It was about nine when David and Mari pulled into the parking lot of Omar Bradley High School. Mari would have to wait until nine-thirty to start registering since she’d be a junior in the coming year. David, like the rest of the incoming seniors, got first pick, depending on their grades and classes. They got out of the car, the solar canopy shielding them from the sun. David stretched and looked over to Mari. She was wearing her pink overalls with the vampire cats on them, a big floppy hat completing her look.

“Overdressed?” David asked.

“You’re getting in right away, because you are going to be a senior, and we must defer to your godlike position,” Mari said. “I’m going to have to wait in line.”

“I’ll be certain to remember you when I’m enduring the air conditioning of the multipurpose building.”

Mari stuck her tongue out at David. He laughed. “It will only be thirty minutes. Don’t forget to go for journalism first, not that I think you’re going to have many problems.”

“Why not? Is it my beauty, my critical blog, my—”

“Yes!” David said. “All of the above.”

Mari smiled, and they started walking across the already hot pavement to where more and more students were gathering in front of the multipurpose room, divided by grade. Most of the seniors and juniors were by themselves, while most of the younger kids had their parents with them, most of them looking bored. David got in line, waiting until the doors opened. Then there was the rush to get inside. David didn’t bother to hurry. The school policy might make them stand in line, but with a few exceptions, everyone knew and had been approved for the classes they needed.

Well, going for an extra elective won’t be that hard. The school newspaper was worth a few credits, which David didn’t need, it would give them an excuse to be asking questions. Granted, they’d also have to attend some school functions, but…

Well, Mom did mention that she didn’t want me working all the time. Fortunately, David was already set with his various AP classes, so he went directly to the desk set up with Mr. Jacobs and Hank sitting behind it.

“You still have openings?” David asked.

“I thought you were going to take it easy this year,” Hank asked. He looked up at David, rubbing his hand across well…

It was an attempt at a beard. Yes, that it was. Hank had been trying for a beard since junior high school, and it didn’t look like he was going to have any more success this time.

“I was, but then I figured, hey, something nice to do during the year, and it also might help me when I get into college.”

“That’s a great decision, David!” Mr. Jacobs was positively vibrating with enthusiasm. A short, dumpy teacher, David had never seen Mr. Jacobs look anything less than excited to be at school, no matter the time.

Mari had wondered if he might be sucking the energy from his students, but David figured he just liked English and Literature. He also handled a weekly column for the Allendale Investigator, which was why he was the sponsor and instructor for the journalism course.

“What brings you to journalism!” Mr. Jacobs asked.

“Well, Mari and I were talking—”

“Of course you were,” Hank said.

David glared at him. “We were talking about how important the media is. You know, given everything that has happened? Then Mari thought about how it could help her if she wants to take her movie critiques to the next level.”

“Those are good points,” Mr. Jacobs said. “But this isn’t just a social club. There’s work to it.”

David nodded. “I understand, sir. In fact, that’s one reason I’m looking forward to it. Mom said that a lot of colleges require… you to be more self-directed.” Actually, he’d just searched out what to say from websites on how to get hired. But Mr. Jacobs didn’t need to know that.

“Well, I—” Suddenly, they stopped talking as a tremor rumbled through the building.

“I thought they had stopped the construction during…” Hank said, before another tremor, this one a little longer, cut him off. A few parents and kids had headed under the tables, and David looked around. But the tremor faded away, the swaying lights the only sign it had been there.

“Attention, everyone!” Principal Wilson shouted. “Please move to the parking lot. This was just a little tremor, but in case it was a precursor, we’ll be delaying registration until we hear from the district office.” There was a chorus of groans.

“Don’t worry, David, I’ll hold you and Mari’s place,” Mr. Jacobs said with a grin.

“She’s going to want a column about how classic films are always better, isn’t she,” Hank asked. “And I’m going to have to listen to her whine when I tell her that no, the review of the Hard R horror movie can’t go up.”

“Hey, nobody forced you to become editor,” David said.

“Just my hopes for a journalism scholarship,” Hank said. He punched David in the shoulder. “But I’m going to make you keep her under control.”

“Now that’s asking for the impossible,” David said. “I—” he looked down. There was only one phone number that used that ringtone. “It’s work,” he said.

“On the weekend. Man, they’re slave drivers.”

“Yeah, but they pay good, so I gotta take this.”

