WHAT LIES BEYOND
Chapter 17- Sound
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Breathing in this pain
Resenting all I am
I hear you cry again
Is this my final stand?
Before I go
Before I lose it all
You should know
I hate myself for hurting you
"Summer of Darkness" by Demon Hunter
Resenting all I am
I hear you cry again
Is this my final stand?
Before I go
Before I lose it all
You should know
I hate myself for hurting you
"Summer of Darkness" by Demon Hunter
Day 50
The meeting commenced during the evening, in the dimly lit kitchen on Floor 53. Reeve and Skeet had already arrived when Mira and Kai showed up. Now the four sat at the center island. Skeet and Reeve sat on one side, while Mira and Kai sat across from them, their backs to the compartment wall.
All of them exchanged glances in silence; Mira had no idea whether she should break the ice, or if Reeve or Skeet should. After all, they were the reason this meeting was happening in the first place. It was about their leader; they should start. Thankfully, she didn't have to ponder the decision for long.
Reeve folded his hands in front of him. "How's Adam?"
Mira debated answering him; they hadn't come here to discuss Adam's health, and it wasn't Reeve's business to know. But Reeve didn't seem malicious. He didn't seem genuinely concerned either, but answering the question wouldn't do any harm. And if this was Reeve's attempt at peacemaking, Mira knew she should respect that. "Better than he was." She sighed. "He's improving, just... slowly."
"What's he doing now?"
"When we left him, he was fast asleep." She twirled one lock of hair. "Vanessa?"
"Off on her own. Too busy to notice."
Kai sighed tersely. "Well?" He bunched his fists. "You guys had something to tell us, so tell us. Vanessa? Not entirely honest with us...?"
Mira nodded. "He's right. We should get through this quickly." She faced Skeet. "Skeet, you came to us first. Why don't you start? What's up with Vanessa?"
"Well... like I said, she's been actin' weird," Skeet said, rubbing behind his ear. "Paranoid, anxious, bossier than usual..."
Sounds familiar, Mira thought.
"See, a couple days after we woke up, Vanessa had an epiphany or whatever. She told us she knew people back on earth who could get us outta here. We've been workin' on a way to contact home ever since. I was gonna tell ya the other day, but..." Skeet shrugged. "I got chased off."
So Adam was right about them after all? Mira swallowed; she could feel guilty about ignoring Adam's concerns later, once she had a moment to think. "Have you guys made any progress?" she asked.
Skeet shook his head. "Nah. Vanessa's been doin' her best but none of us is a tech whiz. I tried convincing her to get Kai to help us fix up this thing we found last week, but she..."
"Wait... what thing?" Kai burst.
Skeet shrugged. "I dunno. Some kinda communication thing. But it's busted."
Kai stood up, slamming his hands on the table. "Why didn't anyone say so?" he exclaimed. "I could've helped you fix it! We might've been out of here ages ago!"
"Cause Vanessa never wants to see your faces again," Reeve said. "Especially not after what happened the other day."
"The other day?" Kai's voice shook ever so slightly. He sat back down, brow pinched.
Reeve leaned back, hands behind his head. "She told us Adam threatened her and crushed her arm. Showed us the bruise to prove it."
Well... this was Mira's first time hearing about this incident. Her brow furrowed.
"Speaking of Adam, what's been up with him?" asked Skeet. "I remember him bein' a little uptight, but not like... violent or nothin'."
Mira shook her head sadly. "Who knows?" she sighed. "He's had me worried for weeks. I don't know if it was stress, lack of sleep, his paranoia getting the best of him, or all three."
"But he was right. Vanessa has been hiding something from us. Something big," said Kai, thrusting his arms forward. "He's had every right to suspect her, even if he went about it the wrong way. We should've taken him more seriously." He stared straight at Skeet. "And you're right, dude. Adam isn't violent. If he said or did anything to her, he did it 'cause he wasn't thinking straight. Right, Mira?"
"Right." Mira nodded firmly, though she had her doubts. "We found him passed out on your floor that night, and he's been tired and weak ever since. I'm not sure he could've hurt Vanessa."
"Well who else could have given her that bruise?" Reeve muttered, narrowing his eyes. "Unless one or both of you is lying, Adam's our only suspect."
Relenting, Kai sighed. "I hate to say it, but..." He ducked his head, looking a bit ashamed. "You're right, Reeve. I saw the bruise too, and... she told me the same thing. Three days ago, when I ran into Vanessa."
"What?" Mira's brow knit. "Why didn't you tell me?"
"Cause I didn't know if it was one of Vanessa's mind games, OK?" Kai burst. "But if..." He swallowed a huge lump. "If Reeve and Skeet know it wasn't them, and you and me both know it wasn't us, then it's gotta be Adam who gave her that bruise."
"Man," Skeet breathed. "Must've been some major stress. And you're still listenin' to him through all of this?"
Mira raised her voice. "He was perfectly fine the entire month before you guys woke up," she stated. "He's kept us stable longer than he's been a mess."
"Yeah," Kai agreed. "Vanessa really set him off."
"He's still recovering, but he's back on the right track. He's thinking straight again." Mira shrugged her hands. "Who's to say he'll still disapprove of us working together?"
"And if he does, what then?" Reeve folded his arms. "We can't take that chance. Either we four agree to an alliance, here and now, or Adam and Vanessa stay at each other's throats and keep us here for another month. Or longer." His dark brow furrowed deeper. "If we don't do something now, we're never getting home."
Kai raised an eyebrow. "Wow, Reeve. Last time we met, you didn't want to go home. What changed your mind?"
"I don't wanna be the guy that holds everyone back," Reeve stated. "Besides. I'm tired of arguing with Vanessa."
"Aren't we all?" quipped Skeet.
