Fluorescence: The Complete Tetralogy Read online

  Brian knelt down. “Alice?”

  “Don’t pick it up. The pieces will be sharp.” I closed my eyes and silently hated on myself. Hopefully, Mom would forgive me. It was part of her favorite set.

  “Alice! You need to see this.”

  “What?” I turned. My jaw dropped.

  The coffee cup hadn’t even stopped falling.

  I bent down. It hung, suspended in midair, rotating so slowly I could barely tell it was moving at all. Caught in time, floating inches from the floor.

  “Hey, Mom!” I called out.

  I poked my head into the dining room.

  Everyone was moving in slow motion. Nearly frozen.

  “Brian. What’s going on?” A lump formed in my throat and I panicked.

  He came to his feet and took my hand. “I don’t know,” he said.

  The floor disappeared out from under us.

  Blinding white light flashed.

  I screamed and shut my eyes.

  Brian’s grasp on me tightened.

  We fell.

  Brightness all around.

  I couldn’t tell which way was up.

  Then the floor returned. Ground beneath my feet again.

  I opened my eyes.

  A dozen figures dressed in matte grey surrounded us, gazes fixated on us. The room completely white—endless.

  “Brian,” I called, colored spots flickering in my eyes as they recovered from the trauma.

  “I’m here.” He pulled me closer, shielding me with his embrace.

  “Where are we?”

  A tall, slender figure moved closer, wearing a seamless tight-fitting uniform similar to a jump suit with raised texture.

  “Don’t come any closer,” Brian growled. “Who are you?”

  It tilted its head and stared, appearing to size us up. Then it looked to another of the figures and took a step back. A second figure, identical in appearance, came forward.

  Fair, elfish and androgynous, I couldn’t tell if they were male or female. Their faces appeared somewhat male. But not like adult men, more like overgrown boys. Almost human. Taller than either of us. Limp white hair past their shoulders, grey eyes, plaster-white skin with a sooty grey-black undertone.

  “They have chosen me to answer,” the second figure said through pale, colorless lips. Its voice was gender neutral, carried no accent and no intonation. “I speak your tongue.”

  “Wh… where are we?” I felt safe enough in Brian’s arms to ask a question.

  “We are galaxies from the planet you call Earth.”

  I must have been dreaming. I kept shaking my head and looking at Brian, who was doing the same.

  A colorless, scentless room. I struggled to breathe the incredibly thin air.

  No windows. Dead silent and still.

  Unnaturally still.

  I even heard Brian’s heart and my own, pounding like drums, but our breathing was the loudest sound in the room.

  “What do you want from us?” Brian loosened his grasp on me, fatigued by his struggle to breathe.

  “Unlike most other humans, the two of you carry a precise genetic code necessary to bond with our own. We have chosen you specifically for our cause.”

  “Your cause? What the hell does that mean?” Brian stepped in front of me and clenched his fists.

  The figure didn’t flinch.

  “You will learn more about our cause as we deem it necessary.”

  “Brian.” I couldn’t stop trembling.

  The figure looked to the side as if he had heard someone speaking to him, and then back at us.

  “You have paired correctly,” it said. “Soon, you will discover the third. She is the key to your success. You must find and start her.” He—or what I thought was a he—looked at me and lifted his hand so I could see his palm. It started to glow from the inside and his long, slender fingertips sparked with fluorescent green light—exactly like mine.

  “You will soon learn your role,” he continued, glancing at Brian. “You, too, are essential.” A second, identical figure appeared beside the speaker, fading in from nothing but more white. It lifted a hand and its fingertips lit with bright azure.

  Brian took my hand again. “You freaks can’t make us do anything. Who are you anyway?”

  “Our kind do not have names in your tongue. However, you may liken us to the ones your people call gods—the Shepherds. The Saviors. Those who lead and preserve their people.”

  Before I could disagree, blazing white light flooded the room and I closed my eyes against it. The floor disappeared and we fell into nothingness.

