Weakened by this exertion, Zack staggers to Amy and eyes the smaller beam piercing her shoulder. The injury is barely bleeding, and as far as he can tell from his study of Earthling anatomy, it missed her subclavian artery. He cautiously pulls the other beam out of her left shoulder, and sighs in relief when there's no rush of blood. But then he checks her neck for a pulse — and there isn't one. His eyes awash in tears, he presses his hand against her horrible wound, looks around, and contemplates his next move, trying to maintain his composure.
Focusing intently, Zack draws a jolt of energy from the deepest corners of his being — and beyond, though he doesn't know it at the time — which unbeknownst to him turns his eyes lambent white. Four blue dots appear on the back of his right shoulder blade, shining through his clothing like lasers, while his hands light up with a bluish glow that pulses into Amy's chest.
Then he crumples.
A moment later, the dead girl gasps for air. She turns her head to her side and sees Zack lying beside her, unconscious. Before she can react, she's startled by a familiar yet spectral voice. Zack? Zack, are you okay?
"Olivia, where are you?" Amy shouts. She starts when she feels the presence of a hand on her shoulder. She turns and sees a ghostly silhouette of Olivia. You have to get out of there, Olivia tells her. There's a window behind you. Take Zack and jump through it!
Without thinking, just reacting, Amy loops Zack's arm over her shoulders and drags him to the window. She looks down and wonders how badly they'll be injured by the three-story fall.
Just jump! I'll catch you, I promise!
But just as Amy is about to push herself and Zack through the window, a backdraft from the fire blasts them out of the building. Olivia, exhausted by the enormous amount of energy she's spent aiding Zack and Amy, glances up at the sky, looking for drones. She senses none. Blowing up her brother's car has distracted them. She gathers her remaining energy and pushes out a force field in the shape of a mat. It cushions Amy and Zack's fall, then disintegrates, and they tumble a few inches to the ground.
Olivia sits on the pavement and pants from the exertion. Zack is still unconscious, and Amy cradles his head in her lap. She looks around, trying to make sense of what just happened.
Paramedics run toward her and Zack. Mike is yelling for people to move out of the way as paramedics strap Zack to a gurney and lift his motionless body into the ambulance. After making sure that Olivia is all right, Amy insists that the paramedics let her ride in the ambulance with Zack. With tears in her eyes, she watches the back doors of the ambulance close, and she and her silent hero head to the hospital.
Chapter 3
At the hospital, Zack's battered body is whisked away to the Intensive Care Unit. Amy is briefly examined by an Emergency Room doctor, who determines that she's well and in good health. There's not even a scar on her chest where the beam pierced her. The doctor tells Amy it's a miracle that she made it out of the community center alive, much less uninjured.
Amy stands in front of the ICU, grieving and overwhelmed with guilt, waiting to hear about Zack's condition. Zack wouldn't have been at the dance if he hadn't foolishly agreed to his sister's plea at the diner. Then again, she knows that if he hadn't... she would be dead.
She becomes even more upset when she overhears one of the nurses’ remark that two students died in the fire, and several others were badly hurt. She would have died too if it hadn't been for Olivia and Zack, but she can't tell anyone about what happened, or they'll think she's gone crazy. Do Olivia and Zack have superpowers? Are they... Azhalians?
Amy staggers to the nearest chair and sits down. Her mind is full of questions that cry out for answers. Exhausted, she closes her eyes and immediately dozes off.
❖❖❖
Feeling revitalized, Amy finds herself standing at the edge of a cliff, overlooking a sea of green trees that create a massive web of life below. The two marble-sized moons in the indigo sky, just above the horizon, gaze back at her like a pair of mismatched eyes: one gray, one pale blue.
Amy gasps. Where am I, and how did I get here?
She hears a girl's voice behind her, and turns to see massive trees that seem to touch the skies. Are these the great redwood trees from her history books, the ones from lost California?
The girl she heard speaking steps out from behind one of the vast tree trunks. "I think this is a very bad idea, Zec," she says.
Why is this girl calling me Zec?
"You keep saying that, Odilia," Amy hears herself replying. "But don't you want to know if the rumors are true?"
In that instant, Amy comes to the terrifying realization that there's someone else inside her body! Evidently, this Zec is the one in control. I must be dreaming! she concludes.
Odilia replies, "Of course, but not at the expense of Dad's wrath."
She walks up to the cliff edge beside Zec, and they look over 100 feet down at a green metal door in a concrete wall that seals off a cave. Two armed soldiers stand in front of the door. "Worst-case scenario, you can say it was all my idea," Zec offers.
Odilia smiles. "You know what? I will. Remember, you'll only have a few seconds to get inside the building once the guards leave their post and the door starts closing."
She slips back into the forest, and
