"On my count," Tori whispered. "One, two..."
"Hey, what"s-?" the girl in fatigues began.
Tori"s hands shot up, but the girl kept coming. And the scarred girl stumbled, the spell breaking. She advanced, knife raised. Her friends fell into position, flanking her. Tori tried again, but apparently she"d used up all her juice because nothing was happening.
"Whatever trick that was," the scarred girl said. "It was really dumb. You have three seconds to strip out of everything. Both of you."
"I don"t think so," Tori said. "Now, back off."
Tori flicked her fingers. The girl didn"t even sway.
"I said, back off back off!"
She flicked again. The girls kept coming. I spun, only to discover the problem with a blind alley-if the entrance is blocked, you"re trapped. When the girl in fatigues lunged for me, I ran anyway, Tori at my side.
At the end, I deked fast, hoping to catch my pursuers off guard and dodge around them. It worked on the one in fatigues. But the dreadlocked girl saw my feint and blocked me.
I ducked her knife, but she kicked me in the back of my knee. My leg buckled, and I dropped. I scuttled out of her way. I caught sight of Tori, her hands raised as if in surrender. Then one hand shot out, grabbing for the scarred girl"s knife hand. The blade flashed and laid open the sleeve of Tori"s leather jacket.
Tori let out a strangled howl of outrage, as if it had sliced through her arm instead. Her hands flew up. The scarred girl jolted back to avoid a punch, but Tori"s hands went straight up over her head, then slammed down.
An invisible wave smacked me, and the next thing I knew I was lying on my back. Sneakers slapped the concrete and I looked up to see Tori running over.
"Are you okay?" Seeing I was conscious, she didn"t wait for an answer. "Get up!"
I wobbled partway up, my leg still throbbing from the dreadlocked girl"s kick. I looked around quickly. She lay a few feet away.
Tori yanked me all the way to my feet. The girl in fatigues lay crumpled at the foot of the wall. She let out a soft moan. The scarred girl was on all fours, conscious but dazed.
Seeing the dreadlocked girl"s blade on the ground, I s.n.a.t.c.hed it up and ran to the girl in fatigues, telling Tori to take the scarred girl"s knife as I looked for this one"s. It had fallen a couple of feet away. I grabbed it. Tori was already running down the alley. I ignored the pain in my leg and raced to catch up.
"Did you grab her knife?" I asked.
"Why? You have two."
"That"s not why I-"
"Hey!" a shout from behind us. "Hey!"
I glanced over my shoulder to see the scarred girl coming after us, knife in hand. That"s That"s why I wanted all three. why I wanted all three.
Twenty-four.
I SLAPPED ONE OF SLAPPED ONE OF the knives into Tori"s hand and told her to run. She did, sprinting ahead, her long legs soon leaving me behind, which was the knives into Tori"s hand and told her to run. She did, sprinting ahead, her long legs soon leaving me behind, which was not not what I"d meant. But we had enough of a head start. We just needed to get- what I"d meant. But we had enough of a head start. We just needed to get- I glanced back at my pursuer and missed the curb. I stumbled and tried to recover, but my injured knee gave out and I sprawled onto a strip of gra.s.s. I dug in with both hands, ready to scramble up, but the girl landed on my back and the wind flew from my lungs.
We fought-if you could call my frantic kicking and flailing a fight. Soon she had me pinned on my back, knife at my throat. That stopped me.
"I-I-I-" I swallowed. "I"m sorry. Do you want my jacket? My shoes?"
Her face twisted in disgust. "You don"t have anything I want, blondie."
She wrenched down my hood and yanked a handful of my hair. I winced and bit back a yelp.
"Red streaks?" A humorless laugh. "You think that makes you tough? Makes you cool?"
"N-no. If you want my shoes-"
"They"d never fit me. I wanted your friend"s jacket, but she"s long gone. Nice friend you"ve got there. Never even looked back." The girl eased up, knife still at my throat. "It was a taser, wasn"t it?"
"What?"
"What she did to me back there. She tasered me, then my girls. I bet you thought that was funny."
"N-no. I-"
"I said I was going to teach you a lesson, and since you don"t have anything I want..."
She lifted the knife until the point was an inch over my eye. I saw that tip coming down and went nuts, writhing to get free, but she had me securely pinned with her arm on my neck, cutting off my air as I struggled, and all I could do was watch that point coming straight for my eye. A whimper burbled up from my gut. She laughed and lowered the blade to rest on my cheekbone.
The tip pressed in. I felt the jab of pain, then hot blood trickling down my cheek.
"This is no life for pretty girls, blondie. A cute little thing like you? I"ll give you a week before some player has you turning tricks. Me? I"m lucky. I don"t have to worry about that." She tilted her face, showing me her badly scarred cheek. "I"m going to do you the same favor."
The knife bit in, digging deeper. I closed my eyes against the pain, then felt the girl leap off me with a snarl of rage.
As I scrambled up, I realized it wasn"t her her snarling. And she wasn"t leaping off me-she was sailing up, eyes wide, knife dropping point down in the earth as Derek wrenched her into the air. He swung her straight at the wall. snarling. And she wasn"t leaping off me-she was sailing up, eyes wide, knife dropping point down in the earth as Derek wrenched her into the air. He swung her straight at the wall.
