Fly: A PORTAL Chronicles Novel (The PORTAL Chronicles) Page 21

  “May Sophie come out to play?” she asked in a nasally voice, batting her lashes profusely.

  “Huh?”

  “Sophie,” she repeated in her little girl voice. “You know, the brooding girl who lives next door and withdraws into an oppressive daze every time something bad happens?” I giggled and she stuck her bottom lip out, adding, “I know how lost she gets in her introspective little head, so I must get her out of her dorm before she becomes an utterly depressed shut in! So let her come out to play. Pleeeeease?”

  I laughed, relishing how good it felt. “Sure. I could use a good distraction.”

  “Yay!” Mia squealed. “Because we’re going to Maddy’s kitchen!”

  Soon, I sat at the same table Everett and I had shared my first night at Brightman, yet instead of sitting across from a mysterious, handsome boy, I nursed lagging tears with concerned-looking Mia.

  I don’t know if it was Maddy’s grandmotherly appearance or the way she sweetly embraced me upon seeing me again, but I suddenly found myself disarmed and bawling uncontrollably into her soft shoulder. The sob fest had cometh and it was a doozy!

  Maddy gently rubbed my back and held me close as all my sorrow and anger drained out with every tear and sob. After composing myself enough for words, I apologized profusely before Maddy took my face in her hands and told me she knew everything and that I needn’t say a thing. It was soothing to know I didn’t have to explain my outburst, but seriously, who at this school didn’t work for PORTAL and know more about me than I did?

  “Are you okay?” Mia asked, squeezing my hand from across the table.

  I nodded, blowing my nose for the umpteenth time.

  “After Everett caught me up to speed, I figured you’d be a bit of a wreck,” Mia said. “He insisted you seemed fine, but how could you be after discovering so much? Luckily, Maddy’s food and company is equivalent to the best therapy money can buy. Trust me. I know.”

  “I think it will take much more than food to fix my fried brain, but it’s definitely a start.”

  Just then, Maddy set our food on the table, sending me into another crying jag. “Oh, dear!” she exclaimed, sitting beside me and rubbing my back.

  “You made baked potato soup and BLT sandwiches again,” I sobbed.

  “I thought it was fitting because it’s what your mother liked,” Maddy said. “But if you’d like something different—”

  “Mom attended Brightman!” I blurted as the thought struck me. “Victory mentioned it but I didn’t think much of it at the time.”

  “Yes!” Maddy said, her cherubic face lighting up. “I used to cook for your mom whenever she’d had a bad day or was facing a difficult decision. She and Victory would sit right where you two girls sit now and we’d hash it all out over baked potato soup and BLTs.”

  “So she learned the recipe from you,” I mused. “And then continued the tradition with me.”

  “Oh! I didn’t realize,” Maddy said, putting her arm around me. “No wonder you cried that first night in my kitchen. Here I was trying to help and, both now and then, only made things worse.”

  I suddenly laughed remembering the lost look on Everett’s face when I got teary over the soup and sandwich. If only he’d known the emotional ties it had to my mom and memories of warmth, security, and her magical ability to make everything okay.

  “No, please don’t think that. It’s quite comforting,” I said. “It’s just taken me by surprise both times. If there’s anything these past two days have taught me, it’s that I’m not so over Mom’s death after all.”

  “And no one expects you to be,” Maddy said.

  “You never get over it, not truly,” Mia said. “I can’t even imagine how it’s ravaged you to learn your mom was murdered and that both your parents were part of a world you’ve never known.”

  “Yes, but what further complicates things is this Dio-character’s connection to it all,” I admitted. “My mom died for her belief in Dio’s promise that I would become something great and defeat Divaldo. So, if I don’t believe it, am I discounting the way she nobly died to save my life?” I was stunned by how succinctly the jumble in my head tumbled out as perfectly-formed thought. “And Victory said Dad quit working for PORTAL after Mom died because he blamed Dio for her death. So, if Mom is for Dio, and Dad is against him, then I’m forced to pick sides.”

  “No, baby,” Maddy said, stroking my hair. “Regardless of your dad’s anger towards Dio, he still believed your mom’s prophecy about you to be true. Otherwise, he wouldn’t have repeatedly moved or agreed to send you here to keep you safe.”

