Caleb

Bang! Bang! Bang!

"Some time today, Sleeping Beauty! Gettin' frostbite out here!"

Ren.

Caleb rolled off the couch, running a hand through his hair as he moved to open the door. "It's fifty degrees outside," he said with a yawn.

"The wind is freezing. Least you got a fire." Ren made a beeline for the wood stove as soon as she fit through the crack in the door. "And hello to you, too."

She wasn't wrong about the wind; he'd been cold all day. However, that fire may have been a bad idea, since a glance at his phone confirmed he'd slept for at least half an hour. "I thought I said four. You're never early."

"Tell my chauffeur." Ren bounced back and forth on her toes in front of the fire.

He turned his head at the light rapping at the door and opened it once again for Dara. "Wasn't sure you'd come."

"Said I would. I have some thoughts." She shot Ren a look before marching to the couch where he'd been sleeping, choosing the spot furthest away from her sister. Ren ignored her.

Well, this should be fun.

"No doubt. Hold off until everyone else gets here." Caleb yawned again and ducked into the practice room to grab a rolling whiteboard. He pulled it into the den, leaving it in front of his computer when he heard two quick knocks on the glass door.

Brie. And Izzy.

He'd talked to Izzy briefly at school earlier and she seemed okay. Great, even, strutting around like the day before, though he knew it had to be an act. A reusable grocery bag hung off her shoulder, a green drink in her left hand.

"You look exhausted, but help has arrived!" Brie brushed past him, holding a carton of beverages. "I brought coffee."

"Hey," Izzy said, squeezing his fingers as she entered. They were cold, but her touch still warmed. Head in the game.

"Why don't you ever wear fitted clothing at school? It suits you." Brie set the drinks down on the corner of the desk and turned to look at Caleb.

Caleb shrugged, his brain too fuzzy for this right now. Caffeine wasn't a bad idea.

"Anyway, I didn't know what everyone liked so I had to guess. I brought a variety, but Leo will get pissy if anyone steals the iced white chocolate mocha because he's a child." Ren wandered over to take a peek and Brie handed her a swirled pink beverage. "I thought you'd prefer the frozen strawberry cream energy drink."

"Thanks, Queen. Leo'll share, anyway." Ren took a sip and returned to blocking the fire.

"Regular latte for you." Brie handed Caleb a cup. "I guessed black coffee, but Izzy convinced me otherwise."

Since he rarely drank coffee, he took it with milk to soften the bitterness, though he'd never told Izzy. "She's right." His eyes flicked to hers as he grabbed the latte. She rewarded him with a little grin, shrugging out of her coat near the door where he'd kissed her a few days ago. She'd worn a fitted sweater dress that showed off her curves and looked soft to the touch and was not at all what he should have been thinking about right now. His gaze obviously lingered, since she seemed to guess what he'd been thinking. They both looked away.

"How's chai latte with oat milk sound?" Brie asked Dara.

She blinked and tilted her head to the side. "How'd you guess?"

"No coffee in the house or regular milk in the fridge." Brie beamed as she passed her the tea.

"Thanks, it's perfect." A look passed between them that lasted just a beat too long. Interesting. Caleb cleared his throat.

"Okay, um, I'm taking the Horchata." Brie grabbed the bag from Izzy and popped open some Tupperware. "Soft pretzels and mocha pumpkin seeds. They got a little kick." Leo rapped his knuckles against the door. "Right on time! Let's get this over with."

Caleb suppressed another yawn as Brie let Leo in. He must have been tired if he was letting her run the meeting. "Got you a mocha."

"You're the best." He took the drink with one hand and fist-bumped with the other. "Hey, all."

"Nice an' toasty over here." Ren beckoned him over.

"Hell, yeah. It's freezing outside." He grabbed a couple of pretzels and swaggered over to Ren, who swiped one out of his hand.

"So how you feelin'?" Dara directed that at Brie.

"Better, thanks to you." She sat down next to Dara on the couch and started chatting, the meeting forgotten. Izzy dropped her coat on Brie's other side and sat down.

Better get things started before anyone decided to lock lips. Jesus. No more fires.

