"Stupid boots," I shook my head.

Olivia asked, with a smile, "Didn't you get a C?"

"I wish...C-." We both let out a much needed laugh. It filled the empty room with a positive vibe. The moment was fantastically perfect and ended much too soon.

From outside the cla.s.sroom windows came the sound of approaching helicopter blades, ripping and chopping through the morning air. The sound was thick and full. It had to be a military helicopter. Its arrival brought a sobering thought to my attention; where were all the local news choppers. The ones with the big colorful numbers painted on the sides and witty pilots who cracked jokes on the morning TV shows. The earlier explosion had to be large enough to be seen throughout the city. Where were all the sirens, the emergency teams? This crazy ordeal had "LIVE NEWSCAST SPECIAL" written all over it.

And the students, were any of them hurt by my locker's hissy-fit? Surely, there had to be parents lining the perimeter of the school, demanding the safe return of their sons and daughters. The image filled my gut with a dull ache. What had I started here? My mind wandered as the helicopter's engine faded away.

"Phone lines are still down," Olivia reminded me, with the cla.s.sroom phone dangling from her hand. She was standing just inside an open door at the back of the cla.s.sroom. This adjoining room was where the teacher kept the art supplies and other teacherly things. It was also home to a tiny, personal bathroom at the very back of it. Not many students knew about it, but I did. I had discovered it one afternoon when the teacher had left the cla.s.s to handle a personal matter, during school hours.

"How about your cell phone?" I asked her, already knowing the answer. The power was working, but our phone lines weren't. General Love was probably behind it. Standard military procedure, no lines of communication in or out.

Shaking her head back and forth, "Nope. And yours?"

Glancing down at the alien technology embedded in my wrist, I smiled. "Nada. You'd think with the new upgrade I'd get better service."

"Funny," she giggled. I walked up to her, tapping the shiny smooth gla.s.s on it, nervously. She shuffled her stance, leaning toward me, slightly. Her dark brown eyes held me in their grasp. If this were a movie, this was a perfect moment to kiss her. She watched me fidget over the idea. If only I could've harnessed the courage to do something about it before we were interrupted.

The slender brown door to the bathroom behind us, flew open with a crash.

"You! It's because of you!" Mr. Parker accused. He was shaking and pointing his finger at me, in a rage. Olivia and I stepped back as he continued his advance. "You, Mr. Ryan! All because of you!"

"What the..." I huffed. He stumbled up to us with his face as white as a ghost and beads of sweat peppered all over his forehead. His giant gla.s.ses dangled from his nose with new scratches and tiny cracks twinkling inside them. He was trembling with the same intensity of a drug addict.

"Do you have any idea what you have brought upon us, upon this world? Well, do you, Mr. Ryan? Do you?" He scratched at the temples of his forehead, just below the arms of his gla.s.ses.

"Are you crazy?" I grumbled. Mr. Parker c.o.c.ked his head to the side, with his teeth grinding together. He lunged forward at me, his hands reaching out like arthritic claws sc.r.a.ping through the air. Was he really about to attack me?

"Back off!" Olivia yelled. She c.o.c.ked her arm back and threw one lightning fast punch. It connected with his chin in a bone-crunching smack. He fell backwards to the floor, crashing onto a pile of paintbrushes and charcoal pencils. He cried out in a pathetic yelp. I tried not to laugh too loud.

"Armageddon! The end! No hope!" he chanted, as if he were hypnotized.

"Shut up or I'll hit you again!" Olivia promised, with her fists balled up at her sides. Mr. Parker winced and wiped at his broken spectacles.

"Please, no. Don't hit me again," he surrendered.

"Mr. Parker, what are you talking about? What did I do?" I asked, still flattered by the act of violence Olivia had shown.

"I overheard them talking...the General and his men."

"Talking? About what?" I asked.

"About you," his teeth chattered, sickly. "They came for you."

"Me?"

"They came for...it," he hissed. I slid my hand over the cold surface of my magical wristband.

"I don't understand?"

"You've brought them here, Mr. Ryan."

"Who?" I blinked.

Mr. Parker stared up at me, slowly trying to find his balance to sit up. He said nothing else, but it was obvious he knew more.

"What has he brought here?" Olivia asked, as politely as possible. He stood up slowly, adjusting his shirt. His eyes wandered from Olivia's face to mine and then to my wild gauntlet. It made me instantly uncomfortable.

"You said the end...what do you mean? The end of what?" I asked, cautiously. His lips pulled together tightly in an insane grin.

"Everything."

"Oh, b.u.mmer," I rolled my eyes.

"This is no place for a hero, Mr. Ryan."

"A hero?" I mumbled.

"And you are no hero..." he trailed off. He was babbling.