"And I'm tried of arguing with Adam," said Kai. He dipped his head, wringing his restless hands. "It's exhausting."
Mira couldn't have agreed more.
"So, we're really doing this?" asked Reeve. "We're all cool?"
"Yeah." Kai scoffed. "Weird, right?" He folded his arms. Under his breath, he added, "Just don't stab us in the back again, and it'll stay that way."
Reeve's flinty eyes narrowed. "Don't make this any harder for me, bro."
Skeet frowned. "If you guys start fighting again, I'm out."
Mira stood up. "Guys, listen up." Now she had everyone's attention. She drew a deep breath. Here goes. "I know our teams have had a rough history. And I'm not saying we have to like each other. But if we want to get home, we all have to work together." She clenched her fists. "Even if we have to do it behind Adam and Vanessa's backs."
Reeve gave her a sharp nod. "Agreed. If they wanna be stupid, we'll just let 'em. We're getting out of here."
"But how?" Skeet asked. "Vanessa'll find out before too long. We had to sneak out just to come here tonight."
"It won't be easy for us either. Believe me," Mira said. "Lucky us Adam's out like a rock right now."
"I'm sure we can keep Vanessa busy," said Reeve, rubbing his chin. "Take turns diverting her attention. She watches that area like a hawk during the day."
"We could work on it a little bit every night, while she's sleeping," Kai suggested. He scratched through his messy, overgrown hair. "How much still needs to be done?"
"Right now? All of it," said Reeve. "Vanessa knows nothing about the technology. For all I know her tinkering's made it worse."
Kai stood up. "Let me take a look at it. Since we're all here."
Skeet shrugged. "Couldn't hurt."
Reeve nodded and joined Kai on his feet. "All right. We'll have to make it quick."
"You guys go on," said Mira. She pushed in her chair. "I'm gonna check on Adam. If he wakes up and nobody's around, he might come looking."
"Good idea." Kai followed the other boys to the door, then paused in the doorway. He waved. "See ya later, Mira."
Reeve carefully and silently opened the staircase door, shooting Kai a "be quiet" type glare. Kai sealed his lips. Skeet already knew to keep quiet; he'd perched his pole over his shoulder, rifle-style, and guided himself down the stairs via the handrail.
A loud moan screeched from below. All three boys froze in place. Faint vibrations rumbled beneath Kai's feet, pulsating through the metal framework. He swallowed his fear and gripped the rail tightly.
"It's gettin' worse, Reeve," Skeet whispered. "The sounds are getting louder."
"Don't worry about it," Reeve grunted back. "Your hearing's just getting more sensitive."
As the groaning died, the three continued down the stairs. Kai brushed his hand along the wall, down a lengthy crack he'd never seen before. But he'd only made the trek to Floor 50 on the rarest occasions; what did he know? Still... he only recalled seeing cracks below Floor 40. And if this crack was new... what did that mean?
"Hey, maybe Skeet's onto something," Kai said, jogging down to catch up with Reeve. "Some of these cracks in the wall look new. What do you think?"
Reeve paused and glanced over the wall with a skeptical eye. His brow pinched; something must have stood out to him. "What do I think?" He marched right back down the last flight of stairs. "I think it won't matter once we're out of here. Let's get this over with."
The boys opened the door and trod through the corridor just as silently as they'd entered the stairwell. Kai held onto his breath, keeping it close to his chest. Vanessa could be hiding around any corner, waiting to strike. She could probably hear them from any distance, and would be drawn to the slightest creak of the floor. Maybe she was too busy to notice, but she seemed like the type to sleep with one eye open.
Reeve raised his hand to stop them at a point, whistling a quiet "zip!" noise to cue Skeet. Both boys halted. Reeve glared back at them sternly. "You two, stay here. I'm gonna see if Vanessa's in there."
Kai would have argued (since he couldn't stand Reeve's demanding tone), but the idea of Vanessa seeing him was so much worse than obeying Reeve. He kept his mouth clamped shut and watched Reeve stride up to a door. Kai shuffled behind Skeet; the boy was so tall he'd hide Kai from Vanessa's furious gaze.
Reeve opened the door and strode inside, leaving it open. "Vanessa?" Her voice did not answer his inquiry. Thirty seconds later, Reeve stepped out and beckoned to Kai. "Coast is clear. Let's move."
The other two boys joined Reeve and crept silently behind him. Skeet, stuck without the use of his guiding rod, kept an uncomfortably large hand on Kai's shoulder as they entered the bathroom. Reeve shut the door behind them. Kai's heart pounded. He shrugged Skeet's hand away, alarms blaring in his head.
For one terrible moment, Kai tensed. Talons of panic pierced his heart, forcing him to picture the worst possible scenario. In a flash, he imagined Skeet pinning him to the floor, elbow to his neck, while Reeve taunted him for being weak. Just like ninth grade. But that spontaneous fear evaporated when Kai saw... it.
On the counter beside the sink sat a wide, yet flat boxlike object, hidden beneath a towel. Skeet rolled up behind Reeve and leaned against the wall, folding his arms. Reeve made sure Kai's eyes were fixed on the object. Then he removed the towel, revealing a familiar device underneath.
Sleek and dark gray, with a few knobs and buttons on the face. Box-shaped, but curved down one side, like the alarm clock in his bedroom. But this was no clock. It was salvation.
Kai gasped. "No... no way!" He laughed and ran to the unit, every ounce of his insides dancing and leaping for joy. "I was wrong!" He grinned. "I've never been happier to be wrong in my life!"
"About what?" asked Skeet.
"The secondary transmitter!" Realizing that neither of these two had been present for his private conversation with Mira, Kai clarified further. "I'd thought the AARC Helpline feature was broken because the people on earth had a broken transmitter. But maybe theirs is fine after all! You guys have the second transmitter, which means it was under our noses this whole time!" He laughed. "I knew splitting our floors was a bad idea!"