Caleb took a large sip of the latte, burned his tongue, and walked over to the whiteboard. "So I felt like we should go over everything before Friday because I have a bad feeling about this party."

"But we're goin' right?" Ren asked.

"You know I'm there." Leo fist-bumped Ren while smirking at Brie.

"What, no? Absolutely not," Izzy said.

Brie rolled her eyes at Leo. "Very funny. Be serious."

"Okay, okay," he said, taking a sip of his mocha. "But you know I gotta go 'cause it's after the game. It'd be weird if I didn't." Ren tapped her cup against his a couple times and they swapped drinks.

"I ain't going," Dara said. "But I'll give you a drone."

Well, this was unproductive. "Hold on." Caleb walked in front of the whiteboard. "The reason we're here is to get everybody up to speed, write down all of the things we don't know, and see what we can figure out before the party happens, got it?"

His phone buzzed. He glanced down.

Izzy: Summarize what I told you last night. Please? I don't wanna rehash it.

He glanced up at her and she nodded. Then he downed the rest of his coffee, burning his tongue again before launching into it. By the time he'd relayed all the details about the dog, the trip to the mountains, and everything else that'd happened over the last few days, the mood in the room had shifted.

Brie, Dara, and Leo started talking at once. Then he heard the pop of a marker cap.

"Enough! We're doing this orderly!" Ren nudged Caleb aside with her shoulder. "Take questions like a press conference and I'll mark 'em." She took a last slurp of the pink drink, set the plastic cup down with a thump, and began to write. "Kicking off with James and Austin – back where we started."

Caleb nodded. All work or all play with Ren, no in between. "I have no idea where James and Austin are, or if they're even alive. However, since no one has found them, and given what we've seen from the videos, I have to assume they disappeared into that thing in the hospital." Leo leaned against the side of the bookcase by the fire, the closest person to him clockwise, so Caleb pointed at him first. "Thoughts? We'll go around."

"That thing's gotta be some kind of portal, right?" He shifted. "You think it's connected to what you saw in Tennessee?"

Caleb shrugged. On the board, Ren added Portal? to the list. "Izzy?"

"It's a portal. I'm sure of it. I think they're connected, and I think James and Austin went into it."

"What makes you so sure?" Dara asked.

She sat up straighter, looking around the room. "I don't know. I just feel it, if that makes any sense."

"Creepy." Ren sauntered over to the table and grabbed a pretzel.

"Yeah, because I asked for this." She scowled at Ren.

"Doesn't mean it's not creepy." Ren ripped half the pretzel apart with her teeth.

"So are wild animals," Izzy retorted.

"Regardless," Dara interrupted, tapping a finger against her cup. "We need to verify, 'cause we can't just go on your feelin'."

"No, but you can figure out how to narrow the focus of the data you collect based on that." Brie took a sip of the horchata and squeezed Izzy's hand. "And I get your intuition."

"I'll work on it," Dara said. "Maybe we can get a drone in longer this time."

"That'd be great." Caleb leaned back against the desk, drumming his fingers against his leg. "Okay, Ren. Who killed the dog? Add it." Izzy flinched but remained quiet. "I don't think it was Burns," he continued.

"Why not?" she asked.

Caleb drummed his fingers harder. He should have said something last night. He really should have said something last night. He took a deep breath. "I didn't find anything on him, but I need more time to be sure. Plus, it doesn't make sense. Why hurt the dog? You didn't even like the damn thing, right?"

"To scare me?" Izzy said. Then she paused as his words sunk in, bringing her eyes up to meet his gaze. They narrowed a bit, but she kept her face carefully neutral. He ducked his head and pleaded with his eyes, trying to communicate with her not to be angry.

He really, really should have said something last night.

Brie raised an eyebrow and tossed him a pretzel which he promptly shoved in his mouth.

"For what it's worth I don't think it was Burns, either," Leo spoke up. He'd fully stolen Ren's spot in front of the fire. "I don't know him that well but we played football together, and I just didn't get that vibe. Tyler, totally, but I'm not feeling it from Burns. What do you think, Izzy? You spent more time with the guy."

