Curious what the hell he was talking about, I walked slowly after him, careful not to put too much weight on my fragile ankle. Looking down at the molten scar on my wrist, I thought of the way the sentry saliva had burned into my flesh and I shivered. I was lucky to have minimal nerve damage. It could’ve been muchworse.
I heard Damien shouting excitedly in the workroom, and then Jeremy’s voice rose up in agreement. “Yes! Theyaresomehow scanning our DNA. I should’ve suspected this all along!” Jeremyshouted.
When I walked in, he was pacing behind the desk, holding an open bag of marshmallows and looking at the ceiling. He had a sweet tooth that Damien was always trying tocurb.
When I entered, Damien put a finger over his lips, indicating that I keep quiet, and then motioned for me to come to his side. I shuffled over, giving Mr. Hansen a polite nod as I passed. We all stood there in silence and watched Jeremy. He was mumbling to himself and moving his fingers in a weird way, as if calculatingsomething.
After a long time, Jeremy bared his teeth. “I know what todo.”
Beside me, Damien released the breath he’d been holding. I was completely clueless, asusual.
Jeremy started pacing again, and I could see tracks in the carpet of the office indicating he must’ve done this often. “There’s a trail. A trail we follow from the Dream Wars back to our bodies on Earth. They follow the trail and move the body. They scan our DNA within the Dream Wars in order to find our body back onEarth.”
I shivered. The fact that he even thought it possible for the ghouls to “scan” our sleeping bodies here on Earth made me want to vomit and then runscreaming.
Damien nodded next to me. “That’s a good theory,buddy.”
Jeremy’s head snapped up, and for the first time since I’d known the Strikers, he made eye contact with his brother. “It’s not a theory. I’m sure ofit.”
“Okay…,” Damien hedged. “How do you think we can fixit?”
Jeremy wiggled his fingers again, calculating. “Blood,” hedeclared.
Damien nodded. “Yes.”
My eyebrows rose. “Could you be more specific?” I asked our boy genius. Shit was getting confusing, and I needed to know exactly what he was talkingabout.
Jeremy stared at my shoes. “Hi,Kit.”
He’d just noticed I was there. Bless his heart. “Hey, Jer.” I stood and stepped closer. “Can you explain this so I can understandit?”
He nodded. “We’ll start in pairs of two. Once we’re all in the Dream Wars, we take a vial of our blood and put it into a tubing that will wind around our partner’s suit. They’ll do the same to us. The ghouls won’t be able to tell which DNA is which and will send the pairs back together. That way we won’t wake up alone. I don’t like being alone. I miss Josephine. Damien doesn’t make my hot chocolate right. Shedoes.”
Damien chuckled. “I miss her too. And that’s a great plan, buddy. I’ll get started on the suit design. Thankyou.”
Jeremynodded.
I raised my hand. “Hang on. How will it help to do the blood tubing thing after we’re in, if the ghouls are moving our bodies here on earth?” I think they both forgot that not everyone in this room was agenius.
“Because we suspect they scan our copied dream wars body as it’s waking up, and then match it to the body on earth, moving that one right before we wake up.” Damienanswered.
“Oh okay.” From now on I was just going to smile and nod and allow them to handlethis.
Damien stood there a moment, hands jammed in his pockets looking at Jeremy. “Hey, bud, there’s one more thing I needed to tellyou.”
Jeremy’s eyes flicked up to his brother’s face. “It’s bad. You’re wearing your bad face.” He started rocking on his heels, and Damien held out his hands in a placatinggesture.
“No, it’s not bad at all. It’s justdifferent,” hestated.
Jeremy was shaking his head. “I don’t like different. Different isbad.”
Damien sighed. “I know, bud, but… we need to move again. I’vegot—”
“No!” Jeremy shouted, fists balled at his sides. “No way. I just got my desk how I likeit.”
“I know, but we’re not safe here anymoreand—”
“You’re a liar! You told me after we left California that this would be our new home. I won’t remember how I like my desk, and everything will be messed up!” He pounded his fists onto the tops of histhighs.