Hank nodded and moved away as they entered the parking lot. David heard Principal Wilson talking about just moving all the stuff into the quad, rather than waiting. He shook his head and answered.

“David, did you feel that tremor?” Wilma asked.

“Yeah. It’s California. We get them all the time.”

“No, it’s not. There’s a breach. A big breach, and it’s under the school.”

David stopped, then looked over to where Mari was. She had her phone up to her ear and was looking around, eyes wide. David caught her eye and gestured as they moved away from the crowd.”

“Underground?” David shook his head. “I thought the only one that ever went off underground was the one that the test triggered.”

“Did you also remember the part where I said we don’t know a lot about this?” Wilma sounded worried. “Look, right now the breach is big, but we can’t get a read on the aether. Most of our sensors aren’t exactly designed to look through solid rock, but looks like the breach is about 60 feet under the school foundation.”

David looked around. “Nobody’s close enough to hear you, I’m putting it on speaker.”

Moments later, Mari put her phone away, and they heard Antonio speaking in the background. “Antonio said it’s getting bigger.”

“It is,” Antonio replied. “If this was on the surface, we’d probably be talking at least an aetheric level of six or seven. Right now, it looks like the surface levels are hitting two or three.”

“We’ve got got to check this out,” Mari said. “We can—”

“What did we say about dealing with this? Beyond the fact that it’s underground?” Wilma asked. “Look, the shocks are going to keep the place empty. They’ll evacuate and we can observe or sneak in—but us, not you—”

David cut her off. “They’re not evacuating.”

“What?” Wilma said. “They just had a tremor, an earthquake.

“Yeah. But…” Mari glanced over at David. “You’re not from California, are you?”

“No.” Antonio and Wilma said in unison.

“We’ve got little tremors like this all the time,” Mari said.

“And they’ll be moving into the quad, at least that’s what Principle Wilson said.” David shook his head. “Good if you think it’s an earthquake.”

“But if its a breach…”

“Not so good. Fuck.” That was Antonio. “We’re on the way, and we have an idea, but…”

“It just went up again,” Wilma said. “Look, it may be down there, but I don’t know if it’s going to stay down there, and again, we don’t have a lot of information on how a breach into solid material would impact the aether coming out of it…”

“I’ve got an idea,” Mari said. “We go in and pull the fire alarm.”

“What?” Wilma asked.

“Yeah, that works,” David said. “They’ll evacuate the place, because they won’t know if maybe the tremor knocked something over in the lab. The firefighters will come out and by that time they’ll probably just postpone registration.”

“And if you get caught?” Antonio asked. “Remember, we may be secret, but we don’t exactly have the ability to make a criminal charge go away.”

“Right now there are a couple of hundred people, including all of our friends, standing on top of a breach,” Mari said. “Unless you can tell me there’s no danger…”

There was silence. Then. “Fuck…” Wilma said. “Right. We’re on our way. What if we call in a bomb threat?”

“Can’t,” Antonio said. “That might get the FBI. Boss won’t be happy.”

“Right.” David could hear Wilma’s deep breath. “Fine. Don’t get caught.”

Yeah. That’s the plan. Hopefully, this will go better than our plan in the junkyard. But then David and Mari were heading back to the school, where the crowd of blissfully unaware students, teachers, and parents were still milling around.

Mari kept close to David as they walked around the corner. Parents were talking to each other, kids were jabbering, and the teachers were either on the phone or trying to figure out what to do.

And for a few moments, nobody was watching as Mari and David got out of sight. The good news was the fact that the back doors to the multipurpose room were open—because they had to be when the school was open. Normally, you’d have teachers around, but they were all out front.

“Set one off in here?” Mari asked.

“Can’t,” David said. “They’d just run in and see that nothing was on fire. It has to be deeper into the school.” He gestured at the doors at the rear of the multipurpose room. They were open so that the teachers could get to and from their offices but…

“What if the cameras are on?” Mari asked.

“Fu…” David paused. “Dammit. No way they wouldn’t look at them.”

“Hang on,” Mari said. She ran over to one of the closets. “Please be unlocked…” Mari pulled it up and then grinned. “Here we are!” She turned and held up the ragged clothing. “So, what item would you like from the lost and found?”

“Mari that’s been there all summ—fine,” David took what looked like a big winter jacket that had been run over by a truck, and put it over his head, flipping the hood up. “Ah, this smell…”

“It’s not so bad,” Mari said. “I mean, mine—” then she inhaled. “Oh God! Did this person ever bathe?”

