Riser (Teen Horror/Science Fiction) (Book #1 in The Riser Saga) ((Volume 1)) (16 page)

“Don’t be mad. She promised she wouldn’t tell you and by the look on your face, she obviously kept her word. I didn’t want to freak you out. I just wanted to apologize for ignoring you all the time. But I wanted it to come from
me
and not second hand from your mom.” Then he smiled. “She gave me some really good advice.”

I was going to ask him exactly
what
that advice was, but I decided that was between the two of them. No wonder she was so judgmental of Bill. She had obviously picked sides once Ryan had come to see her. He must have been the
other boy
she kept on hinting at. That was so Mom.

“I’m glad you got to meet her,” I said and meant it.

“Me, too.” He smiled, “Do you think you could show me how you bring something back to life?” he asked a little shyly.

“Sorry, no dead things in here.” Nancy punched Ryan’s shoulder in a joking manner, but there was definitely some protectiveness packed into that punch. It was Nancy’s nice way of saying, ‘
don’t make Chelsan perform like a monkey you jerk
.’

“It’s okay, Nancy. I would need proof, too, if someone told me all this,” I said, trying to reassure Ryan and Nancy, but Ryan’s face fell. He looked like I had kicked him.

He turned to me so we were eye to eye. “I believe you. You don’t have to prove anything to me. I was just curious.” He turned to Nancy, rubbing his newly smacked arm. “And I deserved that.”

“No, really, it’s no big deal. Here.” I searched the room for anything dead. There was a particularly large cockroach, but I decided to keep insects out of this, Nancy would freak. And then I saw the perfect thing.

A small houseplant that was on its last legs. It was some kind of flower plant, but the petals and leaves were brown and dead. I walked over to the small pot (it was only a few inches high) and brought it over to the couch. I connected to the plant’s swirling black hole and brought it back to life. Green leaves and vines grew higher, larger, fuller than this plant had ever dreamed, and white silky flowers bloomed from every corner. When I was done, a two-foot masterpiece stood before us.

Ryan’s mouth had dropped and even Nancy was a little taken aback. I think it was good for her to see me bring life back to something as opposed to the nightmare I left her with when I disconnected Bruce from his black hole.

“Wow.” Ryan had finally spoken.

“Yeah,” Nancy chimed in.

“I can put it back the way it was,” I volunteered. I was starting to feel uncomfortable. What would Ryan say if I brought a human back, I mean, hearing about it and actually seeing it were entirely two different things. Nancy had been exposed to Bruce, but I think she was in some kind of denial about that. I didn’t want to scare them off. “Guys,
wow
and
yeah
, not very encouraging.” I decided to take the honest approach.

Ryan put his arm around me and gave me a little squeeze. “You just became even cooler, and I thought you were just about the coolest person I’d ever met.”

“Don’t put it back. My mom will love it. This was her favorite, but she over-watered it to death.” Nancy was taking the relaxed approach at this point.

“Okay. Just tell her I gave it to her as a thank-you for letting me stay with you guys.” I turned to Ryan, his words hitting me like a ton of bricks. “You thought I was cool?”

“I think you’re the
dork
.” He smiled at me and then reached over and took my hand.

Somehow
dork
never sounded so good.

“Knock it off,” Nancy said with a roll of her eyes, but I could tell she was happy for me. “Don’t let Bill see you do that.” She threw that in for measure, which made Ryan scoot in closer to me and made my stomach ache.

I still wasn’t sure how Bill felt about me, but I wasn’t an idiot. I could tell there was definitely more than friendship on his mind. And as much as I really liked Bill, I just didn’t feel the same kind of excitement and fire for him that I did for Ryan. How could I go from no prospects to two of the most sought after boys in my school liking me? And even after all the attention both of them had been giving me, there was still a part of me that didn’t believe they
really
liked me. Like it was some form of “primitive-animal-ape thing,” where as soon as one showed interest the other one got all territorial and mistook it for feelings for me. So really neither one of them liked me, they just needed to win the competition over my affection.

And then I was bummed again. That was probably it. I hated my mind sometimes. I always had to make a good situation turn into some logically horrible one. I never could believe that good things could happen to me and I didn’t know how to break that.

“I’m seriously impressed. I’m not freaked out or anything.” Ryan let go of my hand and put his arm around me and I literally had goose bumps. It was scary how much power he had over my physical being. I had to be careful I didn’t let him have that much control over my mind as well or I’d soon become one of those lame girls that did everything their boyfriend said.

I could tell Nancy was thinking the same thing as she shoved her reader in Ryan’s hands. “Do something useful, Ryan. Aren’t you supposed to be some kind of genius? We need access to files that we can’t download from the public server.”

Ryan pulled his arm away from me and held the reader with both hands. “You mean restricted files from that study Mr. Alaster told us about?”

Nancy raised her eyebrow in interest. “That would be a great start. Yes.”

“Can you do that?” I asked. My interest was piqued. All Nancy and I could find was the article published in the Scientific Journal and there weren’t any details as to how the experiment was performed or any of the trials leading up to the actual resurrection. If we could read the entire report maybe we could get more accurate answers and figure out why I was the way I was.

“Yeah, no problem. What else do you need?” Ryan was eager to impress.

“We’re trying to figure out what kind of spell Mr. Vice President used to kill baby Chelsan, but all we’re coming up with is the basics.” Nancy was getting worked up now. If Ryan could do what he said he could we could potentially find out what happened to me.