  The ground returned beneath my feet and my senses became overwhelmed by smells and sounds. A sharp pain throbbed behind my eyes. I cupped my forehead.

  The smell of warm bread, cinnamon, turkey—Christmas dinner—filled my nostrils. I opened my eyes and sucked in a breath of real air. My mouth was dry as paper.

  The mug I had dropped hit the floor and shattered to pieces. I recoiled. Brian quickly reached to cup my face.

  “Are you okay?”

  I couldn’t speak so I nodded instead.

  We stared at each other, unable to say another word about what had happened. Knowing it had, in fact, happened.

  Whatever or whoever they were, they planned on using us for something.

  They had put the light inside us—had had the nerve to compare themselves to gods.

  What did they really want from us?

  Who were the “Saviors”?

  Chapter 13

  After dinner, Brian and I stayed quieter than we’d ever been.

  I couldn’t keep a clear mind. I kept fading in and out of conversations during dessert. Mom had forgiven me for breaking her cup and that was one crisis averted, but why couldn’t I have been a normal girl who kissed a normal boy? That’s all I should have been thinking about. A crazy-amazing second kiss.

  “Pie?” Mom asked. “Alice?”

  Brian nudged me in the elbow.

  “Oh, sorry. Yes. Thank you.” I took the plate from Mom. She’d put a slice of pumpkin pie on it with a dollop of whipped cream on the side. Aunt Stephanie glanced over at us and smiled her innocent, big-hearted smile. “You two would make such an adorable couple,” she said with a sigh. “Oh, I still remember when I first laid eyes on your uncle Teddy back in college.”

  My mom rolled her eyes.

  I hunched over. “Guys, please.” I did not need my shoulder flaring up in front of everyone. Brian slid his hand under the tablecloth and clutched mine.

  “I’m happy I met Alice,” he said. “You seem like a great family. It’s nice that I had the chance to meet all of you while you’re in town.” He glanced down at the kiddie table where Sandy had made a little mound out of spit and torn, chewed-up paper crayon wrappers. “Even the cute little monster over there, which I’ve been told is Alice’s cousin.”

  Everyone had a good laugh.

  He’d taken the focus off me. I appreciated that.

  “Hey, I left my gift in your room. Can I go get it?” Brian asked. “I want to show my mom.”

  “Sure.”

  “Excuse me.” Brian got up and pushed his chair in.

  I sat there twiddling my thumbs. I wanted to get up and go talk to him but I couldn’t think of an excuse.

  “Hey, Alice!” Brian called out from the top of staircase.

  I leaned back in my chair, teetering on the legs to look through the living room cutout and toward the stairs.

  “Yeah?”

  “Where did you put it?”

  “By my desk, I think!”

  “I don’t see it.” He leaned over the banister and shrugged. “I looked there.”

  “Oh, I’ll help you find it. Hold on a sec. Be right back.” I pushed my chair in and excused myself.

  I jogged up the staircase to my room.

  “We need to figure out what to do about this,” he said, the journal already i
n his hands. “Who this other person is. What those things want from us.”

  “I know. But what can we do until school starts again? My mom isn’t going to just let me go anywhere I want with you. Not now that she knows about us.”

  “Did you tell her?”

  “Well, no. Not exactly. But you’re the one who kissed me on the porch, remember? And all that flirting downstairs earlier. My mom’s not an idiot.”

  “Of course not. I didn’t say she was. She doesn’t know about…”

  “There aren’t cameras in my room. Assuming those things aren’t watching us. Ew. I feel icky now.” I folded my arms and tucked my hands behind my elbows.

  “Hopefully they’re not. Besides, you heard them, they said something about us ‘being paired’ or whatever. I don’t think they care about any of that stuff. Maybe they want us to be together.”

  “True.” I shrugged. “Though I still don’t know what that means.”

  “Just keep in touch, okay? Even if we can’t meet up again over break, we still have our phones.”

  “Yeah.”

  We were about to pass the threshold when he turned and looked me in the eye. His gaze flitted down to my lips.

