“Taylor, can you reboot him?” I asked.
“I’ll try. Ian, where is he?”
Ian pointed left of the door. “Straight through there.”
Taylor put her head up against the wall and concentrated.
“It worked,” Ian said. “He put the phone down.”
“What’s he doing now?”
“He looks like he’s thinking.”
I tried the doorknob. “It’s locked.”
Ian examined the door. “Dead bolted and chained.”
Zeus said, “Ring the doorbell and when he opens we’ll shock him.”
“There’s a peephole,” Taylor said. “He won’t open the door with all of us standing here.”
“He’s dialing again,” Ian said.
Taylor focused again.
“Got him,” Ian said.
“You’re right,” I said to Taylor. “But if it’s just you standing here, he’ll open. Everyone against the wall.”
Taylor looked at me. “What am I supposed to say when he answers?”
“You’ll think of something. Just get him to open the door.” I looked back. “Everyone ready?”
Jack nodded. “Bring it on.”
I rang the doorbell.
A few seconds later, Ian said, “He’s coming. He’s got a gun.”
Taylor looked at me fearfully.
“Is he holding it?” I asked.
“No,” Ian said. “It’s in his holster.”
The peephole darkened. Then a gruff voice asked, “Who is it?”
We all looked at Taylor.
“Uh, good afternoon. I’m selling Girl Scout Cookies.”
“Girl Scout Cookies?” I mouthed. Taylor shrugged.
“Not interested,” the man said.
“He’s leaving,” Ian said.
Just then the door across the hall from us opened. An old man wearing a brown terry cloth robe scowled at us. “What are you kids up to?”
Before I could answer, Zeus zapped him. The man dropped to the ground like a bowling ball.
“You didn’t have to shock him,” Taylor said.
“What was I supposed to do?” Zeus said.
I put my ear to the man’s chest to make sure he was okay. “His heart’s still beating. Jack, help me get him back inside.”
We dragged the man into his apartment, then shut the door behind us.
“The dude’s back at the window,” Ian said.
“Got him,” Taylor said, rebooting him. She turned to me. “Let’s try again. I think I’ve got something better this time.”
I rang the doorbell.
“He’s coming,” Ian said.
We all leaned back against the wall.
“You’re gulping,” Taylor said to me.
“Sorry,” I whispered.
“Who’s there?” the man asked.
“Hatch sent me,” Taylor said coolly.
“Who?”
“Hatch.”
There was a slight pause, then the man began sliding the dead bolt. Jack leaned forward, ready to charge the door.
Suddenly the man stopped. “You’re not supposed to use that name,” he said. “How do I know you’re with Hatch?”
Taylor swallowed. “How else would I know where you were?”
“What’s the password?”
“The password?” Taylor said. She looked at me.
“Taylor,” Ian whispered. “He’s touching the doorknob.”
“Oh,” she said slowly, “the password.” She grabbed the doorknob and concentrated. “It’s . . . it’s . . . Idaho.”
There was a short, silent pause, then the man said, “All right.” He finished unlocking the dead bolt. As he started to open the door, Jack rushed against it, knocking the man backward. The guy reached for his gun, but Zeus zapped him. The shock knocked Jack down as well.
“Man,” Jack said, climbing to his knees. “Watch where you point that thing.”
“Sorry,” Zeus said.
We all scrambled inside, locking the door behind us. I knelt down next to the man. He was tall with a black mustache and beard. “Taylor, come see what they’re up to.”
Taylor crouched down next to me, put her hands on the man’s temples, then closed her eyes. After a moment she said, “He’s just the lookout. There are six Elgen guards waiting for us in one of the apartments across the street.”
“Which apartment?”
“Just a minute.” She touched him again. “One-seventeen.”
“Are you sure?”
She nodded.
“That’s not good,” I said.
“What’s wrong with one-seventeen?” Zeus asked.
“That’s Ostin’s place.”
