Rise of the Elgen Read Free Page B

are!”
    “How?” Zeus asked.
    For the first time that I could remember, Ostin didn’t have an answer. “Well, they’ll know.”
    “The guards?” Taylor said. “Sure, let’s go ask them. They’ll be happy to tell us.”
    Ostin looked down.
    I put my hand on his shoulder. “If the Elgen took them, we’ll find them. But if we get caught . . .”
    “I know,” he said.
    A moment later the cars arrived around back. Zeus and the four girls climbed out the window, followed by Ian and Ostin. After everyone was gone I looked around my apartment. In the excitement of our return I hadn’t let the emotion of being back home sink in. Over the last few weeks I had honestly wondered if I’d ever see my home again. But now that I was back, it didn’t feel like home. Not without my mom.
    I picked up a framed photograph of the two of us from the hutch next to the kitchen counter—a picture of us on the Splash Mountain ride at Disneyland. We had gotten soaked, and my mother had bought me a new T-shirt to wear. I still had the shirt even though it didn’t fit anymore. My mother had sacrificed a lot for us to go on that trip. It was less than a year after my father died, and I think she was trying to make me feel okay again. She was always worried about me. I had no doubt that even now she still was.
    Would our lives ever be normal again—the way they were before I knew about Hatch and Glows and the Elgen? After what we’d been through it was hard to imagine sitting at the kitchen table while my mother made waffles and talked about normal things like school and movies: the things other people talked about.
    Ostin interrupted my thoughts, leaning in through the window. “Michael. We have to go. Everyone’s waiting.”
    “Sorry.” I slid the photograph from the frame, folded it into my front pocket, then climbed out the window, pulling it shut behind me.
    Ostin was still standing there. He looked scared.
    “You okay?” I asked.
    “They took my parents.”
    I put my hand on his shoulder. “If they did, we’ll find them. I promise. Everything will be okay.”
    I didn’t really know if what I’d said was true, but just saying the words helped me believe they might come true. We checked to make sure no one was watching, then ran to Jack’s car.

“A ny idea where to go?” I asked Jack as I slammed the car door.
    “We can go to my place,” he said.
    Jack’s house sounded as good a place to hide as any—especially since I couldn’t think of anywhere else. “Great,” I said. “Your place.”
    “Don’t mind my old man,” he said. “He drinks sometimes.” He rolled down his car’s window, then pounded on his door to get Wade’s attention. “We’re going to my house.”
    “Got it,” Wade said.
    Jack drove around to the front of the building, waited for a car to pass, then pulled out into the street with Wade following closely behind.
    *   *   *
    Jack lived on the other side of Meridian High School, about two miles from my apartment. The last time I’d been to his house waswhen I had gone to ask him for a ride to Pasadena. I wondered how many times since then he’d regretted saying yes.
    As we pulled down the road to his house, Jack suddenly shouted, “No!”
    It took me a moment to understand what was wrong. But when I saw it, my heart froze. Jack’s house had burned to the ground.
    Jack hit the gas and sped down the street, slamming on the brakes in front of what was left of the house. He pulled his parking brake and jumped out.
    At first, none of us said anything. Then Taylor said softly, “Do you think it was an accident?”
    I put a hand on my face to stop my jaw from ticking. “No.”
    “It’s no accident,” Zeus said. “The Elgen love fires. It hides their tracks.”
    I got out of the car and walked to Jack’s side. His hands were balled up in fists and his face was tight and angry. All that was left of his house were the concrete sidewalk and foundation. Even the cars in the yard