Sarah laughed. “What? You are? How’d I not know that?”
“My parents weren’t the most religious people on the block.”
“Excuse me?” Bryson interrupted. “Can I finish?”
Sarah laughed again, and Michael’s heart felt just a little lighter. He hadn’t realized how great that sound was and how much he’d missed it.
Bryson kept up his riveting tale. “Anyway, on that lonely, cold, wintry day, Bryson the Dope came up with his genius plan. I thought that if I opened up all the presents, and then—wait for it—then if I hid the paper, my mom wouldn’t be able to tell that I’d done the deed. So I ripped the wrapping off each and every one of those presents—even my brothers’ and sister’s. For about twenty minutes I was the happiest kid that had ever breathed. After I stuffed all the paper behind the dryer, I took the unwrapped presents and, like a genius, put them back under the tree. Then I sat on the couch and looked at a book until my mom came down from her nap. I was sure she wouldn’t see a difference.”
He paused to let his moment of glory sink in.
“Wow,” Sarah whispered. “That is some kind of dumb.”
“So what happened?”
“Shockingly,” Bryson answered, “my mom immediately figured out what I’d done. She saved the paper from behind the dryer before it caught fire and burned our house down, and then she rewrapped the presents before my brothers and sister got home from school. All was well.”
“What did she do to you?” Sarah asked. “I’m sure half of her wanted to laugh and the other half wanted to murder her own child.”
Michael snickered, just enjoying the fact that they were acting like old times.
“I think my mom was really smart about it,” Bryson explained. “She knew I realized what a historically stupid thing I’d done. And my embarrassment and having to live with it for the rest of my life was punishment enough, although I’m sure she was raging mad on the inside. She tells that story to everybody.”
“Well,” Michael said, “I gotta say, that’s one of the best stories I’ve ever heard. I feel smarter and much better about myself.”
“You should,” Bryson replied. “Okay, who’s next?”
“I’ll go now,” Sarah said. “I’ll tell you guys about the time I tinkled on my aunt.”
5
Ten minutes later, Michael had the giggles and there was nothing to be done about it. Gerard certainly didn’t notice, sawing logs like a lumberjack over on his cot, but Nancy shushed them several times and told Sarah it was time to go to bed. Sarah promised that she would soon.
“There’s no way that happened,” Bryson said.
Sarah was adamant. “Yes, it did! I swear. She was sleeping on my grandma’s couch and I had a sleepwalking…issue. You can ask my parents when they aren’t stone dead over there.”
“But the physics of it,” Bryson countered. “I mean, how’d you balance?”
This set Michael off again, his face and chest hurting from laughing so much. He hadn’t felt this way since before Kaine had started haunting his life.
“I think we’ve dwelled on this subject long enough,” Sarah said. “It’s Michael’s turn.” She shifted against his cot, and the faint light coming from outside illuminated her eyes. “How’re you going to top those two stories?”
Michael had been leaning on his one elbow for way too long, and it hurt. He pulled up his legs and folded them beneath him, rubbing his shoulder. “I don’t know. Let me think a second.”
Silence settled on the friends, and Michael realized how long they’d been talking and laughing. There was an awkwardness in that silence, and Michael knew exactly why.
“It’s weird to think back,” he said. “I mean, I don’t even know what’s really a memory. Who knows if a lot of it wasn’t just programmed into my history?”
“Forget that crap,” Bryson said. “Your life is your life. Now tell us a good one before I fall asleep over here.”
Michael wrapped his arms around his knees, still thinking.
Finally, after a good several minutes, he announced, “Got it! The time my dad almost killed me with a rock.”
6
It was weird, telling the story. Since finding out that he was a Tangent, it had gotten to the point that he couldn’t trust even things most people took for granted. What his eyes saw. What his fingers felt. What he tasted, what he breathed, what he smelled. How could he ever know if any of it was real? Or ever had been?
