Kat Caldwell was snooping.

She didn’t know why she was snooping, or even who she was snooping on.  All she knew while she rummaged through random things in her family’s attic, that she was doing just that.  She glanced over her shoulder, toward the hole in the floor where she’d dropped the ladder to make her ascent in the first place.  She pursed her lips, wondering if she should shut it.  Her mother wasn’t home—she’d gone to the store to buy some things for the house.  But still.  What if Faye got home early from Errika’s and caught her up here?  She’d demand to know what she was doing, would scream at her for snooping around where she shouldn’t have been.

Kat wasn’t allowed in the attic.  She didn’t know why, but it made her crazy.  What was up here that was so special that she couldn’t even take one step into the room?  What special things did Faye (it was so obvious that her sister knew) and her mother hide up here?  And why couldn’t Kat know about them?

Shaking her head, Kat sauntered to the fallen stairs and knelt down.  She glanced down at her All-Star Converse, a frown curling on her lips.  As much as she loved the shoes, she hated the fact that they were Faye’s hand-me-downs.  Her mother didn’t see the point in buying anything that they didn’t need.  Apparently Kat’s own set of clothing—really, her own set of clothing—did not apply to that category.  Kat felt herself constantly wondering if Faye ever had to endure hand-me-downs.  Probably not.  Everything that came before Faye belonged to Terra.  And Terra was a burden on their memories.

Kat felt something deep in the pit of her stomach.  Maybe anger, maybe guilt.  Maybe both.  She couldn’t help but feel guilty that the only reason she belonged to this family was because Terra was dead.  If Terra were alive, Kat would be with another family or still in the orphanage.  All the time disturbing thoughts flashed through her mind: would they rather Terra be there instead of her?  Would they like it better if they never got her, but still had Terra in their lives?

Would they choose Terra over her?

Kat blew a few stray blond strands of hair out of her face, her frown growing deeper.  She reached forward, grabbing the thick rope in front of her and pulling the attic stairs up toward her.  She closed the hole in the floor, standing up.  Everything was significantly darker now—a point that she’d definitely not thought through—but she could still see.  After a deep sigh, pushing the thoughts of Faye’s late sister away, Kat stepped toward the stack of boxes a few feet away.

Grabbing the first box at the top, Kat sat down with the box set out in front of her.  She pulled the tabs open, peering inside.  She took a deep breath as she stared at the contents.  She brought a hand into the box and pulled an object at random out.

It was a shirt.

Her eyebrows creasing, she dumped the all the contents of the box onto the floor.  They were all clothes.  Shirts, jeans, shorts.  A variety of clothing mixed into one.  Kat didn’t understand.  She was banned from the attic because of clothes?  It just didn’t make sense.

She looked up.  Boxes surrounded her, filling the entire room.  She stood up again.  There had to be something there.  Something that was useful.  Something that meant something.

She searched through a copious amount of boxes, trying to get a glimpse at something important.  But there didn’t seem to be anything.  Almost every box she opened was filled with clothes.  Kat could have groaned in frustration.  It seemed absolutely ridiculous that she was forbidden to go somewhere over clothes—and stylish clothes at that. 

Kat held a shirt in front of her, tilting her head to the side.  It was a tank top, a pretty maroon color with a floral pattern.  The top was bejeweled—just how Kat liked it.  She could see herself wearing it, flaunting in it as she sauntered through the middle school’s halls with Bella and her other friends.  They would ask her where she got it; they would tell her she looked absolutely amazing.  And Kat, taking in the attention, would simple smile mischievously and say, “It’s a secret, girlies.  Can’t have everyone copying my style.”

Kat let the shirt fall from her fingertips.  It glided to the floor, the silk fabric looking elegant even in the darkness.  There was no point in wondering what it would be like to actually own an outfit that she truly enjoyed, basked in.  She would never get it.  She never really got what she wanted.  Not here.

Because the only thing she wanted was to be noticed.  And to be noticed, she needed a whole bunch of things: clothes, hair projects—just anything that gave her glam.  But her mother didn’t believe that Kat needed that to be noticed.

If only she knew.

Kat let out an irritated huff, reaching for the next box.  She knew it would be the same: clothes.  What else could it be?

But, when she opened the box, she realized that they weren’t clothes at all.  They were books.  Not novels, but notebooks.  Kat pulled one out, biting her lip.  In a neat scrawl at the top, the Composition book was labeled Geometry.  Kat shook her head disbelievingly.  The most exciting thing she’d found was someone’s—probably Faye’s—Geometry work?

With a roll of the eyes, Kat flipped the first page open.  She didn’t know why she did.  Geometry wasn’t what she labeled as interesting.  But, there she was, opening the cover and averting her gaze to the first page.

When she saw what was written there, her mouth dropped, the book almost falling out of her now-trembling hands.  Without a word, she tossed the book back into the box.  She took a step back.  And then another.  Her legs began trembling so hard the she almost fell to the ground.  She didn’t know why the words on the paper affected her the way they did.  They were so mundane, so normal.

But, still, the words seared her mind burning an imprint on her memory.

What were the words?

This is the property of Terra Caldwell.

The | Gate

“So, Kole,” the bitter voice continued after a long moment of silence.  “Are you going to answer me or what?”

