Free Lucas Ryan Versus: The Return by Madison Daniel Page A

focused my stare directly on Roland’s wry smile.
    “This time…Lucas is the genie.” He slapped me on the back and tucked his laptop back in his schoolbag.
    “That’s crazy, Ro,” I almost stuttered.
    “It’s completely insane!” he shouted. “But I can’t wait to see what’s next, my friend.”
    His theories were definitely interesting but I wasn’t sure if he had answered the riddle of my powers yet. It was comforting though to have a friend like Roland that had my back in this crazy journey. Even if he was obsessed with everything from Bigfoot to the X-Files.
    Just then, the first bell rang through the hallway, alerting everyone of the beginning of school. Taylor and Morgan shot me a smile and hurried on their way together. Taylor had this annoying habit of walking Morgan to all her classes. I guess being a super handsome, athletic juggernaut wasn’t enough. He had to be a complete gentlemen as well. Roland waited for me to gather my things from my locker but I waved him on.
    “Go ahead, Ro, I’ll be right behind you.”
    “Affirmative,” he said, and walked away. I opened my locker as fast as I could and tucked a slightly chewed pen into my backpack and closed the door. Before the rattling hum of the locker’s sheet metal could come to a halt, I was no longer alone.
    Felicity stood inches from my face and cursed, “It’s all your fault, Lucas!”
    Completely annoyed, I stood my ground. “Felicity, I don’t have time for this. We’re going to be late for first hour.”
    “I don’t care!” She stomped her feet in a fit. “I can’t sleep anymore. My nights are filled with the most horrible nightmares. Sometimes I feel like I’m losing my mind, and it’s all your fault!”
    “My fault?”
    “Yes. Ever since we returned from that other dimension my life has been miserable.” She quickly wiped away a small tear from her eye. “It’s your fault.”
    “Aren’t you forgetting something?” I held strong.
    “What?”
    “I saved your life,” I whispered, with a crooked grin. I expected her to explode with anger. I prepared myself for her to hit me and accuse me of the worst things. But she did none of that. Instead, she took a small step backwards and hid her eyes from mine. They fell behind her mass of curly blonde bangs, seemingly studying her lifeless ring around her finger before she spoke.
    “I know,” she wilted. “I never told you thank you.”
    “Umm, yeah, I guess.”
    Silently, she turned from me and headed down the hallway. The second warning bell rang loudly and I realized I was most likely going to be late for first period. With a shaky voice, I asked Felicity one final question.
    “Are you dreaming about serpents with…umm…claws?”
    Felicity froze in place and seemed to be shaking. She looked over her shoulder with terror in her eyes. Tears were welling up and her face fell pale. Slowly, she nodded yes, then ran away upset.
     
    I sighed, “That’s what I was afraid of.”

LEVEL 11
    WE’RE THE KIDS
     
     
    To say the last few days had been weird was an understatement. Surprisingly, most of my fellow classmates had moved on from the rumors about me and Felicity, and our time away. Yeah, they didn’t know the real truth, but still, they all seemed to go about their lives again. The only red flag was that there seemed to be fewer of them around in the last couple of days. I had noticed a few students absent yesterday but thought nothing of it, but now, staring at three empty seats in my third period class, I started to feel uncomfortable.
    “Yesterday Ricky was absent, now today, Maggie and Glen are gone too,” Morgan stated, with a curious frown. “Tay told me there were at least five kids absent in his first period class, and two more in his Algebra class.”
    “Weird,” I mumbled. This was more than weird. This had something to do with my return, I could feel it in my bones. Maybe this had something to do with Ms. Strickland, too. Morgan seemed to be