Convergence - The Last Science #2.2 - Heroes and Villains

B2: Chapter 20 - Retreat - IV

  Kelsey: Omg

  Jenny: ya

  Kelsey: I watched you jump

  Jenny: you did???

  Kelsey: Had to see it for myself

  Kelsey: I'm hiding again don't worry :3

  Kelsey: Gonna wait til his mom leaves and ride bus home

  Kelsey: Tyler and mitch left

  Kelsey: Its super quiet :/

  Jenny: you ok?

  Kelsey: Ya

  Kelsey: Can you make food appear?

  Jenny: not on chat plz

  Kelsey: Oh sorry D:

  Kelsey: I forgot

  Jenny: and no

  Jenny: cant sorry

  Kelsey: Damn

  Kelsey: You going home?

  Jenny: ya

  Jenny: got right on the bus

  Kelsey: Bad signal too

  Jenny: sorry

  Jenny: with what

  Kelsey: I dunno

  Jenny: me and quinn???

  Kelsey: You guys going out

  Kelsey: Duh :3

  Jenny: umm

  Jenny: i dunno

  Jenny: hes in cali

  Kelsey: And?

  Kelsey: You've been texting him right?

  Jenny: no?

  Kelsey: D: You gotta text him!

  Jenny: ill just talk to him when he gets back

  Kelsey: What if he meets some cool girl in California? D: D: D:

  Jenny: what

  Jenny: he went there for his family...

  Kelsey: You never know

  Jenny: whatever

  Kelsey: You guys are so cute :3

  Jenny: stop

  Jenny: hey kelsey

  Kelsey: What's up?

  Jenny: umm

  Jenny: i keep hearing things

  Kelsey: Is this about you-know-what?

  Jenny: it might be

  Jenny: i thought i heard someone say awakened on the bus before

  Jenny: and now i think i just heard it again

  Kelsey: I dunno what that means

  Jenny: its

  Jenny: nevermind

  Jenny: i shouldnt have said

  Kelsey: Come on! D:

  Kelsey: Jenny?

  Jenny: sorry it was my stop

  Jenny: walking toward my house now

  Jenny: cant say sorry

  Kelsey: Not even for your beeeeeest frieeeeeeeeeend? :*(

  Jenny: not allowed

  Kelsey: Lame

  Jenny: uhh

  Kelsey: What?

  Kelsey: Jenny?

  Kelsey: You still there?

  Kelsey: Hello???

  Natalie had sent the message. More than once. She tried calling, too, but nothing happened. She tapped on the blank stretch of wall behind the old abandoned convenience store, but it wouldn't budge. She even kicked it a couple times, even though she had no idea why that might change anything.

  What's going on...? They'd never failed to open the door for her before, no matter the time of day. If nothing else, the Laushires were really reliable on that. Natalie wondered sometimes if it was actually automatic when she sent the text message somehow, as if the magic were linked to her phone.

  Probably not. She sat down against a tree trunk in the small park next to the store. She had a growing cascade of messages from Kelsey, wondering where she'd gone, but Natalie was too worried to answer those. She hopped onto the website, but no one was on. She messaged Cinza, Hailey, anyone, but didn't get an answer. Finally, frustrated and afraid, Natalie checked the news.

  Oh my god.

  They were all talking about it. About magic. Awakening. Rallsburg.

  It wasn't a secret anymore.

  Oh no.

  Natalie sprang up, running back to the blank wall. "Let me in," she cried, pounding her fist on the bricks. "Please."

  There was no answer. Natalie had been gone too long, and the Laushires were hiding again. Just like they had in Rallsburg at the end, when she'd been sent by Rachel to try and get people into their secret market to hide. She'd run into exactly the same thing—pounding her fists against an empty wall, while desperate people waited behind her for help that wasn't coming, until they had to run away again as soon as the monsters caught up.

  Except this time, she didn't have Gwen with her, or Hailey and Jessica swooping over the town giving directions, or Rachel trying to solve the problem. She felt it sinking in slowly, steadily, like a storm brewing in her chest, terror erupting through her whole body.

  Natalie was stuck on the outside again, in a city that had already shown her how much it was willing to hurt her, and she was alone.