Chapter 20
Colt opened his eyes to get his bearings, but whatever wasn’t blurry was unbearably bright, so he closed them again. He had a splitting headache, and the constant tapping of someone pounding on a keyboard wasn’t helping.
From what he could tell he was in a bed, but he was fairly certain that it wasn’t his bunk back at the dorm. His nostrils burned with the smell of lemon, pine, and ammonia instead of the musty stench from the sheets that his roommates refused to wash.
“Is somebody going to tell me where I am?” he said through cracked lips, his voice weak.
“Good morning, sunshine.”
“Oz?”
“Who did you expect, your fairy godmother?”
Colt opened his eyelids a slit and saw Oz standing at the foot of his bed and Danielle sitting next to a window. “You didn’t answer my question.”
“You’re in the campus infirmary, third floor,” Danielle said. “And you’re welcome. I mean, it’s not like we’ve been cooped up in this place for the last thirty-six hours watching to make sure you didn’t have a seizure or anything.”
“A seizure? What happened?”
“Koenig pulled some kind of Jedi mind trick on you,” Oz said. “One minute you were standing there, and the next minute you were out cold.”
“Wait, were you there?” Colt asked, trying to reach back into his memory.
“Nah, but they showed us the video footage,” Oz said. “At one point you were answering questions that Koenig never even asked. It was kind of crazy.”
All Colt could remember was that Grandpa had taken him to an underground prison facility to meet Aldrich Koenig, but after that things got fuzzy.
“I don’t get it,” Colt said. “I mean, I thought you weren’t allowed back on campus.”
“Your grandpa pulled some strings,” Oz said. “Apparently he doesn’t think the campus security is good enough around here, so he wants me to watch your back.”
“What strings did he pull?”
“The president was a big Phantom Flyer fan growing up,” Danielle said. “So your grandpa promised him a signed picture in exchange for Oz’s full reinstatement.”
“He bribed him with an autograph?” Colt smiled as he shook his head.
“There were some stipulations,” Oz said. “I had to agree to a full memory extraction to prove that I wasn’t part of all that stuff my dad did. Plus I have to see a counselor once a week—you know, to talk about my feelings or whatever.”
Colt had to stifle his laugh. “Seriously?”
“It isn’t funny,” Oz said. “I hate that stuff, but I did it for you. Figured you’d get yourself killed if I wasn’t around.”
“Does that mean you’re back on Project Betrayal?”
“That’s what they tell me,” Oz said.
Colt felt relief wash over him. Knowing that his best friend was going to be there with him suddenly made success seem almost possible.
“So what happened in there?” Danielle said as she walked over and stood next to Oz. For a split second Colt could swear they were holding hands. “You know, with Koenig. Was he using telepathy or something?”
“To tell you the truth, I’m not sure,” Colt said. “I could hear him—well, feel him inside my head. I tried to push him away, but I couldn’t.”
“I didn’t know the Thule used telepathy,” Danielle said.
“Then you need to read more,” Oz said.
“I’ve read just about everything there is about them in the digital library.”
“Try The Phantom Flyer and the Agents of CHAOS #87.”
“That’s right,” Colt said as he sat up a little too quickly. He felt light-headed, and for a moment he thought that he was going to faint, but the sensation passed. “They had a spy network that infiltrated General MacArthur’s staff, and they were leaking information telepathically to Thule scouts who were hiding nearby.”
“Comic books aren’t exactly the most reliable source when it comes to history,” Danielle said.
“Says you,” Oz said. “But it’s true.”
“Did you tell Dr. Roth?” Danielle asked.
Colt shook his head.
“Why not?”
“Probably because I’ve been unconscious,” Colt said. “But I’m not sure if I want to tell him anyway.”
“You can’t keep secrets like that.”
“Why, so they can dissect my brain to see if they can replicate whatever is happening to me? Because that’s where this is heading.”
“That’s ridiculous.”
“I don’t know,” Oz said. “He may be on to something.”
Danielle shook her head. “You two are the biggest conspiracy theorists I’ve ever met.”
“Takes one to know one,” Oz said.
“How old are you?” Danielle asked.
“Look, as much as I love listening to the two of you bicker like an old married couple, I have a splitting headache. Think you can find me some aspirin?”
“I might have something even better,” Danielle said. “That is, if you’re up to it.”
Colt couldn’t believe it. Somehow Danielle had managed to get Lily Westcott in front of a hologram camera. Her image was standing in front of him looking as real as if she were right there in the room.
He reached out and touched the empty air that was her hand, and she leaned forward and kissed him on the cheek. Even though it was only a hologram, it felt so real.
“What happened to your hair?” she said, her perfect lips parted in a smile.
Colt rubbed his hand over the stubble. “Do you like it?”
“I’m not going to lie,” she said as the smile disappeared. “I liked it long. But you still look handsome.”
The smile returned, and Colt felt actual warmth erupt inside his chest.
“Mostly I’m just glad you’re still alive.”
“Look, I want to apologize for the way things ended back home,” he said, bowing his head to look at the ground. “I shouldn’t have left you alone, and then they arrested you and—”
Colt still felt guilty for abandoning Lily at the rodeo the night before he left for the CHAOS Academy. He had wanted to tell her how he felt—that he really cared about her, maybe even loved her—but then he got into a fight with a shape-shifting alien, and before he knew what was happening, he was detained by agents from the Department of Alien Affairs. Since Lily was there with him, she got detained as well.
“It’s okay,” she said. “I mean . . . maybe at first I was a little upset.”
“A little?”
“A lot,” she said, but she was smiling. “Your grandpa came over and explained what happened, though.”
“He did?”
She smiled, and Colt longed to take her in his arms. “He told us everything.”
“I should have called you. I wanted to apologize, but . . .” His voice trailed off as she stepped close enough that Colt imagined he could feel her breath on his cheek.
“All I wanted was to hear that you were all right. That we were all right.”
He touched his fingers to her holographic cheek, remembering how soft her skin was. “I didn’t want to make it harder than it already was.”
“I pray for you every night.” Her voice was barely a whisper.
“Me too.” He stopped to consider what he had just said. “I mean, I pray for you. Not me.”
They both laughed.
“I know this might sound strange,” she said. “But let’s not talk. Let’s just be here together for a little while. Okay?”
Colt nodded, savoring each moment.