TEN MINUTES LATER...

"Just ask..." Olivia said, out of the blue.

"What?" I fumbled. I had been caught.

"I can tell when someone has something they want to ask me about, but are afraid too. Call it a sixth sense kind of thing," Olivia smiled.

"Well, that's kind of spooky..." I mumbled. How did she known I was dying to ask her something?

Sophia laughed from the other side of the room, "Yup, she's not the most social of b.u.t.terflies!"

Olivia ignored her little sister's joke and asked again. "So, what is it?"

I took a quick moment to gather as much courage as I could. She softly tapped her fingers on the worn desktop she was sitting behind.

"Who was that guy last night? The one with the anger issues..." I asked, cautiously. She immediately shriveled up in her seat.

"My ex," she sighed. Great, the ex-boyfriend. That would explain why he had such lovely words for me.

"Dax was at the show?" Sophia gagged from across the room. "He's such a jerk."

"And that's why he is my ex-boyfriend!" she made quite clear.

"Oh," I felt stupid for asking.

A painful silence circled the room. We could hear the General's men shuffling around outside the door, but not much else. More awkward seconds pa.s.sed by. More silence surrounded us. It felt as if it would last forever.

Olivia finally broke the ice. "Can I have my phone back?" She leaned forward in her chair, slightly reaching out with her hand, in front of me. I smiled, embarra.s.sed. I had forgotten all about her cell phone. I reached into my backpack and handed it to her with a fresh coat of pink across my cheeks.

"Here. Sorry again, for the mix up with our phones." I was just glad to be off the subject of her ex, Dax.

"No harm, no foul." She flicked it on and started flipping through her different applications. She stopped abruptly and looked at me sharply, pointing to a new icon on the shiny screen.

"What's this?"

Oh, that..." I gulped. "It's an application that syncs all your songs and lyrics by category."

"Is that so?"

"Umm...yeah. I thought it might come in handy for your song writing. For your band," I said, nervous. She shifted in her seat, enjoying my uneasiness. She searched my face for a moment.

"You can learn a lot about someone from their phone," she smiled. I cringed a the thought. I tried to remember if I had anything embarra.s.sing or incriminating on my phone.

"Like what?" I asked, sheepishly. She gently tapped her blue fingernail on the face of her phone.

"Pretty much everything. Your friends, your family...things you like. Things you don't like. Pictures...secrets..." she trailed off. I sat still, with a large lump wedged in my throat. Had she seen the pictures I had taken of the stone in my locker?

"Oh, yeah." I set my phone down on the fake wood of the desk. My hands grew warm with sweat. What had she found on my phone?

"Did she run? Through the still of the night. Her cantered whisper. A hopeless no win fight..." she spoke, softly. The words paralyzed me. My words. She had found my writing, my poetry. I thought I might die inside.

"You read that, huh?" I mumbled. She had found my dirty little secret. My precious, unknown hobby. Only one other person on the planet knew that I wrote poetry.

"You wrote that?" she asked, already knowing the answer.

"Yes."

"I read them all. That one is my favorite," she said, looking back toward Sophia, who was watching the outside world through fogged windows. Olivia turned back to me with wanting eyes. She was too beautiful. I had to look away. When I finally gathered enough nerve to turn back toward her, she had placed her face directly in front of mine. Close enough to kiss her. I froze. She smiled.

"Thanks for taking care of my phone," she said.

I held my breath, petrified. "You're welcome." Instantly, I found myself lost in her synthetic blue eyes. I wondered what her natural color was. Time slowed in my personal heaven.

* Big bang. *

What? Not now. Not this moment.

* Warning. Big bang. They're here. *

Get out of my head! I yelled back, inside my brain.

* Goodbye. *

What?

* Trust no one. *

Wait! What are you talking about? It felt crazy to ask without using my voice.

* Trust no one. *

"Lucas, what is it?" Olivia asked, worried. I ignored her and concentrated harder. Our moment was gone now anyway.

What do I do? I asked, in my skull.

* Trust no one...but her. *

The power flickered on, brightly, and then clicked off again. The room fell black.

"Lucas?" Olivia grabbed at me. Sophia ran up to us. Her face was pale and nervous.

