The Nightworld - Jack Blaine [41]
It starts to glow.
The room is pretty dark anyway—just a tiny lamp on the nightstand is on, and I quickly switch it off. The glow coming from the device is clearer. It’s got an odd quality to it, almost like it’s a living entity. I press the three buttons again, expecting it to go out, but instead it grows. It doesn’t get brighter, the light just extends farther from the sphere. While I’m watching it, tendrils of light reach out like sun flares and then fall back to the surface of the sphere. There’s no heat to it, just cool, white light.
Optimus Prime. Protector of the Universe, but especially Earth. I remember my dad’s comment when I saw the label he had made for the cabinet that held this device.
“Transformers?” I had said.
“Hopefully,” he’d said, and laughed that sad, weird laugh.
Was this device supposed to make a difference? I think back to what Dad said the night before he was killed, when he was talking about photons and Higgs particles. Does this have something to do with that? Was it possible that it could bring light—
“What the hell is that thing?” Zeke bursts through the door. “I’ve been watching you from the hall, playing around with it. That doesn’t look like it’s just some toy.”
Before I have time to do anything, Tank comes roaring into the room, growling at Zeke. He positions himself between us and presents Zeke with a mouthful of teeth.
Zeke pulls his gun. He seems to like to do that. “Better get your animal under control.”
“Zeke!”
Lara bursts into the room, followed by Kath. They both look scared.
Grabbing Tank’s collar, I drag him back to my side. I lean down and whisper into his ear. “Sit, buddy. It’s all cool.” He doesn’t stop staring at Zeke, but he cuts the growl and he obeys. I look up at Zeke. There’s no way I’m telling this loose cannon anything about the device. “It’s not a big deal. Just a fancy toy my dad made for me. Before he died.”
“Let me see it.”
“Like I said, last thing I have from my dead dad. So, no.”
“Zeke, get out of here.” It’s Lara. She faces off with Zeke, her hands on her hips. “Put your stupid gun away and go get some sleep. You’re acting like one of the crazies.”
Zeke’s shoulders slump. He does look tired. He shakes his head. “Sorry, dude. I’m just . . . I’m just tired, I guess, like she says.” He slouches out of the room, gun pointed down at the floor. Kath shoots me an apologetic look and follows him.
I box up the device and put it on the nightstand. Suddenly I’m tired too. “I guess I’d better do the same,” I say to Lara.
“You do look beat.”
I give her a grin. “I think I’ll definitely sleep tonight.”
She shuffles her feet a little, starts to back toward the door. “Well, good night, then.”
“Night, Lara. I’ll see you in the morning.”
She starts to nod. But instead she looks straight at me, straight into my eyes, searching for something there. “Nick?”
“Yeah?”
“You’re one of the good guys, right?”
I think of the boys in Lord of the Flies. “I hope so.”
She considers that. “I need you to know so.”
Memories of my dad come to me; the way he pulled it together after Mom died, even though I’m sure he just wanted to quit. And Charlie, always my best friend, always there, even through his own hard times. They would both have my back if we were stranded on an island. I would have theirs too. I meet Lara’s gaze. “I’m one of the good guys. You can count on it.”
“I thought so. I thought you were a good guy all the way back in middle school. You never acted stupid, or mean, the way some of the kids do. And you were always good to Charlie.”
“Why wouldn’t I be good to Charlie?”
“Some people weren’t so nice to him.”
“They were jerks.”
She nods. “I know. Remember in fifth grade, when Jim Williams threatened to beat him up behind the gym because Charlie wouldn’t give him the math homework answers?”
I grin. I remember it well; Charlie was scared to death and so, frankly, was I. But I knew I had to show up and at least try to be a friend. We both waited for Jim,