She said she was sure it was just a misunderstanding, but I could tell she didn"t believe that. I"m sure she"d seen single parents disappear before when they decided it was all too much for them.
"If we don"t figure this out tonight, is there anyone else we can call for you?" she asked. "I know Derek"s parents aren"t in the picture, and Simon, I"m guessing your mother . . ." She waited for him to fill in the blank.
"Took off when I was two," Simon said. "I don"t remember her and we don"t have any contact with her. My dad doesn"t have any family around either. It"s just us."
He glanced at me and mouthed, "Andrew?" but I shook my head. After what happened to Paul, I wasn"t getting Andrew involved in this.
"That"s fine," Ms. Morris said. "We"ll take care of you until we find your dad."
Our house had been ransacked. The child services women didn"t notice, because whoever had gone through our stuff had tried to cover his tracks. Being on the run, though, Dad had taught us to notice things that aren"t quite the way we left them.
We didn"t tell the women. We just looked around and made note of what had been touched. Mainly stuff in Dad"s office. They"d checked out the desk in our room, too. What did they expect to find? Dear Diary, Dad gave me a list of places to hide in case he ever disappears. Here they are so I don"t forget them.
The women had us pack our bags. They said they didn"t expect we"d be gone long, but we should take as much as we wanted, so we"d be comfortable in the group home. That"s where we were going. They expected the move to be temporary, so they weren"t looking into foster care, presuming we"d be happier in a group home, since it meant we"d be together. We said yes-we didn"t care where we went, just as long as we weren"t split up.
We were almost finished packing when Ms. Morris got another call. I didn"t hear much, just a word that made my gut freeze.
"What"s up?" Simon whispered, seeing my expression.
I repeated the word I"d heard. Buffalo.
"s.h.i.t." Simon took a deep breath. "Okay, let me handle-"
"Boys?" Ms. Morris came into our room, looking confused and concerned. "I just got a call from our main office. They were checking your file and pulled up one with similar names. For boys exactly your ages. Simon Bae and Derek Souza."
"What?" Simon"s face screwed up. "That"s weird."
"They lived in Buffalo ten years ago, then disappeared." She paused. "The department thinks they"re you two."
"Buffalo?" He frowned. "We"ve lived a lot of places, but I don"t remember Buffalo. Don"t remember those names, either."
"You"d have been quite young."
"So if that"s us . . ." He frowned, then burst into a grin and elbowed me. "Maybe we"re part of the witness protection program. That"d be cool, wouldn"t-?"
He stopped. His expression changed to worry. I kept my face blank. My acting skills were nowhere near his, so I always let him take center stage.
He turned to Ms. Morris. "If we were in the witness protection program, would that mean Dad . . .?" He swallowed. "Is Dad in trouble? He"s a lawyer and he can have some scary clients . . ."
Ms. Morris put her hand on his shoulder. "I"m sure it has nothing to do with your dad. It could just be a clerical error. We"ll investigate. In the meantime, they want us to take you to a group home in Buffalo, so they can sort all this out." She managed a weak smile. "It"s going to be a long night, boys. We won"t have time to stop and eat, but we"ll pick up dinner on the way, okay?"
We said it was. What else could we say? We finished packing and headed back to the city we"d left ten years ago. Buffalo.
Simon slept in the car for a couple of hours after we ate. I didn"t. I kept thinking about whether this was the right thing to do. Should I have tried harder to escape? The more I thought about it, the more I knew what Dad would have said. Take refuge with humans until he found us.
And if he didn"t find us? I wouldn"t think about that yet. For now, a group home was the safest place for Simon. And, maybe, the safest place for me. They"d have counselors there. I couldn"t tell them that I was a werewolf, but maybe they could help me make sure the wolf never hurt anyone again.
When we got to Buffalo, it was past midnight. Ms. Morris had taken a bunch of calls from her supervisor, trying to find a place for us. Finally, when we were in the city, she had an address.
We drove for about another fifteen minutes, then headed into an older area of town. Finally, we turned into the driveway of a big two-story house. White with yellow trim. A light blazed in the front window. The porch lights flicked on and the front door opened.
Ms. Morris twisted to face us. Simon was awake now, quiet, just looking around.
"We have a shortage of s.p.a.ces in Buffalo," she said. "Keeping you two together is important, I know. This is a new home, one that hasn"t even officially opened yet. You"ll have it all to yourselves for now. Sound good?"