“What do we do with him?” Taylor asked, looking down at the guard. “We can’t just leave him here. If he wakes up he’ll warn the others.”
I took his cell phone and pulsed. The phone lit up, then burned out, a wisp of smoke rising from its keypad. “He won’t be using that again,” I said, tossing the phone aside.
“He can still come after us,” Ian said.
“We’ll tie him up,” I said. “Taylor, see if you can find some rope or something.”
“Ian,” Taylor said. “Help me look.”
“Always using the blind guy to find your stuff,” Ian said.
I stayed close to the man, prepared to pulse if he suddenly roused. A couple of minutes later Taylor and Ian returned.
“Found something,” Taylor said, holding up a roll of silver duct tape. “Who wants it?”
“I’ll do it,” Jack said, kneeling down next to me. Taylor tossed him the tape, and Jack rolled the man over onto his stomach, then pulled his arms around to his back. “Hey, Zeus, make yourself useful and hold his arms.”
Zeus pinned the guy’s arms to his back while Jack wound the tape around his wrists and hands until they were cocooned. When he had finished, Jack looked at me and grinned. “He’s not getting out of that.”
“What about his legs?” I asked.
“That’s next. Lift ’em, Zeus.”
Zeus lifted the man’s legs as Jack wrapped the tape around them.
“Save some for his mouth,” Taylor said.
“I have plenty for his mouth,” Jack said. He wrapped the last of the tape around the man’s head, covering his mouth and eyes.
“Don’t cover his nose,” Taylor said. “He’ll suffocate.”
“I wasn’t going to,” Jack said.
I looked at the man. “No way he’s getting out of that.”
“My brothers did that to me once,” Taylor said.
“Did what?” I asked.
“Wrapped me up in duct tape like a mummy. I was only seven. When they were done they went out to play and forgot about me for like four hours. They only remembered me when my mom asked them at dinner if they knew where I was. She was furious when she found me. They got grounded for two weeks.”
“I would have shocked them silly,” Zeus said.
“I wish I had known how to reboot people back then,” Taylor said. “I was just figuring things out.”
“Michael!” Ian said. “Ostin’s walking to his apartment.”
“What a time to get brave,” I said. “Taylor, can you stop him?”
“All the way across the street?”
“Just try,” I said.
She closed her eyes.
“Nothing,” Ian said.
“It’s too far,” Taylor said.
“You need to eat more bananas,” Zeus said. “The potassium in them will strengthen your powers.”
“Come on,” I said. “We’ve got to stop him.”
“What about the old man across the hall?” Taylor asked.
“We’ll be long gone before he wakes up. Maybe he’ll think he dreamed it.”
* * *
We raced out of the building and across the street. When we entered my apartment building Ostin was still standing in front of his apartment door, getting up the nerve to walk inside. He slowl
y reached for the handle.
“Ostin!”
He turned and looked at me. “What?”
Taylor put her finger over her lips. “Shhh.”
I motioned him over.
He looked at us quizzically, then walked toward us. “What?”
Taylor shushed him again. I pushed him into my apartment, and everyone else followed.
When we were inside, Ostin asked, “What are you doing?”
“We’re saving you,” Jack said.
“From my parents?”
“No,” I said. “There are six guards in your apartment.”
“With my parents?”
Ian shook his head. “They’re not there. Not unless they’re dressed like Elgen guards.”
Ostin turned pale. “They took my mom and dad?”
“We don’t know that,” I said. “But we’ve got to get out of here before the guards find out we’re here. Ian, what are they doing?”
“Four of them are watching television. One’s in the bathroom. The other’s reading.”
“Is anyone near the front window?”
“The guy with the magazine is.”
“Then we better go out the back.”
“Wade and I will get the cars and drive them around back,” Jack said. “C’mon, Wade.” He opened the window and climbed out.
“We can’t just leave my parents,” Ostin said.
“Your parents aren’t here,” Ian said.
