Alight The Peril (13 page)

“Well, that was . . .” Ang trailed off.

“Lame?” Sophie finished for her.

I stiffened.

“Pretty anticlimactic,” Mason said, and I realized that was what Sophie meant by “lame.”

“Yeah.” I frowned at the screen. “Oh well. I guess you should make your profiles so you can get into the other boards.”

They started passing my laptop around.

“What do you think she meant by ‘we certainly need you’?” Mason asked as he handed my laptop to Ang.

“I’m not sure.” Aunt Dorothy had said the Perth convergence would be most vulnerable at their winter solstice. Maybe it was something to do with trouble there. “But because of the distance, it seems like there’s only one way we could help any of them.”

“The hypercosmic realm,” Mason said.

I nodded. “Yep.”

Sophie raised her arms, palms out. “Hold up, people. What are you talking about?”

“There’s no way we could physically help any of them where they are because they’re just too far away. But through the dream world, we can connect with them and distance is no barrier.” Mason paused and looked at me. “So we’re thinking whatever they need us for might involve meeting up with them that way.”

“Aunt Dorothy won’t like that at all,” I said. “In fact, I don’t think we can tell her. She already made it pretty clear I wasn’t to contact Zane again. She thinks it’s dangerous.”

Mason frowned at the floor and bit his bottom lip, and I wondered if he agreed with my great-aunt. “Seems like the other unions interact plenty, though.”

“Yeah, I know. I love her and Mr. Sykes, but I think they’re just kind of out of touch.” I gestured to my laptop. “I mean, they knew nothing about this website. And, obviously, the other unions don’t think it’s dangerous to be in contact. I can’t help thinking the other unions either know a lot more than we do, or they’ve taken the right precautions, or both.”

“Or maybe Aunt Dorothy and Mr. S know something the other unions don’t,” Ang piped up. “If Tapestry Lake has been isolated from the others all these years, maybe something happened here that taught them isolation was the best choice.”

“Could be,” I said. “But then why wouldn’t she just tell me?”

“Who knows,” Mason said. “I’ll ask Mr. S about it when I get the chance.”

Sophie and Mason took off not long after, and Ang curled up on the end of my bed with her phone for a texting marathon with Toby. I sat back against the pillows at the head of my bed and logged onto the Pyxis message board. I spent a few minutes scanning the most recent discussions, trying to figure out who was who. We’d already established that Felicia was the Perth Pyxis, and I figured that Pamela was the Britain Pyxis. That left Ione, the Rome Pyxis.

I scrolled down the page until I came to a discussion titled “False Pyxis (TLC).” Felicia had started the discussion, reporting Zane’s encounter with me and Harriet. Scanning through the discussion, I realized that none of them had firsthand experience with a false Pyxis. The last anyone knew about was two generations ago at the Rome convergence. Ione’s was the last post in the message string, where she promised to speak with her aunt, who had been the Rome Pyxis before her.

I hit “Reply” at the bottom of the message string and started typing.

Thank you so much for helping me with this. It has me more than a little nervous. I don’t know much about the woman, the false Pyxis. Her name is Harriet Jensen, and she’s a distant relative. My great-aunt, who was a Guardian in the last TL union, said I need to watch over the rest of my union because Harriet will try to take them for her own. But to be honest, I don’t know how to protect them. Zane said she’s not as strong as I am, but she managed to influence me within an inch of my life. Granted, she had the element of surprise, but if he hadn’t come along, I don’t know what would have happened to me. I’m just very worried about my friends, about what would happen if Harriet caught me again and then went after the rest of my union. Is there anything I can research or help with?

I paused, the pressure of tears beginning to build behind my eyes. I wasn’t sure why sudden emotion coursed through me.

I finished my message.
Thank you. I can’t tell you how happy I am to find you.

“Everything okay?” Ang asked. She examined my face, her eyes soft.

“Yeah,” I said, and I swiped at a tear running down my cheek. “I’m just so glad we’re not alone. I’m not the only Pyxis in the universe. I’m relieved our union is complete. Even if it includes Sophie.”

Ang chuckled, and I grinned.

“I think she’s going to work out okay. Really seemed like she came around, don’t you think?” Ang said.

