* * *
Lydia was in her parents’ arms. They were with her, truly here, the warmth of their embrace so comforting. She could fall asleep within their hold, perfectly happy.
Then a force separated them all, like two magnetic north poles trying to connect. Lydia reached helplessly for her parents as they were dragged into the empty void surrounding her. Then a splotch of red liquid dropped down next to her feet.
She dipped her finger into the liquid and discovered it was warm. The liquid was the color of—blood? Then the blood rolled off into the darkness.
A great rumbling lifted her high into the air and onto a platform. A large cage fell over her. She was trapped. Lydia yanked the bars, but they didn’t separate. She knew she had the strength to rip them apart. Why weren’t they budging? The bars encircled her, enclosing her closer, closer.
Musk. A strong musky stench covered the area. She rattled the cage, screaming as the bars formed to her body’s shape.
Lydia opened her eyes. The sun streamed in through the window blinds. She was lying on Aidan, her nose nestled in his armpit. He was a surprisingly comfortable pillow, but she was lying at an uncomfortable angle in the booth. He was snoring, his mouth wide open, a little drool dribbling down his lip. She sat up straight, careful not to disturb him, and looked toward the front of the RV. Ron was driving down a long, two-lane road and his wife was still sleeping in the passenger seat.
“Good morning,” he said. “Or good afternoon.” The sun was already beginning its descent in the distance.
“Where are we?” she asked.
“Close to the heart of Nebraska,” he said, pointing at the vast emptiness before them. “You want me to drop you off in Lincoln or keep going?”
“Lincoln, if you would,” she said. “Thanks again.”
“It’s my pleasure,” he said. “I’ll take you to one of the bus stations. Should be able to get a ride back to Colorado.”
I hope it’s in time, Lydia thought. They had less than a day left. But they were making good headway. We’ll be fine.
She leaned forward from her place on the bench and saw Jando in the back room, staring toward the front of the vehicle. His drooping eyelids and lazy expression gave the impression he’d been awake all night. Lydia held onto the seat backs and, swaying slightly in the moving vehicle, walked into the room and sat next to him, earning herself a slow, careful nod from him, before he returned to his watchful post on Ron.
“Have you gotten any sleep?” she asked.
His head faintly shook. “No,” he said quietly.
“Because you don’t trust Ron?” A small, jerky nod from him. “Another piece of advice from your dad?”
He growled. “I’m not talking about him,” Jando said, a fleeting spark of life raising his tone.
“Alright,” she said.
He sighed. “Look, I apologize about what happened.”
“Me, too.”
“But Aidan . . .” He trailed off, curling a fist.
Lydia looked around for something else to discuss. She studied her hand and asked, “So how did you get your ability?”
He looked at her and then at Aidan, still asleep at the booth. He appeared to weigh the matter before he rubbed his eyes. “I found a bottle and drank what was in it.”
Lydia blinked. “What?”
Jando sighed. “I was about eleven. We were visiting family in Brazil,” he said. “I was running around by myself, so thirsty I thought I would fall over. I found a bottle lying next to a restaurant’s window. It didn’t look dirty and I thought it was water. I asked the guy sleeping by the window if it was his and if I could have a drink. He mumbled, so I assumed he said yes.”
“And?”
“And next thing I know, whatever I touch can disappear.”
Lydia gawked at him. “You never found out what was in the bottle? Where it came from?”
“All I know is that the guy woke up, yelled at me, and ran off. When I came to the Cave, Arthur told me that the guy had been a criminal who had fled some country with ‘highly dangerous, government-restricted materials.’ Dr. Barrett found traces of the materials from a blood test, yet I was fine otherwise. We came back after visiting my family. I hid my ability for a while, but after one too many performances for my friends and others, Arthur was knocking on my door—several months ago by now.” He rubbed his eyes. “That’s all there is to it. What about you?”
Lydia briefly explained how she’d ended up with her strength. Jando winced at her description of the pain associated in gaining her ability. “Glad that didn’t happen to me.”
“Yeah,” she said. She looked toward the front, then back at Jando. “You look terrible. Why don’t you get some sleep? I’m awake now, after all.”
“Nah, I’m good,” he said, swaying from side to side with the motion of the RV. They chatted off and on until they arrived in Lincoln.
True to his word, Ron dropped them off at the bus station. After bidding them farewell and best of luck, Ron drove off.
Shouldering her backpack, Lydia led the group into the terminal. She purchased three tickets for the next available bus. Then she passed them out to the boys.
“We only need to make one stop,” she said. “Bus leaves in twenty minutes.” She had more money than she had estimated she would, so they spent their free time buying snacks to take on the bus.
“You think they’ve noticed we’re missing by now?” Lydia asked Aidan as they began searching for their gate, stuffing their food into her backpack.
“No doubt about it,” he said. “Arthur is probably furious.”
Lydia laughed at the image of an impotently angry Arthur screaming and hopping up and down. “Yeah, I bet he is. I hope Wren isn’t in too much trouble.”