Kole felt his jaw tighten.  Seth stood in front of him, his arms crossed irritably over his chest.  His friend’s jaw was working, only showing how angry he was.  Kole couldn’t understand why Seth was angry—or why he had the expression of betrayal on his face.  Kole snuck a glance in Faye’s direction, suddenly terrified for her.  He’d never seen Seth this way before—at least, not at this level.  What if Seth was so angry that he’d turn Faye in?  He didn’t care much if he got caught—but if Faye got taken to the prison wards he’d never be able to forgive himself.

“What are you doing here?” he demanded softly.

Seth glared at him.  “Does that really matter?”  He waved a hand, cutting off Kole’s response.  “No, it doesn’t.  What matters is that you got to the other side, met the creature there, and then had the audacity not to say anything about it!”

Kole’s eyes shot to Faye again.  He had the sudden urge to stand in front of her, to protect her from what Seth might do.  There was no knowing what he would do at that moment.  He could attack, could lash out; or worse, he could report.  “How did you—?”

“Find out?” Seth sneered.  “Terence, unlike you, doesn’t keep secrets from his friends.”

“Seth—”

“How many other secrets are you keeping from us, Kole?  Are there any bigger secrets that you have hidden?  Do you tell them all to Terence and make him swear not to tell?  Or is Terence not even important enough to—”

“For the love of god, Seth, shut up!” Kole hissed, cutting off the rest of Seth’s furious sentence.  He took a step in front of Faye, covering her from view.  “I didn’t tell you because the more people who know, the more dangerous it is for Faye.  I wasn’t even going to tell Terence, all right?  If I thought it was safe, I would have told you.  Now will you stop spewing random shit about trust?  Because, obviously, you didn’t trust me enough to know there was a good reason for me not telling you.”

Kole crossed his arms over his chest, his jaw working along with Seth’s now.  He could see his brother in the corner, watching the fight between Kole and his friend go on.  He almost gulped at the look on his brother’s face.  Alex had an expression that could only be described as confusion—and confusion wasn’t something that Alex took very well.  Alex Frost was the type of person who needed all questions answered for him.  Which was why the creature on the other side of the Gate always bugged him. 

“Kole,” Alex drew out slowly, coming to stand beside Seth.  “Could you please explain to me what’s going on?”

“Yeah, Kole,” Seth seethed, apparently not understanding Kole’s rant.  “Why don’t you tell us what’s going on?”

Kole ground his teeth together.  He’d expected maybe a few questions from Alex—nothing too bad.  But Seth was making this situation almost unbearable.  He couldn’t imagine how Faye was feeling right now.  Probably frightened—more than frightened, actually.  Terrified.  How would Kole feel if he was brought to a place he wasn’t used to and suddenly two other people came in creating conflict?  Kole would flee.

Instead of answering his friend’s question, he asked one of his own.  “Where are Zander and Terence?”

Seth seemed taken aback.  “What?”

“Zander and Terence,” Kole repeated coolly, taking a step forward.  “They have to be here.  You probably just found out since you haven’t cooled down at all, so Terence has to be with you.  Zander was probably there as well.”  He shrugged, feigning nonchalance even though, on the inside, he was broiling with anger.  “A little get together behind my back, eh?”

Seth began sputtering out random excuses, only proving Kole’s original point.  Zander and Terence were there in Kole’s house, not brave enough to come face Kole.  Instead they hid, probably in Kole’s or Alex’s room.  And, to make it worse, Alex probably didn’t even know that the other two were there.  Seth snuck them in, promising not to get them involved.  Kole didn’t know how he knew this, but he did.

“Where are they, Seth?”

It wasn’t Kole who demanded this time, but Alex.  He stepped between Kole and Seth, his arms crossing over his chest along with his brother.  Kole bit his lip to keep from smiling.  He could always count on his brother to come to his rescue.  Always.  Kole trusted Alex with his life.  Always had, always would.

“I—what?  You’re—Kole doesn’t know what he’s—”

Alex grabbed Seth by the shoulders, giving him a rough shake.  “You sneak into our house with only the intention of screaming at my brother for no other reason but feeling angry.  And you go and hide Zander and Terence so they can’t stop you?”  Kole could just feel the glower on Alex’s face.  “That’s low, Seth, and you know it.  Now where are they?”

Kole turned as he felt a hand on his back.  Faye stood there, a nervous expression on her face.  His stomach dropped when he saw fear mixed with the nervousness.  She was afraid, just like he’d predicted.  “Maybe this was a bad idea,” she whispered to him, her voice cracking.  “Maybe I should just go.”

Not even thinking about what he was doing, he placed his hands on her shoulders.  “It’s okay,” he assured her.  “Seth just has anger issues.  He wasn’t supposed to be here.  He’ll be cooled down in a minute.”

She searched his face.  Kole forced a smile, hoping that that would comfort her enough into staying.  He silently cursed Terence.  If he learned to keep his mouth shut then he wouldn’t have this problem.  He should have lied to Terence about what he’d seen in the forest.  If Kole had just made up a story, then everything would be fine.

But would everything be fine?  Kole wasn’t so sure.  He’d have broken eventually, spewing his words to probably the worst person possible—like his father.  Terence might have told his friends, but he’d kept his mouth shut for the most part.  And that Kole was thankful for.

“They’re upstairs,” Seth muttered finally.  “In Kole’s bedroom.”

“No we’re not,” came a voice.

