HERE (On the Otherside Series, Book One)

CHAPTER NINETEEN

Chapter Nineteen

A woman brings a tray of food, but hours later it remains untouched and uncovered. I lay on the bed, thinking about my mom. She has to be sick with worry and wondering where I am. Does my dad even care?

Knowing I disappeared after we fought is a thorn in my side. That’s the last memory she’ll have of me, my stomping off in anger. Will she think I hate her and ran away? Will she blame herself?

Tears burn my eyes. They roll down my cheeks and wet my pillow. I’ve moved beyond sobbing and can only muster silent tears. If someone told me a week ago I would agree to go to another universe to see my dead best friend, only to be put to death for the crime of existing in the wrong world, I would have asked if they were smoking crack.

The ironic part is that I’d gone through all of this and never saw Monica.

I have the worst luck ever.

I fall into a fitful sleep filled with nightmares. Monsters in hazmat suits trap me in the corner of my cell and claw at me with giant hooks. One of them grabs for me and calls, “Julia!”

My gut clenches. The monsters know my name.

“Julia, wake up!”

I squint my eyes open, disoriented, and expecting to see hazmat suits. Instead, a hooded figure is silhouetted in the doorway.

I jerk upright and scream, clutching the blanket to my chest.

They sent a hooded henchmen to kill me.

“Shh! They’ll hear us!” A voice whispers in exasperation.

“Evan?”

“Julia, come on!” He wears a jacket with a hood pulled low over his forehead, the rest of his face dark. He turns his head to look down the hall. “We don’t have much time.”

I scramble off the bed. “What are you doing here?”

“What do you think? I’ve come to get you out. Come on.”

I spring through the door and find the two guards slumped against the wall. “Oh, God. What did you do?” I squeak, my throat tightening.

“They’re not dead. They’re only asleep. Come on, we only have about twenty more seconds.”

He grabs my arm and we run down the hall toward the elevator, the thud of our footsteps echoing off the corridor walls. We skid to a halt as the ceiling lights flicker. I look up at Evan, who’s glancing around the hall with worried eyes. The elevator doors slide open. A second hooded figure stands in the back of the elevator, holding a tablet in his hand.

I jump backward, thumping into Evan’s chest.

“Seven seconds, hurry,” the boy in the elevator hisses. His head is lowered as he taps furiously on the pad.

Evan puts his hand behind my back and pushes, following close behind. I stumble and grab the boy’s arm to steady myself.

He looks up and I stare into familiar green eyes. Reece.

I gasp and recoil in shock and confusion, wondering what Reece is doing here. Then I realize there are two of them. This is the Reece of this world.

He smiles drily, hurt crossing his face before disinterest replaces it. “I’d hoped you’d be happier to see me, considering I’m risking my life to save you, but maybe now isn’t the right time.” He winks, but it lacks the playfulness it implies.

The doors close and Reece returns to his tablet. The elevator moves sideways.

Evan pulls me against his chest into a hug. “Are you okay? Did they hurt you?” He brushes the hair off my cheek as he examines my face.