Page 124 of Sweet Nightmare

I help a few more people—a leopard who is alive but too weak to crawl up the beach and a witch who was definitely not okay until I did CPR on her as well—before another major wave slams into the sand.

I run back up the beach to avoid getting caught in the undertow, but it grabs me anyway and starts pulling me backward. I fight my way through it, escaping just in time to see present Izzy staggering up the beach, her arm wrapped around an unconscious Remy’s chest. Their past and future selves hover nearby.

I run over to them and start to help her with Remy. But she just gives me an oh-please look and drags him several more feet before dumping him on the sand. “Is he breathing? Does he need CPR?” I ask.

“He’s fine,” she answers with a roll of her eyes. “He kept fighting me, so I knocked him out.”

I don’t know what to say to that, so I just nod. Then, even though I know it’s a ridiculous question, I can’t help asking, “Did you see…”

“Jude?” She shakes her head. “Honestly, I couldn’t see shit out there. It’s a damn miracle Remy found me. And by found me, I mean glommed on to me and thought he could help. As if.” She rolls her eyes.

“If you’re okay, I’m going to go see if anyone needs help,” I tell her.

Izzy waves a hand as she drops down onto the ground next to Remy’s still-unconscious form. “Go. I’ve got this.”

I spend the next I don’t know how long staggering up and down the beach, helping people and trying to find Luis. But I have absolutely no luck. I remember Jude saying my mom somehow made it to the other side of the portal in Huntsville, despite being the last one into it, and I keep praying that that’s where my best friend is as well.

He may not be any safer there than he has been for the last three years here at Calder Academy, but at least he’ll be alive. And right now, that’s all I can ask for.

It’s all any of us can ask for.

Please let Luis be okay.

Please let Jude be okay.

Please let Mozart be okay.

I start my mantra again, just as I trip over someone in the sand. I crouch down to see if I can help and realize it’s Mr. Abdullah, one of the witches who built the portal. One look and I know he’s dead. As is Ms. Picadilly.

A sob catches in my throat, but I swallow it down. I don’t even know them very well, so it makes no sense for me to be so upset. Except they were only trying to help. They stayed on that portal as long as they could and—

This is awful. This is really, really awful.

I run a hand over my eyes to wipe away the tears and the rain just as another wave pounds into the shore, bringing with it a ton more people.

I run to the first person I see. Because of the rain, I can’t see much more than a body at first. But as I get closer, things become a little clearer, and I can’t help gasping when I see her distinctive, bright-yellow hair.

It’s Ms. Aguilar, and she doesn’t look good. Neither does her future self, who is currently sitting on the sand hugging her knees to her chest—and getting fainter with each second that passes.

She’s all banged up, her formerly hot-pink sweatsuit ripped and soaked with blood from a wound I can’t currently see.

I call her name, but she’s totally nonresponsive—whether because she’s passed out or because she’s dead, I can’t tell. All I know is that I’m not going to leave her like this.

I grab her shoulder and roll her over, then almost wish I hadn’t. Because her skin is gray, her normal sparkle long gone. On the plus side, she’s still breathing, albeit shallowly. On the not-so-plus side, I can now see where the blood is coming from—a nasty-looking wound on the side of her head.

Panic fills me—I can do rudimentary CPR on a bunch of healthy people who stopped breathing due to drowning. But a head wound is way beyond anything I know about.

Still, I have to try. A quick glance out at the ocean tells me another wave is building—and this one looks even bigger than the last. Which means the first thing I need to do is get both of us out of the strike zone. With the last of my energy, I get her at least halfway up the beach. Then I drop to my knees beside her and start gently shaking her as I call her name. She doesn’t answer—big surprise—but I don’t know what else to do at this point.

I look around for help, but before I can find anyone, a loud sizzling sound fills the air around us. I glance up, expecting lightning to slam down on the beach any second. But instead, a very loud popping noise fills the air followed by…nothing.

Well, nothing except the continued roar of the storm.

I look around, trying to figure out what the hell just happened. And that’s when I notice that the lights on the top of the huge wall that blocks the beach from the rest of the school—the lights that I know were on just a little while ago because I used them to guide myself toward shore—are no longer lit. And, as I look more closely, I realize that several of the huge lightbulbs look like they’ve literally been blown apart.

I tell myself it’s not a big deal, that it’s just the lightning or something. But it’s hard to believe that when I look down and realize that the hands holding on to Ms. Aguilar’s shoulder—my hands—are suddenly paws.

CHAPTER SIXTY-FIVE

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