Unbreakable. Elizabeth Norris

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СКАЧАТЬ no Oppenheimer counting down to the end of the world, it’s like I’m waiting for something else to go wrong.

      I sit on the floor with him, and he launches into a story about his class field trip to the movie theater down the street from the school. “It was so cool. Mr. Hubley totally broke into the theater and we went in the biggest one, and he had the other teachers all sit with us while he set up a projector and we watched Mission Impossible 4.”

      I’m not sure if it’s considered breaking in now that the theater has been abandoned, although I guess it’s still private property. “How was the movie?” I ask, even though I’m sure it was just as bad as the first three.

      My eyes burn with that thought, because it’s something I would have said to Alex.

      “It was so awesome. There’s this really cool part where Tom Cruise flies down the side of this building. Maybe Cecily can get that for the next movie night?”

      “I’ll ask her,” I say truthfully, as we clear the houses off the board.

      “What’s for dinner tonight?” Jared asks. “No spaghetti, right?”

      We try to have something special on Mondays. I’m not sure if it was Struz’s idea or mine, but we all eat together then too. It’s nice. “I was thinking a feast of macaroni and cheese, and canned peas and chicken.”

      “Canned chicken?” Jared makes a face.

      “I imagine the canned sardines are worse,” I tell him.

      “Why can’t you just lift something better from the commissary?” Jared asks.

      I don’t tell him there is nothing better. Instead, I say, “Wow, Jared, I don’t know, maybe because that’s stealing?”

      “Whatever, plenty of people steal stuff.” Jared begins listing all of his friends and the amazing things they’ve gotten to eat recently.

      There’s a knock at the door.

      “I bet Struz forgot his keys,” Jared says, bouncing up from the floor.

      “I can assure you if Victor Le says he had filet mignon last night, he either has cattle in his backyard or he’s lying,” I call after him.

      I hear my brother say something muffled, and then there’s a slam as someone kicks open the front door.

      I have a split second to consider a strategy, but I don’t know what I’m up against, so I jump up and step into the hall.

      In my doorway is the outline of a man, standing behind my brother. Based on his height and build, I know it’s not Struz.

      It feels like all the air has been sucked out of the room. I have absolutely nothing to defend myself with, and this guy has my brother.

      But when he uses his foot to kick the door shut and the light adjusts in the room, I realize it’s Taylor Barclay.

      “What’s the matter, Tenner? You look like you’ve seen a ghost,” he says with a smile.

      

       relax for a second. My whole body feels a little like Jell-O, and I reach out and put my hand on the wall. Though I’m sure Barclay in my world is a bad sign.

      He’s got one hand on Jared’s shoulder. I don’t like that.

      Barclay must see the shift in my position. “Why don’t you head upstairs, kid?”

      Jared looks at me, and I nod. The last thing I want is him getting dragged into whatever has Barclay showing up at my door. We both watch him as he leaves the room.

      “Tenner, relax.” He raises his empty hands and smiles. “Just here to talk. I didn’t mean to startle you.”

      His smile is disarming. It’s light and casual, like we’re long-lost friends and he’s happy to see me.

      “So you come to my home and scare my brother?”

      Barclay shrugs. “I knocked.”

      “What do you want?” I ask, because let’s face it, he wants something.

      His smile disappears and his eyebrows draw together, a flicker of annoyance on his face. “I need your help. I need you to come with me.”

      He pulls a quantum charger from his pocket—I’d recognize one of those anywhere—and I shake my head. I remember how much it burned the last time he dragged me through a portal, and that thought sparks one that’s worse—all our missing people. What if that’s why Barclay is here? What if I’m next?

      “I’m not going anywhere.” I bite my bottom lip and debate what to do next.

      “We don’t have time to argue right now,” he says. “I’ll explain everything once we’re out of here.”

      In hand-to-hand combat, I don’t stand a chance with Barclay unless I can take him by complete surprise and knock him out. I’m sure he has a gun on him, and I don’t. He also has a quantum charger and as a result he has access to anywhere—any universe. I can’t possibly keep him away from us.

      Which means I need to hear him out.

      “If you want me to go somewhere with you, you can explain it right now,” I say, pulling back. “I’m not about to just blindly follow you through a portal.”

      “Fine, you want to have a chat, Tenner? Why don’t you have a seat,” he says as he sits down on our taupe couch with that stupid, arrogant smirk on his face.

      I move into the living room and sit down on the couch as far as I can physically get from him. “So what is it?”

      “We have a problem.”

      “We?” I ask. Because there’s Barclay, and then there’s me. There’s no we at all.

      He turns his blue eyes to me and stares for a second. Then he says, “It’s Ben.”

      

      y heart might actually stop. “What about Ben?” My voice is too breathy, too quiet. It doesn’t sound like my own.

      Barclay sits up straighter. “Have you seen him?”

      I swallow. Hard. “No, he’s back in his home world.”

      Barclay nods. “If you have—”

      “I haven’t,” I insist, СКАЧАТЬ