"So? Can you fix it or not?" Reeve asked gruffly.
Kai picked up the transmitter and turned it over, noting the connective grooves along the back face, the frayed wires, and some moderately-damaged circuitry. A lot of grime had built up around the caps, and some chalky debris still sat trapped inside narrow crevices. "With my resources? It could take a week," he said, "but yeah. The damage isn't that bad. I can fix it!"
Skeet beamed. "Really, dude? Awesome!" He pumped one fist.
Kai smiled. "I'll do all I can here. But to test it out, I'll need to hook it up to the main system. It connects to a port in the wall somewhere, just like the main unit in the communications room upstairs. See?" He tapped the grooves, making sure Reeve could see them. Skeet reached out to see for himself, brushing his fingers over the sturdy vinylite with one great big hand.
Kai set the thing face-down on the countertop and fussed with the damaged wiring, taking special note of the dented case. "It looks like it was ripped out of place." He looked Reeve in the eye. "Where did you guys find this?"
"On the floor, in a pile of junk," said Reeve. "We didn't rip it off the wall, if that's what you were thinking."
"I wasn't thinking that at all," said Kai. He brushed his hands off. "Can you show me?"
Reeve hesitated for a moment, but nodded his agreement. He beckoned to Kai with a wave and stepped out of the bathroom. "Come on."
The three made their way down to Floor 45, then down a B-hallway. At the end of the hallway, just past a door to some kind of office, sat a nasty pile of debris. A metal frame on the wall, just the right size for the transmission unit, was the only thing that had not collapsed, for even the plaster had fallen apart, leaving only the metal framing in place, all the wiring visible behind it.
Kai stepped up onto the mess, then peered behind the bare panel, grateful for the easy access to the wiring. He examined each cluster and cap, noting how it attached to the circuit board, as best as he could in the dark, and through all the nasty crap that had built up on the wires' rubber surfaces. To his surprise and delight, everything was still connected just as it should have been. All was in place but the unit itself.
"This panel looks great!" Kai declared, stumbling down from the debris pile. He brushed his grody hands down his shirt. "Well, aside from the whole 'wall-is-gone' thing." He bounced once and clasped his blocky hands together, electricity pounding through his veins. "After we fix that unit, we'll have to bring it down here and hook it back up. It'll work, good as new!" He barked a laugh. "We're going home!"
Skeet cheered. Kai slapped him on the back in his excitement, and Skeet roughly pulled Kai into an exuberant side-hug, shaking his shoulder so hard it could've jerked Kai's arm out of place. But Kai had a huge grin on his face regardless.
Heck, even Reeve cracked a smile.
Adam stirred from a dreamless sleep. He could have been out for a few minutes or a few hours, but at any length, he was just as exhausted as before. He vaguely detected the footsteps of another person in the room with him, pacing the floor. Blinking, he forced his sticky eyes open to see who it was.
Mira.
In the brief second he'd made blurry eye contact with her, she reacted. "You awake yet?" Her gentle smile was warm, yet cautious.
Adam slipped his eyes shut, sighing, "Barely," he breathed. His conscious mind rose from the murky depths, back into the waking world. Mira's voice was just enough to draw him closer to the surface. But... Adam opened his eyes, at once fully alert. Something was missing. Both of them should be here. "Where's Kai?"
Mira leaned back against the neighboring pod, casually folding her legs in front of her. "He uh... left earlier to work on a late dinner," she said.
Adam grunted acknowledgment.
"He'll probably be done soon, so... consider getting up."
Fair enough. Adam pulled his weary body into a sitting position, grunting. He'd been sleeping for most of the day; a little food might give him some much-needed energy. He still didn't have much of an appetite, but Mira had finally pounded the importance of eating back into his head. She was right; he looked, and felt, terrible. If he wanted to recover, he needed the proper fuel to do so.
Mira brushed a lock of frizzy black hair from her face, her dark eyes flitting across his. "Any more nightmares?"
Adam barked a relieved chuckle, shuffling himself over the side of the pod. "No. Dreams have been... pretty quiet." He dropped down to his feet.
"Honestly?" Mira's tone shifted from curious to questioning--- unsure.
Adam smiled despite the sudden nervous lurch in his stomach, hoping it would reassure his friend. "Honestly. No nightmares."
"Good." Mira returned his smile.
So far, so good. Adam stretched and rolled his shoulders, then shook the last of the clouds from his head. "What have you guys been up to this evening?"
"Oh... the usual stuff," said Mira. "Taking care of business."
"Anything exciting from downstairs?"
There was a longer pause before Mira responded that time. "Vanessa hasn't been bothering us, if that's what you mean."
Good. Adam breathed a relieved sigh. In Adam's absence, there was no guarantee the other kids would keep their hands to themselves. Despite everything--- his recovery, his clarity, and his guilt over the Vanessa incident--- Adam still wanted nothing to do with those kids. There was too much bad associated with them.
And God forbid Vanessa showed up and accused him in front of his friends. Mira and Kai would never trust his judgment again. He was on shaky ground with them as it was. His heart sank. They were still hung up on his awful behavior from weeks past, and they didn't even know the half of it.
Adam freshened up in the bathroom. Then he and Mira walked together down to the kitchen to see if Kai was ready for them. Adam walked with his hands in his pockets, eyes dragging along the ground. He didn't want to meet Mira's eyes; if she had any lingering fear there, he didn't want to see it. So here he was, maintaining the gap between them. And here Mira was, trying her best to patch it back together despite him.
Adam let himself relax. She really was his friend, wasn't she? She didn't hold his recent failures over his head. Perhaps he feared in vain.