Simon nodded.
A woman stepped onto the front porch. Short, gray-haired, chubby. She looked like someone"s grandmother.
"And there"s Mrs. Talbot," Ms. Morris said. "All ready for you. Let"s get you boys out of the car and into the house. I"m sure you"re exhausted."
We grabbed our bags from the trunk and trudged to the front door. Another woman appeared behind the first-younger, thinner, watching us carefully.
Mrs. Talbot greeted us with a huge smile.
"Welcome to Lyle House, boys," she said.
Divided.
One.
"We have to get out," I whispered. "Find an exit. Any exit. Then whistle, but softly. I"ll hear you."
Simon, Rach.e.l.le and Chloe ran in different directions. We had to search the factory before Dr. Davidoff and his armed gunmen found us.
Why was the director of our group home chasing us with armed gunmen? I had no idea, but I sure as h.e.l.l wasn"t going to stop to ask.
As the others ran off, I tried not to wince at the amount of noise they made. Davidoff and his guys would find us for sure. All they had to do was stop and listen.
d.a.m.n it, this shouldn"t have happened. And it wouldn"t have happened if Chloe had stuck to the plan. Sure, the reason she hadn"t stuck to it was because I"d disappeared just as we"d been about to escape, and she"d found me in the middle of my first Change into a werewolf. Before we could run, the group home"s psychiatrist, Dr. Gill, had spotted us.
Chloe had stayed behind to search for me because she knew my brother Simon wouldn"t leave otherwise, and she knew it was more important that he get away because he was the one who could find our dad, and get everyone out of Lyle House.
So I suppose, if I was being generous, I should say she did the smart thing. I could say she did the brave thing. I could say she"d done the decent thing. But I wasn"t feeling generous.
If she hadn"t stayed, they would have gotten away. Simon would be safe, and she would be safe, and I wouldn"t be flipping out worrying about either of them getting shot. So as I jogged along the hall, I cursed her for a hundred kinds of stupid. It gave me something to do.
When I heard her shriek, it didn"t matter that it was only a brief cry, quickly m.u.f.fled. I still barreled around the corner, ready to curse her to her face. Then I saw her with Simon, his arms around her, her face buried against his chest.
Great. He must have accidentally surprised her. That wasn"t hard. Chloe could watch me changing into a wolf without flinching, but if you walked up behind her, she jumped like a scared rabbit. Made no sense at all. Well, maybe it did, if the girl was a necromancer, and that "person" sneaking up could be a ghost or a zombie. Again, though, I wasn"t in the mood to be generous, especially not now, seeing her cuddled up against Simon. We didn"t have time for that.
Before I could give her h.e.l.l, she lifted her head from Simon"s chest, and the horror in her eyes stopped the words in my throat.
"It was a ghost," she said, stepping back from Simon. "I"m sorry."
Not justa ghost. They might spook her, but she looked like she was going to be sick. I stepped forward. I wanted to ask what she"d seen, but instead I said, "I think someone heard you. We gotta go."
She nodded and started to turn, then paused to stare through an open doorway. I walked over and tried to see what she was looking at. There was nothing there. Nothing I could see anyway.
"It"s repeating. Like a film loop," she said. She turned away sharply. "Never mind. We-"
"-have to go," I said as footsteps echoed down a distant hall. I could tell it was just one person, but still not good.
I nudged Chloe and the three of us started to move. Then an ear-splitting whistle rang out. Rae. d.a.m.n it. This was why I hadn"t wanted her along. Simon knew how to be careful-we"d been on the run all our lives. Chloe . . . well, at least she had the sense to know when she was in over her head and listen to me. Rae seemed to think we were playing hide-and-seek here.
I got around the corner just in time to stop Rae from blindly throwing open a door under an "exit" sign. I eased it open, sniffing and listening for signs that anyone was on the other side.
I looked into the yard. The factory was in an old industrial area right next to the residential neighborhood where Lyle House was a few streets away. It was still operational, but now it was the middle of the night, and the yard was empty. Dr. Davidoff and his gunmen were in the factory. So the warehouse a few hundred feet away should be empty. Safe.
When I pointed it out, Rae looked at me like I was nuts.
"It"s a mile away," she said.
"Quarter mile, tops. Now go. We"re right behind-" The footsteps were louder now, others joining the first pair. At least three people, all headed straight for us. "They"re coming. You guys go. I"ll distract them, then follow."