I wasn’t quite as convinced as Ang, but I was trying to give Sophie a chance to show her dedication. “Yeah, today was good. I hope you’re right.”

|| 14 ||

A COUPLE OF DAYS LATER, I came home from the café and collapsed face-down across my bed. I’d started to envy the girls who traipsed into the coffee shop, laughing with their friends, posing and hair-flipping in case any guys were watching, and sipping their lattes. Oblivious to the world they couldn’t see, the threats they knew nothing about. Worrying about things like whether they’d get cars before junior year, and which bathing suit they’d sport at the lake this summer. Sure, some of them had troubles a little more serious than that, but I was pretty sure none of them were learning to fight forces of evil in their spare time. And all the while, I had to stand there, ring up their orders, and act like I was just like them. It was exhausting.

I reached over the side of the bed, groped for the edge of the coverlet, and pulled it over my legs. Within seconds, I was out.

Later, I woke slowly, surfacing from sleep like a bubble rising from deep water. Something had disturbed me, but now I wasn’t sure what. A noise?

I sat up and listened. Maybe Brad or Mom had slammed a door. I threw back the coverlet and peeked across the dim basement. Still nothing.

My pulse tapped an uneasy rhythm as I climbed the stairs, glanced into the empty kitchen, and listened for movement.

“Anybody home?” I called down the hallway to my parents’ and Bradley’s rooms.

Frowning, I turned in a half circle. The sensation that something was missing pressed against my brain. It reminded me of walking outside after a loud concert, the sudden absence of noise almost like a physical pressure against my eardrums. Itchy irritation welled deep in my head, like a poison ivy rash. I ran my hands through my hair, unsure what to do next, and wished I could jam bamboo skewers into my ears to scratch that horrible brain-itch.

Then it hit me—the feeling of absence was in my mind.

Mason?
I reached out through our link and tried not to sound panicked. After all, I couldn’t even say what, if anything, was wrong.
Are you okay?

Yeah, fine. What’s wrong?

Hold on a sec.

I switched to my link with Angeline.
Hey, are you okay?

Just finished dinner
, she answered.
What’s up?

Fear began to clutch at my stomach. It was Sophie. She was gone from my head.

Sophie
, I nearly yelled aloud as I tried to connect with her. But she wasn’t there. I raced down the stairs to my room, snatched my phone, and called her number with trembling hands. No answer.

Corinne, what’s going on?
Ang asked, worry seeping through our link.

When was the last time you heard from Sophie? I can’t feel her in my head, and she’s not picking up when I call.

Adrenaline and dread coursed through me. I hastily tied my sneakers and grabbed my pink, zip-up hoodie.

Mason! Meet me. We have to find Sophie. She’s gone. From my head, I mean. This is bad, really bad.

She’s gone? Okay, leaving now.

“Meet me” was our code since we were little kids to meet at the end of my street. I stuffed my phone in my pocket and burst out the front door, and then I took off toward Mason’s house at a jog.

Ang, can you go with me and Mason to that run-down building on Main? It’s where Harriet’s shop is. Natural Health something-or-other. I have a feeling she has Sophie there.

Okay, yeah,
Ang answered.
I’ll take my mom’s car and look for you on the way.

Mason and I met at the corner, both of us jogging.

“Main Street,” I said, a little breathless. “Harriet’s shop.”

He nodded, and we turned the corner together, both of us speeding up. When we got to Main, we veered left down the street, crossing an intersection diagonally. I threw a look over my shoulder toward the Rainbow Café, a few blocks in the opposite direction. My dad was in there, probably busy with the dinner crowd. For a moment, I wanted to run into the restaurant and ask for his help, and a pang of longing arrowed through my chest. But I knew we didn’t have time. And what would I say, anyway?

We slowed and then stopped in front of the run-down building that housed Harriet’s natural remedy shop. I stood panting for a second, and then I tried the front door. The dented brass handle rattled, but it didn’t budge.

“Crap, it’s—” I began, but before I could finish, Mason pushed me aside and shuffled backward a couple of feet. Just as I realized what he was doing, he took a quick step toward the door and karate-kicked it under the handle. It burst from its frame, splinters of brittle-looking wood spraying the floor. Before the door even swung all the way around to hit the wall, Mason was through it, taking the stairs two at a time.

