Battlefield (Book One)

Chapter Twenty-Four - Orlando

Orlando let all of them into his house without a word. It was late, for one. For another, talking would attract Lyssa's attention and potentially wake her up.

But for the first time in a while, he didn't have anything to say. There was a lot to process. JD's sister was with them now as well, and he didn't know what they were going to do about her.

He scouted ahead for a moment, making sure the coast was in fact clear. The light was left on in the living room and in the kitchen, but Lyssa wasn't in either room. He tiptoed toward the staircase upstairs and heard her TV on, but couldn't see any lights. She must have fallen asleep waiting for him. He moved back to the mudroom and motioned for the others to follow him, briefly putting a finger to his lips to encourage quiet and keeping the lights off.

They all made their way down the stairs. JD and Cadence wore their masks. Orlando himself didn't put his on again until he was positive they were safe from his sister stumbling upon them. The last thing he wanted to do was have her wake up, come down, and freak out upon seeing a group of strangers in her house.

Really, he didn't see the point in putting it on in the first place, but JD insisted because of Angela.

"More creepy hallways," she said. She was still recovering from whatever The Doctor had given her. At least she was awake, but she must have thought she was dreaming because she was being much too cooperative. Best to take advantage of it while they could.

Once inside The Apartment they brought her to the living room portion of it, and immediately they each collapsed into a chair or on a couch.

"Now what? And let's be fast with it, because I'm exhausted," Orlando said. He didn't realize how late it was until he looked at his cellphone and saw it was near midnight. On top of that, using his powers so much in one night did a number on him.

"We can't take her home. What if something happens? We need to watch her to see if she starts doing something or if she..." JD trailed off and nobody said anything for a while.

"It should only take a day. That's what I got from everything I read. We'll know soon," Cadence said.

"I'll take her phone and send Mom a text saying she's staying at a friend's or something."

"And who's going to stay and watch her overnight? I'm not volunteering," Orlando said.

"I'll stay. I'm so tired, I don't think I'll be able to move anyway," JD said.

He sighed, feeling the same way. "You can't leave here until after I get back, all right? Do you need a ride home?" he asked Cadence.

She shook her head. "I can stay, too."

With another sigh he stood from his chair. "I'd love to have a slumber party with you guys, but if I don't get back in there, Lyssa will know something is up."

For some reason, he expected the others to object, but nobody said anything. They either agreed, or they were too tired to voice otherwise. Whatever the case, Orlando didn't care. He was going to go crawl into his bed and sleep. Maybe if he lucked out, the whole adventure would be nothing more than a dream.

On his way out of the apartment, he unloaded his pockets. Carefully, he placed the papers and the different test tubes of liquid onto the desk in their research center.

Silence, pure silence, as he walked through his house. Exactly how he liked things.

The music and the voices of the students still rang in his ears, as did the loud bangs and pops of Alan's obscure teleportation powers. It gave him a headache to have such a high contrast of noise. He'd hoped to have gotten over it while he was driving back, but it still lingered. If anything, it was getting worse now that the adrenaline rush was wearing off.