Mutation (11 page)

W
EDNESDAY
, J
UNE
17
57
DAYS

This was it.

This was why we were here.

‘Okay,' I said, shrugging off my backpack and shoving it into some bushes, ‘if we're going to go check it out, we should probably leave our –'

‘Whoa, Jordan. Wait,' said Peter. ‘How are we even supposed to get there? The water goes right up to the entrance.'

‘So? It's like fifteen metres – and the lake's probably not even that deep.'

Peter bent down to feel the water.

Luke just looked at me like I was crazy.

‘Come on,' I said, ‘The world is ending and you two are worried about a little swim?'

‘It's
cold
,' said Peter.

‘All right, fine,' I said, pulling off my shoes. ‘I'll go over first, and then I'll call you if there's anything in there.'

I got rid of my socks, put my shoes back on again, then took off my jumper and threw it to Luke.

I turned back to the water's edge and stepped in.

The bottom of the lake was slick with mud. I slid, almost going over backwards. Peter put out a hand to save me, but I steadied myself and stepped out of his reach.

It
was
cold. And deeper than I'd thought.

After only a few steps, I was in up to my waist, school skirt dragging around my legs.

‘How is it?' asked Luke.

‘It's great,' I shivered.

I dived forward, swimming the rest of the way. Better to get this over with quickly.

By the time I reached the cave, it was almost too deep to stand. Reaching out through the muddy water, I felt a rock slope leading up to the entrance. I tried to claw my way up, but the whole thing was thick with slime and I couldn't get a foothold.

Then I saw the rope. A thick cord, almost the same colour as the rock, stretching down into the water from somewhere inside the cave. I reached across, grabbed the rope, and pulled myself up the slope, back onto dry land.

Still holding on, I leant back out to see the others. ‘Guys, come on!'

A pause.

Then a sigh from Peter. ‘Really?'

‘Yes!' I said. ‘Hurry up!'

I watched until I was sure they were actually coming, then went back to investigating the cave.

The rope was attached to a big steel loop, bolted down to the stone floor. The metal was starting to rust, but it still didn't look like it had been here for more than a year or so.

Splash!

There was a shout from outside, and then Peter started swearing at the top of his lungs. I picked up the rope again, swung back out from the cave and shouted, ‘Are you okay?'

‘No!' Peter yelled. ‘It's freaking cold!'

He and Luke were both waist-deep in the lake, shirts off, arms above their heads, taking tiny, cringing steps down into the water.

I sighed and left them to it.

A couple of metres in, just far enough to be half-hidden in shadow, the cave opened up a bit, into a cavern about the size of my bedroom. I walked in, squinting in the dim light.

Little blurs of white hovered in front of me. At first, I thought it was just my eyes adjusting. But then I realised what I was looking at.

Candles. Dozens of them, all over the cavern. They lined the walls, standing on little ledges cut into the rock. They were all unlit, but their wicks were black and they had little streams of hardened wax running down the sides.

It couldn't have been long since people were here.

A giant stone sat in the middle of the room. Two metres across, flat on top. Dotted with even more candles. A table.

There were chairs too. Three smaller stones, set around the big one.

I shivered again, but I was pretty sure it had nothing to do with the freezing water this time.

This place was like something out of a cult.

The white-robed figures from Mike's sketchbook swam back into my mind. My eyes swept the cavern again, making sure I was alone.

I heard more splashing and arguing outside, and Luke and Peter finally appeared, hugging themselves against the cold.

‘Whoa,' said Peter, stepping into the cavern. ‘What the crap is all this?'

‘Dunno,' I said. ‘Not exactly Shackleton's style, though, is it?'

I paced around to the far side of the table, seeing if there were any tunnels or anything, but it looked like this was it.

Luke came in and sat down on one of the stone chairs. He stared up at the ceiling.

‘This is … not what I was expecting.'

‘What do you think it's for?' I asked. ‘I mean, it can't just be –'

The ground shifted and I staggered sideways. Around the cavern, the candles started swirling, blurring together.

‘Jordan!' said Peter, rushing over.

I turned, dizzily, wondering how he could be so steady on his feet. But then I felt the familiar rush of nausea and –

Peter disappeared, mid-step. Luke too.

All around me, the candles grew taller and burst into life, casting an eerie, dancing glow across the cavern, lighting up the three hunched figures who had suddenly appeared around the stone table: Mike, Cathryn and Tank.

They were dressed in their black mall-robbing outfits again, minus the black clothes and balaclavas.

And they were blindfolded.

No-one moved.

They just sat there in silence.

And judging by their almost-dry clothes, they'd been waiting for a while.

I took a step closer. The cavern blurred again, but not violently. Movement seemed to be getting easier each time. Like my body was getting used to the flashes.

Sitting on the table in the middle of all the candles was a battered old alarm clock.

10.59 p.m.

Tank shifted on his seat. ‘
They're gone,
' he whispered. ‘
They've got to be gone by –
'

‘
Shh!
' said Mike. ‘
Just wait.
'

And the cavern went silent again.

I moved a bit further around the table, bracing myself as the world swirled to catch up. I looked around, skin rippling with goosebumps, but it seemed like Tank was right: whoever else had been in here, they were long gone now.

Cathryn reached up to brush a strand of hair out of her face, then flinched in her seat as a harsh beeping split the cavern.

The alarm clock.

11 p.m.

Mike undid his blindfold and got up to switch the clock off.

‘
All right
,' he said, sitting back down again. ‘
Now.
'

Cathryn and Tank ripped off their blindfolds.