“Then we need to find out where they are!”
“How?” Zeus asked.
For the first time that I could remember, Ostin didn’t have an answer. “Well, they’ll know.”
“The guards?” Taylor said. “Sure, let’s go ask them. They’ll be happy to tell us.”
Ostin looked down.
I put my hand on his shoulder. “If the Elgen took them, we’ll find them. But if we get caught . . .”
“I know,” he said.
A moment later the cars arrived around back. Zeus and the four girls climbed out the window, followed by Ian and Ostin. After everyone was gone I looked around my apartment. In the excitement of our return I hadn’t let the emotion of being back home sink in. Over the last few weeks I had honestly wondered if I’d ever see my home again. But now that I was back, it didn’t feel like home. Not without my mom.
I picked up a framed photograph of the two of us from the hutch next to the kitchen counter—a picture of us on the Splash Mountain ride at Disneyland. We had gotten soaked, and my mother had bought me a new T-shirt to wear. I still had the shirt even though it didn’t fit anymore. My mother had sacrificed a lot for us to go on that trip. It was less than a year after my father died, and I think she was trying to make me feel okay again. She was always worried about me. I had no doubt that even now she still was.
Would our lives ever be normal again—the way they were before I knew about Hatch and Glows and the Elgen? After what we’d been through it was hard to imagine sitting at the kitchen table while my mother made waffles and talked about normal things like school and movies: the things other people talked about.
Ostin interrupted my thoughts, leaning in through the window. “Michael. We have to go. Everyone’s waiting.”
“Sorry.” I slid the photograph from the frame, folded it into my front pocket, then climbed out the window, pulling it shut behind me.
Ostin was still standing there. He looked scared.
“You okay?” I asked.
“They took my parents.”
I put my hand on his shoulder. “If they did, we’ll find them. I promise. Everything will be okay.”
I didn’t really know if what I’d said was true, but just saying the words helped me believe they might come true. We checked to make sure no one was watching, then ran to Jack’s car.
“Any idea where to go?” I asked Jack as I slammed the car door.
“We can go to my place,” he said.
Jack’s house sounded as good a place to hide as any—especially since I couldn’t think of anywhere else. “Great,” I said. “Your place.”
“Don’t mind my old man,” he said. “He drinks sometimes.” He rolled down his car’s window, then pounded on his door to get Wade’s attention. “We’re going to my house.”
“Got it,” Wade said.
Jack drove around to the front of the building, waited for a car to pass, then pulled out into the street with Wade following closely behind.
* * *
Jack lived on the other side of Meridian High School, about two miles from my apartment. The last time I’d been to his house was when I had gone to ask him for a ride to Pasadena. I wondered how many times since then he’d regretted saying yes.
As we pulled down the road to his house, Jack suddenly shouted, “No!”
It took me a moment to understand what was wrong. But when I saw it, my heart froze. Jack’s house had burned to the ground.
Jack hit the gas and sped down the street, slamming on the brakes in front of what was left of the house. He pulled his parking brake and jumped out.
At first, none of us said anything. Then Taylor said softly, “Do you think it was an accident?”
I put a hand on my face to stop my jaw from ticking. “No.”
“It’s no accident,” Zeus said. “The Elgen love fires. It hides their tracks.”
I got out of the car and walked to Jack’s side. His hands were balled up in fists and his face was tight and angry. All that was left of his house were the concrete sidewalk and foundation. Even the cars in the yard had been torched. The area was cordoned off with yellow caution tape.
“I’m sure your dad got out,” I said.
Jack thrust his hands deep into his pockets. “Unless he was drunk. Like he usually is.”
I didn’t know what to say, so finally I just settled on “I’m so sorry.” My words sounded ridiculously inadequate. “This is my fault.”
“Did you set fire to my house?” Jack asked.
“No. I just never should have gotten you involved.”