  “No.” I shook my head. “What if it happens again? We can’t let everyone see it.”

  He heaved a sigh. “You’re right. Though, I don’t know how I’m going to live without another kiss, or two, or a thousand from you… eventually.”

  I whimpered. He was joking, but still.

  Pull yourself together. There had to be more to life than…

  “Come on.” He gestured for me to go ahead of him and then followed me down the stairs and back to the table.

  . . .

  “I can’t believe you infected him!” Sam said, pointing a carrot stick at me in the school lunchroom. “Wow. You are a terrible girlfriend.”

  “Keep it down! God knows that sounds so wrong here.” I face-palmed.

  Most kids love a long break, but all I had been able to think about every day of Christmas vacation was Brian. I had to count the days because Mom didn’t want anyone over while family was still in town. It got a little crazy with my uncle, aunt and their kids around.

  “I’m not upset, Sam. Believe me,” Brian protested. “Besides, we don’t know for sure if that’s what happened.”

  We had told Sam about our condition, since I trusted her and she already knew about mine anyway.

  “There’s no way to prove I gave him the stuff,” I argued. “Maybe it was just a coincidence, you know?”

  Sam nodded. “I guess. But it’s weird.”

  I heard the click of high heels approaching.

  “Hey, Brian,” someone said. “Are you sitting at the little girls’ table now?”

  I veered around. A tall, skinny girl with dark olive skin stood behind me, a hand propped on her hip as if she were on a cat walk. Thick black liner traced her eyes and metallic indigo and purple eye shadow sparkled below her shaped brows. She looked Indian—Bollywood movie Indian. I immediately envied her glossy, straight black hair. It fell down past her hips. The longest hair I’d ever seen in real life.

  “Kareena, get lost.” Brian shot her an angry glare and then returned his attention to me.

  “Aw, what’s wrong, Brian? Sad you have to babysit?” Her exaggerated valley-girl accent made me cringe.

  Wow. Was this girl for real? I didn’t even know her and I already wanted to tell her to get lost, too. I felt small and unattractive beside her shapely, tall, and very feminine body. She had curves in all the right places, and her black and red plaid mini skirt and black leggings accentuated those curves.

  “I’m not babysitting,” Brian replied gruffly, stabbing his lasagna with a plastic spork.

  “Hi. I’m Alice,” I said, trying to be polite. “This is my friend Sam.”

  Kareena scowled, cocking an eyebrow. “Sam? Isn’t that a boy’s name?”

  “Kareena, stop!” Brian stood up from his seat and stared angrily at her. “Alice is my girlfriend. Sam is her friend. If you have anything else to say about that, then say it to someone who gives a damn.”

  A conniving little grin curled on her lips. “Hmph.” Kareena pointed her nose up and crossed her arms. “Your loss. Let me know when you’re done playing with kindergartners.” She turned and sashayed away like a runway model.

  “What just happened?” I slouched over, feeling inadequate all of a sudden. Unattractive and normal.

  “Don’t worry about her, Alice,” Brian said, wrapping an arm around my shoulders and pulling me closer. “She’s been irritating me since I started coming to this school. I’m sorry you got dragged into it now that we’re sitting together. Kareena’s just being… Kareena.”

  I never wanted to be part of it again.

  Chapter 14

  Heels clicked against the tile floor of the hallway. The sound grew louder and closer and then stopped. I held my breath.

  “So, you’re Brian’s plaything, huh?”

  Again with the obnoxious valley-girl accent.

  I didn’t reply and, instead, pretended not to hear her. I had misplaced my fourth period notebook somewhere in my locker and needed to find it.

  “What’s wrong?” she asked, raising her voice. “Hearing problems?”

  She was only a few inches from my face.

  “I don’t know who you are, but I don’t want any trouble with you.” I shut my locker door and looked down at my sneakers. “Leave me alone. Please.”

