Paradox Read Online Free Page B

. We’re going the wrong way.”
    Bryce led him into an alley. He looked
around the corner, searching. After a few moments, he turned back to Zac.
    “Okay,” he said, almost out of breath.
“You still have that thing that looks like a flashlight on you?”
    Zac dug into his pockets. “You mean this?”
he said, holding it up. “How’d you know about it?”
    Bryce breathed a sigh of relief as he
rolled his eyes. “Thank God. It’s still lit up. Okay, if you want to see your
dad, you have to do exactly what I say.” He adjusted the thin black tube in
Zac’s palm and closed his hand around it, making a fist. “I’m going to count to
three. When I do, hold on to that as tightly as you can and then press your
thumb onto the top, very firmly. Think you can do that?”
    “Yeah,” Zac said, nodding. “But what does—”
    “No time for questions,” Bryce said. He
took a deep breath and held out a similar object to the one Zac held in his
hand. He raised his thumb above it, too. “I hope to God this works,” he said,
looking Zac in the eyes.
    “Hope what works?”
    “One… two… three !”
    Zac pressed his thumb down, and suddenly
the world around him swirled into a mass of colors, blurring everything in
sight. His body trembled and his arms felt a jolt surge through them, causing
his whole body to tingle like when his foot fell asleep. A high-pitched
whirring noise pierced his ears, and everything around him turned black.
    With a violent lurch, he felt his feet
strike something hard and his ears popped. His head pounded, and his eyes were
filled with a bright light. He squinted to shut it out.
    He felt dizzy, and his legs felt like
spaghetti. He stumbled backward, losing his balance and fell onto his back. His
breathing was labored, and he could hear his heart thumping as it pumped blood
through his body. His hearing came back, and he strained to open his eyes,
taking in the bright blue light. The air seemed different. He heard a voice
behind him.
    “Thank you, Bryce,” the voice said. Zac
moved his jaw some more, and his ears popped again. He could hear more clearly.
“I have no idea how all this happened, but I am forever in your debt.”
    “Not a problem, Dr. Ryger. He’s back. But
now that he knows, I guess the question now is whether or not we should train
him.”

Five
    Zac turned to see his dad talking to
Bryce, bathed in the shimmering blue light. He looked down to see that he was
sitting on the pentagon that he had seen just a few hours earlier. Was
everything that had just happened all in his mind? Had he simply passed out?
    His dad knelt in front of him, shining a
flashlight in his eyes. “Okay, this is going to sound stupid, but can you tell
me what your name is?”
    Zac squinted as he looked into the light. “Yeah, Dad. It’s Zac. Why are you asking me— ”
    “And what is your birth date?” he asked,
moving the light back and forth, watching Zac’s eyes follow it.
    “September 22. Why are you asking me that?”
    His dad sighed. “Sorry, Zac, but you hit
your head pretty hard and were passed out when we found you. Okay, one more
question. What year is it now?”
    Zac pushed the flashlight away and stood
up. “This is stupid. I’m not going to answer obvious questions.” He stepped out
of the pentagon and looked around, surveying the concrete room. “This is all
under your building. How did you know I was down here?”
    Dr. Ryger sighed. “I saw that the bookcase
was moved, so I looked behind it. I had a feeling you followed the hallway
down.”
    “You didn’t know this was all down here?”
Zac asked.
    His dad was silent, and he exchanged
glances with Bryce. “No.”
    Bryce spoke. “Your dad was worried when he
couldn’t find you,” he said. “We searched for you, and we finally found you
down here. You must have slipped. You were passed out in the middle of the
floor, and I was able to help you regain consciousness.”
    “I don’t understand,” Zac said. “My