Lucas Ryan Versus: The Hive (The Lucas Ryan Versus Series) by Madison Daniel

I waited a moment for my inner voice to speak up. It didn’t.
    “I guess, we wait.”
    “What? Why?” Olivia was upset.
    “There’s no way out at the moment, unless we break a window. We should sit tight and try to stay calm. We wait for someone to come get me and when they do, we get her out of here,” I said, pointing at Sophia. “Somewhere safe.”
    “I’ll take her home,” Olivia added. Sophia’s face filled with a frown. She hated being talked down to. I tried to calm her feisty spirit.
    “Sophia, there’s something...umm...crazy going on here. You have nothing to do with any of it. I don’t want you to get hurt.” I’m not sure why I put it that way, it just came out. Deep down, I knew we were in danger. Sophia was having a harder time grasping the severity of the situation.
    “No way!” she snapped, much too loud. A loud pounding came from outside the classroom door.
    One of the guards barked, “Who else is in there? Who are you talking to?”
    I ran to the door. “I was just...uhh...talking on my phone...”
    “That’s a lie! The phone lines are down.” The guard began to unlock the door. My fingers wrapped around the doorknob and I tried to stop him. The door swung open quickly, nearly knocking me to the floor. Both guards had large black, extendable batons. Like the kind of weapon a police officer would use. For a split-second I wondered why they didn’t have their guns. The guard stepped forward and I steadied myself. Even though I was extremely scared, I stood my ground, shielding the girls.
    “They have nothing to do with this,” I warned. He looked past me at the girls and his face fell heavy with worry. He turned and nodded to the other guard, just beyond the doorway.
    “General, we have an issue,” he said, into his shoulder holstered walkie talkie.
    “Is the boy cooperating yet?” General Love sounded unfazed. The guard turned to me with a sigh.
    “I’ll do whatever you want. Just let the youngest girl go home. She’s here by mistake,” I promised, and waited for a response.
    “We’re all here by mistake!” he grumbled, and slammed the door shut again, leaving us three alone, in the dark. The soldier’s words crawled down my spine like a spider.
    “Olivia, I promise I’ll get her out of this,” I said, hoping to get Olivia’s approval. “We get her out of this craziness and then we find out what’s going on.”
    Olivia watched me hard. She seemed to be struggling with the idea that I would put her sister before myself. It hurt that she thought so little of me.
    “I agree. We get her away from here and worry about the rest later,” Olivia said, calmly. Sophia stomped off toward the corner of the room in a pout. She was tired of our overprotective ideas. A horrible thought caught Olivia in its grasp as she watched her little sister cross the dark room. She slowly stepped up to me and leaned in close enough to whisper in my ear.
    “What if they won’t let her go?” Her breath was sweet and warm on my cheek. I melted accordingly and slid in, even closer.
    “They will, if they want me to open my locker,” I whispered, in a shy authority. She let my cheek graze hers for a moment, before pulling away from me. Her eyes locked onto me.
     
    ~ Pick me up. Tell her. Save Sophia. ~
     
     
    ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
     
    TEN MINUTES LATER...
     
    “Just ask...” Olivia said, out of the blue.
    “What?” I fumbled. I had been caught.
    “I can tell when someone has something they want to ask me about, but are afraid too. Call it a sixth sense kind of thing,” Olivia smiled.
    “Well, that’s kind of spooky...” I mumbled. How did she known I was dying to ask her something?
    Sophia laughed from the other side of the room, “Yup, she’s not the most social of butterflies!”
    Olivia ignored her little sister’s joke and asked again. “So, what is it?”
    I took a quick moment to gather as much courage as I could. She softly tapped her fingers on the worn desktop she was sitting