"Uh-uh," Simon said. "I"ve got your back. Chloe, take Rae and run."
"No, you should-" I began.
"You want distractions." Simon cast a fog spell and tendrils of gray drifted up from the floor. "I"m your guy." He turned to Chloe. "Go. We"ll catch up."
Chloe hesitated. I did, too. I wanted to tell Simon to go with her, and I"m sure she wanted to say she"d stay and help. There wasn"t time to argue, though, and after a moment, Chloe nodded and stepped toward the door.
Rae was long gone. Surprise, surprise. There was a girl who didn"t care about anyone but herself, which was why her safety hadn"t crossed my mind so far. If I saw a guy pull a gun on her right now, I"d shout a warning, maybe try to distract him. That"s it, though, and I"m not ashamed of that. It"s more than she"d do for me.
I stopped Chloe. "Get in the warehouse and don"t leave. For one hour, don"t even peek out. If we don"t come, find a place to hole up. We"ll be back."
"Count on it," Simon said.
"Don"t stay in the warehouse if it"s dangerous, but that"ll be our rendezvous point. Keep checking in. If you can"t stay, find a way to leave a note. We willmeet you there. Got it?"
She watched me like she was committing every word to memory, but I wished I had more time. Wished I could have written it down for her. Wished I was sure that the guns and the ghost hadn"t upset her so much that she"d forget what I said the moment she walked away. I was pretty sure she wouldn"t. But I wished I could be absolutely sure.
"They must be back here," a man yelled. "Search every room!"
I pushed Chloe toward the doorway.
Simon mouthed something to her, flashed a thumbs up.
"Showtime," he said to me, as Chloe ran toward the warehouse.
Two.
Simon launched another fog spell as our pursuers came around the corner. No one questioned why the hall suddenly filled with mist. They just muttered and coughed as they made their way through, probably figuring we"d found some harmless chemicals in one of the storerooms. Dad says if humans can explain away the supernatural, they will. I used to think that made them stupid. But it"s just Occam"s razor-don"t go looking for complex explanations when a simple one will do.
As they fought through the fog, it was tempting to race out the back door after the girls. Tempting, but dumb. Even if Davidoff"s guys didn"t notice, that"s the first place they"d expect us to go.
So we raced around the corner. Sure enough, a second later, Davidoff said, "There"s an exit here. Mike? Sue? Go out and take a look around. I"ll-"
"Move it, guys!" I said, in a whisper loud enough to make Davidoff stop. "In that room. Go!"
We ran to the nearest door making as much noise as we could. Simon cast another fog spell as I opened the door, then shut it. He tugged off his shoes and motioned for me to do the same. I didn"t need to, but I did it anyway, and we took off, running silently down the hall.
The trick didn"t buy us a lot of time. We pulled it again, but after the first one, Davidoff only sent Mike-the guy we"d seen earlier, with the gun-inside to check it out, while they continued on. The third time, they barely peeked in the door. The fourth, they didn"t even slow down, which was fine, because that"s when we hadducked into the room and taken cover.
We waited until their footsteps died down in the distance, before slipping out and doubling back. When we reached the first corner, Simon wanted to continue on the way we"d come.
"The exit"s this way," he said when I balked.
"Yeah, and it"s the only one we pa.s.sed. Meaning they"re going to make a beeline for it when they figure out we headed back. We won"t make it to the warehouse before they can look out and see us. There"s no place else we can go once we"re through that door."
Simon only hesitated a second, then waved for me to lead on. I went down a side hall, looping back toward the main doors, where we"d come in. When we got to the next corner, I heard voices and stopped Simon.
Two people were speaking down by the main doors. Was one of them the factory"s security guard? We could talk our way past him. Well, Simon could.
I peered around the corner. My night vision is good, but my regular vision isn"t any different from most people"s. I could make out two figures. A man and a woman. Neither was the security guard.
Simon glanced out as I pulled back.
"Can we take them?" he said.
"Maybe if we can separate them."
The words had just left my mouth when a radio squawked. The woman answered, and I heard Davidoff"s voice on the other end, telling them to split up-one staying to guard the main exit, the other moving to the rear one.
When I told Simon, he grinned. "Perfect timing."
We pulled back until the woman headed to the back exit alone.
"I"ll take him," I whispered. "You wait here."