“I made my choices,” Jack said. “I’ll stand by them.” He turned to me. “It’s not your fault; it’s Hatch’s. And he’s gonna pay.”
* * *
We stood there for another minute or so without speaking, the only sound was the whisper of a late afternoon breeze. Then I turned and walked back to the car. As I climbed in I looked back at Taylor. She was clearly frightened.
“Is he okay?” she asked.
I shook my head.
Jack returned a few minutes later. After he’d shut the door Zeus said, “Sorry, man.”
Jack just grunted.
Then Taylor said, “I need to go home.”
I turned to her. “If they were watching my place, Ostin’s, and Jack’s, you can bet they’re going to be watching yours, too.”
“I don’t care!” she said. “I need to see my house.”
“Taylor, think about it. If they capture us, your parents won’t have a chance. The best thing we can do for them is be careful.”
She turned away from me angrily.
“I’m sorry,” I said.
After a moment she replied, “I know.”
Jack started the car. Then he said, “We can drive by and see if Taylor’s house is okay. If everyone stays down, they probably won’t know it’s us.”
Taylor thought about this, then said, “Okay.”
“Then we can go to my sister’s place,” he said. “She has a tanning salon about a mile and a half from here. She’ll let us hide out.” Then he said in a softer voice, “Maybe she’ll know what happened to my dad.” He looked back. “Any objections?”
Going by Taylor’s house was risky, but she was so upset I couldn’t bring myself to say no. “Let’s go,” I said.
Jack pulled his car around until his and Wade’s windows were adjacent to each other. “Head over to my sister’s tanning salon, we’ll meet you there.”
“Where are you going?” Wade asked. He looked as shocked as we d
id.
“It doesn’t matter,” Jack said. “Just go.”
“Shouldn’t we stick together?”
“No,” Jack said, and rolled up his window. He turned back to Taylor. “Where do you live?”
“Behind the school,” she said.
Taylor lived only a few minutes away, and none of us said a word the whole way over. As Ostin liked to say, the tension was as thick as good bacon. I knew Taylor was afraid of what she might find. What if her house was burned down too?
Jack turned onto her street, driving a little below the speed limit to avoid drawing attention to us. Ostin and I crouched down in the back, though I could still see out. I breathed a sigh of relief when I saw Taylor’s house. Everything looked normal, though I noticed a white van with tinted windows parked at the end of the street. Taylor stared silently as we drove by.
After we had passed, Taylor said, “I think I saw my mom.” There was longing in her voice. And pain. But at least she wasn’t so afraid anymore.
“Seen enough?” Jack asked.
“Yes,” Taylor said softly. “Thank you.”
He picked up speed and headed off to his sister’s tanning salon.
There are people in this world you don’t really picture as having a sister, like, for instance, Hitler. (However, Ostin told me that Hitler did have a sister, named Paula.) Jack was one of those people. I wondered what Jack’s sister would be like and how she’d respond to us all showing up at her tanning salon. I remembered what Jack had said about her on our way to California—that she didn’t really associate with the rest of his family anymore. Maybe she’d throw us out. Where would we go then? And what if Jack’s father was dead?
We drove to a small strip mall and pulled into the parking space next to Wade. The sign on the building in front of us read:
BRONZE IDAHO TANNING SALON
A red-and-blue neon sign in the salon’s front window flashed OPEN.
Wade started getting out of the van, but Jack stopped him. “You guys better stay here for a minute. I need to make sure my sister’s cool.”
“Okay,” Wade said. “We’ll keep watch.”
The rest of us followed Jack through the front door. The salon’s lobby was decorated in a Hawaiian motif, with amateurishly painted palm trees and hula girls on the walls and thatch covering the front counter.
The woman standing at the front desk looked up as we entered. She was a female version of Jack, though she was much smaller, maybe only an inch taller than Taylor. She had long, blond hair accented with a violet streak, and a nose ring and multiple ear piercings. Not surprisingly, she was very tan.