"Mr. Parker, I think you need some help," Olivia said, coldly. He ignored her and continued to taunt me.

"You must be stopped. It must not come. It must go back to where it came from. You...must...be...stopped," he said, determined.

"You're crazy!" Olivia snapped. Mr. Parker began to cackle wildly in a fit. His eyes rolled back in his head, leaving only white, glossy globes. I grabbed Olivia's hand and pulled her back to me. Inside his eyes something changed. The white filled with a crimson liquid that bubbled out onto his cheeks and down his neck. The lower eyelids started to quiver as if something were trying to get out. The skin poked out in tiny points of flesh. With a twitch of his head a silver tentacle slid out from each slit of his eye sockets. They slithered down his cheeks like tears and grabbed at his upper lip, pulling it back in a fierce snarl.

"Lucas!" Olivia screamed, with her hand over her mouth. Mr. Parker ran forward, pushing us out of his way. He sprinted for the main door to the cla.s.sroom, overturning desks as he did.

"I won't let you win, Mr. Ryan! I won't!" Mr. Parker threatened, with his head still pulled backwards. He slammed into the door before ripping it open in a frenzied fit.

* Stop him. *

The voice warned, but I didn't know what to do. That feeling was becoming awfully familiar. Olivia held onto my arm as everything turned much, much worse.

"He's in here! I found him! Lucas Ryan is in here!" Mr. Parker screamed down the hallway.

"Oh no..." I gasped.

"He's here! He's here! He's not alone! It's here too!" he continued, at the top of his lungs. I ran for the door and slammed it close, locking it as fast as possible. From outside the door I could hear him still wailing and cursing. Still calling out my name.

"We have to get out of here, now!" I said, full of dread.

Olivia grabbed me tightly. "Did you see his eyes? What was in his eyes, Lucas?"

"Some kind of nightmare."

"Some kind of...monster," she added.

* Get ready. *

Uh oh, another warning. My wristband suddenly came to life, flickering with a single word. Olivia and I read the foreboding word at exactly the same time, our mouths dry with panic.

"Hide."

LEVEL 13: No Fear.

CRASH!.

The small window inside the main door shattered inward, raining dangerous shards of gla.s.s onto Olivia and I. A small brick flew past our heads and slammed into the opposite wall of the room. It bounced to the floor, spinning slowly as it came to a reckless rest. I strained to look at the intruder and found, it was not a brick at all.

CLICK - CLICK - PFFFFT. Gray smoke shot out from one end of the black and red tube, in three thin streams. A smoke bomb. Just like the ones in the movies and video games I adored.

"Get down!" I yelled, shoving Olivia to the floor. She shuffled herself under the nearest desk, her hands tightly strapped over her nose and mouth. I slid next to her, hoping that it was only smoke coming from the tube, and not knockout gas...or worse.

"They're going to find us, COUGH - ACK - ACK! We're never gonna make it...ACK - KACK - AK!" Olivia tried to say. She was right, we were screwed. I crawled to the desks at the back of the room and Olivia followed. The smoke had filled almost the whole room now.

"What do - COUGH - we do - COUGH - HACK - ACK!" she began to gag. I placed her hands back over her mouth and placed my index finger in front of my lips, and nodded to her to not make anymore sound. She nodded in agreement.

THUD! THUD! THWACK! The cla.s.sroom door swung open. It crashed against the wall, almost off its hinges. Three, fully armed soldiers filed into the room, with large guns drawn and gas masks on. Their boots pounded the floor as they marched in.

Olivia scratched at my hand as the smoke pushed into our lungs through the tiniest of airways. My eyes started to burn something fierce. The gas was winning. It would only take a few seconds for us to be found, or to pa.s.s out. Either option I would lose Olivia. I had to think of something. My eyelids pulled close, with fresh tears sliding down my cheeks and I held my breath.

Please, let us breath! I wished deep inside my head. I could feel my consciousness slipping away as I begged for more oxygen. Quickly, a rush of fresh air pushed away from us, just past our two hiding torsos. The rush of wind expelled all the sickly smoke. It looked as if we were encased in a giant bubble of air. The smoke was everywhere throughout the room, but it couldn't penetrate our protective shield.

"Holy c.r.a.p! It worked..." I whispered. Olivia's eyes opened up and filled with shock. I covered my mouth, surprised that my wish had come true. The three soldiers slowly walked around the room, softly placing their heavy boots on the floor. Their menacing guns pointed at attention, laser-sights fully awake. Bright red beams cut through the dancing smoke as they searched every inch of the art room. Olivia began to shake.

Silently, I mouth the words, "Don't see us." Wishing with all my might, I squeezed Olivia's hand. She had read my lips and clutched onto my arm. The smoke grew thick all around us and we faded into it, invisible. It worked. Again. I wished for it and it came true.