Mira gently nudged him with her elbow. "How are you feeling?"
He drew a breath that caught halfway up his throat. "Better," Adam croaked, only half-confident in his answer. "I'm still just... so tired all the time." He rubbed his temple. "Sorry I haven't been up to helping you guys take care of things."
"It's fine. You've needed the rest," said Mira. Adam glanced up at her. She beamed. "And, hey. You're actually sitting down to eat dinner with us tonight."
"Yeah." Adam chuckled softly. "I was feeling guilty about you guys bringing it to me."
Kai, much to Adam's surprise, had turned out to be a great cook as well as a tech whiz. Now that he was alert and sitting down to eat for once, he could taste for the first time in ages, and he was enjoying every minute of it.
Kai had made a bean-and-rice casserole for dinner and served it with fruit salad. For dessert, he'd made some sort of creamy, pink, cake-like invention. No-one was sure what to call it, although Kai insisted on calling it "Kai Cake". Neither Adam nor Mira was comfortable with that name, but it was Kai's invention.
Best of all, the meal tasted really good--- like real food. Adam even had a nice big slice of dessert, which his friends seemed to take as a good sign. He agreed--- his mind hadn't been this clear in a long time.
But the distinct lack of conversation left Adam feeling that little bit clouded. Discomfort hovered in the air like a fog, and Adam hadn't failed to notice the awkward glances here and there, from both Mira and Kai. They were flighty, suspicious glances--- the sort people tried to keep hidden, because they knew something the subject of the glances didn't. And the subject wasn't supposed to know what the glancers knew.
Yet the overall mood of the meal was happy. Adam knew there was something they weren't telling him, but... maybe it was a good thing they were keeping hidden. Some kind of surprise.
Adam helped his friends clean up afterwards, for the first time in what felt like a month. Both of them seemed delighted with this--- Kai even joked that he was getting tired of being the only one who could reach certain shelves in the kitchen. And the fact that Kai now very nearly matched Adam in height was worth joking about in its own right.
The three of them had a laugh, but after all of that, Adam was ready to head back to the room. The sleepiness tinged the corners of his eyes once again; he needed more rest. But before he could leave the room, Mira touched his shoulder. He turned around; her face was serious.
"Adam, before you go... we need to talk."
Adam's throat tensed. "About what?"
Mira hesitated; her pupils jolted back and forth. "About the other day."
Heat rushed to his head. His heart pounded, the blood pumping through his ears harder and harder with every passing second. First the light head, then the nausea, and the subsequent regrets. The small helpings of casserole and fruit would have been enough; he should've known the richness of the dessert might upset his weakened stomach. Adam swallowed sweet-tasting bile. "OK." He sat back down at the island, facing his friends with growing unease.
To his surprise, it was not Mira who addressed him, but Kai. The boy wrung his hands together, hesitant at first. Adam's brow knit; he had a bad feeling about this.
"Remember when I said I ran into Vanessa the other day?"
Adam nodded slowly.
Kai swallowed. "When I ran into her, she had a massive bruise on her arm."
The blood fled from Adam's face. He swallowed a hard lump, forcing down the bile. "She did?" What have I done? His conscience cringed in his heart.
"She told me you threatened her," Kai continued, brow furrowing. "She said you grabbed her arm, and... and you threatened to kill her if she didn't tell you what you wanted her to say."
"Kill her?" Adam burst. What?! I never---
Mira raised her eyebrows. "So, I take it that was a lie?"
"Yes." Adam sighed, dipping his head. "That last part of it. But the rest of it?" He lowered his voice. "It's all true." Silence. Adam swallowed more nausea, trying and failing to keep his voice from shaking. "I was tired, and... I was desperate. She kept brushing me off and pushing past me, and it made me so angry. So finally I grabbed her arm, and I just---!" He clenched his fists tightly, reliving the moment in his mind. Shattered ice.
"I couldn't let go. I snapped... and... she yelled for me to let go but I... I didn't." He buried his face in his hands, too ashamed to face his friends. "I wasn't thinking straight. I lost my cool, big time. But I never threatened to kill her," he insisted, voice weakening. "I'd never imagine doing something like that. Not... not for real."
And the fact that Mira and Kai could imagine him doing that made Adam feel way worse.
Mira drew a breath; Adam braced himself for her response. "Adam, I..." She hesitated. "I'm glad you told us, but... if that's the honest truth, then why keep it a secret for so long?"
"I was afraid," Adam croaked, hushed.
"Afraid? Afraid of what?" Adam looked up. Kai's brow knit with an unidentified mix of emotions.
"The response," Adam clarified.
"So you didn't tell us the truth, when it was the one thing that could've proved your innocence?" Kai's voice dipped. "That's still pretty suspicious, dude."
Adam swallowed a lump. They don't believe me. Kai's eyes shimmered with subdued suspicion, and Mira's face sold that she didn't trust Adam's testimony any more than Kai did. "I never threatened to kill her," Adam repeated, raising his voice. "Come on, guys. You know me. I'm not... I don't..." The words dried up in his mouth.
But what if I did?
"I... I hate to mention it, because I really, really want to believe you," said Mira. "But... just the other day, you threatened Skeet. How do we know you didn't threaten Vanessa too? Especially since you..." She bit her lip.
Since you crushed her arm like a pile of brittle twigs.
Adam panicked. His breathing came out quick and harsh, and he did little to still his anguished heart. "Guys, I...I'm not..." A liar? I've been going behind their backs, lying to them this whole time! "I'm not a... I... I don't..." He shook his head, defeated by his own mind. If intentions were horses...
In that mindless, black haze... he might have done something he just couldn't recall. Maybe Vanessa had told Kai the truth. Maybe he had threatened to kill her. Adam didn't want to believe it, but he couldn't deny the possibility. That whole encounter was little more than a hazy blur.
