SWNOVELS Chapter That's too far, even for love.
The infirmary door swung open before he could answer. He flashed a grateful smile at his favorite teacher, and she patted his hand once before retreating to her office. She left her door open an inch, probably so she could hear Rafael and his friends if they started plotting mayhem.
She wasn’t entirely wrong.
The PIC Team members poked their heads into the room. He gestured for them to enter.
All the other wounded Guardians had been released, and he was the last one remaining in the sickbay. The bulk of the injuries had been bruises, scratches, bites, and various broken or dislocated bones. Nothing the healers couldn’t fix.
Maddox had been a steady presence, lending his encouragement and his substantial healing gift to the team of healers, with whom he had made quite an impression. Rafael often felt his friend’s worried gaze on him, though.
Upon seeing the state of his lungs, Ms. Pepper insisted Rafael stay in the infirmary until complete recovery. He suspected she still hoped to find out how he almost died of smoke inhalation. Plus, she probably felt guilty about sharing her suspicion about his gifts with Mr. Zhou.
Nobody had died. That was a miracle. Only three of the trainees had lost their courage and used their Transcry to transport out. A pity Bobby hadn’t been one of them, he thought. According to rumors, Bobby’s group had been ambushed, and he had supposedly fought with valor.
Remembering his own reflection about the zombied-out kids and their irresponsible parents, Rafael wondered how much of the guy’s ugly personality was due to his upbringing and cultural conditioning. He shelved the uncomfortable thought with an irritated sigh and welcomed his friends.
They spilled into the room one by one, carrying an air of excitement with them.
“How is our soccer star doing today?” Poppina asked, bouncing on her feet.
With the crisis averted, her mind had already jumped to the next challenge. That girl had a drive one couldn’t help but admire. And fear a little.
She explained how Mr. Santiago had carried Rafael’s unconscious body the whole way back. The Guardian hadn’t given Mr. Zhou the same courtesy, merely dragging the teacher with a rope behind him.
Rafael wished he could have been present when Mr. Santiago and Poppina enlightened the Headmaster about Mr. Zhou’s role in the disaster. His smart friend had used the general disarray to gloss over the facts they didn’t want to advertise, including their secret war room, the trojan horse, and the existence of the PIC Team. Mr. Santiago didn’t divulge their secrets either.
In fact, the official version of the victory was as far from reality as possible. After the Sentinels disappeared – legend already had it Ms. Renvoizé slew their king and the beasts retreated – the zombie astral kids attacked the Guardians. Mr. Demetriu and his Maintainers rose creepers from the ground and wrapped them around the children to hold them still. The Headmaster then linked to Centisom and supposedly generated an energy impulse that put the captives to sleep. They then faded away and were sent back to Earth… most likely minus their memories.
As for why Mr. Zhou abducted Rafael, the explanation Poppina delivered was hilarious. She claimed the teacher was a coward and abducted Rafael to protect himself while he hid from the battle. Mr. Santiago further explained that he followed them, saw Mr. Zhou drag Rafael to a meeting with Rahima, fight over a tablet, and break it during the skirmish.
Of course, this is what happens when someone else tells your story, he chuckled to himself.
“What’s up?” Rafael asked with a smile.
Poppina’s eyes slid to Mrs. Pepper’s door, and Kiano closed it.
“Mr. Zhou’s claiming his innocence,” she said.
“That won’t hold,” Kiano replied. “The evidence against him is overwhelming.”
Grace took a seat on the edge of the bed and placed her hand near Rafael’s. “Mr. Zhou claims it all began with the simulation game. He put Rahima and Henry, his star pupils, and computer wizards, on the programming job. One day, she stumbled on a random bit of code and saw the potential to control the minds of children through their astral bodies.”
“Mr. Zhou seized the opportunity to save the Earth all by himself,” Maddox added. “Of course, he denies it and insists that the code was only an experiment that Rahima stole from him.”
“Why I am not surprised?” Rafael said, not expecting an answer. “So, what went wrong?”
“Well, Mr. Zhou doesn’t like to share the glory,” Poppina said, her nose cringing in disgust. “He claims they were involved with each other and plotting to use the code for evil. I suspect it was the other way around: When Henry and Rahima found out Mr. Zhou planned to reap the glory and send them back to the real world, minus their memories, they freaked out.”
Kiano was standing behind Poppina and nodded in agreement. “But before they could do anything, a Nightterror bit Henry and he sank into madness.”
Rafael squinted. Wasn’t Kiano standing a bit close to Poppina? But she seemed oblivious – or comfortable. Interesting.