But as he sat there on that cot in the darkness, the sounds of Gerard’s snores like a sound track in the background, he remembered. He remembered his life as a little boy, and nothing could ever take that away from him.
“My dad loved camping,” he said. “Loved it. Especially since we lived in the smoggy city. About once every other month, he’d gather up a bunch of gear, run around the house like a giddy little kid, then haul us into a truck, even Helga. Always Helga. She was as much a part of our family as any of us.”
“Where’d you usually go?” Sarah asked.
“Somewhere along the Appalachian Trail, up in the mountains, as remote a place as he could find. Sometimes we’d drive for hours and hours. It was before I was allowed to Sink into the Sleep, so I loved it just as much as my dad. It was an adventure.”
He paused, picturing it all in his mind. “I can smell the campfire—that was always the best part. The crackles and the popping and the glowing coals. My mom didn’t enjoy roughing it too much, but she endured it because I think she could see how happy it made me. And my dad, obviously. And Helga totally got into it. She was like a forest ranger out there, barking orders and gathering way more wood than we’d ever use. But also making sure we didn’t burn the forest down around us.”
“She’s tough,” Sarah whispered. Michael could hear the smile in her voice.
“So this one time,” Michael continued, “I think I thought I was an Eagle Scout or something, because I decided to go on my very own hike—I didn’t even tell anyone I was leaving. I marched down one mountain and up the next—they were more like hills, actually. They weren’t that tall. I don’t know what I was thinking. Maybe that I’d discover some ancient burial ground or a handful of arrowheads, who knows. I was an idiot, like Bryson, I guess.”
“Good company,” his friend answered dryly.
Michael barely heard him, lost in that old, old memory. “Anyway, of course I got turned around. I didn’t have a clue where I was. I tried retracing my steps, but I’m pretty sure I was just going in circles, up and down the exact same mountain.”
“Yikes,” Sarah said. “How old were you?”
“Nine or ten. I was scared out of my mind because it started getting dark. I called for my parents and Helga, but they didn’t hear me. I was terrified—I remember I started crying and I got more and more hysterical. Finally, I was in some little valley, and I just…I don’t know. I didn’t exactly pray, but I tried to reach out to my dad. Begging him in my head to come and find me.”
Michael shifted again to lean back on his elbows, stretching his legs out in front of him. Sarah rested her arm across his knees and looked up at him. Her eyes were hidden in the dark, but he was happy she was facing his way.
“It wasn’t two or three minutes later when a huge boulder came crashing down the mountain from straight above where I stood. I heard it before I saw it, snapping trees and crunching undergrowth. I looked up just in time to see it come barreling through a couple of pines, on a dead-on course for me. The thing only missed me by an inch after I dove out of the way. It totally smashed a tree to pieces.”
Bryson and Sarah didn’t move and he could barely hear them breathe.
“Well,” he said, “I figured maybe it was a sign, so I followed its path back up the mountain. It was easy because it’d practically made its own road down the hillside. And I’m guessing you already know what it led me to.”
“Your family,” Sarah replied.
“Yep. I saw my dad first, and as soon as he laid eye
s on me, he sprinted over—he had to jump over a couple of logs—and pulled me into a huge bear hug. I can remember my back cracking ’cause he squeezed so hard. And I’m pretty sure I squeezed just as hard. Then my mom and Helga were there, all of us boohooing and hugging and laughing. It was crazy, and I’ll never forget it. Especially one thing.”
“What’s that?” Bryson asked.
“My dad. He was crying, eyes all red and puffy. Not once did he say one little thing about me wandering off and getting lost. Not once. I’m sure he figured I’d learned my lesson well enough. Looks like you weren’t the only stupid kid in history, Bryson.”
Sarah wiped at her face, and Michael thought maybe—just maybe—he’d brought a tear to her eye.
“That’s really sweet,” she said. “I can’t believe you’ve never told us that before.”
