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Everything is turning blue, I thought. I felt numb, indistinct.
Shoe finally got the screen off, and it scraped the window as he tucked it outside.
His curtains fluttered as he closed them to hide the open window.
We have to get out of here, Barnabas said, and he darted off across the grass.
I took a breath and pushed myself into motion. If not for the wind against my
face, I wouldn t have been able to tell I was even moving. It was like a dream where you
run and run, and you never go anywhere.
Madison! Barnabas called from the sidewalk, and I stopped. Blinking, I looked
down. I was still beside the tree. Wait a moment. I knew I had run& somewhere.
Madison, let s go! Barnabas repeated, and I wavered. He s going to come out!
I don t feel so good, I said, squinting at him.
And then the light from the street suddenly went entirely blue. Like ink falling into
a glass of water, it poured from the middle, hitting the ground and rebounding against
the sides of the beam of light, white and blue swirling until it was all one color.
Oh, this can t be good.
Ummm, I breathed as Barnabas jogged back and took my arm. I think I m in
trouble, I said. Then my knees gave way, and I collapsed.
Madison!
Head lolling, I felt Barnabas catch me. Gabriel s pearly toes, he muttered, and I
opened my eyes. His face was glowing like you see in the movies, with a white
smudginess. And I could see his wings. Reaching out, I tried to touch them, finding they
were only in my vision, not real. He looked like the angel he was, fallen from grace. He
was the only real thing left. Everything else was blue, sliding together into one
monotone color of existence.
Barnabas, I whispered, needing a huge breath to do it. Something is wrong.
You think? he said, sounding panicked as he lifted me up into his arms. What s
the matter? Are you hurt?
My gaze fell on my amulet, and I stared in wonder. It was absolutely black. No, it
was a violet so deep that it only looked black. With a sudden understanding, I realized it
had gone ultraviolet, the color falling off the visible spectrum.
My head lolled up, and I gasped as I saw the stars. They were rainbows of
noncolors. I could see all the wavelengths blaring from them, and I started to cry. It was
too much. I was only human. I wasn t supposed to see all of this, to even know such
colors existed.
Madison!
Barnabas turned my face from the heavens, and, sobbing, I gripped him as if he
were the only thing real.
Something is& wrong, I stammered. I wanted to look again, but couldn t bear it.
I ll find Ron, Barnabas said. His voice was grim, and though a wave of dizziness
hit me, I focused on him.
No, I breathed, then louder, No! Just don t let me look at the stars. I was
crying, and I could see waves of blue coming from me, bouncing into him like waves on
a beach. Don t let me look at the stars& I whispered. And as Barnabas panicked, I felt
my mind expand.
Like blowing out a flame, he dissolved into a blue puff of smoke and vanished.
That fast, I was alone, and all that held me sane was the glow of his aura beside mine
as I found myself entirely within the fabric of time.
Eight
Where the devil am I? I thought, watching my fingers move as if through a blue
haze as I grabbed the back of a rolling chair and swung it to face the computer before
me. Holy cow, I m in Shoe s room! And those don tactually look like my fingers& .
See how you like it, I felt my lips say; then I heard it an instant later, masculine
and ticked.
Crap! I m in Shoe? I thought, but I had sat down, or Shoe had, rather, and I
turned my head without wanting to in order to make sure the door was shut. Leaning
back in the chair, I looked at the closed curtains. A faint musing intruded in my thoughts
that I d seen someone out there, running away.
Barnabas and me, I thought as I looked at hands that weren t mine, but clearly
Shoe couldn t sense me as I could sense him. It was freaky, and I didn t like the blue tint
everything had. I could hear his heartbeat and feel his breath in him, sensing it go stale
an instant before he exhaled. His foot itched in his shoe, and it was driving me nuts that
he didn t scratch it. I was hot and irritable, and for the first time in months, I remembered
what it was to be hungry.
I m flashing forward, I thought, the memory of adrenaline washing through me to
mix with Shoe s anger. Aninstant before it happens.
This is going to be good, I heard Shoe mutter as he leaned forward and tapped
his fingers on the desk in a fast rhythm. No one will be able to prove it was me. I m
smarter than all you lamebrains think.
My fingers were stiff as the tapping turned into a smack on the desk. God, this
computer is slow, I heard myself mutter, feeing an emotion of irritation that wasn t mine.
Shoe, no! You re going to kill people! I thought, trying to get him to hear me, but
without any indication that he d sensed me, he stood and put his ear to the door,
listening for Ace.
Damn it, I knew it wouldn t be that easy, but I could feel the desperation growing
in both of us as I watched everything happen, unable to stop it, unable to make myself
be heard in his head.
Agitated, Shoe chewed on a fingernail as the drive hummed. Clean, clean,
everything has to be so friggin
clean, I heard him think as he scraped the ink out from under his nail, then
flicked it to the middle of the room. I ve got to get out of here, came echoing into our
shared mind.
Shoe, stop! I thought, screaming into his brain, but he stood before the computer
and shoved the chair back and fidgeted, waiting. God! Could the piece of crap be any
slower?
Finally the disc finished and the drawer slid open. I reached for it, and though I
couldn t see it, I knew he was smiling at the image of the dripping black bird. He
jammed it into a back pocket, and a flood of emotion slipped into me.
He was so out of here. He d known him his entire life, and this was how he was
treated? They d all know tomorrow at school. He d be sure everyone knew who was
responsible for everything. And his so-called friend could curl up and die, for all he
cared.
Shoe! I exclaimed, but a heavier wash of tinted blue obscured my vision.
The world seemed to turn inside out, and I floundered. Again I was lost in the [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]