“Just don’t breathe through your nose,” David said. “But they won’t be able to see much of us. Hopefully, not enough to tell who we were.”

“Right, let’s go,” Mari said, her voice strangled. God, this smells awful. No wonder nobody ever came back to get their stuff from the lost and found.

But they moved quickly. Even if the cameras couldn’t see them, Mari had no idea if someone might just not call the teachers. The hallway was pristine, ready for the new year, but not a person was around.

It’s sort of creepy. Mari shook her head. That didn’t matter. They were getting to where they needed to go. The science classroom with all the lab equipment. More importantly, it was far enough in so that she bet nobody would come—they’d just call the fire department and let them deal with it.

Just so long as you decide to send everyone home… Mari thought. She smashed the glass and pulled the bar down. The sound of the fire alarm filled the hallway.

“Okay!” Mari said. “Just… committed a crime. Yeah, that’s a first for me.”

“Let’s go. Nobody is in a position to see us if we head out the rear,” David said. “If we get away with it, it’s like we never did commit a crime.”

“That’s not what the police say.”

“But, the police only say it if they catch you!” David grinned. “And everyone will be going to the parking lot now, not the quad, not the front of the school.”

“Right… Let me call Wilma,” Mari replied. She pulled the phone out and unlocked it…

And stared at the flickering screen. “Oh. Shit.”

“What is…” David stared at her phone, pulled out his. “Mine’s out.”

“Level… four?” Mari asked, looking around. She could see the violet tinge starting to suffuse the room.

“Yeah… You know what, maybe we should just face the music and go out the nearest exit,” David said.

“Yeah… That’s…”

And then the floor shuddered.

That was bigger than the last one, Mari thought. The lights flickered in the hallway. “Let’s—” Mari cut off with a shriek as another shake just rolled through the hallway. Doors flew open, and Mari heard the sound of shattering glass back the way they’d come.

If they’d gone into the quad, they’d be in the middle of this right now… Mari stumbled, and David had her. He pulled the old coat off of her.

“Forget disguise, let’s get the hell out of here!”

“Right,” Mari said, but the continual shocks were sending them from one side to the other of the hallway, and now there were big cracks opening up on the floor. And from those cracks, Mari could see the violet glow of the aether.

Is this the other side? No, Wilma said they weren’t bad, so it’s just normal, but they never said any—Mari’s foot caught on an upthrust part of the floor. She went flying. Mari barely had time to block her fall with her arms, the shock sending pain running up and down her arms.

“Mari!” David was pulling her up. “We need to go!”

“I know,” Mari said. There’s a second story right over us, if the building collapses… They’d snuck in. Nobody knew they were here…

“C’mon!” David was pulling her to the short corridor that opened onto the quad where everyone ate lunch. It wouldn’t be outside the school, but they’d at least not have to worry about a building falling on them.

“Good news!” Mari said.

“What?” David asked. Mari could see the whites of his eyes.

“I don’t think anyone is going to look at the camera footage!”

David’s laugh was strangled. “Great. Let’s survive—” Then they burst into the quad, and Mari and David both stopped and stared.

There was a shimmering globe of violet energy rising up from the ground in the quad. The earth was just falling into it, seeming to vanish into the light.

“Back—get—” Mari screamed as the earth gave way, and they slid down into the depression. Don’t touch the globe, it’ll vaporize us, don’t touch the globe—

“Mari!” David shouted, panic in his voice. Mari looked up to see… things emerging from it.

AEs. But they’re not realized. They don’t look like any kind of spooky tale or legend…

One darted down at her, looking like a glowing jellyfish. Mari screamed, and without thinking, grabbed a broken chunk of material and threw it at the creature. The earth and stone struck it, and the creature darted away with a shriek that seemed to run right through her body. Then David threw a stone at another creature, and it took off, but the globe was growing, and the earth and stone were flowing into it like water.

How is this happening!? Breaches were supposed to be tiny things, not big enough to put stuff through. But right now, Mari needed to get away. She and David desperately tried to climb up the slope, loose dirt and debris cascading down on them. Mari was sobbing in terror, because even if that thing didn’t kill them, what if they got buried alive?

Then David howled in pain, and Mari looked down to see a tentacle, made of aether, wrapping around his leg. Without thinking, she reached down and tried to pull it off.