Kole spun as Terence entered the room, his hands shoved into his jean pockets.  Zander followed pursuit, his hands tucked under his armpits anxiously.  Neither of them would meet Kole’s gaze.  Instead they stared at the ground, where they probably felt safer.  Kole didn’t really understand why.  It wasn’t like Kole was going to attack them.  Though, he had to admit, he could understand why his friends would think so.  He didn’t exactly control his anger very well.

Alex shook his head, turning to Kole now.  “Can you please explain what’s going on now?”  He gestured to Faye.  “Is Seth telling the truth—that’s the creature from the other side?”

Kole let his arms fall from Faye’s shoulders as he nodded.  He cleared his throat before saying, “I’ll explain everything.  Can we just move out of the doorway?  You guys are making Faye nervous.”

The | Gate

Faye wrapped her arms around herself, holding herself tightly as she followed Kole out of the doorway and further into the house.  The house, she realized, was set up as one huge hall connected by rooms on the sides.  She tilted her head to the side, intrigued.  She’d never seen a house designed this way—usually homes were connected room by room instead of separated completely by a hallway.  It made her wonder if Donnie’s house was set up the same way.

Finally the hall ended, opening up into a large sun room.  The walls were covered with windows, letting light shine freely onto the carpet and furniture.  Sitting against the back wall was a sea green, three-pieced couch.  It spread out across the wall, cutting off with a shay lounge at the very end.  Faye was amazed.  She’d always wanted a couch like that.

Her eyes flicking around the room, Faye realized that there was barely any other furniture.  There was a lamp next to the couch, probably for when someone wanted to read in the dark.  Besides that there was only a small table with a glass table top sitting a few feet away from the couch.  There was no television set, no television cabinet.  The room seemed . . . freeing.  Technology didn’t seem to hold the room down like everywhere else.

“All right,” Sean muttered coolly as he settled onto one of the couch cushions.  “Now tell us everything.”

Faye turned, staring as Kole simply ushered everyone to take a seat, his face pinched with irritation.  Faye bit her lip before moving toward the shay lounge, silently praying that no one planned on sitting there.

No one had.  Faye couldn’t help but smile as she sank into the seat.  It was just like she’d always imagined: so comfortable she could lie there forever.

Kole, unlike everyone else, stayed standing.  Faye kept her eyes on him, studying his features.  His eyes were like dark chocolate, swirling with anger as he glared his friends down.  His jaw was set, his arms crossed irritably over his chest.  Faye’s eyes flicked to his lips, now pursed.  Kole, Faye realized, was not one to hold his temper.

“Kole,” his brother drew out, hesitant, “will you please explain what’s going on?”

“I will in a moment, Alex,” Kole replied dryly, clearly attempting not to snap.  Faye bit her lip to keep from smiling.  His attempt hadn’t worked so well.

Faye allowed herself to look away from Kole and to the boys sitting with her on the couch.  Seth, seated on the cushion farthest away from her, reminded her of a hawk with his shark facial features.  His light brown hair, though Faye couldn’t really understand why, seemed sharp as well.  The other boys had softer features.  One had brunette hair, pale skin, and blazing blue eyes, while the other had black hair, olive skin, and dark eyes.  The boy with the olive skin seemed like he had something weighing him down, Faye observed.  Like there was an inner torment that he kept solely to himself.

Alex, plopped between Seth and the olive skinned boy, sighed deeply.  This, Faye noticed, was something that Errika would do.  Alex, like Errika, seemed to need all the answers—he hated being confused.  They were more alike than just by their looks.  Their attitudes seemed to match as well. 

Kole cleared his throat.  Faye, along with the boys, turned to face him, ready to listen attentively.  “I’m going to explain this once,” Kole said slowly, enunciating each word carefully, “and once only.  Do you understand?”

As the boys nodded, Faye couldn’t help but wonder who Kole directed that sentence to.  It didn’t seem like it was directed at everyone; the edge in the tone, the ice hidden inside, couldn’t have been aimed at more than two people.  It was probably Seth and Alex, Faye thought.  They were the only ones demanding answers after all.

“After you and Terence got trashed,” Kole began, settling an irritated glower in Seth’s direction, “and after Zander and I dumped you on your porch, I began driving Terence home.”

He gestured to the blue-eyed boy.  So he was Terence.  Faye nodded mentally to herself, trying to force herself to memorize the name with the face.  Which meant, she thought, her eyes flicking to the olive skinned boy, that that must have been Zander.

“Terence,” Kole continued, being the idiot—no offense Terence—that his is, decided to jump out of the car and run toward the forest.  He wanted to find out what creature was on the other side of the Gate.  I chase after him, not wanting him to get arrested just because he pulled a stupid move while he was drunk.”

Faye leaned forward, listening attentively even though she already knew the end of the story.  She listened, watching as Kole unhooked his arms and flailed them about.  He spoke with his hands as he continued on with his story.  He explained about meeting Faye that night at the Gate, how he told Terence about it after.  Faye couldn’t help but let out a short snicker when Kole said he grabbed Terence by the shirt while he screamed.  He really didn’t know how to control his anger, did he?

After Kole finished explaining, it was silent.  Even Seth, who didn’t seem to know how to keep his mouth shut, had his lips pressed into a straight line.  Faye glanced between Kole and the other boys.  Was silence a good thing?  Or was it a bad thing?  Faye glanced at Kole again.  He met her gaze and struggled out a smile.  She smiled back, unease fluttering around in her stomach. 