  “Yeah, but what if Dio isn’t even real?” The question sounded blasphemous after what I’d experienced at the park earlier today, but still, it begged to be asked.

  Mia and Maddy shared a look before Mia said, “Dio is hard to explain, Sophie. I mean, how do you explain the unexplainable?” I frowned and she added, “It’s hard to understand him without experiencing him.”

  “I have,” I admitted. “Well, at least I think I have. I heard him speak to me in the wind earlier today.” I then balked at how foolish I sounded.

  Mia and Maddy Mia again shared a look. “What did Dio tell you?” Maddy asked.

  “Just believe,” I mumbled.

  Mia and Maddy laughed. “Well, there you go,” Mia said. “Maybe you should take him up on his advice.”

  I scowled at her. “Okay, so maybe I believe Dio is real, but it doesn’t mean I trust him. What if Dad is right? What if Dio let Mom die?”

  Mia sighed. “May I speak freely?”

  “I’m counting on it,” I said.

  “You’re questioning Dio’s character when Divaldo is the one who has placed a death threat on your head. And need I remind you that you dated one of Divaldo’s operatives for three months?”

  “Hagen.” I clued in, the thought ruining my appetite. “So?”

  “So, Divaldo’s operatives killed your mom and your lucky Hagen didn’t kill you. Dio has done nothing but protect you, meanwhile Divaldo has done nothing but harm you.”

  “You’re right.” I shrugged. “But it doesn’t prove Dio didn’t allow Mom to die.”

  “I think it’s simply a matter of you getting to know Dio and his character for yourself,” Maddy said. “Only then will you see that Dio is good and only capable of good. He created you, Sophie, and he knows you better than you know yourself. He understands your pain, confusion, and anger — all that you’re going through. He even gets why you’re apprehensive to trust him, but with time, you’ll learn he’s most trustworthy. And if time is what you need, he’s willing to wait for you to figure that out.”

  Her words pulled at my heart. The lump in my throat was so big that all I could do was nod my agreement.

  Reading the pain on my face, Maddy said, “If there’s one thing I’ve learned about Dio, it’s that he always has the best plans and intentions for us. I’m sure talking about your mom and learning the truth about her death has reopened past wounds, but know that Dio is allowing it to happen for a reason: to heal those wounds and to make you whole.”

  Mia started crying then, catching both Maddy and me by surprise. “That makes sense,” she nodded. “Every time people talk about Benson, I hurt all over again. Sometimes, the pain is too much to bear, but it’s comforting knowing Dio is using those moments to refine me and get me closer to wholeness and healing.”

  “Benson?” I gently asked.

  A stunned look came over Mia, like she’d said something she shouldn’t. “Can you keep a secret?” she asked. I nodded before looking at Maddy, who nodded too. “I’ve never told anyone this, but—” She paused, smiling through her tears. “Benson and I were seeing each other.”

  “I knew it!” Maddy said, clasping her hands in glee.

  I smiled, too, before realizing what this meant. “Oh, Mia! I’m so sorry.”

  “It’s okay. I’ve had six months to get over it. I mean, again, you never really get over losing someone, but you know
what I mean. I can at least talk about it now. That alone is a big step, you know?”

  I nodded, understanding all too well. The day’s revelations had unearthed deeply buried memories and I found myself thrust into the aftermath of Mom’s death: Staying holed up in my room for days. Refusing to mingle with all the faceless people who attended Mom’s funeral or visited the house. How much I hated their forced hugs and awkward condolences. How some even cracked jokes, offered me sweets or tickled me, trying anything to make me smile and laugh, somehow thinking a little girl who’d recently lost her mother could honestly be cheered.

  I later concluded this barbarism wasn’t for my sake but for their own peace of mind — to help them sleep at night, to convince them the world wasn’t a place where disease… or, come to find, murder… could rip a mom away from her little girl in the blink of an eye, leaving her alone and motherless.

  I’d tapped into something deep. Until now, I’d never felt anger for Mom’s death, and learning she was taken from me by someone else’s actions and not disease amplified my rage. Though, I still wasn’t sure who to blame just yet.