“We need to be careful about what we hack into. If Turner is keeping an eye on Chelsan and you then he’s keeping an eye on Bill and me as well. We’re the only people that have been around you in the last twenty-four hours.” Ryan turned to me as if the next thing he was about to say was going to be difficult. “You need to tell Bill everything, too. He’s in danger now just by being your friend. And…” He paused and swallowed hard, “He’s a good guy.”

“Wow.” Nancy raised her eyebrow, impressed. “Look at you, all mature.” Nancy was serious as she looked at me, “He has a point, Chelsan.”

I knew they were right, but I felt like I was starting to lose control over the situation. If I ever had any control at all.

They would help me even if it meant they were in danger.

I couldn’t live with that.

And in that second I made a decision.

The only way to protect them was to leave them.

What was I thinking involving people I care about anyway? They could end up dead and it would be my fault. I’d never be able to live with myself. I was so selfish!

“You’re right. Why don’t you call him and have him come over.” Bill
did
have the right to know. He needed a heads up. “Be right back.” I stood up.

“Hang on. Your Chuck’s are untied.” Ryan said and reached down to tie the laces of my shoes.

For some reason it threw me off a bit, it was such a small gesture, but it made my heart skip a beat. I smiled at him and wanted to say good-bye but I walked to the bathroom instead. They couldn’t follow me in there and I knew it had a small window leading to the side yard. I would have to do this quick.

I entered the bathroom and took a deep breath. I was trying not to panic. I didn’t want to be alone. It was terrifying, but I wouldn’t be able to live with myself if anything were to happen my friends. I guess Jill was right to a certain degree, I didn’t belong with the students of Geoffrey Turner High. I was trouble.

The window was about twenty inches in height and twenty inches wide, so it would be a tight fit, but doable. Unlatching the lock, I slid the window open as quietly as was humanly possible. I squeezed my body through the opening with surprisingly no sound at all and dropped to the soft grass below. Half-crawling, half-running, I hurried out of Nancy’s side yard and once I was at a safe distance I ran full force down the grass street. It was still wet from watering and I almost slipped a few times, but I finally made it to a Hover-Shuttle station a few blocks away without any injury.

There were a few others waiting with me, but they didn’t pay me any mind. I just looked like a local kid waiting for a ride to the mall. Come on! Where was the stupid shuttle! I knew as soon as Nancy and Ryan found out I’d escaped they’d start an all out search for me, and I wanted to be as far away from them as possible. I had to go where they’d never guess I’d be. And I needed to find a phone to call Jason and make a new meeting place otherwise Nancy and Ryan were just going to show up at Alby’s and all this would be for nothing.

Finally! The Hover-Shuttle arrived at the station and I clambered inside it like the police were after me. I sat down on an aisle seat so no one could see me from the window. I wasn’t sure where I was going, I just wanted to GO! I knew that if Nancy and Ryan caught up to me, I wouldn’t be able to refuse their help. Especially if Ryan worked his Voodoo mojo on me. That’s what it felt like anyway. How could one person make my entire body and brain go completely numb! It was a little frustrating to say the least. I knew I wouldn’t be able to leave them again. I wasn’t strong enough. Jason was my only hope now. Hopefully, he would steer me to…

…to what? What exactly was I expecting from this guy? I was just trying to live moment to moment because if I actually sat down and thought about the future I’d get a little queasy. What could I possibly do to save myself from the most powerful man in the world? If Turner wanted me dead, I guess I’d be dead by now. So what was he waiting for? Maybe he was worried someone would find out he was my grandfather and tie him to the murder? Or maybe my dad’s death made him change and he really wanted me back in his life? I just didn’t know anything. I felt so lost and utterly alone, my choice or not, it sucked.

What if he knew about my power?

The thought had been flitting around my head since my mother’s visions, but it finally solidified itself in that moment. He could want me alive to use me, or study me, or I don’t know…. My mind was going a mile a minute. I needed to relax, take a deep breath and find a phone. Baby steps. The Hover-Shuttle was traveling into downtown Los Angeles. A surge of excitement flowed through me. I had never been to the city, I had never been anywhere because of Bruce. Everything I had ever seen on holo-tv, I could actually see with my own eyes. I felt like a hermit that finally decided to leave the house for the first time.

I looked over the shoulder of the person across from me to see out the shuttle’s window at the oncoming skyscrapers in the distance. Downtown Los Angeles. It was the most stunning view I had ever seen. It was an island of steel surrounded by an ocean of trees. At first glance, the buildings seemed clumped together in what appeared to be a chaotic mess, but on closer inspection there was meaning to the madness. On the outer circle there were water dumping silos for all the hover-vehicles flying into the city to deposit their fuel cell tanks, making it easy to water the surrounding foliage that stretched for miles in every direction. Just past the silos the first set of steel and glass made up the smaller-sized outer ring of buildings that looked like a circle of miss-matched teeth. There were five other rings of varying sized skyscrapers leading to the center of Los Angeles, a giant, three-hundred foot in diameter, metal cylinder that was at least a thousand feet above all the other buildings. It was used as a hover-pad landing area, but
how
someone was to get down from the twenty-eight-hundred foot tall structure, was a mystery I was about to find out.

The Hover-Shuttle swooped up to the hover pad on top of the cylinder and landed with ease in its designated area. The door clunked open and everyone started to file out. I slowly stood up and walked out of the shuttle last.