“So.”  Alex stood up then, shoving his hands nonchalantly into his pockets.  “So this is a girl?”

He pointed to Faye.  Faye stared at his finger.  She suddenly felt like an insect under a microscope, like she was being examined closely.  She felt naked under the boys’ eyes despite the number of layers she wore.  Faye crossed her arms tightly over her chest, hoping that it would make her feel more secure, but it didn’t seem to matter.  Their eyes burned through her skin all the same.

“Yes,” Kole replied.

“She—that’s what girls are called right?—doesn’t look much different than us.”  Alex tilted his head to the side.  “In fact, I don’t see any differences at all.”

Kole shot Faye a look that she couldn’t decipher.  She averted her gaze, plucking at his sweatshirt absently.  Kole’s eyes continued to bore through her, however.  There was no escaping it.  “Faye,” he said softly.

Faye looked up then, eyes locking with Kole’s.  “Yeah?”

Bringing a hand through his hair, Kole sighed.  “Can you take off my sweatshirt, please?  And comes stand over here?”

Faye hesitated before nodding.  She pushed herself off the shay lounge, swallowing hard.  The thought of stripping—even if it was just a sweatshirt—in front of people, boys no less, she didn’t know made her extremely uncomfortable.  She bit the inside of her cheek and stepped beside Kole.  She took a deep breath.  And then, after closing her eyes, Faye pulled the sweatshirt over her head.

The boys gaped as Faye’s hair fell over her shoulders.  Faye rubbed her arms self-consciously, their stares weighing her down.  She wished they would stop, that they’d look away.  But they didn’t.  They stared endlessly like they were never going to stop.

Kole cleared his throat again.  The boys snapped to attention, turning to face him.  “Stop staring like that,” Kole said, rolling his eyes.  “You’re making her uncomfortable.”

Mumbling apologies, they averted their gazes to the floor—well, all but Alex who stood up, his arms crossed over his chest.  His expression shouldn’t have made Faye nervous; he was just watching her with a pleasant smile on his face.  But it did.  She felt like he was raking her skin, seeing right through her.  She felt like all the feelings she felt like she wanted to keep hidden were spewing all over the floor.  No one seemed to notice her fears and sorrows settling in the air, but Faye felt it.  Like she couldn’t keep anything a secret.  Like he saw right through all the walls she tried so hard to keep up.

“It’s amazing,” Alex breathed finally, coming to stand in front of her.  Faye shot a quick, nervous glance Kole’s way, but turned away so that Alex wouldn’t notice.  “I can’t believe you’re what’s been behind the Gate this entire time.”  He brought his thumb across his lip thoughtfully.  “But it doesn’t make sense.”

It was Kole’s turn to glance at Faye now.  Faye caught his gaze and held it, not able to turn away.  Kole’s shot glance turned into a stare, like he too was trying to figure out how exactly she worked inside her head.  Faye turned away, not wanting him to find out.  There were some things in her mind—like Terra’s death—that she wanted to keep hidden.

“It doesn’t make sense,” Alex whispered again, tilting his head to the side.  “Not at all.  If you’re just like us, there’d be no point in keeping us separated.  So—why?  Why all the trouble to keep us from meeting each other?  Why arrest us for getting close?”

He stared at her like she held the answer.  Faye shrugged, showing that no, she did not have the answers he was looking for.  “I don’t know,” she said softly, rubbing her arms again.  “I was wondering the same thing myself.”

“How many more of you are there?” he asked, his eyebrows lifting.  “Or are you the only one?”

“We have about as many girls as you do boys,” Faye replied, twitching a hand through her hair awkwardly.  She felt so uncomfortable that she wished she would just melt into the floor, away from all these people around her.  “Our side doesn’t look much different than yours, actually.  Some of the houses look the same.”  Including this one, she wanted to say, but kept her mouth shut.

“So the Government made us all believe that this man-eating creature was on the other side,” Alex said, his voice lowering as he concentrated, “but there isn’t.  It’s just other humans.”

Faye nodded.  “Yeah.  We have forest animals and stuff, but you guys do too.”

“So it’s exactly the same.”

“Exactly.”

Alex growled in agitation.  His hands went into his hair and his fingers curled into fists.  Faye watched him, wide-eyed.  She’d never seen someone get so irritated for not understanding something—well, except for Errika, of course.  Errika brought her hands into fists through her hair when she was angry, too.  Faye frowned.  The alikeness between the two was really peculiar.

Kole stepped forward, putting a hand on his brother’s shoulder.  He murmured something into Alex’s ear, something that no one else in the room could hear.  Faye glanced at the other boys, at Terence, Zander, and Seth, watching for their expressions.  Terence was expressionless, which didn’t surprise Faye in the slightest; he already knew all this information, after all.  Zander was thoughtful, staring off into the distance, his jaw working like he was upset about something.  Seth had a scowl on his face, seeming just as infuriated as he had been when he entered the household.  Faye wondered what his problem was.  Kole had only hidden it from him because he thought it was the right thing to do.  That was why she didn’t tell her mom, why she didn’t tell Kat or anyone else.  Because it could put them in danger.  Why did Seth see that?

Kole pulled away from Alex, cutting off Faye from her thoughts.  He smiled at her, and she smiled back.  Then he looked at Seth, his smile instantly falling from his face.  “You’re still mad?” he demanded, sounding angry himself.  “Seriously, Seth?”

