you okay?”

“I took pretty good care of myself. Punched Lainey in the nose,” she said with a hint of pride.

“Why did I have to miss all the excitement?” He moved the blanket on his feet aside, revealing hospital socks. He wiggled his right toes a little, just a little, but it was enough. Emotion softened his voice. “I’m all better. I could’ve helped out, tackled some creep and―”

She grabbed the sides of his face and kissed him, cutting off his words, tears racing down her cheeks. He pressed his forehead to hers.

“Thanks for saving my life,” Theo said.

Alex laughed low in his throat. “No problem. Thanks for being in mine. Just don’t leave, okay?”

She smiled at him. “As long as you promise me the same thing.”

They kissed, and he wrapped his arms around here. I slipped quietly out into the hall to give them privacy. Leaning up against the wall, I let out a deep, relaxing breath. Henry came up to me.

“There you are,” he said, out of breath. “Is Alex okay?”

I nodded. “I think we’re all going to be okay.”

He smiled at me, his face lighting up for the first time in a long time. “Yeah, I think so, too.”

EPILOGUE

Three Months Later

“HEY, IT’S JUST
because my camera sucks. Believe me, this is the biggest apartment we could get this close to campus,” I said to Hugh over the phone.

“Oh, I’m sure. You know it’s my job to tease you,” he said.

The apartment was still filled with moving boxes. Henry and I didn’t have much furniture yet, but we’d made it comfortable. It was ours, and that was the most important part. That and the horror movie poster collection we were quickly acquiring.

“I’m just glad they didn’t take issue with Hell’s honorary diplomas,” I said. “At least I earned mine.”

“I don’t think anyone could really protest. The whole May Day Black Fog event has blown up so much in the news and online, they probably were happy to have you there for the celebrity.”

“Some celebrity,” I said, rolling my eyes. “No one even knows I was there.”

The few Thornhill people who had spoken out in the press had told everyone about the brainwashing. But they didn’t seem to mind collecting checks for their stories. What had happened to Hell that day had become a huge national story for weeks that Spring, with differing accounts that mostly came from people who hadn’t even been in town. Most people refused to talk about the event, chalking it up to mass hysteria.

Henry came in carting several paper bags of groceries. I smiled at him and pointed at the phone. He nodded and kissed me on the cheek, giving me a half-hug.

“I’m going to start dinner,” he whispered, then he lifted his hand from my back and went to the kitchen.

“How are your friends?” Hugh asked. “Did any of them get offers to be in the book.”

“Theo and Alex are doing good, she’s going to school. His physical therapy is going great. He can walk without a cane now. I have the sneaking feeling he might propose to her soon. And yeah, they got a hold of all of us. I saw the article they ran with Sarah Abbott. I don’t even think she was in town on May Day.”

Just saying the phrase gave me a little shiver, conjuring up unwelcome images of fire and shadows. I blinked them away.

“So how are you doing down in Arizona?”

“I’m doing alright. Putting things back where they belong in my life. Gwen wants me to help start up a gallery out here, and I’ve got to agree we’re in the right town. There’s even a space we’ve been looking at. Her husband is a little less crazy about the idea, but he’s making good money.”

“Are you seeing anyone?” I could still hear the lonely edge to his voice, and it made my heart sting.

“Not at the moment. But I don’t need to see anyone. I like being on my own right now. It helps me process things better. I don’t think a relationship would be the best thing for me at this point. Not after…what happened back home.”

The conversation drifted to happier topics, and I hung up the phone at least feeling like he was coping better than I’d thought before. I was going to see him on my birthday in a few weeks, and I missed him.