35

NOAH

Hands gripped my calves, and I was dragged backward.

I flopped down onto something hard.

I couldn’t breathe, felt an odd heaviness in my chest.

Someone was pounding on my abdomen. It was awful. I rolled to my side and puked a gallon of water.

“He’s breathing,” a voice said. Ethan? Dad?

“Noah? You okay?” A girl. Min.

I tried to respond. “Gah.”

Not my best effort. I hocked more liquid from my mouth. Rubbed my head.

“He’ll live.” Heavy feet stomped away. Definitely Ethan.

My eyes fluttered open. Then snapped shut, bright sunlight searing my retinas. When the pain faded, I sat up gingerly, cracking my lids more cautiously a second time.

I’m still in the square.

“Go slow,” Min warned, rising from my side. “Your head should clear in a minute. I’d offer you some water, but I’m guessing you’ll pass.”

“Ha!” I scratched my face. Blew a snot rocket.

When Min next spoke, her voice trembled. “You have to see this, Noah. It’s like . . . like nothing . . .” She trailed off as something else caught her attention. Min grunted and strode away, leaving me alone for the moment.

I ran both hands over my scalp, waiting for my head to stop spinning. I tried to think back, but my mind kept shying away. Last thing I remembered was a bunch of plastic-covered men with fire hoses . . .

I jerked upright.

Men in hazmat suits. Gassing us. Killing us.

The valley had been shaken to pieces, but that hadn’t stopped those psychos from spraying us with poison. Unable to breathe, I’d crawled toward the fountain to wash my burning face. But I’d fallen in instead.

I shivered in my wet clothes, reliving the sensation of water entering my mouth, my nose, my throat. My arms had stopped working, every muscle seizing painfully before going limp. My head had struck bottom as my lungs filled with fluid.

Drowning. Dying. I had a terrible flash of dejà vu.

Oh, God.

I ran my hands over my body. No cuts, bruises, or broken bones. I was quite clearly alive.

Like all the times before.

I shot to my feet.

It was then that I noticed my surroundings. I was standing in the town square with all the other kids in our class, everyone picking themselves up off the dirt. Several blinked stupidly, as I had, struggling to get their bearings.

The hazmat squad was gone. So were the soldiers, the townspeople, even the bodies. The entire block was empty—no trucks, sawhorses, or equipment of any kind.

But that wasn’t all.

The grass was smooth and manicured, the fountain unbroken. Every building on Main Street was standing with its windows intact. Sidewalks and alleyways were seamless, without cracks or rents. Everything looked normal, as if the earthquake had never occurred.

I spun on wobbly legs, trying to make sense of what I was seeing. The valley looked the same as it always had. Better, actually—last week’s damage had disappeared, too. Crystal waters lapped gently against the waterfront. Even the rockslide was gone, the formerly shattered peak now standing tall and firm to the south.

Everyone was chattering nervously, pointing out different aspects of the repaired landscape. I looked skyward. Clear mountain air and a yellow sun. A picture-perfect, postcard day in Fire Lake.

Tack was sitting on the grass a few feet away, massaging his temples. Red-rimmed eyes regarded me with incomprehension. “What the hell?” he rasped. “Are we dead?”

I shrugged. “I don’t know. I don’t feel dead. Do you?”

“Not sure. Don’t have a handle on that one.” Tack staggered to his feet. “Where’s Min?”

I looked around, spotted her alone on the opposite side of the square. “There.”

Wiping his hands on his jeans, Tack headed over to join her. After a moment’s hesitation, I followed. Min turned at our approach, her forehead creasing as she waved a hand. “Are you seeing this?”

Tack nodded. “It’s insane. How could they fix everything while we were unconscious?”

“Impossible!” Min pointed across the lake. “I don’t care who those guys are, no one can put a mountain back together. No . . . This is something else.”

I shifted, trying to get my brain to function properly. “What do you think went wrong?”

“Wrong?” Min gave me a surprised look. “Why do you say that? Whatever’s happening now might be exactly what Project Nemesis intended.”

Tack crossed his arms. “The government spent a decade secretly inventing a way to make themselves disappear?”

Min shrugged, her irritation plain. “I don’t know. Maybe they’re not really gone. It seemed to me like they completed their plan, whatever it was. We have to figure out what they’re doing.”

“That mist,” I began, shuddering at the memory. “It was definitely killing me. I couldn’t move or breathe. And at the very end, I swear it did something to my head.”

She nodded. “I felt it, too. Like my mind was being balled up like Play-Doh, then forced through a press. I’ve never felt anything like it before.”