Grace grabbed his hand and continued the narrative. “That’s when Mr. and Mrs. T.P.O.D. hatched a revenge plan, I presume. But when Henry lost all reason and fled into Dreamland, they left everything behind. I suspect she planted the T.P.O.D. tablet in Media Room and went after her lover. Henry couldn’t withstand the harsh life, Rahima died and stayed as a Ghost. They couldn’t launch their program. End of their love story. Nothing would have ever come out of it had Kiano not triggered DarKNight by using the T.P.O.D. tablet.”
Poppina narrowed her eyes at Grace. “It could have been anybody. That was a ticking bomb.”
Rafael hid a smile when he heard her defensive tone. Interesting, indeed.
Grace inclined her head, conceding the point.
“But it doesn’t make sense… why would they flee to Dreamland?” Kiano asked.
Poppina stretched her neck to look at him. “I... hum… overheard that when an astral body stays too long in Dreamland, it gets ejected back to Earth. It’s a failsafe.”
“That’s it! They wanted to keep their memories… and they never intended to launch the program themselves,” Kiano said in understanding.
“First, launch the Sentinels, then create an army, then upload themselves to Dreamland.” She paused, and her face lit up as though she’d finally solved a problem that was bugging her. “That’s why I found three impulses in the tablet logs! The one that failed was destined to Rahima. It was a trap from the beginning!”
Maddox cleared his throat, downplaying her genius epiphany. “Anyway, the attack in Centisom raised Mr. Zhou’s suspicion, and he eventually tracked the tablet down and forced Bobby to hand it over to him. When he went outside that day, he launched the program, thinking he was going to save the world. He’s such an arrogant jerk that it never occurred to him that it could be a trap.”
Grace snorted. “Rahima had been waiting for this occasion. She found Mr. Zhou and blackmailed him. She told him she only wanted her Henry back. The blind fool believed her and agreed to cooperate under the condition he would be the ringleader and get all the glory.”
Rafael shifted. Bedrest was becoming unpleasant. “Mr. Zhou didn’t know who bashed him on the head and stole the tablet that day in Gateway Hall, and he couldn’t ask around about it without raising suspicion. That made it easy for Mr. Santiago to drop the hint that the tablet was in my possession like I asked him to.”
“So that’s why he went after you,” Maddox concluded with a grimace. “Plus, he doesn’t like you.”
“Yeah,” Rafael said, “I needed the authentic tablet for the subterfuge to work.” He threaded his fingers to Grace’s and added, “I’m sorry I gave you a blank one. We couldn’t risk failure.”
Grace squeezed his fingers in understanding.
Jennifer, who also stood a little too close to Maddox, spoke for the first time. “That’s a tragedy. Henry and Rahima only wanted to be together. Mr. Zhou’s greed forced their hand.”
Poppina rolled her eyes. “Uh, but they also wanted to control millions of kids and turn Dreamland into their personal playground. That’s too far, even for love.”
Rafael sighed. “I blew it and let Rahima escape. Now Henry is back in the real world, and T.P.O.D.’s program is destroyed. But she’s still somewhere out there.” He cleared his head and smiled at his friends. “So, is it time to celebrate yet?”
Grace smiled in delight. “Devart is unstoppable. He’s the designated party king.”
Poppina propped a hip on his bed. “Maddox had a fabulous idea. We could have a private party, including a sleepover, if you’re still too weak to brave the crowd. Should we?”
“Yes,” came Ms. Pepper’s muffled voice from her office, always looking out for him.
“Great idea,” Rafael answered, gesturing them to make way for him. He was back on his feet again. In more than one sense.
Finally.
Their party had been a fun affair.
Rafael stared at the ceiling of Media Room.
He had been waiting for his friends to conk out from fatigue, and judging by the sound of their soft breathing, and some funny snoring coming from sweet Grace, he decided the time had come to make his next move.
But he didn’t move, replaying the one conversation that bothered him in his head.
Kiano had done his best to impress Poppina with a narration of his battle prowess.
“We were right there with you, Kiano,” she admonished him. “No need to rehash it.”
“But he wasn’t with us,” Kiano argued, pointing at Rafael.
Awkward silence dominated the room.
“Why is that, Rafael?” Grace finally asked. “Why didn’t you share your plan with us?”
The sadness in her eyes pained him, but he wouldn’t apologize for doing the right thing
“I trust you all, I really do. But the traitor needed to be neutralized.” He shrugged. “When we went over it, Poppina was not ready to believe a teacher was involved – most of you weren’t. Deep down, you still wanted to believe teachers must be good people because they are teachers. I don’t believe that. Not anymore. Plus, we needed proof. And I wanted to make sure it could never happen again.”
Maddox was the first to speak. “Don’t you think we would have supported you?”
Rafael chose his words with care. “I had to plan for contingencies, Maddox. Like the lapse of time between uploads.”