Adam drew a deep breath and dipped his head. "You... don't. You don't know," he murmured. "I've been a terrible person these last few weeks. It's... fine. It's fine if you guys don't trust me." He rose from the table and strode out of the room, refusing to meet their disappointed gazes any longer. Just as well, he thought.
I don't trust me either.
All of them exchanged glances in silence; Mira had no idea whether she should break the ice, or if Reeve or Skeet should. After all, they were the reason this meeting was happening in the first place. It was about their leader; they should start. Thankfully, she didn't have to ponder the decision for long.
Reeve folded his hands in front of him. "How's Adam?"
Mira debated answering him; they hadn't come here to discuss Adam's health, and it wasn't Reeve's business to know. But Reeve didn't seem malicious. He didn't seem genuinely concerned either, but answering the question wouldn't do any harm. And if this was Reeve's attempt at peacemaking, Mira knew she should respect that. "Better than he was." She sighed. "He's improving, just... slowly."
"What's he doing now?"
"When we left him, he was fast asleep." She twirled one lock of hair. "Vanessa?"
"Off on her own. Too busy to notice."
Kai sighed tersely. "Well?" He bunched his fists. "You guys had something to tell us, so tell us. Vanessa? Not entirely honest with us...?"
Mira nodded. "He's right. We should get through this quickly." She faced Skeet. "Skeet, you came to us first. Why don't you start? What's up with Vanessa?"
"Well... like I said, she's been actin' weird," Skeet said, rubbing behind his ear. "Paranoid, anxious, bossier than usual..."
Sounds familiar, Mira thought.
"See, a couple days after we woke up, Vanessa had an epiphany or whatever. She told us she knew people back on earth who could get us outta here. We've been workin' on a way to contact home ever since. I was gonna tell ya the other day, but..." Skeet shrugged. "I got chased off."
So Adam was right about them after all? Mira swallowed; she could feel guilty about ignoring Adam's concerns later, once she had a moment to think. "Have you guys made any progress?" she asked.
Skeet shook his head. "Nah. Vanessa's been doin' her best but none of us is a tech whiz. I tried convincing her to get Kai to help us fix up this thing we found last week, but she..."
"Wait... what thing?" Kai burst.
Skeet shrugged. "I dunno. Some kinda communication thing. But it's busted."
Kai stood up, slamming his hands on the table. "Why didn't anyone say so?" he exclaimed. "I could've helped you fix it! We might've been out of here ages ago!"
"Cause Vanessa never wants to see your faces again," Reeve said. "Especially not after what happened the other day."
"The other day?" Kai's voice shook ever so slightly. He sat back down, brow pinched.
Reeve leaned back, hands behind his head. "She told us Adam threatened her and crushed her arm. Showed us the bruise to prove it."
Well... this was Mira's first time hearing about this incident. Her brow furrowed.
"Speaking of Adam, what's been up with him?" asked Skeet. "I remember him bein' a little uptight, but not like... violent or nothin'."
Mira shook her head sadly. "Who knows?" she sighed. "He's had me worried for weeks. I don't know if it was stress, lack of sleep, his paranoia getting the best of him, or all three."
"But he was right. Vanessa has been hiding something from us. Something big," said Kai, thrusting his arms forward. "He's had every right to suspect her, even if he went about it the wrong way. We should've taken him more seriously." He stared straight at Skeet. "And you're right, dude. Adam isn't violent. If he said or did anything to her, he did it 'cause he wasn't thinking straight. Right, Mira?"
"Right." Mira nodded firmly, though she had her doubts. "We found him passed out on your floor that night, and he's been tired and weak ever since. I'm not sure he could've hurt Vanessa."
"Well who else could have given her that bruise?" Reeve muttered, narrowing his eyes. "Unless one or both of you is lying, Adam's our only suspect."
Relenting, Kai sighed. "I hate to say it, but..." He ducked his head, looking a bit ashamed. "You're right, Reeve. I saw the bruise too, and... she told me the same thing. Three days ago, when I ran into Vanessa."
"What?" Mira's brow knit. "Why didn't you tell me?"
"Cause I didn't know if it was one of Vanessa's mind games, OK?" Kai burst. "But if..." He swallowed a huge lump. "If Reeve and Skeet know it wasn't them, and you and me both know it wasn't us, then it's gotta be Adam who gave her that bruise."
"Man," Skeet breathed. "Must've been some major stress. And you're still listenin' to him through all of this?"
Mira raised her voice. "He was perfectly fine the entire month before you guys woke up," she stated. "He's kept us stable longer than he's been a mess."
"Yeah," Kai agreed. "Vanessa really set him off."
"He's still recovering, but he's back on the right track. He's thinking straight again." Mira shrugged her hands. "Who's to say he'll still disapprove of us working together?"
"And if he does, what then?" Reeve folded his arms. "We can't take that chance. Either we four agree to an alliance, here and now, or Adam and Vanessa stay at each other's throats and keep us here for another month. Or longer." His dark brow furrowed deeper. "If we don't do something now, we're never getting home."
Kai raised an eyebrow. "Wow, Reeve. Last time we met, you didn't want to go home. What changed your mind?"
"I don't wanna be the guy that holds everyone back," Reeve stated. "Besides. I'm tired of arguing with Vanessa."
"Aren't we all?" quipped Skeet.
"And I'm tried of arguing with Adam," said Kai. He dipped his head, wringing his restless hands. "It's exhausting."
Mira couldn't have agreed more.
"So, we're really doing this?" asked Reeve. "We're all cool?"
"Yeah." Kai scoffed. "Weird, right?" He folded his arms. Under his breath, he added, "Just don't stab us in the back again, and it'll stay that way."