We sat quiet and still as the soldiers fumbled around us, overturning desk after desk.

"Do you see anything?" one soldier asked. His voice sounded robotic as it escaped the mini speakers of his gas mask.

"Negative."

"Keep looking," he ordered. "They couldn't have gotten past all three of us."

The smoke was beginning to fade, which only seemed to agitate the men more as they searched the empty cla.s.sroom. I was amazed as I watched all three of them stare directly at us and not see anything. It happened again and again. This was unbelievable, we were going to get out of this mess.

From my magic wrist came a soft vibration and a yellow glow. The vibration quickly became a low hum. I covered it with my shirt as fast as I could. Olivia slapped her hands over the top of my shirt, covering the growing sound. All three soldiers whipped their guns around, directly pointing them toward the new humming noise. They still couldn't see us, but the humming seemed to call to them. The humming grew even louder and they stepped closer. My stomach jumped into my throat.

"Do you hear that?" another soldier asked.

"Affirmative."

"What's that hum?" the third soldier asked.

Three red lasers slid along the floor, before coming to a rest on my shirt. Olivia slowly shifted her body away from mine, but never let go of my arm. Her colorful nails dug into me.

"I know! I know!" I mouthed the words, silently. Olivia glared at my hidden wrist, hard. I started smacking it, trying to stop the crazy humming. The sound grew even louder and the screen shined brighter. She shook her head in disbelief.

As the final curls of smoke escaped the room, the soldiers ripped their gas masks from their sweaty heads. Tiny purple veins slithered just below their cheeks, like snakes.

"The sound is coming from under those last two desks, but there's nothing there!" one cursed. His fist tightened around the handle of his gun.

"Oh, there's something there, all right," the biggest of the soldiers said. "Or someone."

He stepped forward, locking his weapon against his shoulder and slowly squeezed the trigger. An orange burst of fire erupted from the end of the gun.

BANG!.

"No!" My hand flew out in front of my face, with the screen on my gauntlet glowing red. The bullet ripped through the air, puncturing our magic bubble, and headed directly for my face. I closed my eyes and waited for its impact. Warm blood would gush everywhere and my lifeless body would fall over, ending this unbelievable day.

"I heard a scream!" one soldier announced, stepping backwards and rubbing at his eyes. The other two looked on, mesmerized by the moment. All three men had heard my scream, but could not a see me or Olivia.

"Lucas, look..." Olivia whispered, just loud enough for me to hear. She tugged at my arm, signaling me to open my eyes. She slowly twisted my outstretched arm inward, pushing my wrist into view. I couldn't believe what I was seeing. The large bullet was pointed at the screen of my gauntlet, spinning in slow motion, counterclockwise. It spun like a tiny toy top, once, then twice, and finally, a third time. On the third and final rotation, it melted, turning into a shiny teardrop of liquid metal, and quickly seeped into the pulsing red screen.

"No way," I shuttered. The bulletproof wristband continued to hum.

"I know I heard a scream," the soldier said, again.

"I heard it too," another said.

"We all heard it, but where?" the third man asked, stupefied. Within seconds they focused their attention on our invisible little cove under the desks. They all pointed their a.s.sault rifles at us again. Still in shock, I sat and watched, helpless.

"Can your crazy wrist thingy stop three bullets this time?" Olivia asked, sliding away from me.

"Umm..." I mumbled.

"On the count of three..." one of them ordered. He counted slowly, bubbling with anger. "One...two...thr..."

THWACK! SMACK! SMASH! THUD! In the time it took him to count to three, someone had knocked two of the men to the floor, and mounted the third soldier, fighting for his weapon. They battled in front of Olivia and I, close enough to touch. All I could see was flexing muscles and a golden blonde streak of hair.

"Taylor?" I yelled out. Taylor's head popped up from the struggle for a split second, unsure where my voice had come from. He smashed his fists into the soldier's stomach, then his face and stood up, quickly. The soldier never moved another inch.

Jumping to his feet, "Luc?" Taylor searched the room, intensely.

"There goes my hero!" I joked. He turned toward the direction of my voice. The invisible shield drifted away like watery smoke, revealing Olivia and I huddled together. The hum from my wrist finally began to fade to nothing.

"Lucas!" Taylor cheered. His big hand reached out for me, while the other clutched a small sledgehammer. Getting to my feet as quickly as possible, I helped Olivia up with a relieved smile. Taylor pulled me in for a bear hug and loud slap on the back. It hurt, like usual.

With a glance out the cla.s.sroom windows, "Were you two just invisible?" Taylor asked. Olivia and I watched each other for a moment. I looked down at the three throttled soldiers that he had devastated in a matter of seconds.

"I guess so..." I trailed off.