Understanding had dawned on Poppina and Maddox’s faces.
Until that moment, Poppina and Maddox thought the first uploads succeeded. They hadn’t known that Rafael went back to Earth for the second one, and they couldn’t disclose the information without revealing Rafael’s Planeweaver secret.
If he opted to stay, he would have to ponder how far he trusted Kiano, Jennifer, and Grace… because he couldn’t keep his unique genetic hidden forever.
He pushed the thought aside and wiggled out of his sleeping bag. Glancing one last time at his sleeping PIC Team comrades, he headed out. He had one final, crucial meeting ahead of him.
The doors to Dreamland were still open, allowing free passage for the ongoing – and tedious – post-war debriefing and cleanup effort. This was his last chance in the foreseeable future to see his family. He longed to see them, hug them, and verify for himself that Lennart was safe. Moreover, his parents were surely out of their minds with worry since he hadn’t left a physical body behind, and he wanted them to know he was safe.
Centisom had agreed to alert him before the Horolock was stopped, which would allow him to get back to Dreamland in time. If he came back.
As he made his way to his room, he flashed back to his time in the infirmary, where he had a lot of time to think things through. He had witnessed the great lengths desperate Guardians stretched to save Dreamland. He felt how the land suffered and called for his help. He had survived loneliness, betrayal, deceit, and battles. He had overcome his past and, in the process, became stronger, more confident than ever, and even collected friends. He couldn’t hold back a little smile.
Now he would ponder his decision about his future like a man, not a selfish kid.
After all, he wasn’t a survivor anymore.
He was a Warrior.
Back in his room, Rafael fetched a small backpack and was now on his way to his secret chamber. He was slipping through the dark kitchen when a shadow detached from the wall.
“You won’t go.”
Startled, he sent a request to Centisom, and the next second, the room was flooded with light, revealing Mr. Dowotski.
“Oh, it’s you, Mr. Dowotski. You scared me. I’m just passing through, nothing more.” He shrugged.
“Don’t lie. It’s pointless. You’re staying here.”
The teacher leaned forward and seized his hands, twisted them with an upward jerk, and gasped when he saw the Planeweaver lines on his palms.
“It’s true, then,” he breathed in wonder. “Don’t you know how much good you could do with your gift?”
Rafael saw a flicker of hope in the teacher’s eyes, but also a flash of something sinister that made him recoil. How did he find out? No one knew he had embraced his gift. Centisom?
The dragon inside him snarled. He yanked his hands from the man’s now slack hold. “You don’t understand. I need to go home,” he said, crossing his arms in defiance.
A muffled cry made him look around. His gaze drifted behind Mr. Dowotski.
The pang of betrayal made him stagger.
“You!”
“You’re a liar. A deserter. Always shrinking away. No care for the ones you leave behind.”
Rafael was about to lose it. “You don’t know what you’re talking about, Maddox. I just wanted to–”
“Abandon us!”
“That’s not true. Hear me out–”
“I’m fed up with your secrecy and your lies.”
Rafael’s shoulders fell. One less reason to come back.
“You can’t hold me against my will,” he stated calmly, skirting around Mr. Dowotski.
“Must it to come to this?”
Mr. Dowotski’s soft tone made him pause. “You can’t hold me,” he said again, sadness and fatigue churning in his chest and warring against the ever-present pull of Dreamland.
An older, leathery voice joined the conversation. “But I can.”
Rafael pivoted back to face Mr. Dowotski, who was now leaning against a chest-high mirror with an ornate gold frame… but what commanded his undivided attention was the wrinkled old man in it.
Holy snabarca. The old man in the mirror. Mrs. Zadi’s last words tolled like dark, discordant bells in his mind.
The old man smirked as though he heard Rafael’s thoughts. “I suggest you stay. It would be a great pity if your brother, your family, were to fall into harm’s way, don’t you think?”
Rafael’s heart missed a beat.
The surface of the mirror flickered, and a string of images and short film clips followed – scenes of his life.
He saw himself playing soccer and laughing with Lennart... crying in his mothers’ arms after another harrowing day of verbal abuses... talking to Poppina, Kiano, his friends… even Rahima…
Then the rapid imagery slowed to crawl and suddenly flickered to the last day of his old life.
He saw himself walking home from school on the road that wrapped around the church... inclining his face to the tepid sun…
… and Maddox. Oh god, Maddox...
… a few steps behind him, arms extended, just about to push him as Mrs. Hillbrown’s car rounded the corner.
Maddox.
His chest constricted.
The dragon in his guts wailed in agony.
His backpack hit the floor.
*** END***
*** THANK YOU for reading Rafael's story. I'll be back soon with part 2 of his story. *** If you liked it, I'd appreciate a review to help spread the word.