Darkness by Christopher Krovatin

Author:Christopher Krovatin [Krovatin, Christopher]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Scholastic Inc.
Published: 2021-09-02T00:00:00+00:00

Alec was halfway up the stairs when he heard Mom calling him. He slowed at the tone of her voice—high and distressed, definitely the way she sounded when she’d recently been crying. Part of him just wanted to pretend he didn’t hear her, head up to his room, avoid whatever new drama was coming his way … but he couldn’t just walk away from his mother. Not when she sounded like that.

He found her at the kitchen table, propping up her head with her hand, her phone sitting in front of her. When she saw him, she gestured to one of the other chairs. After he sat, she stayed quiet for too long; the tension in the room was killing him, and he wondered how bad things could have possible gotten.

“Did you and Hannah have a good study session last night?” she asked. “Her parents are so nice for having you over so often. Let her know that she’s always welcome to crash here.”

“Yeah, it was fine,” he said. I was almost killed by a giant cricket monster, he wanted to say, but figured that wouldn’t be productive. Besides, there was obviously something else she wanted to talk about. “Everything okay, Mom?”

“It looks like things are taking a turn for the worse,” she said. “People are seeing green lights moving around the countryside, and a lot of folks are panicking.” She cleared her throat. “Most importantly, the mayor is ending incoming ferry service. Officially. The island will be isolated until these phenomena have stopped. She’s encouraging locals to evacuate if they have family on the mainland.”

“Whoa,” said Alec. It was extreme, he knew, but it also made sense. How many groups of tourists was this island expected to terrify before somebody made a decision?

“Yeah.” She nodded. “And I’ve thought about it, and I’d like you to be on the last one out tomorrow.”

“Sorry, what?” said Alec. He was stunned. That couldn’t have been right. “You want me to leave?”

“I’m just not sure this place is safe for you right now, honey,” said Mom. “With everything that’s going on. I figured I would stay here, to deal with the house and other things. But with school canceled, and the blackouts still happening …”

Alec blinked, numb with disbelief. How was this happening now? It felt like she was yanking a rug out from under him. He’d spent all day elbow-deep in mystery and fringe science and giant bug monsters … and now he was supposed to just return to the mainland, where everything was normal?

“Where would I be going?” he asked. “Who’d I be living with?”

Mom took a long, deep breath, and exhaled sharply. “So, I just got off the phone with your father, and he was saying he could take you for at least a couple of weeks.”

“You’re sending me to stay with Dad? After what happened?”

Mom bit her lower lip. Her eyes glimmered with tears. “I know how much you miss him, honey. And that’s okay. It’s not something you have to hide from me—”

“What if I don’t want to go back?” he asked.

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