Seth snorted, standing up and stretching his arms out.  “You explaining what she is doesn’t change the fact that you hid it from us.”

Kole glowered icily.  “It was for your protection.  What do you think will happen if the Government finds out that I’ve been hanging out around the Gate’s borders with the ‘creature’ from the other side?  Do you think that they won’t question everyone I associate with to see what you guys know?”

“They haven’t before—”

“That’s because they didn’t make it to the Gate, Seth,” Kole said, his voice scary-calm.  It was like he’d lost all motivation to try and convince his friend that he was doing the right thing.  “If they found me, they’d probably think that you guys all knew about it.  And they’d probably question you.  That’s why I didn’t tell you.  I didn’t need you all becoming liable.”

“Well, we are now,” Alex said lightly, a smile on his face.  He clapped Seth on the shoulder, holding his hand there.  “Seth,” he continued, his voice still light.  Despite the lightness, Faye could see the threatening and menacing posture through it all.  She shivered, “you need to get over this little tantrum of yours.  We could always not tell you whenever we meet Faye here again.”  He smiled coolly.  “You wouldn’t want that now would you?”

If Errika were here, she’d probably be high-fiving him, congratulating him on pulling off such a threat without seeming mean or angry at all.  Even though the threat wasn’t all that huge—just forcing Seth to stay away from all of this—Faye could see that it affected Seth hugely.  He’d gone rigid all over, his face almost turning a gray sort of color.  He looked mortified, like the prospect of not being in on this secret terrified him more than anything else.  Faye’s eyebrows rose.  Why?  Why would he feel that way?  She just didn’t understand him.  Not at all.

Seth forced a smile.  “Sorry, Kole.  I understand completely why you did what you did.”

Alex’s smile grew, this time triumphant.  “That’s what I thought.”  He pushed Seth away slightly, almost causing Seth to trip on the small glass table in front of them.  “Now, I say we get something to eat, I’m starv—”

His sentence cut off suddenly as the front door open and a voice sent everyone into silence.  “Alex, Kole!” someone shouted.  “I’m home!”

“Shit,” Kole cursed under his breath.  He shot a fearful glance in Faye’s direction.  He averted his gaze quickly, but Faye still saw it.  And her stomach instantly plummeted.

Something bad was about to happen.

“You need to get her out of here now,” Alex hissed, pushing Kole roughly toward the living room door.  “Hurry up, before he sees you!”

Kole grabbed Faye’s hand, rushing her out of the living room.  Faye didn’t bother asking any questions, just stuck close to him.  Her mind whirled, and she suddenly felt like she wanted to vomit.  What if this man—whoever he was—saw them coming down the hall.  Everything was connected by this hallway, after all.  That, Faye couldn’t help but think, was very inconvenient. 

Kole pulled Faye into one of the rooms, shutting the door behind them.  Faye cast a glance around, not able to help herself.  They were in what looked like an office.  A computer desk with an old Windows desktop sitting on top of it.  Books sitting on bookshelves surrounded the walls, books that she’d never seen before.  There was a crate on the floor next to the desk, filled with assorted binders of various colors.  Despite the ordinariness of it, Faye’s eyes widened.  Whose room could this be—?

“Come on,” Kole whispered, tugging her through the room to the window on the far side of the room.  She followed him, her eyes tugging at her surroundings.  Who sat here during the day, sifting through the papers, reading the books, and looking through the binders?  Who worked in here?  She doubted it was Alex, and knew it wasn’t Kole.  Her eyebrows furrowed.  That could only leave. .  . .

“Is that your dad?” she whispered anxiously as Kole reached the window.  He tugged it upward, letting in the cool breeze.  “Is that why we’re running?”

“Precisely,” Kole muttered, pulling the window open the rest of the way.  He snuck a glance her way.  “While Alex is understanding about knowing what’s on the other side, my dad has a certain . . . feeling of obligation to listen to the law.  I don’t want to chance him turning you—or me—in.”

“He’d turn you in?” Faye was horrified.  She couldn’t imagine a parent turning in their own child for breaking the law.  She worried about her mom finding out, but she didn’t think Mary would turn her in to the Government.  She loved Faye too much to be able to do that.  Was it different for boys?  Did fathers not love their sons the way mothers loved their daughters?

“I don’t know,” Kole said, his voice tight.  He gestured for her to join him at the edge of the window.  “But I’m not willing to find out.” 

Faye gulped, looking over the edge of the window.  It was just like the drop of Errika’s window sill.  Small, but terrifying.  She could just imagine it now: she’d slip, fall, and break her neck.  She’d turned mangled, just like Terra. . . .

“Come on,” Kole whispered hurriedly.  “We don’t have much time.”

Adrenaline she didn’t even know she possessed coursing through her veins, Faye nodded and straddled over the window.  She took a deep breath before jumping, biting her tongue to keep from screaming as she plunged to the ground.  She landed on her feet, her hands digging into the dirt.  She stood up, eyeing her palms.  Little rocks indented in her skin.  She winced, thankful that she was otherwise unharmed.

A moment later Kole was beside her, taking her hand in his again.  “Let’s go,” he said softly.  “We have to get out of here before my dad notices I’m gone.”

