Into the Beyond Books 1-3

Kenzie lived in the opposite direction as Josie. It was too far to walk, so Lewis grabbed his bicycle, propped up against the side of the house, and balanced Mr. Gray on the handlebars. Melon was outside watching them. A low rumble escaped Mr. Gray's throat—a growl of sorts—directed at the cat. Melon was not perturbed; his tail flicked back and forth as he continued to watch them in silence.

Lewis peddled away.

Sneaking out gave him a bit of a thrill. He'd never purposefully broken the rules before. The evening air felt nice on his face as he peddled faster. Mr. Gray giggled to himself, enjoying the ride as well. They were headed towards the bowl of Edmonds—the most affluent part of town—located in a half-bowl-shaped region where every house had rich views of the Puget Sound. Homes doubled and tripled in value in the span of a block as Lewis crested the top of Pine Street and started down the long hill that stretched nearly all the way to the waterfront.

"No one's going to get hurt tonight, right?" Lewis asked, still apprehensive to be following the creature's directions.

"I wouldn't think so," said Mr. Gray.

The uncertainty was disturbing. "I thought you already knew what was going to happen."

"More or less," said Mr. Gray. "Stop worrying."

Lewis did his best to let go of his nervousness. When they arrived at Kenzie's house, Lewis definitely agreed with Mr. Gray's wording of "party" over Kenzie's description of "small gathering." It looked as if the whole school had turned out for what was inarguably an end of summer rager.

Cars lined every available space on both sides of the street, stretching far up and down the block. Loud music thumped inside the house. Lewis leaned his bike up against the side of the three-car garage and made his way to the front door. More kids were arriving at the same time as him. He recognized several of them from freshman year classes, but he wasn't exactly friendly with any of them. They all approached the front door together.

It opened before anyone could knock. A wasted football player by the name of Jeremy McDonald greeted them. "Beeeer ponnnnng!"

Lewis definitely didn't fit in with the crowd. He went inside anyway.

At sixteen years old, Jeremy was already six-foot-two-inches tall and built like a linebacker. Lewis had never been to any of his school's football games, but it was a safe bet that Jeremy played the position he was clearly born to fill. Jeremy picked up a giant jar of jellybeans that was sitting on a side table in the entryway. "Anyone want to guess how many beans are in here? It's a contest. Put in twenty dollars and you get a guess. The person who's closest wins the jar and the cash."

"That's stupid," said one of the boys that came in with Lewis.

"Four-thousand-two-hundred-ninety-three," said Mr. Gray.

"I'll make a guess," said Lewis. He pulled out his mom's twenty and handed it to Jeremy.

Jeremy slapped him on the back. "My man!" he said as he handed him a pen and a slip of paper.

Lewis filled it out with Mr. Gray's answer. Mr. Gray licked his lips while staring intently at the jellybean jar. Lewis had a sneaking suspicion the creature intended to keep the candy for himself after they won.

Lewis headed deeper into the house looking for Kenzie and eventually found her taking shots with a group of people in the kitchen. "Oh heyyy, you made it!" said Kenzie enthusiastically, her speech slurred. "Guys, this is Lewis, he's new in town."

The other kids in the kitchen looked at each other in confusion but no one corrected Kenzie. More than a few of them had shared classes with Lewis in the past. Lewis shrugged to them when Kenzie glanced away for a second.

"Do you want a shot?" Kenzie asked.

"Say yes," said Mr. Gray.

"Sure," said Lewis, although he very much did not want a shot. The only alcohol that Lewis had ever tried was a sip of his father's beer one time at a family wedding.

Kenzie pushed a full shot glass into his hand. "Yay! On three! One, two...."

Lewis threw it back and instantly gagged at the terrible burning flavor. He tried to swallow, but was pretty sure some of it came back out through his nose. Kenzie didn't seem to notice or care.

"Woo!" she yelled.

"We should play truth or dare!" suggested Ali Cooper, one of Kenzie's cheerleader friends.

"Oh my god," said Kenzie, "that would be so crazy."

"Yeah, so crazy!"

With the girls in agreement, the group in the kitchen migrated over to the living room, nearly doubling in size by the time the impromptu game of truth or dare began.

Suggestions such as "I dare you to sniff my finger" and questions like "how many guys have you kissed" were soon flying back and forth. Lewis managed to dodge having to participate until it was Ali's turn to give out a dare. She pointed at Kenzie. "I dare you to go into the closet with a boy for like five minutes," she said.

"Oh my god, Ali!" said Kenzie. "That's so crazy!"

Kenzie's eyes scanned around the circle until they eventually caught on Lewis. She bit her lip softly as she gazed hazily into his face. "I'll take Lewis," she said. Several kids hooted and hollered rowdily. Lewis was pretty sure his face turned beet red. Kenzie hopped up and stumbled over to him. She reached a hand out and dragged Lewis up onto his feet and led him to the closet at the side of the room. They both stepped inside and Kenzie shut the door behind them.

Lewis could barely see with the small amount of light coming in from under the door, but he could tell Kenzie was looking at him. Her hands were firmly on his hips. Mr. Gray hadn't followed them inside—Lewis was glad of that.

"You have a nice house," Lewis said, awkwardly.

Kenzie giggled. "This isn't my house," she said. Her speech was heavily slurred. "Jeremy McBurger..." she snorted as she laughed openly for a moment. "Jeremy McDonald's dad lives here. He's like on vacation or something." She leaned forward and nuzzled her head into Lewis's neck. Her soft hair felt nice. Lewis's nerves began to ease.

Soon Kenzie had her whole body pressed up against him, grinding with ungentle motions. Excitement began to grow inside Lewis, soon outpacing his nervousness. He felt heavy-handed as he pawed across Kenzie's back in the dark. She craned her neck up. "Aren't you gunna kissss me?" she asked.

A tingling rush of blood flowed to Lewis's cheeks in response. He knew he was blushing. His excitement reached a pinnacle as he leaned in for his first kiss.

He was struck by the acrid scent of bile on Kenzie's breath just before their lips touched. Lewis's nose curled up at the unpleasant odor. Kenzie's lips were soft, but the taste of vomit was on her tongue as she slipped it between Lewis's lips. He felt like he was going to be sick. He pulled away from the kiss and wiped his fingernails across his tongue in the dark.

Kenzie's head drooped and began wobbling strangely. At first Lewis though she was crying from his rejection, but soon he realized she simply couldn't stand up straight. Kenzie toppled over against the coats and ended up on her knees at the bottom of the closet.

Lewis felt terrible. A kiss from Kenzie had been just about his greatest fantasy for the last couple of years, but the disgusting state of her mouth turned his stomach. He bent over to help her back to her feet, but she didn't take his hand. Instead she leaned over onto all fours and began to wretch the alcohol-heavy contents of her stomach out onto the piles of coats she'd knocked down in her fall.

"Cops!" someone yelled from the other side of the closet door.