I hesitated, but we couldn’t avoid the topic. “Not even—”

Min shook her head. “It’s not like that for me. When I’m killed, I just sorta . . . stop. My mind blinks out. This was different. Like . . . like I was being torn to pieces. Inside my head.”

Tack spat on the ground. “Same. It felt like my soul was on fire. Not pleasant.”

The more I thought about it, the more I agreed. This was different from the murders. I’d woken up dazed and sick to my stomach—which never happened in the cave—and I wasn’t in the cave. “To me, it was like my brain was shredded, then sewn back together.”

“This is something new, I’m sure of it.” Min wheeled slowly, examining the surrounding area. “Still. Where is everybody?”

Back by the fountain, sixty-one classmates were starting to freak out. Spence Coleman shouted that his cell phone wasn’t working. Piper Lockwood began screaming for her parents. Neb Farmer and his two best friends began jogging away, heading for their neighborhood higher up the slope.

A dam broke. The group scattered in a dozen directions, most running to check on their families. Not me. Dad wasn’t here before. Why would he be now?

Min didn’t feel the same. “I’m going home. I want to see if . . . I have to talk . . .”

Her eyes tightened. My heart went out. I hadn’t trusted my father in years, but it’d been less than an hour since Min’s mother stabbed her in the back. Hell—in the front.

“I’ll go with you,” I heard myself say. Min nodded. Tack didn’t speak, but fell in.

We started down Main Street at a brisk walk. There were no other people anywhere. Passing the home entertainment store, I spotted Charlie Bell prowling inside, messing with a TV. I stopped and waved, and he stepped outside.

“Thought I’d try to get the news,” Charlie said, scratching his pimply cheek. “But my mom’s not here and I can’t get the cable to work. Can’t get an IP address either, which is weird. There’s power, but no signal. Everything’s offline.”

“Crazy, man. Keep trying.” I hurried after Min and Tack.

When I caught up to them, Tack was scanning a side street and shaking his head.

“What are you looking for?” I asked.

He threw up his hands. “Cops! Trucks! Troops! The bastard who killed my father! Any-damn-one, Noah!” Tack closed his eyes, sighed. “But they’re all gone. Either they rolled the whole show back into the woods, or two companies of soldiers and an entire vacation town just evaporated into thin air. But why go to the trouble? Why round us up only to vanish and leave us alone?”

I had no answers, but plenty of my own questions. Where was Black Suit? Myers and Lowell? With a shudder, I remembered Commander Sutton taking his own life, right before I passed out. My skin crawled. I began to sweat.

How does a statue repair itself? Who could piece a mountain back together?

I stopped walking. Put my hands on my knees.

Too much. Too fast.

“Noah?” Min had stopped ten paces ahead. Tack waited at her elbow, rolling his eyes with barely concealed impatience.

I opened my mouth. Closed it. Couldn’t frame a response.

My mind was blank. My limbs like jelly. I wanted to curl into a ball.

Voices carried up the block. Suddenly, Min and Tack were beside me, pushing me into a recessed doorway. Seconds later, Ethan and Toby stormed past, so intent on their conversation that neither spotted us. When their footsteps receded, I blew out a relieved breath.

“Come on.” Min eased me back onto the sidewalk. “Let’s get to my trailer. We can relax there for a minute while we figure out what to do next.”

I nodded, not trusting my voice. It was so silly, her guiding me up the street like an old lady. I was twice her size, at least. But I was thankful. As I put one foot in front of the other, my tension began to ease.

At the edge of town, Tack halted abruptly. “Should we check the Plank?”

Min hesitated. “After. I want to go home first.” Tack shrugged, and we turned up Quarry Road. Five minutes later we reached the trailer park.

Ghost town. Not a soul around.

Tack’s eyes were troubled. “Okay, this is officially too bizarre. Where is everyone?”

Min broke into a trot. Reaching her trailer, she found it unlocked. Tack and I waited outside while she looked for her mother, but it took less than a second.

“She’s not here.” Min cleared her throat.

“I’ll be back.” Tack turned and sprinted down the lane.

“Where’s he going?” I asked.

“To check on his dad.”

“But . . . we saw—”

“I know that, Noah,” Min said sharply. “Doesn’t mean he can’t look.”

She took a deep breath. Softened her tone. “Maybe Tack needs a minute alone, okay? He hasn’t had any time since . . . since the incident. Do you want to check your house next? I’ll go with you if you want.”

I was touched, but had no interest. My father wasn’t there.

“There’s no point.” A helpless feeling was creeping over me. “Where’d they go, Min? How could a whole town just disappear?”

“I don’t know. But I’m going to find out.”

“We’re going to find out,” I corrected, speaking before I knew it.

I stole a look at her, suddenly embarrassed. But Min smiled and nodded.