Faye nodded, allowing herself to be pulled into a run as their feet slapped against the pavement.  They rushed down the driveway, down the street.  In the back of her mind, Faye knew that she no longer had Kole’s sweatshirt for protection, that anyone who saw her would be able to tell that she was different.  But she couldn’t bring herself to care.  She couldn’t do anything but concentrate on running, on getting to the forest before time ran out.  Whatever Alex thought up for an excuse—and Faye knew that he would think of something—wouldn’t last forever.  Kole needed to get home sooner rather than later.

“What happens if he does notice you’re gone?” Faye gasped out, not able to stop herself from asking the question.  She regretted asking instantly.  Her lungs burned painfully, her breathing labored with every step.  She wanted to stop running, to slow to a walk, but she knew she couldn’t.  She wouldn’t risk getting Kole in trouble, either. 

“Then I get grounded and questioned,” Kole replied, his voice seemingly rusty and tired.  He was just as worn down from running as she was, Faye observed.  For some reason she’d imagined them being able to run for hours, never tiring.  Though, Faye thought, that was probably just her imaging them as supernatural in some form or fashion.  Faye knew that she needed to stop linking boys to supernatural activities, but she couldn’t help it.  There had to be some reason to why they were separated.

Didn’t there?

“Oh.”  Faye didn’t even know if he’d be able to recognize that as a reply.  It was more like a little gasp of air than anything else.

Whether he recognized it as a response or not, she didn’t know.  He didn’t say anything else, just ran.  Faye kept her mouth shut for the rest of the run to the forest, not wanting to waste any more oxygen that she desperately needed.

The | Gate

Alex Frost crossed his arms over his chest, trying to seem nonchalant.

Kole and Faye were long gone by now, he hoped.  When Kole raced into their father’s office, he knew that they were going to get out unseen.  For a short moment he’d feared that Kole would try to hide them upstairs, would try to chance running to the kitchen where the stairs were.  The stairs, Alex observed for the thousandth time, were oddly placed.  Instead of separating two rooms like any other house, the stairs sat in the corner of the room, seeming so out of place in the rest of the house.  Alex always knew that their house was set up strangely—every room seeming to connect by a single hallways instead of to each other.  But that was only because the house used to be a small hotel, made by a family hoping to get some cash.  It didn’t work, obviously.

“Alex?”

Alex’s thoughts about his home were cut off by the sound of his father’s voice.  He looked up, breaking into a bright smile.  “Hey, Dad!” he said, keeping his tone light.

Nathaniel Frost always reminded Alex of a puppy.  Not at all because of his body, which was more intimidating than friendly like the small canine; he was incredibly muscular, a result to the amount of time he spent at the gym every week.  He was tall too, a head over Alex’s height, and Alex wasn’t short.  No, what reminded him of a puppy were his big, green eyes that were like emerald, so green that some people questioned if he wore contacts.  He had laugh lines engraved into his cheeks from all the smiles and laughter he’d shared with his family and friends over the year.  Even his hair, curly and a light brown, flopped playfully over his head like he just rolled out of bed.

“Where’s Kole?” he asked, cocking an eyebrow.  His eyes latched onto Kole’s friends, and his other eyebrow rose as well.  “Why are his friends here but not him?”

“Kole and Seth got into a fight, and Kole stormed off,” Alex lied smoothly.  At least part of it was true.  Kole and Seth had gotten into a fight after all.  He slid his gaze Seth’s way, praying that the boy had his expression in check.  If too much shock lit up, Nathaniel was going to know that his son was lying.  “You know how he is,” Alex continued, smiling slightly.  “He storms about before he punches something.  You’re lucky there’s not a hole in the wall, actually.”

“Seth and Kole got into a fight?” Alex watched as Nathaniel’s eyes flicked over to Seth.  “Care to explain what over?”

Alex feared that Seth would draw a blank, wouldn’t be able to explain—or make up, rather—what was going on.   But he was wrong.  “I thought he took my video game,” Seth said, sounding oddly convincing.  “I couldn’t find it anywhere and the last time I saw it Kole was ogling at it.  So I thought he took it while I wasn’t looking.”  Seth smiled apologetically.  “Terence just got done admitting that he was the one who took it, though.  He’s going to give it back.”

“Well, next time look into things before coming over and screaming at people,” Alex’s father said sternly, shaking his head.  “Now we don’t know when Kole will be back.”

Alex hid a smile.  Perfect, he thought.  Now all he had to do was get the message to Kole.  That he was supposed to have been infuriated with Seth for accusing him of theft and running out of the house right before their father got home.  If he didn’t, there wasn’t much to worry about.  Kole knew how to play along when he knew that Alex was making up excuses for him.  And Alex did, too.

Alex and Kole were closer Alex was with any of his other friends or family members.  Alex could tell Kole anything, and Kole could tell him anything.  That, Alex couldn’t help but think, was why Kole brought Faye here in the first place.  Because he trusted Alex with this secret, with his life.  Alex’s arms tightened around himself.  If anything ever happened to Kole because of this secret. . . .

Alex’s eyes narrowed.  Faye’s image flashed, her bright green eyes blazing with her hair.  Something inside Alex tightened.  Her eyes, along with the way she held herself together reminded him of. . . . of his father.

Nah, Alex told himself, shaking his head.  It couldn’t have meant anything.  Not at all.

The | Gate

“Faye,” Kole murmured.

Faye twisted around, shooting him an anxious look.  They’d reached the Gate, and she was getting ready to begin her climb, all but frozen to her spot already.  Her triumph over beating the Gate that morning had vanished, replaced by the icy fear crawling its way down her spine.  All she could see was Terra, her mangled body after falling—jumping, rather—off the cliff’s edge.  She was so afraid, so, so afraid, that she was going to end up just like her.