  “It’s okay to cry, Sophie,” Mia quietly said.

  I touched my face to find tears again streaming down my cheeks and rebelliously wiped them away. When was the onslaught of emotion ever going to end? I was so sick of feeling sad and now I was angry, too. I fully understood how Mia felt. The ache inside me was too much to bear.

  “I was thinking of what it was like after Mom died,” I admitted, then crying so hard I could no longer speak.

  Quickly coming around the table, Mia fiercely embraced me, crying with me as she held me close. Maddy also cried, kissing and hugging the both of us.

  “I’m so sorry, Sophie. I’m sorry Divaldo hurt you. I’m sorry he took your Mom from you. I know it breaks Dio’s heart just as it breaks mine,” Mia sobbed.

  “I’m sorry you lost Benson, too,” I sniffled. “It’s not fair.”

  “I guess like with our pride, we’re both in the same boat with grief, too,” Mia said, leaning back to look me in the eyes. “We’ll just have to walk this road together.”

  “Sounds good,” I said, hugging her and then Maddy. “I’m glad I have you two. It’s nice to have friends who can understand and relate.”

  “I agree,” Mia said, wiping her eyes.

  “And Dio couldn’t have better orchestrated it, because the agent he assigned to you can also relate,” Maddy said to me. “Everett lost Benson, too. He went through such a deep depression. Imagine how much more devastated you would be had you actually witnessed what happened to your mom.”

  “He was there when Benson disappeared?” I asked, looking from Maddy to Mia.

  “Yes. But he refuses to talk about it,” Mia said.

  As always, I wanted to know more but was stopped short, knowing a lighter topic is what would help Mia most.

  “Tell me about Benson,” I asked. “What was he like?”

  Mia’s eyes flickered with happiness — or maybe it was love that made her eyes light up the way they did — as she thought of him. “He was so romantic.” She smiled. “We were dating a good six months and nobody knew.” Maddy cleared her throat and Mia laughed. “Fine. Almost nobody knew.”

  “Why didn’t you tell anyone?”

  “Benson insisted.” She shrugged. “At the time, I went along with it for the thrill of sneaking around, but looking back, I can’t figure out why it was so important to him that we keep our relationship a secret.”

  “Where would you go?”

  “We had lots of meeting places. In fact, I was on my way to meet him when I got the call that he’d disappeared.” Her face lit up. “Can you keep another secret?”

  Maddy and I shared a suspicious look before nodding expectantly. Mia pulled a thin gold necklace from around her neck that was undetectable under her shirt. She held it up to show a metallic card hanging from the end.

  “Benson had found a new place to meet. He gave me this card and a set of directions leading to a field in the middle of nowhere. He said to meet him there and he’d take me the rest of the way. I’ve driven there a few times but the directions lead to a stony hill. I guess I’ll never know what his plans were.”

  “May I see it?” I asked.

  Mia handed it to me when someone snatched it out of my hand. Startled, I looked up to find Everett standing over me.

  “Where did you get this?” he asked, eyeing the card with awe. Then spotting our red eyes and noses, he visibly tensed. “You all look like you’ve been crying. Did something happen while I was away?”

  “Yeah, one of Maddy’s famous therapy sessions,” Mia said, winking at me. “And my admission that I was dating Benson.”

  “What!?! I knew it!” Everett exclaimed with a huge grin.

  Maddy laughed delightedly. “That’s what I said.”

  “You knew, too?” Mia gaped.

  “Of course I did,” Everett said. “He was my twin. I could read him like a book. He never flat out told me, but when you both started disappearing for hours on end, I knew what was up.”

  Mia blushed. “And here I thought we’d covered our tracks so well. I wonder if anyone else knows.”

  “Don’t worry. Benson was my life, my other half. Besides Maddy and me, my parents might have had an inkling, but I doubt anyone noticed besides us four.” Everett laughed to himself, lost in thought. “The way Benson acted, talked, and even looked when he had been with you was a dead giveaway. He was totally smitten.”

  “Really?” Mia looked like she was going to cry again and I put my arm around her.

  “He really loved you, Mia,” Everett nodded, meeting her eyes.