"I don't know," she drew it out, considering. "I wouldn't think he was capable of something like that, but I didn't think he'd threaten me, either. Maybe they were just empty words, but I don't know who else it could be. That's what worries me." She looked down at the floor.

"We're gonna figure it out, okay? And the cops are actually looking into this one." Brie gave her a squeeze.

"It's a priority," Caleb added.

"Besides, we don't even know if it's connected." Dara turned to Izzy. "You know what? You should set up some cameras in your bedroom. Motion sensors that turn on for movement at night or when you ain't there."

That was such an obvious idea, Caleb couldn't believe he didn't think of it. But better Dara mentioned it than him so it didn't come across as creepy.

Izzy nodded. "How would it work?"

"That's more Caleb's department than mine." She gestured at him.

He didn't detect any anger in Izzy's expression, so he rolled with it. "I could set up the feed to go to a cloud server only accessible by you. You'd control it with a connected app on your phone, setting alerts for triggers. It's relatively simple. You don't have to decide now, but you should think about it."

"I'll do it," Izzy said, balling up her palms. "Do you think it would catch the other stuff?"

"The shadows? Maybe. We can try, anyway." Caleb grabbed a piece of paper, scribbling a note to himself. "Speaking of the shadow creatures, thoughts on the cause and if anything's working to disrupt them."

"Izzy. Izzy's causing 'em." Ren said. Caleb sighed. "What? They gotta be connected to her."

Caleb stilled his drumming fingers by gripping the desk behind him.

"I don't think it's just her, though," Leo said. "You said James had dreams too, right?"

"Yeah," Izzy glared at Ren.

"Then it's not only her," he said. "There are others."

"Shadow touched." Brie set her drink down on the coffee table. "At least that's how I'm thinking about it from the little black threads in our auras." She nodded at Izzy. "It's just us two in here. Actually, I haven't noticed any others so far."

"Hold up, you being literal right now? Like you can see auras and shit?" The marker dangled between Ren's fingers, forgotten.

"Oh, um, yeah. Literally." Brie grinned sheepishly.

"Since when?" Izzy eyes had widened.

Ren flicked the marker around like a knife. "And you didn't think to say anything?"

Caleb's thoughts exactly.

"Since I got scratched. Sorry I forgot to mention it when I was busy not dying." Brie leaned forward and tossed a handful of pumpkin seeds into her mouth, chewing angrily. "These are really good. You guys should have some." More angry chewing.

Caleb sighed. At least no one would be kissing. "Everyone's been under a lot of stress, Brie. It's fine. Just explain."

She finished chewing before answering. "I'm pretty sure it's related. The area over my scratch was black in my aura, but as the scratch has healed, the black patch's been disappearing." She spent a moment sucking a seed out of a gap in her teeth. "Also, I couldn't sense those things in my head before. I can now."

"You can, too?" Izzy's mouth hung open a bit.

Ren flung the pen up in the air. "Anyone else have superpowers they forgot to mention before we continue?"

'You guys have telepathy?" Leo asked at the same time.

"I don't think so," Izzy said.

"Me neither. Hold on. Izzy, try to read my mind?" Brie leaned forward, squeezing her eyes shut in concentration.

Izzy mirrored Brie's pose but conceded after a minute. "No idea."

Brie remained in place. "Just take a stab at it."

Izzy flinched. "That you wish the school year was over already? Because that's what I was thinking!" Izzy leaned forward and snatched a handful of pumpkin seeds.

"Sorry. Bad wording." Brie shook her head and opened her eyes. "But I was wondering if I shut the oven off when I left the house. I think I did." She looked off into the distance. "Pretty sure."

This was going off the rails. Caleb pushed off the desk and ran his hands over his arms. Leo and Ren needed to stop blocking the damn fire. "What makes you think it's telepathy?"

"Leo said that, not me," Brie said. "It's actually more like a vibe. No words, just an intention and a feeling."

"Like they want to kill us," Izzy whispered. She nibbled on a single seed like a squirrel.

"Like you need telepathy to figure that out." Ren paused, ensuring she had the full attention of the room. "We already know those things wanna kill us, so how can we take 'em down?"