THE PERFECT TEN (Boxed Set)

whole world has spiraled out of control and you can’t stop it.
    For the second time today, I knew how that felt, otherwise I might not be taking this so calmly myself.
    Calm on the outside anyhow. If they could look deep inside me they’d see chaos swirling into a tornado, threatening to destroy me.
    Tony gave his phone a longing look then dropped his arm and started circling where the pod had been, his movements getting more and more frantic. He ground out an oath and yelled, “Okay, fine. No 9-1-1 here. No 4-1-1. No cell tower. So what now? And what is this place?”  He spat the last words at me.
    As if I’ve got all the answers ? I bit back my temper, determined to leave my senses tuned to our surroundings. “How should I know? I don’t know what happened back in that equipment room or where we are or how we’ll get out of here, but I do know our best chance at surviving is if we work together.”
    Tony’s face said he supported no one’s plan but his own. Especially someone who didn’t know the Princess or Sigourney people. I saw his reaction as simple denial about what was going on and I even understood it to some degree.
    I didn’t expect a complete change in Tony’s personality, but we couldn’t survive by fighting each other.
    Strength in numbers.
    Even if we were only three.
    My instincts told me that, and I knew, somehow, that I should trust them, especially in this place.
    Gabby stood to one side staring at the jungle then swung around looking from me to Tony. “She’s right, you know. We have no idea what kind of place we’ve just been dumped into. Unless you can teleport us with that smart phone we have no way out until we figure out how we got here. Can you counter that logic or is bitching and moaning your only plan?” 
    I took a long look at her. Was this the same girl we’d traveled here with? The one who hadn’t seemed to take much of anything seriously back at the school? She’d laid out Tony’s options in simple terms and managed to point out his abrasive attitude without sounding as if she’d attacked him.
    After a moment of digesting that, Tony held up a hand. “Enough. I got your point. I’m just sayin’ logic dictates that the way back is the way we came. Until that pod returns, I agree. We find out as much as we can about this place and if there’s anyone else here. ‘Specially if they can help us.”
    I’d been wondering the same thing. Were we alone, or not? If we found others here, would they be friend or enemy? And I had no idea why, but I was sure I’d encountered enemies before — enemies other than the beast-bird. Bad ones. 
    Tony added, “While I’m stuck here, I want no more touchin’ any electronics without clearin’ it through me first since neither one of you babes has a clue what you’re playin’ with. Agreed?”
    Hard not to agree with that since computers seemed to be his passion. I didn’t care for his “babes” comment, but nodded anyhow.
    Gabby grinned. “As long as you agree to be open to using our other senses here.”
    “Sure, sweet cakes. Whatever you say.”  Tony shook his head and made a snorting sound that indicated how little he thought of her suggestion.
    She added, “If you want to return the way we came here, keep in mind that the computer screen reacted to Rayen’s touch and sucked in her hand.”
    Let’s not keep pointing that out, okay?
    Tony said nothing, but distrust stirred in his gaze.
    I played the whole event back through my mind and had no more answers about what had happened than they did. I’d felt a surge of energy wick up my arm and into my body the minute my palm disappeared into the screen. 
    Pulling my hair away from my face and wiping perspiration off my neck, I rolled my shoulders, ready to talk about something else when I noticed Gabby cocking her head. Her yellow-and-lavender ponytails bobbed when she looked up, intent on something in the distant sky.
    “What is it?” I asked, following the direction of her gaze across two hundred feet of open space that ended in a slashing dark line of massive trees. The beginning of the dense jungle vegetation.
    “Can you hear that?” she asked, her voice soft, but no humor this time. Something had her entire focus.
    I shook my head.
    “Don’t know, but . . . ” 
    I didn’t have to ask her more as I started hearing what she did, a heavy whap, whap, whap sound. I glanced around but didn’t see anything.
    Until Gabby inhaled a quick breath and