THE PERFECT TEN (Boxed Set)

wrist as if forgetting her wariness about touching. She snatched my hand off the keyboard and shoved it palm out toward the monitor, speaking past me at Tony the whole time as if he was the clueless one. “Everything has energy. You just have to–”
    My arm sucked into the screen.
    Gabby shrieked and gripped my wrist tighter, trying to hold me back.
    I tried to back away, too, but whatever had latched onto me wasn’t turning loose.
    The raven slammed against the glass window, beating its wings to get into the room. Tony and Gabby were both shouting so loudly, I doubted anyone heard the thing but me.
    Tony repeated, “What the f–”  He clamped his hand on my left arm, yanking to pull me back.
    He was strong. I hoped he’d win the tug o’ war, but my hand kept sinking further into the monitor...then my arm started shimmering.
    In the next instant, I was sucked all the way inside, my body twisting into a kaleidoscope of colors. Heat ripped through me from my arms to my chest then through my legs.
    Gabby blurred into a colorful stretched shape beside me. Tony’s grip tightened on my arm as we all spun into a bright orange-red vortex. 
     

CHAPTER 6
     
    I slammed up and down, over and around, freefalling in a vacuum of cold air. Someone screamed. Gabby? Her foot kicked my arm, grazing me then gone.  
    Another shout. Tony?
    No time to think.
    Slam.
    For the third time in less than a day, I crashed into a hard, unyielding surface. This time a knee jammed my spine. An elbow gouged my stomach.
    “Get your effin’ foot off my ribs,” Tony growled from somewhere nearby.
    Everything was black. I couldn’t see.
    I squeezed my eyes tight then cracked them open. I sucked air. My eyes adjusted slowly. Feeble light and barely visible shapes came into focus.
    Another room. This one metal. Round walls. Blinking red-orange light.
    Where was I now?
    Not any more familiar to me than the desert or school had been. I pulled into a sitting position. No bones broken but bruises on top of bruises. How much could a body take? When my vision adjusted further, I realized I could make out details. An eerie red glow washed across everything. I licked my lips, mouth dry as a dust bowl.
    Gabby groaned.
    “You two okay?” My words echoed in the cramped space.
    I could see enough to notice Gabby cocked her head one way then the other, sending ribbons and hair flying. “I’ll live.” 
    Twisting, I found Tony, head in his hands. He drew his knees to his chest then lifted his head and grasped the metal disk hanging from a chain around his neck. A talisman?
    I nudged him with my elbow. “You alive?”
    His head popped up. “Yeah, I’m alive.” In a quiet voice, he added, “What the freak just happened?” 
    “Don’t know.” My standard answer for the day and doing nothing to ease my sense of dread. I rolled to my feet, biting back a groan. Complaining wouldn’t help anything.
    I fisted my hands to stop the trembling. Were these things really happening or was this some bizarre dream? Nightmare more like it. Tony and Gabby were real though, so this must be. At least I wasn’t the only one confused this time.
    But that didn’t offer any comfort.
    This space reminded me of a large, round version of the elevator but three times the size. Wouldn’t this thing have a door or hatch? Maybe a reverse button to take us back? One I’d jab in a heartbeat.
    I stumbled toward an arch of smooth metal with purple light seeping around the edges. Possible entry and exit point? With my hands splayed open, I connected with the cool surface and felt for a button, control, anything, but stopped when the wall hummed under my fingers.
    Buzzing metal, a vibration. I wish that was a good sign, but the noise and vibration climbed up my spine like claws.
    Gabby asked, “Smell that?”
    I hadn’t until now and caught a whiff of a scent that immediately put me on alert for the sentient beast.
    But this was a different smell. Sulfuric.
    Even so, some deep, primitive sense of survival warned me that we had to get out of here. Now.
    “Rayen?” Gabby’s earlier happy voice was gone, replaced by a low guarded tone that transmitted equal concern. “I can’t explain it, but I feel this is a bad place to be.” 
    “Agreed. But how do we get out of this thing?” I ran my hands over the arched door again, searching for a release mechanism.
    Tony called over, “Wait a minute. Why try to get out of here when we might need to be here to go