Reeve's flinty eyes narrowed. "Don't make this any harder for me, bro."
Skeet frowned. "If you guys start fighting again, I'm out."
Mira stood up. "Guys, listen up." Now she had everyone's attention. She drew a deep breath. Here goes. "I know our teams have had a rough history. And I'm not saying we have to like each other. But if we want to get home, we all have to work together." She clenched her fists. "Even if we have to do it behind Adam and Vanessa's backs."
Reeve gave her a sharp nod. "Agreed. If they wanna be stupid, we'll just let 'em. We're getting out of here."
"But how?" Skeet asked. "Vanessa'll find out before too long. We had to sneak out just to come here tonight."
"It won't be easy for us either. Believe me," Mira said. "Lucky us Adam's out like a rock right now."
"I'm sure we can keep Vanessa busy," said Reeve, rubbing his chin. "Take turns diverting her attention. She watches that area like a hawk during the day."
"We could work on it a little bit every night, while she's sleeping," Kai suggested. He scratched through his messy, overgrown hair. "How much still needs to be done?"
"Right now? All of it," said Reeve. "Vanessa knows nothing about the technology. For all I know her tinkering's made it worse."
Kai stood up. "Let me take a look at it. Since we're all here."
Skeet shrugged. "Couldn't hurt."
Reeve nodded and joined Kai on his feet. "All right. We'll have to make it quick."
"You guys go on," said Mira. She pushed in her chair. "I'm gonna check on Adam. If he wakes up and nobody's around, he might come looking."
"Good idea." Kai followed the other boys to the door, then paused in the doorway. He waved. "See ya later, Mira."
Reeve carefully and silently opened the staircase door, shooting Kai a "be quiet" type glare. Kai sealed his lips. Skeet already knew to keep quiet; he'd perched his pole over his shoulder, rifle-style, and guided himself down the stairs via the handrail.
A loud moan screeched from below. All three boys froze in place. Faint vibrations rumbled beneath Kai's feet, pulsating through the metal framework. He swallowed his fear and gripped the rail tightly.
"It's gettin' worse, Reeve," Skeet whispered. "The sounds are getting louder."
"Don't worry about it," Reeve grunted back. "Your hearing's just getting more sensitive."
As the groaning died, the three continued down the stairs. Kai brushed his hand along the wall, down a lengthy crack he'd never seen before. But he'd only made the trek to Floor 50 on the rarest occasions; what did he know? Still... he only recalled seeing cracks below Floor 40. And if this crack was new... what did that mean?
"Hey, maybe Skeet's onto something," Kai said, jogging down to catch up with Reeve. "Some of these cracks in the wall look new. What do you think?"
Reeve paused and glanced over the wall with a skeptical eye. His brow pinched; something must have stood out to him. "What do I think?" He marched right back down the last flight of stairs. "I think it won't matter once we're out of here. Let's get this over with."
The boys opened the door and trod through the corridor just as silently as they'd entered the stairwell. Kai held onto his breath, keeping it close to his chest. Vanessa could be hiding around any corner, waiting to strike. She could probably hear them from any distance, and would be drawn to the slightest creak of the floor. Maybe she was too busy to notice, but she seemed like the type to sleep with one eye open.
Reeve raised his hand to stop them at a point, whistling a quiet "zip!" noise to cue Skeet. Both boys halted. Reeve glared back at them sternly. "You two, stay here. I'm gonna see if Vanessa's in there."
Kai would have argued (since he couldn't stand Reeve's demanding tone), but the idea of Vanessa seeing him was so much worse than obeying Reeve. He kept his mouth clamped shut and watched Reeve stride up to a door. Kai shuffled behind Skeet; the boy was so tall he'd hide Kai from Vanessa's furious gaze.
Reeve opened the door and strode inside, leaving it open. "Vanessa?" Her voice did not answer his inquiry. Thirty seconds later, Reeve stepped out and beckoned to Kai. "Coast is clear. Let's move."
The other two boys joined Reeve and crept silently behind him. Skeet, stuck without the use of his guiding rod, kept an uncomfortably large hand on Kai's shoulder as they entered the bathroom. Reeve shut the door behind them. Kai's heart pounded. He shrugged Skeet's hand away, alarms blaring in his head.
For one terrible moment, Kai tensed. Talons of panic pierced his heart, forcing him to picture the worst possible scenario. In a flash, he imagined Skeet pinning him to the floor, elbow to his neck, while Reeve taunted him for being weak. Just like ninth grade. But that spontaneous fear evaporated when Kai saw... it.
On the counter beside the sink sat a wide, yet flat boxlike object, hidden beneath a towel. Skeet rolled up behind Reeve and leaned against the wall, folding his arms. Reeve made sure Kai's eyes were fixed on the object. Then he removed the towel, revealing a familiar device underneath.
Sleek and dark gray, with a few knobs and buttons on the face. Box-shaped, but curved down one side, like the alarm clock in his bedroom. But this was no clock. It was salvation.
Kai gasped. "No... no way!" He laughed and ran to the unit, every ounce of his insides dancing and leaping for joy. "I was wrong!" He grinned. "I've never been happier to be wrong in my life!"
"About what?" asked Skeet.
"The secondary transmitter!" Realizing that neither of these two had been present for his private conversation with Mira, Kai clarified further. "I'd thought the AARC Helpline feature was broken because the people on earth had a broken transmitter. But maybe theirs is fine after all! You guys have the second transmitter, which means it was under our noses this whole time!" He laughed. "I knew splitting our floors was a bad idea!"
"So? Can you fix it or not?" Reeve asked gruffly.
Kai picked up the transmitter and turned it over, noting the connective grooves along the back face, the frayed wires, and some moderately-damaged circuitry. A lot of grime had built up around the caps, and some chalky debris still sat trapped inside narrow crevices. "With my resources? It could take a week," he said, "but yeah. The damage isn't that bad. I can fix it!"
