the night rotation. I scan faces. Tora presses a cloth to her cheek. Splotches of bright red stain the white fabric. All my blood suddenly rushes into my heart. It expands, pressing painfully on my chest as if ready to explode.
“Niall’s still there,” I say, my voice barely a whisper.
Radcliff nods.
I turn to go down the stairs, but a hand clamps on my shoulder and yanks me back.
“Where do you think you’re going?” Radcliff demands.
“To save Niall.”
“Tora said the HoLFs were everywhere. We need to wait for more lights.”
“He could be dead by then!” I shout.
“And so could you.” Radcliff grabs my other shoulder and leans in so we’re almost nose to nose. “Once the lights get here, we’ll go in, until then sit tight.”
Sit tight? Sit tight? My heart’s about to erupt. And— Deep within Radcliff’s gaze is raw pain. That’s his son in danger. I nod and he releases me.
“Where’s Beau?” I ask.
“In the Control Center, trying to get the lights back on.”
“What caused them to go out?”
“We don’t know.”
It’s suspicious and the urge to worm into the Q-net wars with my panic over Niall. One way to help him is to get the lights back on. But my full attention is needed here just in case shadow-blobs escape. Grrr.
Dr. Carson races toward us. She’s wearing her lab coat over pajamas. A step behind her is a tall lanky man with black hair. He’s carrying a long cylindrical object.
“Officer Radcliff,” she calls.
Not waiting for an invitation, I join the three of them.
“…still testing it. We don’t know how effective it will be,” she says.
“What do you know?” Radcliff asks.
“It will emit a counter radio wave, but you have to aim it directly at the HoLF.”
“Not a problem,” I say. “Show me how it works.”
Bertie looks at the man. “Jim?”
He’s staring at me with his mouth open.
I suppress a sigh. “Yes, I’m not dead, get over it and show me how this damn thing works.”
Jim recovers. “Um…here.” He hands it to me. “Hold it like this.”
There’s a short post underneath the front. I grab it with my left hand, making a fist around it. The cylinder rests on the top of my hand. It’s about ten centimeters in diameter and approximately a meter long. Jim places the back end over the crook of my right arm. The sucker is heavy.
“The controls are where your right hand is. Do you feel it?” he asks.
“There’s two…teeth?”
“Close enough. All you need to do is aim the weapon, and squeeze those two teeth together, which will trigger the counter wave. And don’t forget this.” He puts a leather strap over my neck. “In case you lose your grip.”
I move my left arm so the strap sits across my body. It helps hold the weight. I swing the weapon around, getting a feel for it. “How long do I need to keep this aimed at the HoLF?”
“Sorry, all we know is it emits a counter wave. The rest is up to you to figure out. It’s not like we have a HoLF in the lab to test it on.”
True. Well there’s no time like the present. “All right, here’s the plan,” I say. “I’ll take point. I need two people who will grab Niall and carry him out. The rest can follow with flashlights and—”
“Junior Officer Lawrence, you are not in charge. You will not be making plans,” Radcliff says. “We’re waiting for more floodlights.”
“But we have the emitter.”
“Which may do nothing at all, like the lasers.”
“We should take the chance. Time is not on our side.” Niall could be bleeding out as we argue.
Just then my parents arrive with a bunch of techs in tow. They’re carrying more portable, battery-powered floodlights. Thank the universe!
Radcliff shouts orders and details a plan that is almost exactly the same as mine. But I’m not going to quibble over whose idea it is, because I don’t care. There’s a primal wild impulse in my core that’s pushing on me to go, go. GO! Run, run. RUN! Right into the archeology lab and get Niall.
When Dr. Edwards appears with a couple nurses, I bite back a scream. Or I think I do. My mom gives me a wide-eyed look as if I’ve turned feral. And that’s fine with me. I’ll go all feral on those shadow-blobs—just let me at them!
Bendix, Ho, Elese, and Rance heft the floodlights. They enter the stairwell first, illuminating the steps. But I’m right between them, sensing the air. No cold sensations. I think.