"Shhh."
Simon pointed at Tori, still snoring beside me, then quietly retreated from the delivery bay, motioning for me to follow.
He led me into an alley, where a fire escape ladder hung, then he boosted me onto it. We climbed up to the roof of a three-story building.
I walked to the edge and looked out. There was a park to the east, glistening with dew, the sun still rising behind it, tinting the sky pink.
"Nice, huh?" Simon said. "That park wasn"t quite so empty last night or we would have slept there." He set down the bag and drinks on the rooftop. "So is this okay for breakfast? Up here?"
I looked at the view again. After last night, this was better than the fanciest breakfast in the fanciest restaurant. It might be the most thoughtful thing anyone had ever done for me.
"It"s perfect," I said. "Thank you."
"Good. If it wasn"t, I"d have blamed Derek."
"Derek?"
"He suggested we come up here and helped me pull down the ladder. Breakfast was my idea, though. We saw the Mickey D"s last night and I thought you might like a bickering-free breakfast."
Derek picked the spot? Had he been hoping I"d be blinded by the morning sun and stumble off the edge?
"Pancakes or sausage Mcm.u.f.fin?" Simon asked as I settled onto the rooftop.
"Which do you want?"
"I"ve got mine." He lifted a wrapped sandwich. "I thought I"d buy you both and, whichever you don"t want, Derek will eat. Nothing goes to waste with him around."
I took the Mcm.u.f.fin.
He lifted two cups. "OJ or a strawberry milkshake?"
"I didn"t think you could get milkshakes in the morning."
He grinned. "I can."
When I took the shake, his smile grew. "I thought you might like that."
"Thanks. This"-I waved at the food and the spot-"is really nice."
"And well-deserved after your cruddy night. By the way, there"s a cut on your cheek. We should get that cleaned up later. I know Derek gave you the gears last night-more than once."
"It"s okay."
"No, it"s not. Going at you about raising that zombie? That was out of line, even for Derek. He"s been..."
"Crankier than usual?"
"Yeah. I think it"s because he Changed-or couldn"t Change-but that"s no excuse to vent at you, not after what you did for him."
I shrugged and took a long draw of my milkshake.
"About what you did that night, staying with Derek while he was trying to Change..." Simon shook his head. "I don"t know how you kept your cool. Finding him like that when you didn"t even know he was a werewolf."
"I figured it out."
Simon took a bite of his sandwich and chewed, looking out at the sky before saying, "I wanted to tell you. Especially after he forced you you to admit you were seeing ghosts. We argued; he won, as usual. But if we thought you could ever have stumbled on him like that, we"d have warned you. Even knowing what he is, I doubt I could have stuck around, much less helped. It took guts." He caught my gaze. "It really took guts." to admit you were seeing ghosts. We argued; he won, as usual. But if we thought you could ever have stumbled on him like that, we"d have warned you. Even knowing what he is, I doubt I could have stuck around, much less helped. It took guts." He caught my gaze. "It really took guts."
I"m sure I turned crimson. I glanced away and chomped into my sandwich.
"I appreciate what you did for him, Chloe. Derek appreciates it, too, though I"m sure he hasn"t said so."
I swallowed my mouthful and changed the subject. "So, about your dad...You never did tell me how he disappeared."
He laughed. "Enough about Derek, huh? Unfortunately, Derek is where this story starts. It was after he broke that kid"s back. When it got a mention in the Albany paper, Dad decided it was time to move on. He must have known the Edison Group was still trying to find us. We should have left right away. But..."
Simon picked a burned piece off his m.u.f.fin. "This happened a lot. At the first hint of trouble, we"d pack and move. Derek and I didn"t understand why, so we"d complain." He paused. "No, I"d I"d complain. After growing up in that lab, Derek was happy as long as the three of us were together. I hated moving. It always seemed I"d just made new friends, just made the team, just met a girl..." complain. After growing up in that lab, Derek was happy as long as the three of us were together. I hated moving. It always seemed I"d just made new friends, just made the team, just met a girl..."
"I know what that"s like. Well, except the part about meeting girls."
"Yeah, but I bet you never complained. You"re like Derek. You make the best of things. I b.i.t.c.hed and moaned, so Dad always tried to make it easier on me. That day, I had a basketball game I was hyped about, so when Dad saw the article after we"d gone to school, he called Derek"s cell. He told him not to mention it to me, but that he"d meet us after school and we"d take off. He never showed."
"And you haven"t seen him since?"
Simon shook his head. "We got home, found the car packed, the keys in the kitchen. He"d taken his wallet or had it in his pocket when...whatever happened, happened."
"You think someone kidnapped him?"
"I don"t know. Derek couldn"t find anyone"s scent in the house. It was like Dad just walked away, which he"d never do. Derek wanted to take off. Again I screwed up. I thought there was some logical explanation-maybe Derek misunderstood Dad"s message. The next morning, I gave in and we left, but it was too late. They caught up with us the next day."
"The Edison Group?"
"They said they were child services. We believed them. They took us back to the house to see if Dad had returned, and when he wasn"t there, they said that we had to go into a group home until they figured stuff out. Since we"d been born in Buffalo, that"s where they put us. Which should have seemed weird, but we didn"t know better. So that"s how we ended up in Lyle House."
Simon continued, explaining that, since we"d escaped, he"d been casting some kind of seeking spell his dad taught him, but he couldn"t detect him. Using library computers, Derek had searched on their dad"s name and aliases, but found nothing.
"And now, with all this about the Edison Group, and Liz and Brady and Amber murdered..." He looked out over the parking lot. "I"m starting to think it might be a waste of time. That he"s not out there. That they killed him."