Except Faye wouldn’t do it on purpose.

“Yeah?” she squeaked out, her voice sounding thin to her own ears.

“Are you afraid of falling?”

It was a normal question, one that someone usually asked when someone was about to climb something of massive height.  But Faye could feel the weight of the question, and she knew that Kole meant something more than the simple question.  He’d noticed her fear at the window sill, Faye realized.  He knew that she’d been terrified of falling despite the small distance.

“W-what makes you ask that?” she asked anyway, her voice cracking.  She looked up at the Gate again, her eyes widening with new fear fluttering around inside her.  She gulped, looking away.

“You seem petrified,” Kole said softly, coming to stand beside her.  He reached up, touching her hand slightly.  The feeling of his hand on her sent warm shivers down her spine.  Why, Faye didn’t know.  All she knew was that it felt good.  “Not in the usual way that people are when climbing up or down something.  You looked like you were going to faint when we hopped out of my dad’s office’s window.”

Faye sighed deeply, unlatching herself from the Gate and setting her feet on the ground.  She felt so much safer on the ground, so much safer with no distance between she and the dirt under her feet.  “Okay,” she said, giving in.  “I’m terrified of falling.  Every time I have to jump I feel like I’m going to die—and that’s exactly what I picture.  Me with a broken neck.  And it scares me.”

Faye’s stomach hurt.  She’d never told anyone, not even Errika, about her fear of falling.  Everyone would pity her, look down on her.  They would all know the reason why she was terrified of falling, the reason why she couldn’t go on anything that lifted her off the ground.  They’d know it was because she was still haunted by Terra’s memory, unable to let go.

But, looking at Kole, Faye wasn’t afraid of that with him.  She felt like he wouldn’t pity her, wouldn’t look down on her.  He’d accept her fear and that was it.  Even if he did know about Terra, about how she couldn’t let her sister go.  Kole didn’t seem like the pitying type.  And that, Faye thought, she was incredibly thankful for.

Kole’s eyebrows drew together.  “You visualize yourself with a broken neck?”

Faye nodded, biting her lip and praying she hadn’t made a mistake.

Kole took a step forward, his hand touching her arm.  Faye tensed, but then relaxed.  His hand was so gentle, so warm.  It was nothing like she’d ever experienced before.  Was this because it was a boy, and not a girl touching her?  Did their hands cause different reactions?  “What happened to make you imagine that?” he whispered.  “Fears like that—they’re caused by something.”

“How do you know they’re caused by something?” Faye asked softly, her gaze averted to the ground.

“My dad’s a therapist,” Kole explained.  “He talks to people, tries to get them over their fears.  Not one person has had the fear for no reason—at least, not the ones where you almost faint and paralyze at the thought of being forced to deal with it.”  He paused.  “You don’t have to tell me if you don’t want to.  I understand.”

Faye was silent for a moment.  She stared down at the ground, her feet kicking into the dirt.  Her stomach ached with longing.  Facing this, telling Kole about her fear, brought so many memories back to her.  Terra lounging on the couch writing in her journals.  Terra playing hide-and-go-seek with Faye over and over again.  Terra cooking in the kitchen while their mother was out.

Terra, Terra, Terra.

“Terra,” Faye whispered before she could stop herself.  She looked up at Kole, her eyes glistening with tears.  “Terra.”

Kole stared at her, uncomprehending.  “What?”

“Terra,” Faye said again, her voice thick.  “She is—was—my sister.”  She sniffed, wiping a tear from her cheek before it could slide off her chin and onto her shirt.  “She was my best friend.  She was always there for me.”  She paused, sighing shakily.  “And then she was gone.”

Kole’s eyes widened.  “What happened to her?”

“She killed herself,” Faye said, her voice dead to her own ears.  She blinked back more tears, not believing herself.  Any other time she talked about Faye—when she was with Errika—she didn’t cry.  She usually cried when she was thinking about her, lost in thought.  When she was by herself.  But talking about it with Kole—Faye couldn’t stop herself from crying even if she wanted to.  “She threw herself off a cliff.”

Faye gasped as Kole reached out, wrapping his arms around her.  Faye hugged him back, crying softly into his shoulder.  He cooed comforting things into her ear, whispering that everything would be okay, that she would be okay.  Faye had grown so used to people telling her that, so used to people telling her that she’d be able to move on someday, that she’d learned to block the comforting words out.  But with Kole, she felt something.  Something tugging her in the pit of her stomach.  Like everything would be okay.  She would be okay.

“So, that’s why I’m afraid of falling,” Faye mumbled as they pulled apart, wiping her eyes.  “Every time I go to jump, I see her.  She’s mangled just like she was the day she fell—jumped—off the cliff.”

Kole’s eyebrows drew together again in confusion.  “You—you know what she looked like?”

Faye nodded, sniffling again.  “My mom told me to stay home, that Errika and her mom would be over soon.  But I knew something was wrong.  My mom was crying, Terra was missing, and there was a police woman there.  So after they left I got on my bike and followed them.”  She swallowed.  “There were a bunch of women surrounding a table with a white blanket on top of it.  I begged people to tell me where my sister was, where I could find Terra, but no one would tell me.  My mom told me that Terra was gone—that she wasn’t coming back.  But I wouldn’t listen.  I ripped the blanket off the table. . . .”