"The power's out all over...like...everywhere. Everything just went black, outside and in!" she panicked. I looked out the window in a hurry. She was right, everything was dark now. The sky, the parking lot, the school. Even the familiar colored lights on top of the police vehicles had stopped flashing. What the heck was going on?

"Something's wrong...I have to get to my locker. Now." I jumped up and ran to the door. I braced my footing, ready to pull on the door handle as hard as possible. With a twist and a jerk of my hand, I fell backwards onto the floor, as the door flew open. It wasn't locked anymore.

"Mr. Ryan! Time for you to come with me," General Love called out, with glee. Standing in the dark hallway, his long shadow looked like a snake. His eyes pulled together into ominous slits as they glared down on me. He didn't look human.

"Lucas! Your phone!" Olivia called out. My phone flashed alive with a bright burst of yellow light. It flickered violently in a stunning strobe effect. The flashing sped up so fast that it began to resemble a solid, blinding beacon. Our shadows danced along the walls of the detention room. I ran over to my phone, scooping it up in my hand, hoping to extinguish the manic explosion of light.

A strange voice came from over the shoulder of the General. "He has the same spectrum as the package, General. He's giving off the same energy."

"Well, isn't that interesting," General Love smiled. "Tag him and bag him!"

"No!" Sophia wailed, as the first wave of electricity ravaged me from the stun-gun. Stars spun before my eyes and all I wanted to do was sleep.

LEVEL 10: No One Knows.

Dizzy. So dizzy. My head was pounding with a building headache. My eyelids pulled together as I tried to focus on my surroundings.

"He's waking up, General," a voice spoke from behind me. I sat up carefully, realizing where I was. The school's medical room. I had been in the Nurse's Office a couple times before, but never like this. It was cold and dark, except for my flashing cell phone. There were a half-dozen glow sticks littered around the room, two along each side of me and a few more on the sink counter, just out of reach. They shined bright green...I think. It was hard to tell, exactly. My sight was still fuzzy and my phone's waves of yellow light weren't helping the situation. The strobe effect seemed slower and more obvious now. Why was it slowing down?

"Welcome back, Mr. Ryan. Lovely little gadget you have there." General Love pointed at my phone. It was wrapped inside my right hand. I tried to set it down, but it was stuck to my skin. Locked tightly against my flesh like the mysterious stone had done the day before. I tried not to panic.

"It's just a phone," I coughed. I pulled the phone to my chest, blocking the bright pulses of light, just a little.

"Just a phone?" he asked, with an eyebrow raised.

"Yes," I gulped.

"A phone that just so happens to be attached to you like a second skin. A phone that can only be removed if I chop off your hand," he rumbled, like a promise. He leaned forward, pressing his fists down onto the table I was sitting on. The knuckles in his hands all popped in unison.

"So what?" I pouted. My head hurt and I was in no mood for threats.

"So, I'd chop your wretched fist off if I could," General Love screamed, filling the room with fear.

"Shut up and do it then!" I dared, clutching my phone tighter to my chest. An angry smile curled at the sides of his lips.

"I can't."

"Why not?" I dared again, even louder. He leaned back, shocked by my lack of respect for him. I was so scared at the moment, I thought for sure he would see through my tantrum.

"Because, there are no knives left," Olivia said from behind me. She sounded angry.

"Olivia..." I gasped, happy to see her. For a brief moment my headache disappeared. I searched the small room, quickly. "Where's Sophia? Is she all right?"

"I don't know. They took her away. They won't tell me where!" she cursed, ready to fight all of them. The guards stepped forward in defense of the General. I jumped to my feet to try and calm her, but found that I was still very lightheaded. I began to fall sideways and Olivia slid next to me. She gently steadied my stance before turning her anger back to General Love.

"Where is she?" she demanded. A giant and gurgly laugh poured from his mouth. The sound made my skin crawl.

"You'll get your sister back when I get my answers, young lady!" he threatened, again. "And when I get my weapons back...all of them."

"What is he talking about?" I asked, confused. Olivia's worried eyes found mine.

"You promised, Lucas," she whispered. My heart fell into my stomach. I had promised to get her sister out of this fiasco. I never should have promised such a thing. I still had no idea what was going on. I had to do whatever it takes to get Sophia back. General Love stepped up to me with his muscular arms crossed.

"I want some answers, son. Now," he said. No kidding, so do I.

I looked up at his hard eyes, trying not to notice his disfigured, missing ear. "Okay."

