The Anomaly Project

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

TODD

"Feet shoulder width apart," Autumn instructs me. "Good. Now hold it up to your shoulder."

I lift the rifle and close one eye, focusing on the target. "Shoot when you're ready," she says from behind me. I breathe in, then out, and then pull the trigger. A hiss emanates from the gun, and there's a crack as the bullet grazes a tree to the far right of the target. I sigh inwardly.

"You have to squeeze the trigger, not pull it," Autumn says. She steps up to my side. "Level the rifle."

I hold it up to my shoulder and Autumn places one hand on my left shoulder and closes the fingers of her other hand around mine. A warm feeling spreads through my veins, beginning at the places where she's touching me. She squeezes the trigger over my fingers, and the gun fires again.

I look down at her, studying her. Her face is serious, her mouth curled down into a characteristic frown. She doesn't even notice my stare, just lets go of me and steps back. "Try again," she says.

Breathe in, breathe out. I wait for a minute for my heart to slow, and then I aim and squeeze the trigger. The bullet smacks into the side of the target. Not a bullseye, but it's a start.

"Not bad," Autumn says, soundly mildly impressed. "With a little practice, you could get almost as good as me."

"Oh, really?" I ask, not sure if I like the way she says it – like she thinks I'm incompetent. For some reason, I hate the idea of her thinking that. "You know, I bet I could get better than you."

She scoffs. "I'd like to see you try."

"Are you challenging me?"

Autumn shrugs, her lips lifting slightly, hinting at a smile. "I could take you anywhere, anytime."

"Could you?" I ask, giving her a smirk. "That'll be the day."

She laughs, teasing me, but before she can say anything else, Noah appears in the shooting range. "Oh, there you are. Autumn, Tessa's looking for you."

Autumn glances at me, and then at Noah. They hold eye contact for a few seconds, and then she nods, turning and heading back toward camp.

Noah eyes me, saying nothing. It makes me quite uncomfortable, to be honest. I fiddle with the hilt of my sword and stare back at him. "What's up, mate?"

"You tell me." His voice is cool. I know I'm in for another stay-away-from-my-sister speech, so I just shrug.

"Nothing, really."

Noah's face is blank and expressionless. We stay looking at each other in silence, and finally I have to say something. "Okay, Noah, you've successfully unnerved me. Are you poking around in my mind?"

He shakes his head. "No. But maybe I should. I—"

He stops, frowns, staring at something just above my head. "What?" I ask. He doesn't answer. His eyes are fixed on a point in the air. I turn around, but I don't see anything. "What?" I ask again, more insistent this time. He finally moves his eyes down to meet mine.

"I saw something," he says. "It looked like..."

His voice trails off. I'm starting to get frustrated. "Noah, what did you see?"

"It was like a hovercraft," he says, his voice barely louder than a whisper, confusion melting into realization in his face. "A hovercraft..."

He looks toward camp and then takes off running. Confused and a bit freaked out, I jog after him. "Noah!" He ignores me, sprinting into camp and going straight up to Autumn. He grabs her shoulders and starts talking at a mile a minute.