Read Crossing the Barrier for Free Online Page B

shields aren’t back.”
    “You’ll be fine,” Sandra said automatically.
    Somehow she didn’t sound or feel convincing to Lily.
    A few minutes later, they arrived at school, got out of the car, and made their way to the building. As she followed her friend, Lily felt the murmur of emotions scratch her brain. It was faint, as she was still fifty yards away from the door, but it was there, present, constant. As she got closer to the entrance, the murmur became increasingly insistent, increasingly uncomfortable.
    Only a couple of hundred students were at school at the moment, and thinking about how it would be on a regular school day with thirty-five hundred students around made Lily want to run for her car and drive away as far and as fast as she could.
    Lily was still trying to comprehend the enormity of her situation when she walked into the school and things went from bad to worse. All the emotions went from unpleasant to a downright assault on her senses, and her inability to make it stop made her realize how much trouble she really was in. If she reacted that way with so few students, her situation was definitely a lot worse than she originally thought.
    As Lily walked through the door to the band hall, matters got even worse, if that was at all possible. The emotions of her bandmates felt like ants crawling all over her brain, ants that were viciously taking pieces of her mind, bites by little bites. With each step she took, the pain increased to the point of making her want to scream.
    She had just brought her hand to her temple to try to squash the pain when Sandra appeared in front of her, frowning.
    “What’s wrong?”
    “I…I…” Lily took a step sideways as if something had tried to take a bigger bite of her already fragile mind. She then crossed her arms and held herself tightly. “I…I can’t do this,” she said, taking a step back.
    She was about to run when Sandra grabbed her arm. Her friend’s gesture quieted the assaulting emotions, which were replaced by Sandra’s only. Lily was so relieved she sagged and would have fallen to the ground if Sandra hadn’t held her.
    “Yes, you can do this,” her best friend said as she pulled Lily to her regular seat. “Not only can you, but you must!”
    “Everybody, please take your seat,” the director called as Sandra let go of her.
    The sudden loss of contact made the army of ants come back in full force, and Lily was thankful she was sitting. The contents of her stomach were now starting to rebel, and she felt a moment of panic. As everybody took their seats, the emotions were slowly replaced by a rational form of concentration, and she sighed in relief.
    Reprieve.
    Thankfully, the rest of the practice went relatively well, despite Lily’s many mistakes, and by the time they made their way outside to execute their march, Lily felt a lot more in control, if not still on edge. She was, however, beginning to sport a spectacular headache from concentrating so hard.
    “Do you think it’s the varsity team practicing on the field?” Sandra asked, making her way to her.
    Their shoulders touched, and the ants instantly disappeared. Lily released a breath she hadn’t known she had been holding.
    “I don’t know,” she answered.
    “We should go and see once we’re done.”
    “No. Not a good idea. Besides, they’ll finish way earlier than we will.”
    “Okay, okay,” Sandra conceded, taking a step back and raising her hands in surrender. “It would have been fun. Just saying.”
    “No,” Lily repeated, bringing her hand to her temple to try to massage the renewed pain away. “I know what you’re trying to do.”
    “It’s not better?” Sandra asked, pointing at Lily’s head.
    “When you touch me, it is.”
    Sandra took a step toward Lily, making sure their shoulders touched again. “Better?”
    Lily nodded, giving her friend a sad smile.
    “So to come back to Malakai—”
    “Stop, Sandra, please. He may be cute and all, but I’m not