Into the Beyond Books 1-3

The note made Lewis much less confident in his decision to listen to Mr. Gray. The odd creature had already scored him considerable face-to-face time with Kenzie, and lit Landon on fire—not to mention saving him from the woodshop. All positive things, although the fire was a little scary. The way Mr. Gray danced with such joy as Landon burned was downright creepy. There was no love lost between Lewis and Landon, but Lewis still didn't want to see the bully maimed—he simply wasn't that cruel.

The girl's warning did not fall on deaf ears, but Lewis wasn't ready to completely abandon Mr. Gray's advice. What should have been one of the worst days of his life had turned into one of the best he could remember in the blink of an eye.

Kenzie knows who I am! And she gave me her number! With a heart!

Lewis began walking towards the school bus loading area. After just a few steps, he heard Mr. Gray's distinctive high-pitched voice in his ear. "Go to the student parking lot instead."

The direction seemed harmless enough. He changed course, walking past the cafeteria and down the hall to the exit nearest the student parking lot. Once outside, Mr. Gray directed Lewis to take him out of his backpack and place the pack open on the ground beside him on the curb. Lewis had no idea where this was going, but he obliged.

"What next?" asked Lewis.

"Just stand here," said Mr. Gray. "Face the driving lane and wait."

Lewis's mind was filled with questions. Is someone going to offer me a ride? Will it be Kenzie? Does she even have her driver's license yet?

Lewis flinched as his backpack flew into the street—kicked. His school supplies skittered all across the lane.

Landon's annoying chuckle rang out. "Watch where you leave your junk," he said.

Lewis turned around. Landon and his cronies were behind him. Kenzie was just stepping out of the school behind them as well. Mr. Gray hadn't given him any other instructions.

"Landon Mathews!" shouted Coach Phillips. He was the football coach, but often worked as the parking lot attendant as well when he wasn't teaching Physical Education. "What do you think you're doing, young man? You better apologize to that boy and pick up his stuff!"

Landon's face went white. He was on the football team and knew better than to disobey Coach Phillips. Landon's cronies snickered to themselves at Landon's expense as he said a disingenuous "sorry" and walked over to retrieve Lewis's belongings. Coach Phillips watched with crossed arms. A small crowd was forming along the curb. Landon worked quickly. He grabbed the last of Lewis's pens and tossed it into the bag with everything else. As he stood up, the rumble of an accelerating engine was the only warning he received before a small truck careened directly into him.

Landon's arm and head rebounded violently off the hood of the vehicle. His shoes flew off as he was launched forward into the air. Everyone gasped as the truck took a sharp left, and sped off down the length of the student parking lot and out into the main street.

All Lewis saw was a flash of blue inside the truck's cabin. The driver had a blue hoodie drawn up over his or her head.

"Good work," said Mr. Gray.

Lewis was mortified.

Coach Phillips and several students ran over to Landon. He was lying in a twisted heap. The pavement was already painted red with blood from his head.

"Stay back!" shouted Coach Phillips as he reached Landon's side.

Lewis hadn't moved. To him, the whole world had fallen silent. He was too horrified to even breathe. The crack of Landon's head as it struck the metal truck was enough to make him nauseous.

A girl standing next to him was already on her phone with the police. The hospital was literally across the street from the high school. Soon, the siren of an ambulance sounded and a mere thirty seconds from that, paramedics were already on the scene. It all happened so fast, Lewis barely had time to take any of it in.

He overheard one of the paramedics say that Landon was still breathing as he was loaded, unconscious, onto a gurney and placed in the back of the aid car.

Mr. Gray is dangerous.

The creature stretched his legs one at a time and then cleared his throat to get Lewis's attention. "You did well so far today," he said once Lewis looked back over at him. "I'm going to leave you for a little bit, but I'll be back later tonight. There is still much fun to be had."

Lewis didn't like the sound of that. He was starting to understand Mr. Gray's idea of fun, and it didn't end well for the people around him. He wished the creature would just leave him alone. Although Lewis hadn't exactly been happy before meeting Mr. Gray, now he was more terrified than anything else.

His backpack was sitting on the ground two feet away from him. By the time he snatched it up, Mr. Gray had already vanished back into thin air. Lewis didn't know what to do. If Mr. Gray was as powerful as he seemed, Lewis was afraid of what might happen if he disobeyed one of the creature's commands.