  “I’ve got news for you, missy. You see this?” She held out her phone, and I reluctantly looked up to see the screen glowing with a social networking app. “I have over 2,000 friends. I’ll bet that’s 2,000 more than you have.”

  “Those sites are stupid.” I shook my head and looked down the hall. Why did Brian’s and Sam’s afternoon classes have to be so far from mine?

  “Oh yeah?” She tucked her phone back into her sparkly pink handbag. I could imagine a tiny shivering dog shoved in there on weekends. “Well, you know what? I get whatever I want.” She pointed a bright red fingernail at me. “And I’m going to get your little Brian, too. You just watch.”

  “No!” I grabbed her by the wrist and squeezed harder than I thought I could.

  “Shit!” Her eyes widened, the whites outshining her bright green pupils. She dropped her bag and lip-gloss rolled out.

  “I asked you nicely,” I spoke through gritted teeth. “Leave. Us. Alone.”

  A sudden pulse of energy jolted through me and into her. Kareena shrieked and jerked away, shielding her hand close to her chest. Her jaw dropped.

  “Oh. My. God. You little bitch! You freaking shocked me. How the…?” She shook her hand and then reached down and scooped up her things from the floor. “Ugh! Forget it!”

  I had?

  “I… I didn’t mean to.” The adrenaline dissolved and my voice softened. “I’m sorry.” I twirled the combination on my locker and then quickly backed away, wanting to get out of there as fast as possible.

  “I am sooo done with you,” Kareena sneered. “Brian made a big mistake. He has no idea what he’s missing.” She turned and stomped off, her heels clacking on the tile floor.

  My throat tightened. My stomach mangled itself up. Heavy and sick.

  Who was she to judge?

  She’d had some nerve saying what she had to me.

  And how big of a chip did she have on her perfect little shoulder?

  . . .

  “You are going to have to do something about that girl. I can’t stand her.” I plopped down beside Brian on the bench outside by the bus stop.

  “Eh, she’s all bark and no bite. Don’t worry so much.”

  “How long has this been going on?” I pulled my book bag up into my lap and nestled my hands on top of it.

  “Since last year. Since I started here, I think. Before the break—before everything changed—I never sat with you at lunch so you never had to
put up with her, but she’s been at this for a while, believe me. I don’t know why she can’t just hit up a guy in her own nasty attitude league. There are plenty of horny sophomores here.”

  “Brian, don’t talk like that, please.”

  “Sorry. But I don’t like her either. She seems to think if she pushes enough, I’ll go for her. I won’t. She doesn’t have any self-respect. You’d think she spends nights hanging out on street corners.”

  “Yeah. She kind of does have tramp written all over her.”

  “Exactly. I like to think I have better taste than that.” He tapped the tip of my nose playfully with his finger and I blushed.

  Sam came up beside us and sat. “Hey, guys.”

  I scooted closer to Brian to give her more space on the end of the stubby bench.

  “I’ll talk with her about it later,” replied Brian. “Trust me, Alice, I’ll put an end to this stupid game of hers.”

  “Thanks.” I smiled. “Oh, and… the reason I brought it up is because she confronted me between classes today.”

  “What the hell?” His voice rose.

  “But something else happened, too.” I lowered my voice.

  “Yeah?” He perked up.

  Sam leaned in closer.

  “I got upset and grabbed her hand. Squeezed it pretty hard.”

  “She probably deserved it.” A cocky grin curled in his lips.

  “Then… I shocked her.”

  “What?” The smile vanished and his eyes widened. “You shocked her? Like…”

  “Yeah. Exactly the same. She seemed okay, though. Just angrier.”

  “Don’t worry about it.” Sam pressed her shoulder into mine. “No biggie, right?”

  “Maybe, but I didn’t think I could hurt people.” I slumped over. “Electronics, maybe, and you,” I motioned toward Brian, “because of your pacemaker, but a normal person? What if I’m becoming a danger to people? What if this stuff…”

  “Touch me,” Sam said, excitedly. “Come on. Just do it.” She held out her open palm and wiggled her fingers.