Schasm (Schasm Series) (26 page)

Alex groans as he pushes the large wooden desk against the door. “I’m sorry, Chloe. Please do not open any more doors or windows.”

I nod, feeling foolish. “I’m sorry,” I say.

Tomas holds up another vial. “It’s finished.” His hands are shaking.

“And so…?” Alex asks.

Tomas looks flushed. “This time, I go down the rabbit hole myself.” Before either of us can protest, Tomas tips the tube into his mouth, cringing as the liquid runs down his throat. His eyes close, but he remains standing.

I walk a little closer to him, looking for a response. “Are you okay, Tomas?” I ask.

He doesn’t respond.

Alex places his hand on my shoulder from behind. “Let’s give him a few minutes,” he says calmly.

The minutes feel like ages. After a while, I see his eyes fluttering underneath his eyelids before they flick open.

“Well?” Alex snaps, without giving him a second to comprehend what just happened.

Tomas looks pleased with himself. “It worked. Everything was black for a bit, but all seems normal now. I’m pretty confident that everything will be okay.”

Alex moves around to stand in front of me, like he’s guarding me. “I want to try it now, before Chloe takes it. I’m not taking any chances with her.”

“What? No!” I can’t let him potentially poison himself for my sake. “Alex, this isn’t necessary. I’m sure I’ll be fine.”

“You said that last time, and look what happened.” He leans his face down to mine. “This time, I go first.”

I hold back my tears. “No one has ever risked their safety for me, Alex.”

“It’s a long time coming, then.” He winks. Then he turns to face Tomas and reaches out his hand. “I need the serum, please.”

Tomas doesn’t seem so sure, but he knows that Alex is insisting, not asking. “Focus on this room the entire time.” He hands over the serum.

“Yeah, I’ve got it…
doctor
.”

Alex takes a swig of the liquid and closes his eyes while remaining still, just as Tomas did. After waiting a couple of long minutes, I notice movement in his face. His eyes snap open.

“Disgusting,” he says, letting his tongue hang out of his mouth. “It tastes like strawberry mixed with cold medicine.”

Something clicks in me.

Actually, something snaps in my head.

“What did you just say?” I ask Alex.

“I said, it tastes like strawberry cold medicine.”

I’ve said this before.

A juice drink that tastes like strawberry mixed with cold medicine.

I’ve tasted this before.

Oh my God…

"You…” I point at Tomas. “You did this to me. All of this. You tried to make me forget…but I remember.” My breathing is rapid now. “I remember you, Tomas. I remember you. I remember the
special
drink you gave me. The one that tasted like strawberry mixed with cold medicine—the formula that made me forget about everything that had happened to me before I turned seven. You weren’t a doctor, and that wasn’t a doctor’s office. You drugged me. You drugged a seven-year-old little girl. Why would you do something like that?”

He says nothing.

He doesn’t have to. The answer comes to me without his input.

"My mother put you up to it, didn’t she?”

He scoffs.

“You bastard!” I sprint across the office and jump on him, punching and slapping him until Alex’s hands wrap around my waist and he pulls me off.

He carries me to the opposite side of the room and sits me down in one of the chairs. He kneels in front of me and places his hands over my knees. “Calm down. Deep breaths, okay?” He inhales a sharp breath for me to follow in example. Then he stands and faces Tomas again. “It was you?” he asks in a low rumble. “You destroyed all of her childhood memories? You’re the animal who drugged an innocent little child, removing all happiness from her life?”

Tomas tries to dash around Alex, but Alex won’t let him past. “I have no idea what you two are talking about. I didn’t drug Chloe. I didn’t even know Chloe when she was seven.”

“No…it was you.” I glare at Tomas from across the room. “I recognize you now. I
remember
you.”

Don’t I?

Tomas leans against the wall. “Chloe, you’re too far gone in Wonderland now. The first time we met was at the institution… remember?”

I’m so confused right now. Maybe my mind
is
playing tricks on me. Maybe I’m so lost within my own mind right now that I’m making things up in my head to try to fill in my missing pieces.

“I’m sorry, Alex. I don’t know what I’m thinking…what’s true.”

