Into the Blue Beam

NINE

When Keefe started convulsing, Amy knew this was a bad idea.

"What the—?!" Leonard cursed, dropping Keefe's head onto the ground. The distant lull of "Middle School hallway" broke through the heartbeat in Amy's ears—but it wasn't near. They'd managed to drag Keefe into the closest janitor's closet before his body started to seize.

"Get him on his side!" Amy spluttered, forcing her legs to move. She was too slow, though, and Leonard beat her to it.

"What is happening, Evie?! Or is your name Amy? Because right now I don't know anything, and it's really freaking me out!"

"Well stop freaking out!" shouted Amy. "And yes, my name's Amy, but it's also Evie, so whatever! Besides, that's not what matters right now! I never should have listened to him!" She bit her lip, hoping the pain would distract her bodily response to suddenly tear up. Should she get a teacher, or was this whole thing part of Keefe's stupid plan?

Why was she even debating this? Of course she needed a teacher!

"I'm going to get an adult," she said, stumbling for the door. Her whole body was numb, and she was shaking, but she focused all of her effort into that one movement. She just had to twist... the... knob...

"Wait!" Leonard said. "He's calming down."

"How does that diminish the fact that we need a medical professional?!"

"Why can't you say something in English?!" Leonard fired back.

"What are you talking about?"

"Who under age sixty-five would know what 'dimish' means?"

"It's diminish, and the answer to your question is me! Is there a problem with that?!"

Leonard opened his mouth to respond, but Keefe suddenly started muttering incoherently.

"Shut up!" Amy snapped, smacking her hand over Leonard's mouth. Almost immediately she felt the slobbery pointiness of teeth and jerked away. "Dude!"

He scowled. "Don't put your hand over my mouth."

"Mammy?" Keefe mumbled, opening his eyes a little. "Mammy!"

"Uh, she's not your mommy," Leonard pointed out.

Amy rolled her eyes. "He's saying, Amy." She bent down and jostled Keefe's shoulder. "Keefe? You there?"

"Mmhmm."

"He sounds drunk," whispered Leonard.

Amy ignored him, poking Keefe's shoulder as hard as she could without being overly violent. "Why would you do that to us?! You probably almost died! What even happened anyway?"

Keefe didn't answer, and Amy sat back on her heels. The tears flowed freely then, and she buried her head in her knees, covering her face. Some part of her had thought maybe all of this was some elvish thing, like it was all normal. After all, the only elves Amy knew had five million near-death experiences.

But it hit her then that what had just happened was the real deal—and she had frozen. Like, who did that?

"Uh... Evie? Are you crying?"

"No."

A pause. "What's wrong?"

"I froze. That's so dumb!"

"I didn't do so well either, and it's not like the guy died or anything."

The oh-so-helpful reminder of what could've happened only made Amy cry harder. Where was Sophie when she needed her?