Conner was finding it even harder than usual to concentrate. Not only could he not stop thinking about Trent, but Ethan seemed to be trying his best to distract both of them.

“C’mon! Oh no you didn’t!” More beeps and mini-explosions came from the computer. “Eat laser, you intergalactic freak! Yeah!”

Conner sighed, shaking his head and glancing at Kira. She looked just as annoyed as he felt.

“Yeah!”

“Dude, do you mind?” Conner finally snapped, aware he’d only written two paragraphs in the last half-hour and that if he didn’t hand it in on time he’d be in another detention.

“Made it to level twelve!” cried Ethan, his voice going disturbingly high.

Conner leaned across and hit ‘Esc’. The annoying noises died. Kira looked like she wanted to cheer.

“What are you doing?” Ethan said, sounding horrified.

“I can’t concentrate with you blowing up things in my ear!”

“But it took me three hours to get to that level.”

Conner considered telling him he needed a life, but Kira got there first. “Sorry, but I’m with Conner on this one.” And there was something she didn’t say often. “We’ve got a paper due tomorrow. And why aren’t you working on it?”

He smirked at them both. “Finished it last week. Trent and I did it while you guys were out being David Beckham and—”

“Oh, don’t even say it!”

Conner tuned them out, staring at his work in shock. Trent practically ran in the other direction whenever Conner went near him, and now he had started studying with Ethan? Conner knew they’d agreed to forget everything, but Conner didn’t want to. He wanted to talk to Trent. Or stop thinking about him, but as that seemed impossible . . .

“Where is Trent, anyway?” asked Kira, Conner snapping to attention at the sound of Trent’s name. “I thought he was working today.”

“Hayley gave him the day off.” Conner knew he sounded bitter and annoyed, but couldn’t bring himself to care. “I think he’s spending some quality time with his dad.” The psycho.

Ethan switched on his game again, but this time with the sound turned down. Kira leaned across to touch Conner’s arm. “You guys don’t seem to be getting along so well . . .”

Conner scowled. He didn’t want to talk about this. Not to Kira, anyway.

“I’m sorry for not telling you he liked you. I did promise . . .” When he still didn’t reply, she sighed and said, “There is a limit to the number of times I can apologise.”

“It’s not that. I told you it’s okay already.”

“Is it because he’s ignoring you?”

Conner shoved his paper into his bag, ignoring the pages that crumpled, and chucked his pens in after. “I’m going home. I think I’ll get more work done there.”

He ignored Kira calling after him, and Ethan asking what was wrong.

--

Trent stared around his dad’s office, trying to remember exactly where that . . . green thing . . . that portal . . . had appeared. Near the desk, he thought— but he couldn’t see any sign of it now.

“I know I’m not losing my mind,” he muttered to himself. “It was right around here.” It couldn’t have been a hallucination. Not only had he seen it, he’d touched it . . . and it had pulled him through, transporting him to Hayley’s.

It had been real. He couldn’t have imagined it. He couldn’t have.

“Trent?”

He jumped, spinning around to see his dad in the doorway. He looked tired. “Trent, can I help you with something?”

Trent glanced towards where he’d seen the portal, before looking back to his dad. His dad would believe him. He might even know what was going on. This could be connected to one of his experiments . . . one of the ones that made him disappear without explanation.

“There’s some weird stuff going on here, Dad," he said quickly. "I swear, I went through some sort of inter-dimensional doorway.” That’s what they called them in comic books, anyway.

His dad rubbed his forehead, walking over to his desk. “You know, I’ve got to say I’m worried about you, son. You’re working until all hours at this coffee-house— obviously you’re not thinking straight. I’m going to make an appointment with my doctor.”

He didn’t believe him. He didn’t even bother asking any questions, just ignored it! “I don’t need a doctor! I need an explanation.” For the disappearances, the weird way you’ve been acting, the green portals appearing in your office . . . “I think you owe that to me.”

His dad frowned, angry now. “Perhaps you could explain something to me. When did it become acceptable to speak that way to your father?”

Trent tried again. “All these other projects you’re involved in— there’s some weird stuff going on here, Dad.”

“Whatever goes on around here I can assure you is for the betterment of mankind. And I promise you will feel the same way in time.”

His dad was probably right. He wouldn’t do anything wrong. “In time? When?”

“When you’re ready. Someday all I have will belong to you. It’s a great responsibility, son. And one that we must prepare you for. We’ll begin that process soon. Now, why don’t you go for a swim?” he asked, his tone making it clear the conversation was over. “We have the nicest pool in town and you never use it.”

Swimming on your own wasn’t much fun. Trent entertained a brief fantasy on Conner in their pool, before remember how he’d brushed the other boy off a few days before. What had Conner wanted to talk about?

He shrugged, dismissing it from his mind. It probably hadn’t been anything important.

--

He shouldn’t leave it like that. Already feeling bad about the sort-of argument with his dad, Trent turned to go back and try to smooth things over. His dad was only trying his best. He did love Trent really, an even if he could be a little cold— well, he’d made a big adjustment, taking Trent in. It couldn’t have been easy for him to move from bachelor-living to parenting a teenager with no stage in between.

He leaned around the doorframe, and almost gasped at what he saw.

It was back. The portal. The whole office glowed green from its light. But worse than that, his dad didn’t seem surprised. In fact, his dad reached out to it.

Trent watched in shock and horror as the green light reached out down his dad’s arm, swallowing him in a flash.

His dad had lied. Worse, he’d tried to make out Trent was mentally ill! He knew all about the portals— and apparently knew how to use them.

Trent moved into the office. When the portal reappeared, he didn’t feel too surprised. Instead, he reached out to it, just like his dad had done. Where would he end up this time? Outside Hayley’s? In one of his dad’s laboratories?

The green light swallowed him. Blinking, he looked around, waiting for his eyes to adjust to the gloom. When they did, he gaped in shock.

This wasn’t outside Hayley’s.

Yellow lights lit shelves of coloured jars. Strange devices— like old computers fused with chemistry sets— sat on several tables. A throne—it couldn’t be called just a chair—sat against one wall.

Trent turned slowly, taking it all in, until he saw . . . “Whoa.”

A smaller table stood against the wall opposite to the throne. On it, something glowed with a bright white light. Trent moved towards it, feeling strangely drawn.

He didn’t think about touching it, just reached out to the piece of flat, silver metal vibrating on the table. The glow came from a gem. A white gem.

He reached closer. Suddenly, it leapt up, wrapping itself around his wrist. He staggered back as it become something else— a dinosaur head? White light flashed before his eyes, and he saw a white figure, a white ranger, fighting and running and spinning through the air . . .

He hit the ground hard, pain shooting through his arms. He didn’t remember how he left, only that he needed to run— run from the white light flashing around his wrist, from the white ranger he knew was evil.

He couldn’t run fast enough. The white light engulfed him, and everything faded to black.