"Come with me," he ordered. General Love marched out of the room. Olivia steadied me again and handed me my precious backpack. She stole a nervous glance at my phone wedged in my hand. I gave it a small shake, trying to loosen its hold a little bit. It was no use.

"Thank you," I said, with a loopy smile. She nodded in understanding. The guards pushed at Olivia and I to move forward. A second shove scooted us out the door of the Nurse's Office. My anger came to life as my balance returned. With a couple more unwelcome shoves we found ourselves in the dark school hallway. I was now seething with anger. What was wrong with me? I never let my anger get the best of me. I hated confrontation.

The flickering light on my phone had settled to a steady pulse. It lit the gloomy corridor like a scene from a horror movie. The halls were now empty, except for the military personnel and scattered police officers. As my eyes focused down the hallway in the direction of my locker, I was surprised to find something familiar. The same yellow light pulsated around the set of lockers my secret was hiding in, as if warning me. The bright S.O.S. blinked in the same rhythmic timing as my phone. I held my phone in front of my face to be sure I wasn't seeing things. Olivia let a long, nervous breath out.

"What's down there, Lucas?" she asked, in a whisper. I didn't know anymore. I'm not sure I ever knew. Holding my phone tighter, I squinted my eyes. Even with the yellow strobe of light constantly flashing, it was still so dark in the school. Too dark. The power was officially off, but it shouldn't be this dark, this unnaturally black.

"I found...something..." I trailed off, trying my best to answer her question. Olivia looked at me worried.

With a not-so-polite shove from the guards, we slowly began to move forward. I held my digital torch out in front of me to light up the blackened corridor. General Love followed closely on our heels. So close, I could hear his breathing only inches away from us.

"It's too dark. I can't tell what is up there..." I sighed. "I mean, what is that?"

"I don't know," Olivia said, trying to make sense of what she was witnessing. Up ahead, where my locker should be located, was a huge shadow. It was made of many shapes and sizes, and reached up to the ceiling. It reminded me of the outline of a wild and jagged city, made of sharp and pointy buildings. It was hard to distinguish any visible markings within this shadowy cityscape with the flashing light everywhere.

General Love stepped backward, aligning his position with the closest guard. "Manning, what's the latest reading of the situation?" he asked, quite loudly. The guard was still holding the same handheld meter that scanned me in the Detention room. He glanced at the flickering screen, quickly.

"No reading, General."

"What?" General Love snapped.

"It stopped working as soon as we left the office," Manning said, as fact. He leaned away from General Love, obviously nervous of his commander's brooding demeanor. The General stared at him hard before turning back toward me and then my hidden locker.

"That means it has a range of 100 yards now. It's getting stronger," General Love said upset. Manning nodded without a word, putting away his broken gadget. Their conversation was distracting and I tried to concentrate on the mysterious wall of shadows in front of me. My eyes strained, causing a momentary headache. It was just too freakin' dark. I was at my wits end.

With my free hand ma.s.saging my forehead, I closed my eyes and mumbled, "I wish I could see..." Olivia was the only person close enough to hear me. In one bright flash the lights came back on...all of them. The school lights, the parking lot lights, all the emergency vehicle lights. Even the flashlights in the hands of military team. I stopped moving, as did everyone else, except General Love. He stepped forward with a large grin, filled with a new awareness.

"How did you do that?" Olivia whispered, in my ear. She squeezed my arm tighter, pulling herself closer to me. I looked at her scared face, trying to hide my own confusion. I didn't have time to think about what had just occurred, because of the mind-numbing sight before me.

"Oh my G.o.d. Is that?" I choked on my own words. General Love burst out with a hearty laugh from behind us.

"My weapons!"

I fell speechless. My locker was now hidden behind a wall of guns and ammunition. Knives, grenades, baseball bats, hockey sticks. Any and every kind of weapon I had ever seen in an action movie was stacked in a jagged, puzzle-pieced wall that reached up to the ceiling. Even the stun-gun I had been knocked unconscious with earlier was stuck together in a impossible, apocalyptic piece of art. My legs felt like noodles.

"Impossible," I gasped.

"You like it?"General Love asked me.

"What is it?"

"I like to call it the Sea-O-Death!" he smirked, and then slapped me on my back.

"How many?" I started to ask.