“I doubt it,” Aidan said. “Although we’ll be in hot water if we don’t get cured.”
“For the record,” Jando said, waving them over to the correct gate, “I’m blaming all of this on you two. Especially you, Flyboy.”
“Go ahead, Jailboy,” Aidan said. When Jando balled up his fists, Aidan smiled. “What? Don’t like your new nickname?”
Lydia elbowed him in the side. “Ow! Hey, he started it!” She gave him a threatening look. Aidan silently boarded the bus, sitting next to Lydia. Jando sat farther back, next to an older gentleman who started to rattle off his life story when the bus roared to life.
“Vengeance: thy name is senior citizen,” Aidan said to Lydia, cackling at Jando’s plight.
The ride was mostly uneventful. Aidan asked Lydia if she’d given any more thought to his suggestion about what she would do when she confronted her parents’ kidnappers. She had avoided the issue, wanting to focus on her parents’ safety first and foremost. Anyone who stood in the way of that would be taken down. “Kind of,” she said. “What do you plan to do once you’re cured?”
“Go back to my family,” he said. “Try to pick up where I left off in my life.”
“Going to help them with their tourist business?”
“No. I’m putting my foot down there. I shouldn’t have been climbing mountains as a kid, and I’m certainly not doing it now.”
“Mountain climbing? Seriously?”
“Yeah. My parents had me help out on their tours. They thought it would benefit me to impart as much survival knowledge as possible.”
“Like sewing?” Lydia asked teasingly.
“Actually, yes,” he said. “You never know when you might rip a blanket, your clothes, or your tent, and you need to know how to patch them as soon as you can.”
“So is that why you’re afraid of heights now? Because of mountain climbing?” Lydia asked.
He nodded and looked out the window. “Happened on one trip. I had to help lead some people up a steep mountainside. We had been climbing for hours, the sun was hot, and I was dying for food. I was loaded down with most of the gear and had no help from my dad. So there I am, scaling the side, when the rope can’t take the weight anymore. I h
ear a tink,” he said. “A support hook had come loose and I’m left dangling there in midair. At least a hundred feet off the ground.” He simulated the experience, using his fingers as a swinging figure and his hand as the ground.
“So how did you get out of that?” Lydia asked.
“My dad came back for me after I’d shouted myself hoarse. But I was left swinging, afraid I was going to fall. I tried to climb up but only made it a few feet.”
She sensed grand embellishment in his tale but refrained from any skeptical expression. “That would probably scare me, too.”
“I came so close to falling. Since then, I hate heights. Hate them,” he said. He turned back to face her. “So what about you? What do you plan to do after being cured?”
“I haven’t really thought about it,” she said. “I just want to get rid of my strength. It’s attracted nothing but trouble.”
Their conversation slowed. They played twenty questions and other travel games to pass the time. Jando survived his neighbor’s monologue long enough to earn some sleep, since the old man succumbed to a nap shortly before he did.
The bus arrived at the station soon after sunset, and the trio boarded the bus for Colorado. Aidan fell asleep almost immediately. The new bus was less crowded than the previous one, so Lydia had a seat all to herself. But she couldn’t fall asleep, no matter how hard she tried. Fretting over her parents and what action to take should’ve drained her. Yet Lydia was wide awake, incessantly tapping her foot, and searching for anything to occupy her thoughts.
She glanced over at Jando. He wasn’t asleep either. After several minutes of looking at him, then elsewhere, then back at Jando, she took the seat beside him. She hoped his presence would calm her nerves. The closer they neared Golden Springs, the more anxious she became. The bus was already well into Colorado and would arrive in the city by early morning. We should reach it. We should make it in time. But what if the bus suffered a flat tire? What if they had to change buses unexpectedly? Then what if there was a long delay? What about when they got to the city? The kidnappers had given no indication where they would be holed up.
“You okay?” Jando asked.
“Yeah, yeah, fine.” She nodded. “Never better. How you doing?”
“Alright.”
Calm down, calm down. There would be some way to find her parents. There had to be. Things would work out. Everything would work out.
“Fine. It was nothing serious,” Jando said. She looked at him. He was staring up at the ceiling. “Embezzlement, alright? That’s all. Feel better now? Is that enough?”
“What are you talking about?” Lydia asked.
“My dad,” he said. “You’re worried about that, right?”
“Why would I be worried about that?”
He shrugged. “I don’t know. Like father, like son, I guess? You kept staring at me, after all.”
“Actually, your dad and his financial problems never crossed my mind,” Lydia said. She raised an eyebrow. “Should they have?”
“No,” he said, chuckling. “I guess not.”
“Good, because I’m pretty much broke anyway,” she said.
He laughed and tapped his fingers on his armrest. “Don’t tell anyone. Least of all, Aidan.”
“My lips are sealed,” she said. Lydia turned to look out the window. She chewed her lip and twiddled her thumbs. She wished the driver would speed up.
Jando reached out and stopped her fidgeting fingers. She turned to tell him off, but he said, “Don’t worry so much.” She nodded and watched the dark shadows of trees zoom past.