He puts his hand on my shoulder and tries to rub the tension away. “It’s okay. We’ll figure everything out. That’s all that matters.”

Alex turns to Tomas. “If anything happens to her this time, I’ll kill you with my bare hands…do you understand me?” Tomas says nothing, only nods. He hands me the serum one more time. “Aim for San Diego…that’s still the plan. Okay?” I nod. “We’ll meet you there.” He kisses my forehead as I drink yet another one of Tomas’s concoctions.

Off we go again…

***

I close my eyes for only three short seconds and open them to find I’m in his living room, alone. Out of danger. For the moment, at least.

No one else seems to be here yet.

I begin to worry about what might have happened to Alex and Tomas. I try to occupy myself by walking around in circles until I end up at the window. When I look out, I see Alex and Tomas standing below, beside the pool. They appear to be having a heated discussion…again.

I walk down and meet them. “What are you two doing down here?” I ask, continuing toward them. Alex’s eyes dart to me, as if he’s been caught doing something he shouldn’t be. “Do I want to know what you’re talking about?”

“Chloe…” he begins.

Tomas cuts in. “We’re discussing you.”

“Of course you are,” I say. I hope he hears the frustration.

Alex explains. “We’re worried you’re going to get hurt with all the back and forth that’s happening in your mind right now. We want to come up with a plan to keep you safe. Tomas and I have to go back to Paris so we can see if we can find out what caused the timeshift.”

“Okay,” I agree. “Let’s go then.”

Alex’s shoulders drop. “I want you to stay here.”

“No. It’s my mind…my drift. I’m coming.”

He huffs. “Chloe, you’ve been through a lot in a very short time. You can’t keep forcing yourself back and forth like this.”

“Things seem normal enough now. No rats…no crowds. No catacombs.”

He lays his hand on my shoulder, like he has terrible news to break to me. “Time was supposed to reset once you ended up back here, but it didn’t,” he tries to explain.

“So what…you’re just going to leave me here now?” I back away. “I did all of this so we could be together—the black pills, the blue serum, the new serum—and now you’re leaving? On purpose?”

“Not forever…just for a while. We need more information and going back is the only way to get it.” I turn my head. I won’t look at him, and I won’t let him see me getting upset. “Can you just stay here and be safe?” he begs. “Please, for me?”

“I don’t know why it matters, but fine,” I say. “If you aren’t back by tonight, I am coming looking for you.”

“We’ll be back by tonight, safe and sound. I promise. Just go back upstairs, and whatever you do, don’t tell Celia what’s going on, or she’ll freak out.”

“Whatever.”

“Not whatever.” He pulls me in and wraps both of his arms around my body. “This.” Then he kisses me, deep and full. “Everything is going to be okay. I love you, and I’m doing this to protect you.”

I almost can’t speak. “Protect yourself, too, please. Just…do that.”

I close my eyes, turn around and walk to the house, trying not to look back at him. If I see his face right now, I will cry. I’m scared for him. I’m scared for me.

And I honestly have no idea what will become of any of us once this is all over.

I find Celia upstairs, looking out the window where we were talking. “Chloe, what exactly is going on? Who is Alex talking to down there?” Her confusion shows everywhere—in her eyes, in her brow. I hate having to lie to her.

“He’s talking to my uncle, Tomas. Alex has to help him with something.” I look away from her, so she’ll believe my words and not my face. “It’s no big deal.”

“But Tomas is the one who drugged you…isn’t he?”

She won’t understand no matter how I explain it. “Alex said he had to go for a while. But he promised me he’d be okay and that he’d be home by tonight.” I smile, though it’s thin and weak. I try to keep my explanation simple enough so she doesn’t suspect that there’s anything more to it.

“He’s a strong young man. He can handle himself.” She speaks of him as if he’s some sort of warrior, but her voice sounds like a concerned mother. “Are you worried?” she asks me.

I look down to avoid her concerned stare. “A little maybe.”

Worried for him, and for me.

She pauses as she thinks. “Me too,” she says.