And then she shrieked, her entire body going rigid with pain. It wasn’t physical pain, it felt like… She looked up into the globe, and she could see… There was something beyond it, an endless vista, full of soap bubbles and around them were swarming… things.

Mari tried to pull David away, but she couldn’t, and his back was arched in agony—and then the tentacle just seemed to come loose, a flash causing her to look up as the severed tentacle just faded out, an odd silhouette from inside the globe.

Mari didn’t care. She had a chance. She grabbed David and then moved, terror lending her strength. She pulled the larger teen after her, and then David was coming back to awareness, shaking his head and joining her.

“There!” David shouted. “The rods!”

Mari looked up and saw some of the steel rods that were used to reinforce concrete sticking out from the remains of the floor. She lunged, David’s hands on her hips as he pushed her up and then got one of the rods. Next, David grabbed another one and was pulling himself up and onto the ground around the pit, before he reached down and just hauled Mari up.

“Oh, thank God, you’re okay!” David said. They both flopped onto the ground, scooting away from the breach. Mari figured they should run, but she didn’t know if they could.

“I—yeah,” Mari said. She wished she had a quip, but she could barely see and her nose was full of snot. “But, wh-what do we do?” Mari asked. The breach, if that’s what it was didn’t seem to be growing anymore, but anyone who came in could see it and the school was falling apart…

“You go,” a new voice said. Mari and David looked up to see Wilma and Antonio.

“Got here fast,” David said. Mari looked over at him and saw how he was trying to smile, even if he looked about as bad as Mari.

O12 was standing behind Wilma, the robot carrying some big boxes.

Mari was too freaked by what had happened to be worried about O12. But the robot flowed down into the crater, dropping off a box every few feet.

“Can you walk?” Antonio asked.

“S-sure!” Mari said. She wiped her eyes angrily. This was not how someone who said they could handle breaches should look.

“Good, you and David, go down the hallway, out of the building. Hurry.”

David had managed to get to his feet and came over to Mari, and they took off. The shocks were lighter now, almost like the breach had stopped growing, but Mari just wanted out and away. The door was open, but none of the lights were working, and there was nobody on the sports field. Mari saw a van parked just beyond the fence behind the baseball diamond.

They must have really moved fast… Mari thought.

Then Antonio, Wilma, and O12 were also out of the building, all of them running. They were actually moving faster than either David or Mari. Wilma took Mari by the arm, and Antonio did the same with David.

“Get ready!” Wilma shouted.

Ready, ready for wh— and then there was an incredible flash of light. Mari couldn’t actually figure what color it was, but the next thing that came was a roaring sound louder than anything she’d ever heard before. Mari went tumbling down the ground and then rolled over, looking back at the school.

They couldn’t see the quad, but they could see above it, and there was a violet flare rising, slowly dissipating into the air. There were screams from out front, screams Mari’s abused ears could barely hear.

“What… What was that?” David asked faintly.

“One of our ‘use only in case of oh-shit gadgets.’ This was an oh-shit moment.” Antonio stared at the school, his face hard. “It uses the power of the breach itself to supercharge a sealer…”

“That that’s the kind of power that blows the sealer up.” Wilma held a bulky sensor up and nodded. “But, the levels are going down.”

“Wha—what was that!” Mari said.

“Honestly?” Wilma shook her head. “I have no idea. We’ve got to check you for aether. Are you good to drive?” She looked at David.

“I…” David nodded.

“Are you certain?” Antonio asked. “Wilma, security is one thing—”

“Yeah. I’ll go with you. I’m your boss, and I can say I was just in the area, and you need someone to drive you home.” Wilma frowned. “Antonio will have to clean up here, but we need to talk about this because this isn’t normal. This isn’t normal at all.”

“Do you think the other side…” Mari looked around.

“No. Not their style. Enough talking. Fire department is coming.” With that, Wilma turned and started moving towards the front of the school. Everyone was staring and jabbering at the explosion, cell phones out and recording. Hopefully nobody would notice them.

We could have died… Mari thought. Sure they could have died a few other times, but that was different. She remembered the way the ground was giving way under her like it didn’t even care who she was…

Mari swallowed against a rush of bile. She closed her eyes and felt David put his hand over hers.

“Okay?” David asked.

David didn’t look okay. Mari bet she looked about the same. “S-sure,” Mari lied.

“Good,” David said. The way he looked at her said something else. You’re not okay.

Maybe not, but for now, she was alive.

And that was good enough.