Something pulled him away from Bryson and Sarah, but he held on to his friends. He curled his fingers tightly around theirs, refusing to let them slip away. His eyes popped open on instinct and darkness filled his vision, so he closed them again. That tugging sensation continued, but instead of trying to yank his friends out of his grip, it worked on his body, every part of it, as if some force was trying to pull his muscles and bones and skin and sinew—everything—apart. Stretching him, impossibly. It hurt, an achy strain turning worse by the second. Then came the pain—little jolts that made him gasp. Parts of him were snapping.
It’s the Sleep, he told himself in a rush of panic. It’s not real, not happening. Endure. Don’t let go. He thought he might’ve heard Bryson trying to say something, but it was lost in the humming buzz that pulsed in rhythm with his heart, felt in every vein he had.
Thump.
Thump.
Thump.
The pulsing of his heart. The pulsing of the noise, pressing into his ears, his face, his skin.
Thump.
Thump.
Thump.
The force continued to work on him, stretching him forward and backward into a long trail, making him shudder when he thought of what his body must look like, how thin and grotesque. The pain intensified, lancing through his nerves, becoming unbearable. A constant rush of brutal agony, as if something wanted to rip apart every molecule in his body. He screamed, but he let out nothing but a dull memory of sound swallowed by the buzz. The force pulled him, thinned him, stretched him to infinite lengths, making the pulse of his blood stronger and louder.
Thump.
Thump.
Thump.
On some distant edge of his mind, he knew that his fingers were still clasped around Sarah’s and Bryson’s, but everything was like a string, a thin cord of tissue, full of pain.
Thump.
Thump.
Thump.
Thinner.
Harder.
Pain.
A storm of humming, buzzing, thumping.
Screams.
Holding on to something that made no sense, lines of code, barely there.
The world, collapsing.
Pain. Oh, the pain.
Spinning.
Crushed.
His mind, finally unable to handle any more, gave up and shut down.
All was nothing.
Not even a thump.
He floated in emptiness, completely unaware of time passing, barely aware of anything at all. But the pain faded, and the darkness held him, and he slept.
He sensed a brightness, a glowing red that woke him up. He blinked several times, then squinted to keep his eyes open. He lay on his back. The sky hovered far above him, several buildings converging to a point up in the blue, as if they were fingers reaching for something he couldn’t quite see.
His head swam with grogginess, and when he rolled over onto his side, that didn’t help. Woozy, he paused and saw Sarah and Bryson close by, still asleep. They were at the end of a long alley, no one in sight, and not much of anything else except cement and dust and trash. The wet warmth of the air made him feel sticky, greasy.
The crisp realness of his surroundings made him realize that Agent Weber had done it. She’d really done it.
Michael and his friends were inside Lifeblood Deep. She’d Squeezed them through the intense complexity of its code. He was home—back where he’d always lived. He didn’t know how to feel or what to think. Maybe, just maybe, his parents and Helga were somewhere in the Deep. Trapped, imprisoned, or something. Had they really just vanished, their code wiped away? He swore to look for them, to search every last digit of code if he had to. As soon as they dealt with Kaine.
Which reminded him of everything in a flare of panic.
“Bryson!” he yelled, quickly checking his side to make sure Weber’s bag was still there, the strap across his chest. He felt the bulk of the Lance, the sharp, hard edges giving him a small dose of relief. “Sarah! Wake up!”
Michael’s friends groaned, rubbed their eyes. Blinked and squinted as much as he had. But soon they were all on their feet, the ordeal of the Squeeze in the past, become a mere memory more quickly than Michael would’ve guessed.
“This place is fantastic,” Sarah said, turning in a circle as if she’d landed on another planet. “It’s so … real.” She reached out and touched the rough cement of the closest building, which towered dozens of stories above them. “You can barely tell we’re in the Sleep.”
“Tell me about it,” Michael muttered absently. Images of his family filled his head, but they needed to get moving, no time to waste. No matter what Agent Weber had said about their Hider codes, he’d never again make the mistake of thinking Kaine couldn’t find them. “Let’s get this over with.” Bryson had his eyes closed but opened them when Michael stopped talking. “Just like the last time she sent us in. No code. Her programs are stronger than ever.”
“I’ve got all the info loaded,” Sarah replied. “Just a sec.” A quick squeeze of her EarCuff and the green NetScreen projected in front of her. She made a few swipes and taps. “Wow. Weber’s good. Squeezed us in really close. It’s less than half a mile from here.”
Michael looked down at the bag again. He wanted to get rid of the Lance as soon as possible. “Let’s go, then.” It seemed like he should’ve said something a little more pep-talky, but that was all he had.
Bryson cupped his hands around his mouth and yelled, “Kaine! We’re coming to get you!”
Sarah slapped him on the shoulder. “What’re you doing?”