Blast Protocol

Chapter 37

SILAS

In the panic, I experience a moment of reversion. For a split second, I'm just a teenage kid, freaking out because someone's about to open my bedroom door, and I'm not ready. I don't want that door open. I don't want her in here.

"Mom, stop, I'm getting dressed!" I blurt out, channeling that feeling.

The door stops, barely open. From my position on the floor, the only thing that's visible is her hand, and the sparkle of her diamond ring in the light, and the blue cuff of her sweater sleeve.

Just that, mercifully. And no more.

"Sorry!" Mom says, shutting the door. "You need to hurry, we'll already supposed to be on the road."

"Okay!" I yell. "Only a minute!"

I can feel her lingering, the way mom's always do. Then, finally, she heads off, the quiet pad of her footfalls echoing in the hall, followed by the subtle creak of the stairwell as she descends to the main floor.

As terrified as I was to see her face to face, there's a raw ache in my chest as I hear her go. We interacted, the two of us. Something I didn't initially realize would be possible. And it's hard to ignore the fact that, if I want to, I can probably head out that door and down the stairs. Mom and Gemma are about to leave on the trip for Granite Falls. And what if I were to go with them? What if I was to play everything out, as it had been before, only this time...

This time...

I shake myself, and get to my feet.

I need to get out of here. If what Shiloh said is true, the clock is ticking. I can't entertain a fantasy while real people are in danger.

And besides...it would only be a fantasy. Isn't that the most important thing? I could only hurt myself, going down that road. And what would it achieve?

Right. Need to open a door out of here. Using my mind. That's the remote. That's how I control all of this. That's how I summoned the Hallway of Memory; by thinking about the past. And thinking about my home brought me right back to my old bedroom. So if I focus on getting out of here, and getting Shiloh home-

"I can't believe you have all of this," Shiloh says. She's looking at my shelves.

"All of what?"

"Well, space, for one," Shiloh says, making a quick glance around the room before turning back to one of the shelves.

"It's not that much space."

"It's more than I have," she says. "In the Cloister."

That must be what she and the others call the underground bunker.

There's something ominous about that name. It implies safety, and shelter. But also, limitation. Enclosure. Confinement.

Gives me the vibe of a somewhat toxic relationship. Like, yeah, it's not the worst, but maybe you could do better if you had a bit more self-respect.

Of course, people tend to end up with the partner they think they deserve—or so it seems to me. There are upsides and downsides to that, I suppose.

"I've actually used this one," Shiloh says, tapping my PS5 with a finger. "Seamus has one. Not as many games as you have, though."

"I had a decent amount of spending money. And a decent amount of time on my hands, if I'm honest."

It occurs to me that, while I've dated before, I've never had a girl alone in my room like this. And I've certainly never had one perusing my game collection.