Skeet beamed. "Really, dude? Awesome!" He pumped one fist.
Kai smiled. "I'll do all I can here. But to test it out, I'll need to hook it up to the main system. It connects to a port in the wall somewhere, just like the main unit in the communications room upstairs. See?" He tapped the grooves, making sure Reeve could see them. Skeet reached out to see for himself, brushing his fingers over the sturdy vinylite with one great big hand.
Kai set the thing face-down on the countertop and fussed with the damaged wiring, taking special note of the dented case. "It looks like it was ripped out of place." He looked Reeve in the eye. "Where did you guys find this?"
"On the floor, in a pile of junk," said Reeve. "We didn't rip it off the wall, if that's what you were thinking."
"I wasn't thinking that at all," said Kai. He brushed his hands off. "Can you show me?"
Reeve hesitated for a moment, but nodded his agreement. He beckoned to Kai with a wave and stepped out of the bathroom. "Come on."
The three made their way down to Floor 45, then down a B-hallway. At the end of the hallway, just past a door to some kind of office, sat a nasty pile of debris. A metal frame on the wall, just the right size for the transmission unit, was the only thing that had not collapsed, for even the plaster had fallen apart, leaving only the metal framing in place, all the wiring visible behind it.
Kai stepped up onto the mess, then peered behind the bare panel, grateful for the easy access to the wiring. He examined each cluster and cap, noting how it attached to the circuit board, as best as he could in the dark, and through all the nasty crap that had built up on the wires' rubber surfaces. To his surprise and delight, everything was still connected just as it should have been. All was in place but the unit itself.
"This panel looks great!" Kai declared, stumbling down from the debris pile. He brushed his grody hands down his shirt. "Well, aside from the whole 'wall-is-gone' thing." He bounced once and clasped his blocky hands together, electricity pounding through his veins. "After we fix that unit, we'll have to bring it down here and hook it back up. It'll work, good as new!" He barked a laugh. "We're going home!"
Skeet cheered. Kai slapped him on the back in his excitement, and Skeet roughly pulled Kai into an exuberant side-hug, shaking his shoulder so hard it could've jerked Kai's arm out of place. But Kai had a huge grin on his face regardless.
Heck, even Reeve cracked a smile.
Adam stirred from a dreamless sleep. He could have been out for a few minutes or a few hours, but at any length, he was just as exhausted as before. He vaguely detected the footsteps of another person in the room with him, pacing the floor. Blinking, he forced his sticky eyes open to see who it was.
Mira.
In the brief second he'd made blurry eye contact with her, she reacted. "You awake yet?" Her gentle smile was warm, yet cautious.
Adam slipped his eyes shut, sighing, "Barely," he breathed. His conscious mind rose from the murky depths, back into the waking world. Mira's voice was just enough to draw him closer to the surface. But... Adam opened his eyes, at once fully alert. Something was missing. Both of them should be here. "Where's Kai?"
Mira leaned back against the neighboring pod, casually folding her legs in front of her. "He uh... left earlier to work on a late dinner," she said.
Adam grunted acknowledgment.
"He'll probably be done soon, so... consider getting up."
Fair enough. Adam pulled his weary body into a sitting position, grunting. He'd been sleeping for most of the day; a little food might give him some much-needed energy. He still didn't have much of an appetite, but Mira had finally pounded the importance of eating back into his head. She was right; he looked, and felt, terrible. If he wanted to recover, he needed the proper fuel to do so.
Mira brushed a lock of frizzy black hair from her face, her dark eyes flitting across his. "Any more nightmares?"
Adam barked a relieved chuckle, shuffling himself over the side of the pod. "No. Dreams have been... pretty quiet." He dropped down to his feet.
"Honestly?" Mira's tone shifted from curious to questioning--- unsure.
Adam smiled despite the sudden nervous lurch in his stomach, hoping it would reassure his friend. "Honestly. No nightmares."
"Good." Mira returned his smile.
So far, so good. Adam stretched and rolled his shoulders, then shook the last of the clouds from his head. "What have you guys been up to this evening?"
"Oh... the usual stuff," said Mira. "Taking care of business."
"Anything exciting from downstairs?"
There was a longer pause before Mira responded that time. "Vanessa hasn't been bothering us, if that's what you mean."
Good. Adam breathed a relieved sigh. In Adam's absence, there was no guarantee the other kids would keep their hands to themselves. Despite everything--- his recovery, his clarity, and his guilt over the Vanessa incident--- Adam still wanted nothing to do with those kids. There was too much bad associated with them.
And God forbid Vanessa showed up and accused him in front of his friends. Mira and Kai would never trust his judgment again. He was on shaky ground with them as it was. His heart sank. They were still hung up on his awful behavior from weeks past, and they didn't even know the half of it.
Adam freshened up in the bathroom. Then he and Mira walked together down to the kitchen to see if Kai was ready for them. Adam walked with his hands in his pockets, eyes dragging along the ground. He didn't want to meet Mira's eyes; if she had any lingering fear there, he didn't want to see it. So here he was, maintaining the gap between them. And here Mira was, trying her best to patch it back together despite him.
Adam let himself relax. She really was his friend, wasn't she? She didn't hold his recent failures over his head. Perhaps he feared in vain.
Mira gently nudged him with her elbow. "How are you feeling?"
He drew a breath that caught halfway up his throat. "Better," Adam croaked, only half-confident in his answer. "I'm still just... so tired all the time." He rubbed his temple. "Sorry I haven't been up to helping you guys take care of things."
"It's fine. You've needed the rest," said Mira. Adam glanced up at her. She beamed. "And, hey. You're actually sitting down to eat dinner with us tonight."