Michael shrugged even though they probably couldn’t see him well enough to notice. “It’s just…I don’t know. I’ve got lots of memories like that. I mean, what’s real and what’s not? I guess I just have to decide that it happened. I miss…”
His voice croaked, and he felt like a weight was pushing down on his chest. He lay back down on the cot and rolled over, facing away from Sarah. She rubbed his shoulder, then leaned over and kissed him on the cheek. Miraculously, Bryson didn’t say a word. Sarah waited a minute or two, running her hand along his back, then got up and returned to her own cot.
“Good night,” she said from across the room.
“Sleep tight,” Bryson replied.
“Night,” Michael managed to say.
“I love you guys,” Sarah said a moment later, and the night finally took them.
CHAPTER 6
THE HISTORY LESSON
1
The next morning when Michael got up and wandered out of Helga’s office, activity bustled throughout the barracks. The Tangent Alliance was hard at work packing up boxes and hauling them out to the cars.
Michael rubbed his still sleep-blurry eyes and looked around at all the movement.
“What’s going on?” he asked Bryson, who was leaning against the wall, sipping a cup of something hot and steamy.
“Helga says some of us are leaving,” his friend answered. “And some will stay here—use the Coffins to meet up when we need to.”
“Which one are we doing?”
“We’re going with Helga. You, me, Walter, and a couple others.” Bryson tipped his cup toward Walter, who was speaking to the woman named Amy. “I guess they want to try and meet with someone from the VNS.”
“What? No,” Michael said, wide-awake in an instant. “They’re the last people we want to talk to right now. We can’t trust them.”
“Yeah, well, I won’t argue with you there. Though Helga said we’d stay away from Agent Weber. Anyway, she said once you woke up, we’d Sink into the Sleep and she’d try to catch us up on what we’ve missed. She wants to head out around noon.”
Michael didn’t like it. He’d do what Helga wanted—except for agreeing to see Weber or visit the VNS.
“And get this,” Bryson continued. “Sarah’s parents are refusing to let her go. They said their adventuring days are over. Sarah’s been fighting with them all morning. I think they took it outside.”
Helga came through the front door before Michael could respond. Her eyes lit up when she spotted them, and she came over.
“Morning, sunshine,” she said, without a hint of teasing. “I hope you got some good rest. Why don’t you eat breakfast and then I want to show you some things in the Sleep. Bring you up to speed before we make any final decisions on our next move.”
“I’m not hungry,” Michael said. “Let’s do it now.”
Helga nodded. “Fine by me. Grab Sarah. Her parents already know most of it. And I’m sure she could use a break from them.” Her eyes said it all. They must’ve been having a tussle for the ages outside.
“I’ll find her,” Michael said. “Get the Coffins ready.”
2
Sarah was alone, with no sign of her parents, leaning against a tree behind the barracks when Michael found her, and she’d obviously been crying. She deflated a little when she saw him approaching—almost as if she was ashamed to be caught in such a state.
“Hey,” he said, flashing her an understanding smile. “Are you being a rotten child again? Didn’t anyone ever teach you to honor and obey your parents at all times?”
“You know I love them, Michael.” She sounded tired. “But it’s hard to deal with this stuff with them around. I’m still their little girl, and there’s no way they can just sit back and let me do what I need to.”
“It’s like they don’t want you to run off and get killed or something,” Michael said.
“Hey, whose side are you on?”
“Sorry.” He stepped closer and gave her a hug. “We’ll figure it out, okay? Maybe we can talk them into coming with us. Helga needs us for whatever she has planned, and we definitely could use all the help we can get to find our way back to the Hallowed Ravine. And there’s no way I’m doing it without you.”
She sighed. “It was easier when we were in the Sleep, or—” She stopped herself, and Michael knew exactly what she’d been about to say. It had been easier when her parents were kidnapped, being held against their will, and unable to stop her from doing anything.
“Come on,” he said. “First things first. Let’s go see what Helga wants to show us, and then we’ll try again. I’m not leaving without you.”