When this was all over, I was totally going to make him reenact his Chuck Norris door-busting moment. I raced up the stairs after him.

When we reached the second floor and the door to Harriet’s shop, my heart dropped. Mason was twisting the knob, but the door was locked. Unlike the rickety door downstairs, this one was mostly glass and looked new and very sturdy. No way was Mason busting this one open.

“Oh no,” I panted, trying not to make too much noise. “What do we do with this?”

“I’m going to try something,” Mason whispered, and a wave of heat radiated from him. He placed his palm near the lock and an arc of blue lightening zapped from his fingers into the keyhole. He tried the handle, but the door was still locked.

“Is she in there? Why are you just standing around?” Ang whispered, running up behind us.

“Locked.” I turned to her. “Any ideas about how we can break in?” I cupped my hands against the glass and peered into the dark shop. Rows of glass jars and tincture bottles lined the shelves. When I’d been here before, there was a curtain separating the main part of the shop and a room in the back. Now instead of a curtain, there was a door, and something about that switch made my stomach roll around even faster. Was that a faint line of light around the door?

“I don’t know.” Ang shook her head and looked like she was on the verge of tears. “I hope Sophie’s not hurt.”

Maybe I could do something from the hypercosmic realm. I lowered myself to the floor. “I don’t know if this will work, but I have to do something,” I said. “Don’t try to wake me up unless Harriet comes out here.”

I lay down on the floorboards that were in dire need of some varnish, or at least a good mopping, and closed my eyes. I’d never tried to go anywhere but the cove in my dreams, and I wasn’t even sure if it was possible. Maybe the cove was the only place in the real world that was mirrored in that world. I should have explored more when I had the chance.

But there was no time for that now. I focused on entering the quiet space in my mind that took me to that other world.

My breathing slowed and I sank against the floor. Then a cool breeze hit my face and I bolted awake. Whipping around, I took in a dark, ghost-town version of Main Street. I stood outside the office building I had entered just moments before. Well, it wasn’t the same office building, exactly, but the one that existed in the dream world. Not precisely where I’d aimed—I’d hoped to wake up inside Harriet’s shop—but this could work.

With a creepy sense of déjà vu, I brushed through the busted door and raced up the stairs. Part of me hoped that Mason and Ang would be waiting for me at the top of the stairs, but, of course, they weren’t. I stopped short when I reached the door. Crap. I faced the same obstacle in the dream world as I did in the regular world.

But wait, something was missing. The wooden part of the door stood there as in the physical world, but there gaped a hole where the glass panel had been.

I shrugged and stepped through the frame. The rows of shelves loomed empty here, but at the back of the shop stood the table with the old-fashioned cash register, just like in the waking world.

I tiptoed toward the office door and paused. Dim, flickering light moved at the crack between the door and the floor. Probably a candle. I stepped closer, listening. Was that the shuffling of shoes against the floor? I steadied myself with one hand against the frame and turned my head, my right ear almost touching the door. I held my breath and silently counted to ten, straining to hear anything that would give me a clue about what I’d find on the other side of the door. But the room remained silent.

I stepped back. It looked like a cheap interior door, probably hollow and flimsy. Maybe I could kick it in, Mason-style.

I couldn’t wait any longer. Sophie needed me. I hastily gathered a swirl of white, as much as I could hold. It might not make me immune to Harriet’s influence—the white seemed to work only to erase the influences, not act as a shield against them—but it still seemed better than nothing.

I took three steps back, getting ready to ram the door with my foot. As I started to charge, the knob turned, and a strip of light appeared as the door swung open.

|| 15 ||

HARRIET’S EYES APPEARED. Those haunting, pale green snake eyes.

Panic hit my chest like a punch. I should have been ready for this! Fortunately for me, she looked shocked to see me standing here, which gave me an extra second. I gathered a flow of influences and prepared to fling them at her, when I caught sight of Sophie’s still form stretched on a cot behind her. I tried to simultaneously push the white vortex at Sophie and the swirl of influences at Harriet.