Unity [Book 3]

4. We're Not Leaving You

   LINDSEY DUNBAR   

"That's how he got in?" Corey asked, "What is it?" Liam and I asked as we all looked up at Scott's ceiling. "It's a point of impact from a lightning strike. Usually you'd find charred spots like that on the ground after a violent thunderstorm," Mason explained, "That's how the Ghost Rider got in. He rode the lightning," Scott said.

"If they can use lightning to get past the Mountain Ash..." Liam trailed off, "No place is safe," Scott replied. "What about the others? It's my fault they're marked," Corey said, "We'll find a way to protect them. All of them..." Scott assured us.

*****

Mason, Liam and I were in the library trying to figure out anything about lightning and thunderstorms. "The K-index quantifies disturbances in the horizontal component of earth's magnetic field," Liam reads off from the text book, Then he looks up confused. "What's a K-index?" he asks Mason, "It's a scale the meteorologists use to measure thunderstorm activity," Mason starts to explain. "So a K-index value less than 20 means no activity, and above 35 is severe," Mason finishes, "Well, how bad is severe?" Liam asks.

"Well, your average storm has about 1,000 lightning strikes. In the past three month, the average storm in Beacon Hills had 5,000," Mason told us, "And what's it reading now?" Liam and I ask in unison. Mason looks over at his computer and presses a button, "Uh, 14. We're clear," Mason says.

I stand up and stand behind Liam and Mason looking at the computer, "Okay, so if a spike in the K-index means more lightning, then we can tell if they're coming," Liam says. "This is good," I say, then the computer starts beeping. I look over and see that the K-index is rising quickly, "Actually, this is really bad," Mason tells us.

Mason closes his laptop, "So, what do we do now?" I ask. "We need to hide them," Mason says, "We need to fight them," Liam tells Mason. "We need to hide them," Mason repeats, "Who's 'them'?" I look up and see Scott standing there. "The Ghost Riders," Liam responds, "The kids at the party," Mason responds as well. "Uh, both?" I shrug, "Got it," Scott says. "We could get a lightning rod. Attract the Ghost Riders and catch them off guard," Liam explains, "But since everyone from the party is in danger, all we need to do is find a safe place to hide them until the storm passes," Mason says.

"The Ghost Riders ride the lightning. Nowhere is safe," Liam responds, "It is, if we're underground. The Earth can ground the lightning's electrical charge. Everyone would be safe," Mason explains. "Okay..." Scott sits down, "Here's what we're gonna do. We take everyone into the Argent bunker. It's underground. It's lined with mountain ash," Scott says. "We stopped the Ghost Riders last night. We can do it again," Liam tells Scott, "You didn't stop them. They just retreated. We don't know why," Scott says.

Liam stays quiet and starts to think, he then speaks up. "Okay. How do we get everyone inside the bunker?" Liam asks, I sigh. I feel like this won't work out too well.