  “Thanks for saying that,” she said, sniffling.

  “But back to this card?” Everett asked, holding it up.

  “Benson gave it to Mia,” I said. “Do you know it’s for?”

  “It’s a key to one of the last active portals under PORTAL’s control.”

  We all gasped.

  Then Mia got one of her mischievous smiles. “Sophie was just asking us about Dio. We explained the best way to get to know him is to experience him.”

  “Oh!” Everett turned to me and then back to Mia. “Are you thinking what I’m thinking?”

  Mia nodded, a funny look in her eyes.

  “What am I missing here?” I asked, looking from one to the other.

  “Get ready, ladies,” Everett said. “We’re going on a field trip.”

  Chapter 32

  Fly

  “Have you seen this portal before?” Everett asked Mia.

  Piled in Everett’s Trailblazer, Everett, Mia, and I had been riding along in silence for a good thirty minutes.

  “No, but I’ve heard a lot about it,” she answered. “How about you?”

  “Yeah. My dad has been bringing Benson and me to visit it since we were little. It’s great.” I must have looked like I needed the extra assurance, because Everett seemed to be speaking more to me than to Mia.

  “What is a portal like?” I asked.

  “Every one is different, but… ” Everett gave me the familiar look that I had learned to read well.

  I rolled my eyes. “Oh, joy! Another surprise.”

  He laughed. “Trust me. It’s worth the wait. We’re almost there.”

  I pouted, but true to his word, Everett soon turned off the highway onto a gravel road that cut across a field, ending at a large hill in front of us. I was surprised I hadn’t noticed the large landform sooner as it peculiarly stood out among its flat surroundings.

  Everett pulled under a rocky overhang and rolled down his window. I looked to Mia for a clue as to what he was doing and she shrugged. Reaching out, he touched a piece of rock that protruded from the rest of the stony wall and an electronic keypad appeared. He swiped Mia’s key card across the pad and, with a beep, a wall of rock in front of us rose like a garage door, revealing a dark, ominous hole. I watched, speechless and a little fearful, as Everett slowly drove int
o the darkness and the door shut behind us, sealing us in and all remaining daylight out.

  “Come on,” Everett said, getting out of the car.

  Not budging, I looked to Mia. She seemed stunned, yet not scared like I was.

  “Does anyone else get how creepy this is?” I asked, half expecting someone with a chainsaw to pop out of the darkness at any moment.

  The lights from Everett’s car shed just enough light to reveal we were parked on a large cement slab suspended in the air. From here, a set of stairs led to a long row of metal railing that eventually disappeared into darkness.

  “Trust, Sophie,” was Everett’s only reply. He grabbed a flashlight from under his seat, slammed his door, and headed down the stairs. Realizing that neither Everett nor Mia were waiting for me, I quickly jumped from the car and blindly raced after them through the darkness for fear I’d lose sight of the bobbing light in Everett’s hand.

  “Where’s Mia?” Everett asked once I’d reached him.

  “Right here,” her voice came from somewhere behind me, surprising me that I’d unknowingly passed her in the darkness.

  “Okay. Stay together,” he said, grabbing my hand. Grabbing Mia’s hand, we went on this way until Everett stopped. “There’s a step here,” he warned, helping me up and then Mia.

  Everett turned off his flashlight, submerging us in darkness. My hearing was immediately heightened and I noticed the sound of my footsteps had changed from the ruckus of walking on metal to a muted thud. We were on a different surface now.

  “Everett?” I called out, my eyes blindly searching the dark.

  I jumped as something moved behind me, but then heard his voice in my ear. “It’s okay,” he whispered, his breath tickling my neck and sending goose bumps down my spine. “I’m right here.” Placing his hands on my hips, he gently pushed me forward.

  “I’m scared.”

  “Don’t be. This will be fun.” We walked a few more steps and he asked, “See that light above us?”

  Leaning against him, I looked up. My eyes slowly adjusted and I soon saw a small ray of twilight streaming in from a small hole overhead. The darkness messed with my depth of field, leaving me wondering if the ceiling of the dark cavern was close and the hole was small or if the opening looked small because the ceiling was high.