Without another word, all three of them pulled up their sleeves to look at their right shoulders.

‘
Yes!
' said Mike, grinning uncontrollably. Obsessively.

‘
Awesome,
' said Tank. ‘
This is so freaking awesome.
'

Cathryn still didn't speak. She had a kind of awed expression on her face.

Each of them was staring down at an identical tattoo, still red raw and swollen where the needle had gone in.

Black circles with spirals in the middle.

The same shape that had cost Jeremy a beating back at school.

‘
This is really happening,
' said Cathryn.

‘
Course it's happening,
' said Mike, the glint in his eye slipping over from excited to manic. ‘
Why do you
think they call it destiny?
'

‘Are you kidding?' I said, knowing they couldn't hear me. ‘What's that supposed to mean?'

‘
We should go,'
said Tank, getting up.

‘
Yeah,
' said Mike. ‘
They said –
'

The cavern started rolling again.

I felt something tugging at me, dragging me back.

‘Jordan … Jordan, c'mon …'

‘No,' I said, stomach churning. ‘Wait!'

The world turned inside out, tearing itself to pieces. The candles blew out.

Luke was shaking my arm, like I'd been asleep and he was trying to wake me.

I stumbled away from him, rubbing my eyes. If moving around inside the visions was getting easier, flashing in and out was only getting more painful.

‘You should have left me,' I said. ‘I saw Mike and the others. They're –'

‘Yeah, we noticed that too,' said Peter. There was an edge to his voice, like he'd just been sprung by a teacher.

‘Huh …?'

I opened my eyes.

Cathryn, Tank and Mike were still there.

Chapter 13

W
EDNESDAY
, J
UNE
17
57
DAYS

No,
I thought, getting my head back together.
Not
still here. They're here again.

Standing at the entrance to the cavern. Drenched from the lake and dressed in their uniforms. Mostly, anyway. Mike and Tank had their shirts off. Big square band-aids on their right arms, covering the tattoos.

I could see Mike's mind whirring, searching for the best way to play this. Cathryn stood behind him, watching.

Tank, on the other hand, clearly wasn't interested in the subtle approach. He charged into the cavern, grabbed Luke – who was closest – by the arm, and growled, ‘
Get – out
.'

‘Hang on, man,' said Mike, moving to stop him. ‘Let's just – Let's just figure this out.'

Tank looked confused, although that was hardly unusual. He backed off and sat down on one of the stone chairs.

Mike's eyes shot between Luke, Peter and me, calculating. He started pacing around, like he was taking in the cavern for the first time.

‘What is this place?' he asked ‘What are you doing out here?'

It would've been worth a shot if Tank hadn't already been about to rip Luke's arm off. And if I hadn't just seen them using the cavern as a
Twilight
Zone
tattoo parlour.

‘Show me your arm,' I said, sidestepping in front of Mike.

‘What?' His face went red. ‘No. Screw you. Why would I –?'

I slammed him up against the wall, sending candles toppling down. ‘Seriously, Mike, you want me to knock you down again? Just show me.'

‘Whoa, Jordan, relax,' said Peter. ‘He's had that band-aid on his arm for ages. It's nothing –'

Tank jumped up from his seat and strode over to break it up. Luke, who seemed to have guessed that this had something to do with my vision, ran across and grabbed Tank from behind.

‘Oi!' Tank swung a fist back over his shoulder, catching Luke in the side of the head. Luke staggered back against the stone table.

I ripped off the band-aid.

Mike scrambled to cover his arm. Too late.

‘Mate …' said Peter, moving in for a closer look. ‘Where did you
get
that?'

‘Yeah, Mike,' I said, leaning on him. ‘Where'd you get it? Couldn't have been here, could it?'

‘How the crap did you know that?' asked Tank.

Mike gritted his teeth. ‘
Tank!'

‘Who gave them to you?' I asked. ‘Those guys in white?'

‘No-one.'

‘Same no-one who keeps posting love notes to you in that locker?' said Peter.

‘Pete, come on,' said Tank, rounding on him. ‘Whose side are you on?'

‘Here's the deal,' I said, turning my attention back to Mike. ‘You either tell us what we want to know, or this secret hideout of yours stops being secret.'

‘And what about your secret?' said Cathryn, speaking for the first time, strolling across from the other end of the cavern.

‘Cathryn,' Mike warned.

But Cathryn wasn't hearing it. ‘That video,' she said, turning to Peter. ‘Those people you killed. How would it be if the whole town found out about
that
?'

I let go of Mike.

Cathryn might have come to a completely idiotic conclusion about that DVD, but if she and the others went back and started talking about Tabitha, Shackleton would know exactly where they'd got it from.

‘No,' said Luke, still holding his jaw. ‘Cathryn, you can't.'

‘Yeah, seriously, Cat,' said Peter. ‘You don't want to do that.'

‘Then you probably don't want to go threatening us either,' said Mike, stepping away from the wall and brushing himself off.

I got out of his way, and he went over to Tank.

We stood there, all six of us, just eyeing each other across the cavern.

Now what?

The silence stretched out.

Mike's brow furrowed, like he was concentrating on something.

‘Well,' said Peter finally, clasping his hands together. ‘I think we've all made some excellent progress today. Why don't we –?'

‘Shh!' said Mike.

Peter took one step towards him, then froze. ‘Crap.'

Voices out at the lake.

Mike turned and ran. I bolted after him.

We reached the mouth of the cave at the same time, and the two of us almost went crashing over into the water. I grabbed hold of the rock wall, getting my footing again.