Kole’s eyes were sad as he said, “I’m so sorry.  I can’t imagine what it must have been like to go through that.”

Faye shrugged, wiping her eyes again.  “It was seven years ago.  Everyone’s seemed to have moved on.”

“But you haven’t.”

Faye met Kole’s gaze.  “No, I haven’t.”

Kole looked like he wanted to say something about Terra, about what happened, about Faye’s fear, but he didn’t.  He seemed to know that Faye didn’t want to talk about it.  He knew that she didn’t want pity or sympathy.  She just wanted him to leave the topic alone.  Instead, he cracked a smile and said, “So, when do we meet again?”

She smiled back, happy for the excuse not to talk about her sister anymore.  “Same day next week?”

Kole shook his head.  “Not soon enough.”

Faye rolled her eyes, grinning.  “Well, if you plan on coming onto my side, it has to be when my mom is working late and my sister is over at a friend’s house.  They can’t know that I’ve been hanging out at the Gate’s borders.”  She smiled.  “So we can either do this on Wednesday, or wait until same day next week.”

“Wednesday,” Kole said instantly.  “Definitely Wednesday.”

Faye smiled, unable to help herself.  There was something about Kole that made Faye smile.  She couldn’t explain it, but it was there.  “Are you going to be able to survive until then?”

“No.”

Faye and Kole laughed together, the sound chasing birds out of nearby trees.  Faye shook her head, bringing a hand through her hair as their laughter subsided.  “Well, then how do you suppose we solve that problem?”

“You,” Kole drawled, grinning, “should give me your phone number.”

Faye blinked.  She’d expected a joking answer, not an actual solution.  “Kole,” she said softly, suddenly turning serious.  “What if the Government can tell if boys and girls are sharing phone numbers?  And what if—?”

“If they were going to figure out anything it would have been that we were coming here in the first place,” Kole pointed out.  “I think it will be safe.”

Faye searched Kole’s face, trying to read his expression, and then sighed.  “Fine.”

They exchanged phone numbers, quickly reading the numbers off to each other.  Faye glanced around her, suddenly anxious that someone was listening in.  She glanced up and saw why.  There was a camera sitting right in front of them, looming over them like it could take them out with a single flick of the finger.  Faye gasped.  “Look up there,” she whispered.

Kole obliged, his eyes shooting up to were Faye was looking.  “I never noticed that,” he said softly.  He glanced at her and smiled.  “More proof that everything is fine.  The Government must have something going on with the cameras, otherwise they would have picked us up a long time ago.”

Faye shook her head, smiling despite herself.  She pocketed her phone, bid goodbye to Kole, and then made her way over the Gate, heading back the way she had come.

The | Gate

Faye closed her bedroom door behind her, blowing air through her teeth.  She suddenly felt tired, like she could collapse onto her bed and sleep for hours on end.  She closed her eyes, smiling softly.  Today, despite the conflict and the tears shed, had been a great day.  She’d gone on the other side, gone to where Kole lived.  She’d met other boys from the other side.  It was all so unreal, all so unlike anything Faye had ever done before.

Before she’d stumbled upon the Gate, she never would have been caught dead doing something so reckless.  She hated the thought of getting in trouble, let alone captured and thrown in jail by the Government.  But now?  Now Faye couldn’t wait until Wednesday when it would be Kole’s turn to come on her side.  She was suspicious of the Government’s intentions, and didn’t feel at all loyal to them.  She’d never really understood the Government, and always felt like she and the other women of Cesve were being oppressed, but now she felt like the Government was doing it for no reason.  Like they were doing it just because they could.

Faye’s eyes flicked to her bed longingly.  Her eyes trailed from the pillow, to her comforter, to . . .

She froze.  There was a cardboard box sitting on top of the bed, glaring back at her in the darkness.  Faye fumbled for her bedroom light switch, her stomach feeling like it was going to explode.  Her fingers trembled as it flicked the light switch up, letting light into the room.  The box, as normal as it seemed, continued to glare at her, like it could tear her apart with its eyes.

Faye crept forward, her legs like water.  She could barely stand, barely keep from collapsing on the floor.  The cardboard of the box was worn out, she noticed with a sickening realization as she reached the foot of her bed.  Like it had been around for many, many years.

Seven years, in fact.

Her hands shaking harder now, Faye lifted the tab open of the box.  Inside sat Terra’s old notebooks, her old school things.  Tears burning in her eyes, Faye brought her hand down on her Geometry notebook.  She could remember when Terra would have her Geometry book out in front of her, scrawling into the notebook as she completed her homework.  Faye would watch her, amazed by how quickly Terra could write.  She never tried to look over her sister’s shoulder, however.  Terra hated it whenever Faye did that, and had asked her to stop.  Privacy, Terra had told her, was something that everyone deserved.  Even if it was just math homework.

Faye slammed the box shut and threw it on the ground, a small cry escaping her lips.  She and Mary had put everything of Terra’s in the attic so that they’d never have to face them again.  They couldn’t bear to get rid of it—they were Terra’s.  But they couldn’t bear to look at it, either.

Faye threw herself on her bed and closed her eyes.  She didn’t know how the cardboard box got there, and she didn’t know why it was there.  All she knew was that the memories flooding back to the surface were too strong, and even though it was what Faye feared most, she could feel herself falling, falling back into the memories of Terra Caldwell.