Syra

Chapter 5

"I know you can figure this out, Syra. I can't tell you everything, except that Ally and Paul are dangerous. You're in terrible danger," Dad said.

I was in an empty room. It looked like some kind of hospital room. There was a bed of some kind in the middle of the room with a bright light on it. There was a table of medical instruments beside the bed, and aside from that, there was nothing else. There were no people, either.

I couldn't tell where Dad's voice was coming from, either. There definitely wasn't anyone else in the room.

"Where are you?" I called.

"Whatever anyone tells you, Paul and Ally are both dangerous, and know more than they'll ever say willingly. Don't trust them. Who you need to talk to is Reema Lauderdale," Dad said. I woke up right after that.

No one noticed me because they were all asleep. I went to my room and went back to sleep without anymore dreams.

As soon as I woke up, I ran downstairs. Tyler and Ally were awake and watching the Weather Channel.

"Hurricane Leah is devastating Puerto Rico and Cuba. There's over 300 estimated dead and over a thousand injured. Millions of dollars in homes and personal belongings have been destroyed. The hurricane continues down the East Coast. Authorities are advising citizens of Central America and northern Brazil to evacuate inland."

"They're finally taking action," I said.

"Morning, Syra," Tyler said.

"I have news about Dad and my visions," I said.

"Syra, those were just dreams. Dad is dead," Tyler said.

"Paul is experimenting with him. Ally and I think he's working with the government," I said.

"What?"

"I'll tell you the rest when Braydee gets up," I said.

"The rest of what?" Braydee said from the top of the stairs.

"Paul faked his arrest for attempted murder. It lasted from a week after Dad supposedly died to a week before he met Mom," I explained. "Ally said that before her mom died, Paul would go on long business trips. What if he's working with the government on experiments involving Dad?"

"Why would they experiment on Dad? Because he survived brain cancer?" Tyler asked.

"Because he's got powers, too."

"What?" Tyler and Braydee said.

"Dad had powers?" Tyler asked.

"No, Dad has powers. Whatever organization Paul works for found out about his powers, orchestrated a fake death for Dad, and brought him in to test on him," I said. "He's still very much alive."

"Okay. Say this is true, which, for the record, I don't believe in the slightest. How are we gonna get Paul to confess? He's in Brazil, and he's gonna be there for awhile with this hurricane," Braydee said.

"We're just gonna have to wait it out. I'm in danger when he's around, anyway," I said. "Ally doesn't know this, but I had one more vision last night."

"What was it?" Ally asked.

I explained my vision. "I don't know who Reema Lauderdale is. I'm assuming she knows something about Paul and my theory. We need to find her."

"Guess we should be glad the Internet exists," Ally said, getting her phone out. "How does one spell Reema?"

"R-E-E-M-A," I said. "Reema Lauderdale."