I screamed "No!" I thought it was too late, much too late, but at the last moment he checked himself, so abruptly that he stumbled. The girl flailed and kicked. Her foot made contact. Derek didn"t seem to notice. He looked around, saw the fence and, with a grunt, heaved her over it. She crashed onto the other side.
I was almost on my feet, unsteady, shaking. He grabbed my collar and yanked me up.
"Move!"
I found the fallen knife and s.n.a.t.c.hed it. He shoved me forward so hard I stumbled. Then I started running. He got in front, leading me. We"d gone about a quarter mile when he spun, meeting my gaze with a look that made me shrink back. He grabbed my upper arm and held me still.
"Did I tell you to stay put?"
"Yes, but-"
"Did I tell you to stay put!" he roared.
I glanced around, afraid we"d be heard, but we were behind a row of stores, all the windows dark.
"Yes." I kept my voice low and even. "You did. But you also told me to watch out for Tori, and she took off."
"I don"t give a rat"s a.s.s about Tori. If she walks away, let her. If she steps in front of a bus, let her."
When I looked up at his eyes, I saw the terror behind the rage and knew who he was really mad at-himself, for almost throwing that girl into the wall, just like the boy in Albany.
Saying nothing, I pried his fingers from my arm. He pulled back, clenching and unclenching his hand.
"If she takes off, let her go," he said, quieter now. "I don"t care what happens to her."
"I do."
He stepped back, rubbing absently at his forearm. When he saw me watching, he stopped.
"It"s an itch," he said. "A normal itch."
"Have you had any other symptoms? Fever or-"
"No," he snapped. "Don"t change the subject. You need to be more careful, Chloe. Like earlier, with that body. You need to think about what could happen."
He was right. But seeing him scratching reminded me that I wasn"t the only one who"d been careless, who"d ignored a potential threat.
"And what about you?" I pointed as he scratched his arm again. "The werewolf who hasn"t had his first Change yet, but knows he"s developing fast. Yet when you started getting restless, feverish, itchy, it never occurred to you that you might be Changing early? You let it slide...until it starts on the night we"re supposed to escape."
"I wasn"t going with you guys-"
"But if I hadn"t stayed to find you, Simon wouldn"t have left. You could have botched the escape because you didn"t know what was happening to you."
"I didn"t didn"t."
"Like I didn"t know I could raise the dead in my sleep. But did I chew you out? Did I even mention how close I came to getting caught because I stayed to help?"
He looked away, jaw working, then said, "I tried to help you, too. And got this." He gestured to the scratch on his cheek.
"Because I woke up with a guy pinning me to the floor! I know you were trying to keep me from seeing that zombie crawling on me. A good plan, poorly executed. Then you totally lost patience and kept barking orders."
"I was trying to help."
"And what if I"d done that to you? Yelled at you to finish Changing before we got caught?"
He looked away again. "I...About that night. I haven"t said..." He squared his shoulders. "We need to get back. Simon will be worried about you."
We walked about twenty steps in silence, me trailing him. When his shoulders bunched, I knew he was thinking about it again, and I prayed he"d let it go. Please just let it- He spun on me. "Next time when I tell you to stay, I mean stay."
"I"m not a dog, Derek."
I kept my voice steady, but his jaw tensed, green eyes flashing. "Maybe not, but you obviously need someone to look after you, and I"m tired of doing it."
"Don"t."
"Don"t what?"
"Didn"t we agree to stop bickering?"
His face darkened. "This isn"t-"
"You"re mad at yourself and you"re taking it out on me."
I meant to be reasonable, but he exploded, coming at me so fast I backpedaled and hit a chain-link fence.
"I"m mad at you you, Chloe. You took off. You got in trouble. I had to rescue you."
He kept coming at me. I pressed against the fence, the links whining in protest.
"And stop doing that," he said. "Backing away, giving me that look."
"Like you"re scaring me? Maybe you are."
He stepped back so fast he wobbled and caught himself, and the look on his face-It vanished in a second, the scowl returning.
"I"d never hurt you, Chloe. You should know-" He stopped. Paused. Then wheeled and started walking away. "Next time? Handle it yourself. I"m done taking care of you."
I wanted to fly after him, yell that I hadn"t asked him to take care of me, didn"t need it, didn"t want it. Not if this was the price-his rage, his guilt, his scorn.
Tears p.r.i.c.kled. I blinked them away and waited until he was far enough that he wouldn"t turn on me again. Then I followed him to Simon.
Tori was already there. She didn"t say a word to me, as if mentioning what happened would mean explaining why she"d left me behind.
No one said much of anything. We were all too tired and too cold. Our new spot was a delivery bay. Safe, but the north wind blew right in. We huddled against the walls with our thin blankets pulled around us, and tried to sleep.
Twenty-five.
I WOKE TO THE WOKE TO THE smell of sausage and eggs and squeezed my eyes shut to savor the dream, knowing when I opened them, I"d be lucky to get bruised fruit and an energy bar. smell of sausage and eggs and squeezed my eyes shut to savor the dream, knowing when I opened them, I"d be lucky to get bruised fruit and an energy bar.
"Rise and shine," a voice whispered.
A paper bag rustled. Then sausage-scented steam bathed my face. I opened my eyes to see Simon holding a familiar take-out bag in front of me.
"McDonald"s?"