"Yeah." Adam chuckled softly. "I was feeling guilty about you guys bringing it to me."
Kai, much to Adam's surprise, had turned out to be a great cook as well as a tech whiz. Now that he was alert and sitting down to eat for once, he could taste for the first time in ages, and he was enjoying every minute of it.
Kai had made a bean-and-rice casserole for dinner and served it with fruit salad. For dessert, he'd made some sort of creamy, pink, cake-like invention. No-one was sure what to call it, although Kai insisted on calling it "Kai Cake". Neither Adam nor Mira was comfortable with that name, but it was Kai's invention.
Best of all, the meal tasted really good--- like real food. Adam even had a nice big slice of dessert, which his friends seemed to take as a good sign. He agreed--- his mind hadn't been this clear in a long time.
But the distinct lack of conversation left Adam feeling that little bit clouded. Discomfort hovered in the air like a fog, and Adam hadn't failed to notice the awkward glances here and there, from both Mira and Kai. They were flighty, suspicious glances--- the sort people tried to keep hidden, because they knew something the subject of the glances didn't. And the subject wasn't supposed to know what the glancers knew.
Yet the overall mood of the meal was happy. Adam knew there was something they weren't telling him, but... maybe it was a good thing they were keeping hidden. Some kind of surprise.
Adam helped his friends clean up afterwards, for the first time in what felt like a month. Both of them seemed delighted with this--- Kai even joked that he was getting tired of being the only one who could reach certain shelves in the kitchen. And the fact that Kai now very nearly matched Adam in height was worth joking about in its own right.
The three of them had a laugh, but after all of that, Adam was ready to head back to the room. The sleepiness tinged the corners of his eyes once again; he needed more rest. But before he could leave the room, Mira touched his shoulder. He turned around; her face was serious.
"Adam, before you go... we need to talk."
Adam's throat tensed. "About what?"
Mira hesitated; her pupils jolted back and forth. "About the other day."
Heat rushed to his head. His heart pounded, the blood pumping through his ears harder and harder with every passing second. First the light head, then the nausea, and the subsequent regrets. The small helpings of casserole and fruit would have been enough; he should've known the richness of the dessert might upset his weakened stomach. Adam swallowed sweet-tasting bile. "OK." He sat back down at the island, facing his friends with growing unease.
To his surprise, it was not Mira who addressed him, but Kai. The boy wrung his hands together, hesitant at first. Adam's brow knit; he had a bad feeling about this.
"Remember when I said I ran into Vanessa the other day?"
Adam nodded slowly.
Kai swallowed. "When I ran into her, she had a massive bruise on her arm."
The blood fled from Adam's face. He swallowed a hard lump, forcing down the bile. "She did?" What have I done? His conscience cringed in his heart.
"She told me you threatened her," Kai continued, brow furrowing. "She said you grabbed her arm, and... and you threatened to kill her if she didn't tell you what you wanted her to say."
"Kill her?" Adam burst. What?! I never---
Mira raised her eyebrows. "So, I take it that was a lie?"
"Yes." Adam sighed, dipping his head. "That last part of it. But the rest of it?" He lowered his voice. "It's all true." Silence. Adam swallowed more nausea, trying and failing to keep his voice from shaking. "I was tired, and... I was desperate. She kept brushing me off and pushing past me, and it made me so angry. So finally I grabbed her arm, and I just---!" He clenched his fists tightly, reliving the moment in his mind. Shattered ice.
"I couldn't let go. I snapped... and... she yelled for me to let go but I... I didn't." He buried his face in his hands, too ashamed to face his friends. "I wasn't thinking straight. I lost my cool, big time. But I never threatened to kill her," he insisted, voice weakening. "I'd never imagine doing something like that. Not... not for real."
And the fact that Mira and Kai could imagine him doing that made Adam feel way worse.
Mira drew a breath; Adam braced himself for her response. "Adam, I..." She hesitated. "I'm glad you told us, but... if that's the honest truth, then why keep it a secret for so long?"
"I was afraid," Adam croaked, hushed.
"Afraid? Afraid of what?" Adam looked up. Kai's brow knit with an unidentified mix of emotions.
"The response," Adam clarified.
"So you didn't tell us the truth, when it was the one thing that could've proved your innocence?" Kai's voice dipped. "That's still pretty suspicious, dude."
Adam swallowed a lump. They don't believe me. Kai's eyes shimmered with subdued suspicion, and Mira's face sold that she didn't trust Adam's testimony any more than Kai did. "I never threatened to kill her," Adam repeated, raising his voice. "Come on, guys. You know me. I'm not... I don't..." The words dried up in his mouth.
But what if I did?
"I... I hate to mention it, because I really, really want to believe you," said Mira. "But... just the other day, you threatened Skeet. How do we know you didn't threaten Vanessa too? Especially since you..." She bit her lip.
Since you crushed her arm like a pile of brittle twigs.
Adam panicked. His breathing came out quick and harsh, and he did little to still his anguished heart. "Guys, I...I'm not..." A liar? I've been going behind their backs, lying to them this whole time! "I'm not a... I... I don't..." He shook his head, defeated by his own mind. If intentions were horses...
In that mindless, black haze... he might have done something he just couldn't recall. Maybe Vanessa had told Kai the truth. Maybe he had threatened to kill her. Adam didn't want to believe it, but he couldn't deny the possibility. That whole encounter was little more than a hazy blur.
Adam drew a deep breath and dipped his head. "You... don't. You don't know," he murmured. "I've been a terrible person these last few weeks. It's... fine. It's fine if you guys don't trust me." He rose from the table and strode out of the room, refusing to meet their disappointed gazes any longer. Just as well, he thought.
I don't trust me either.