CHAPTER THIRTY

DISTURBANCE

I’VE PACED THE LIVING ROOM,
walked the neighborhood, and the beach. Celia has kept herself busy, too, but she’s as worried as I am. There is nothing either of us can do to help Alex, and I can’t stand the waiting, or thinking about what might be happening to him. I drop onto the couch and absently turn on the TV. I flip through the channels, coming to the world news station. I’m struck by how exquisitely detailed my imaginary world actually is.

A flashing ticker appears in large letters across the screen that says, “Riot in Paris.”

Oh my God…

I turn up the volume and hear the newscaster describing how an unknown group of rioters are causing a civil uprising. There are images on loop, of cars smoking in the streets and crowds of people crushing each other as they protest. “It appears these rioters are staging some sort of forceful demonstration…it’s slowly turning more tense and the possibility of violence is on everyone’s mind. No one here can articulate what it means, but the rioters apparently feel that something has been taken from them…”
Weird to see my mind reporting on itself
, I think.

It’s the same thing the man said when he broke into Tomas’s office. He must have been one of the rioters?

I’m doing everything I can to remain calm. But I can’t wait any longer for Alex to return. I can’t just leave him in Paris trying to fix whatever I’ve damaged with my insane back-and-forth shifting and drifting.

I have to go find him.

I close my eyes and lie back on the couch, hoping my mind doesn’t fail me.

The cobblestone streets spring to mind…the streetlamps and the sidewalks…

The drifting has become too easy. I find myself inside of Tomas’s laboratory in Paris. It’s the only place I could think to go…I have no idea where else they might be. I assumed that when Alex said they needed more information, this was where they would find it. Apparently, they’ve either been here and are gone already or they were never coming here at all.

I make my way over to the boarded-up windows and pull a corner outward, just a bit, to loosen the nails and allow me to look outside. To my amazement, I don’t see anything other than an empty street. This makes no sense.

I open the door and head down the street. Things are so empty, so quiet that my footsteps echo through the alley. I don’t hear any sound from the surrounding buildings. Then I turn the corner and see what the newscaster was trying to describe: There, in the center of the city, is an enormous crowd made up of hundreds of people, all hovering around something or someone. Their collective attention is fixed on something centralized. So many figures clad in some sort of riot gear or armor. A hideous sensation comes over me.

They couldn’t be…

I move quickly toward the crowd, first walking, and then jogging. As the noise grows in my ears, I break into a sprint and push my way through to find Alex and Tomas in the middle of them all. I have no idea what they’ve done to cause this, but it doesn’t matter: I have to help them get out of it.

I turn around, pushing my way back out of the crowd, and try to hide my face while I attempt to formulate a plan. From behind, a man covered in armor and wearing a black face guard grabs my upper arm and starts dragging me off down a side street. He cups his hand over my mouth before I have a chance to scream out. His free hand pins both of mine behind my back. I attempt to free myself by kicking my legs from side to side, hoping to break loose, but I’m powerless in this position. I can’t even slow him down.

He drags me down the street toward Tomas’s laboratory. He shoves me up against the wall, forcing me to come face-to-face with him. My body feels weak, as if I’ve lost all control. My limbs feel numb, and my heart is hammering. I may not have control of this situation, but I’ll be damned if I’ll let him take me down without a struggle. I writhe in his grip until it feels like my shoulders might rip out of their sockets.

Before I can do any real damage to myself, he removes his face guard and stares at me until I get a grip on what’s happening.

Alex?
“Oh my God…I thought you were…I saw you in there, with Tomas.”

He winks. “Drifting is worth nothing if it can’t get you out of a tight situation.”

I don’t care what else he has to say. I just pull him in and kiss him as hard as I can, relieved to see that he’s okay. I’m reluctant to let him go, but I finally do. “What exactly is going on?” I ask.

He sighs and looks toward the crowd. “They know you here.” He checks behind him. “Why are you here?”

“How would they know me?”

He shrugs. “They just do. They recognize you. You have something that belongs to them. If they see you…” His eyes slacken.

That makes no sense. “I have
nothing
that belongs to anyone…I promise you.”

“Did you take something out of the caves, Chloe?” he asks. “It’s the only possibility I can think of.”

“No, I…” The memory hits me all at once.

I took the locket.