Lucas Ryan Versus - Madison Daniel Page 0,18

shrunk in his stance a bit. “The last secret military person that ended up snooping around this campus turned out to be a demon from another dimension that fed on unimaginable power and death.”

“The General,” Morgan whispered.

General Love, the galaxy hopping entity that hunted Ripley down to this planet and tried to end all life on Earth just because he could. I almost died trying to stop him. Yeah, I remembered him.

“He’s dead,” I promised.

“Are you sure?” they both asked in unison. I just looked at both of them, not knowing what to say. I saw him die. I saw him be wished into nonexistence by Felicity just before we disappeared over a month ago, but I’d be lying if I said he was gone for good. So, I didn’t say it. I didn’t say anything. Morgan and Roland settled themselves and stepped closer to me. Our little circle closed itself to the outside world.

“Don’t worry, he’s not coming back,” I said, with fake confidence. Suddenly, a shadow fell over our bundled group. It was long and thin, and brought with it a new chill in the air.

“Who’s not coming back, Mr. Ryan?” Ms. Strickland inquired, as she marched toward us. With her long legs she managed to greet us unnaturally fast. Her voice was deadly calm and her makeup and hair were still perfect. Too perfect. Roland made sure his tablet was snugly back in his bag and pulled it to his chest. He frowned and looked at me as if to say, “I told you so!” Morgan took a small step back, keeping her eyes from directly making contact with hers.

After what felt like a minute, I said, “No one.”

Ms. Strickland circled us with her long strides. Her steel eyes locked onto each one of us as she passed by. “Is that so?”

I nodded yes. She stopped just in front of me, in the same exact spot I thought the spider-snake fell to the ground. One of her heels tapped on the grass gently.

“Mr. Ryan, I will see you in detention after school.”

“I remember.”

“Good.” She turned from us and began to walk away. Just as she did, her head turned back to us. “Don’t be late.” Before I could make some kind of smart comeback a voice called out from behind us.

“Look out!”

Just then a football rocketed past us, directly for the back of Ms. Strickland’s head as if her tight bun of hair were a bullseye. In the last possible second she spun around just enough for one of her hands to snatch the spinning ball from the air. She never even looked at it. She just grabbed it like she had eyes in the back of her head. She dropped the ball to the grass and continued walking away.

Morgan, Roland, and I stood stunned with our mouths agape. Taylor ran up on us in a reserved panic.

“Did you see that? That was impossible,” he gasped. I reached down and plucked the football from the grass and slowly handed it back to Taylor.

“Nothing’s impossible, T. Not in this school.”

LEVEL 08

BIG FREEZE

Detention. Again. Story of my life. At least I was able to share this latest round of punishment with Olivia. She quickly walked past my desk, pulling her long brown hair up into a ponytail. Strips of vibrant purple were painted throughout, highlighting her perfect face. She impatiently tapped her fingernails along the surface of her desk and looked my way.

“Hey,” she whispered.

“We meet again,” I teased. She playfully rolled her eyes and leaned closer to me.

“I’ve got some good news.”

“Really? What?”

“Homecoming Dance!” she announced. A disgruntled kid in the back of the room grumbled disapprovingly. We tried our best to ignore him.

“Homecoming?” I asked, wide-eyed. Was she going to ask me to the dance? I hated school functions, especially dances, but for her, I’d make an exception.

“Yeah. My band just got the word, we’re playing the dance.” She sounded so excited but all I could do was pout. I thought for sure she was going to ask me to be her date. For a split second I thought maybe she had reconsidered our arrangement.

“Oh,” I mumbled. “That’s great, Olivia.” She could tell I was upset but she pretended not to notice.

“Lucas, I was hoping you’d be there.”

“I don’t know. I’ll probably still be grounded then, and I really hate school dances.” I searched my brain for more excuses not to come and she looked hurt by my words.

“Is that so?” she frowned.

“Yes.”

Looking away from me, “Okay.”

An