She pulled him into a fierce hug and kissed him on the cheek. Her lips were as moist as her tears.
“This all confuses me so much,” she whispered. “Your life as a Tangent, your life in this body, all the weird crap that’s going on. I honestly don’t know what you are, but I know who you are. And I love you, Michael. I really do. Roll your eyes all you want, but whatever you are”—she grabbed both sides of his face and shook him gently—“I’m in love with him.”
Michael’s feelings swam a million miles above the ground, leaving him completely speechless. He just nodded and kissed her, kissed her all the way, with everything he had, something he’d never done before. His heart swelled and the world spun.
She pulled back and looked at him, fresh tears brightening her eyes, but this time she looked happy.
“I’m not letting you leave without me,” she said. “Come on, let’s go inside before my mom catches us and has a hissy fit.”
3
A half hour later, still buzzing from that kiss, Michael Sank into the Sleep with his friends, Helga as their guide. When he opened his eyes, the four of them stood on a flat plane of crystal-clear glass that stretched as far as he could see in every direction. The sky above was a crisp midnight-blue, and it felt to Michael as if they were right below the highest reaches of the atmosphere. Beneath their feet, geometric shapes of white light spun and shrank and grew, bouncing off each other against a dark background. Michael stared, mesmerized—it was like standing inside an enormous kaleidoscope.
“Welcome to the wild blue yonder,” Helga said, stretching out her arms proudly. “My own little bit of heaven.”
“It’s real inviting,” Bryson muttered sarcastically as he looked around for somewhere to sit.
“This is just the basic interface,” Helga replied, not hiding her annoyance at Bryson’s smart comment. “Pretty much anything can happen from here. It’s my equivalent of the old entertainment centers people used to pay for in the public VirtNet houses.”
Michael felt a little sway of vertigo whenever he looked up or down, so he concentrated on Helga’s face while she spoke. Still, those swirling shapes beneath his feet created a sense of movement that made his stomach turn.
“So how does it work?” Sarah asked. “And why are we here?” Her Aura heavily resembled her real self, and her face showed that the question of what to do about her parents still weighed heavily on her mind.
Helga gathered them around her and pointed at the glass on which they stood. “Everyt
hing in this place is directly connected to my thought process, which took a long time to fine-tune. Under better circumstances, we could have a lot of fun in here, and I’d love to show it off, but for now, I just want to show you some of the things you’ve missed.”
She looked down and focused on a large rectangle of bright light, pulling it closer to the surface. It stretched until it surrounded the group of four, and when Helga tapped her foot, a moving picture appeared within the rectangle, like a WallScreen. It was an aerial view of Atlanta, and suddenly the picture was moving—zooming in closer to the city. Michael’s stomach lurched and Bryson yelped, throwing his arms out and staggering to get his balance.
Michael looked up at Helga and caught a sly smile on her face just as she spread her fingers, then threw her arms into the air. The motion brought the images up and out of the surface beneath their feet, and sent those images flying into a perfect three-dimensional rendition of the city of Atlanta around them. It was all Michael could do to keep his eyes open; the transition was so dramatic it was almost too hard to watch.
Helga, using her whole body like a remote, moved like a dancer to manipulate the imagery around them. A twirl of her fingers to spin the orientation of the city, the sweep of an arm to shift them down streets in an instant, leaning left or right to steer them. They traveled without any sensation of motion—a trick that took Michael a bit of time to get used to. Finally, though, his queasiness dissipated, and he could appreciate the incredible detail of what he was seeing. Beyond impressed, he couldn’t help but wonder, had his nanny been a closet programmer the whole time he’d known her?
Helga swept the group around a huge skyscraper, and suddenly the building to which Agent Weber had sent them with the Lance came into view. Or the remains of that building, anyway. What they saw was the aftermath of the destruction they were responsible for. Most of the structure had collapsed, and thick black smoke poured from its ruins. Crowds had gathered to witness the devastation, and police, firemen, and medical teams surrounded the perimeter.