"But Aunt Lauren was sure the Edison Group wasn"t involved in your dad"s disappearance. And she seemed certain he"d still be alive. Do you know any other place he could be? Or anyone who might know something?"
"I thought about going back to Albany, maybe talk to people he worked with, our neighbors, someone who might have seen something that day..."
"We could do that. We have enough money."
"Derek doesn"t want to."
"He wants to stay here?" That didn"t sound like Derek.
"No, he just doesn"t see any point in going back-and says it"s probably dangerous. But there is someone we could go to. This friend of my dad"s. Andrew Carson. He lives outside New York City. Dad said if we were ever in trouble and he wasn"t around, we should go to Andrew."
"Have you called him? Maybe he knows something about your dad."
"That"s the problem. Dad put his number on our cell phones, but they took those when we were tossed in Lyle House. We know his name and where he lives-we"ve been there plenty of times. But when we tried looking him up on a computer, we couldn"t find anything."
"His number must be unlisted. Or he"s using an alias."
"Or he"s not there anymore. It"s been a few years since we saw him. He and Dad had a falling-out."
"Maybe you shouldn"t contact him then."
Simon crumpled his wrapper. "I shouldn"t say "falling-out." A disagreement. Dad and Andrew kept in touch; we just didn"t go visit him anymore. He was still our emergency contact. So we should should go see him, like Derek says. I"m just...not ready to give up on finding Dad. But with you and Tori here, and your picture everywhere, Derek"s ready to buy the bus tickets." go see him, like Derek says. I"m just...not ready to give up on finding Dad. But with you and Tori here, and your picture everywhere, Derek"s ready to buy the bus tickets."
"How about another solution? I need to get out of Buffalo. You need to talk to this guy. What if Tori and I go find Andrew while you and Derek look-"
"No. I don"t trust Tori with you, especially after last night. Derek wouldn"t go for it either."
I wasn"t so sure. He might jump at the chance to get rid of me.
Simon continued, "Even if Tori"s not not homicidal, she"s careless and reckless. Worse than me, which is saying a lot. We"ll find another way." homicidal, she"s careless and reckless. Worse than me, which is saying a lot. We"ll find another way."
Twenty-six.
F OR MOST OF THAT OR MOST OF THAT day, both Derek and Tori steered clear of me, like I had a bug they didn"t want to catch. I didn"t see a lot of Simon either. He went off with Derek to the library, still trying to find their dad or his friend Andrew. Tori tagged along. I stayed put in a lovely dank alley Derek had chosen for me. Simon left me with a movie magazine, snacks, a hairbrush and soap, and promised they"d get me to a bathroom after dark. day, both Derek and Tori steered clear of me, like I had a bug they didn"t want to catch. I didn"t see a lot of Simon either. He went off with Derek to the library, still trying to find their dad or his friend Andrew. Tori tagged along. I stayed put in a lovely dank alley Derek had chosen for me. Simon left me with a movie magazine, snacks, a hairbrush and soap, and promised they"d get me to a bathroom after dark.
It was mid-afternoon when I heard footsteps tromping down the alley and I scrambled up to meet Simon. Derek might be bigger, but it was Simon who made all the noise. Derek was only loud when...
Derek stomped around the corner, scowling....when he was mad.
He had a newspaper rolled in his hand, bearing down on me like a puppy that had piddled on the carpet.
"Bad Chloe," I muttered.
"What?"
I"d forgotten his bionic hearing. "Bad Chloe." I gestured at the rolled-up paper and put out my hand. "Get it over with."
"You think this is funny?"
"No, I think it"s tiresome."
He slapped down the paper. In the bottom corner of the front page was the headline "Missing Girl Spotted" with a picture of me. I skimmed the short paragraph, then turned to the rest inside.
It had happened last night, when Derek had been yelling at me after my run-in with the street girls. The windows around us may have been dark, but a woman had been watching from an apartment over a shop, drawn by Derek"s voice. She"d seen "a girl with light hair and red streaks" being yelled at by "a large, dark-haired man." So now police speculated that I might not be a runaway but a kidnap victim.
"Well?" Derek said.
I folded the paper carefully, my gaze down. "Guess you shouldn"t have yelled at me in public."
"What?"
"That"s what caught her attention. You chewing me out."
"No, what caught her attention was your hair. If you"d kept your hood up like I said-"
"Of course. Totally my fault. After nearly getting my face carved up, how dare I forget my attacker yanked down my hood. Bad Chloe."
"So this is a joke?"
I looked up at him. "No, it"s not a joke. It"s a serious problem. The joke is this." I waved from him to me. "You"ve been sulking all day, brooding-"
"Brooding?"
"Just itching for me to screw up so you can rip me a new one, your favorite pastime. You couldn"t just come back and calmly say we have a problem that we need to discuss. Where"s the fun in that?"
"You think I enjoy-"
"I have no idea what you enjoy, if anything. But I do know what you"d like. Me, gone."
"What?"
"I"ve served my purpose. I got Simon out of Lyle House. Sure, you were willing to make a half-a.s.sed effort to find me, so it looks good for Simon-"
"Half-a.s.sed?"
"You showed up hours late. Left a hidden note. Came by once a day. Yes, half-a.s.sed."
"No. Ask Simon. I was worried-"
"I"m sure you faked it well. But, unfortunately, I found you and, worse, I showed up with Tori in tow and a price on my head. So it"s time to activate the backup plan. Make me so miserable and unwelcome that I slink away."
"I"d never-"
"No, you won"t." I met his gaze. "Because I"m not going to slink away, Derek. If I"m too much of an inconvenience to keep around, then at least have the guts to tell me to get lost."
I brushed past him and walked away.