Page 21

21

TREY

This starving car has been begging for me to feed it with gas for the last fifteen minutes. Every minute or so, it yells at me with an annoying Ding! Ding! and a flashing gas-tank icon.

If we run out of fuel, I’ll have to use my powers to hover this car down the road as if I was driving it, because the goddamn sun is up. I’m not confident I can do that. Arella and I on a rubber tire is one thing, but a whole-ass car? And for how long?

I’m so exhausted, I could close my eyes and fall asleep within seconds. I’m so hungry, my body is withering away. My head’s pounding, and I can barely breathe without my ribs throbbing. Using my powers will only weaken me more, and if I get so weak to the point that my powers shit out again, then what? I can’t imagine Arella will let me steal another?—

I gasp when I see it. It’s like a light at the end of the longest and darkest tunnel, right there on the corner of an intersection, next to a Subway. A sandwich sounds amazing right now. I doubt it’s open at—I check the clock on the dashboard—seven in the morning.

Arella peers up from the two receipts she’s written on. “Oh, goodie! A gas station. It’s about time.”

She has no idea.

“You gettin’ anywhere with that?” I pull the car up to the closest gas pump and shift the gear into park. I sense one person inside the general store. A maroon Hyundai Elantra is parked at the side of the building. It must belong to the employee inside.

Carefully, Arella folds the receipts in half, then half again, and slides them into the side pocket of her leggings. “I think I have to be at your secret rock for any of this to make sense. I have some theories though.”

“Like what?”

“What if when your mom asked you to take one hundred steps, she was thinking they were kid-size steps?”

“Tried that. I took kid steps and adult steps.” I unbuckle my seat belt and feel something sticky on my fingertips. This car is so fucking nasty.

“Could the song be a clue? Like the part that says, work twice as hard to the finish line. Maybe that means you need to take two hundred steps, not one hundred.”

Now that’s an idea! If that works, this woman is a genius. “I’ve never thought of that. How ’bout we take a trip there after we see the Healer?”

“Sounds good.”

“Great. Now could you help me shut this car off?”

She places her palm into mine, takes a deep breath, then nods. “I’m ready.”

I point at the ignition, and the engine stops rumbling. Arella’s about to open her door when I stop her with a hand over her thigh. “What are you doing?”

She gives me a what do you think I’m doing? look. “Going to the bathroom?”

“Can you wait ’til I’m done pumping?”

“Why?”

“Because I need you at an arm’s length at all times.”

“I’ll be fine.” She rolls her eyes, and I can’t understand why. Does she not realize how much danger we’re in? Or how much it’ll kill me if something happens to her again? She reaches for the door handle a second time.

I grab her arm. “Arella, please. Don’t make this harder for me than it already is. How can I protect you in there if I’m all the way out here?”

“I wouldn’t need your protection if you hadn’t put my life in danger in the first place.”

Ouch. I never meant for her to get hurt. Once I realized she could be, I did what I could, short of kidnapping her myself, to try to get her out of Victor’s reach. And that was back when I thought he had good intentions. If I had known he was a double agent, I one hundred percent would have tied her up and flown her to a deserted island—save her first, answer questions later.

“Arella...” My voice cracks at the end of her name. “I am so s?—”

She throws a hand up to silence me. “Whatever. I don’t want to fight about this. Just go pump the gas. I’ll hold it in.”

I stare at her as I debate whether or not to continue what I was gonna say. What good will an apology do anyway? No words can ever erase what’s happened to her.

My chest feels like it’s weighed down by a grand piano as I exit the vehicle. I barely read the machine’s screen as I press buttons. I can’t remove the way she just glared at me out of my head. As I stick the nozzle into the car, I clench my jaw to hold back from breaking down.

While the gas pumps, I glower into the distance with my back facing the car. I can’t let her see the bullshit falling from my eyes. I blink it away as I force my body to suck in a deep breath. Slowly, I let it out. Then I suck in another. I should do it again, but it’s hurting my ribs, so I quit.

When I’m done with the gas, Arella doesn’t speak to me as we head toward the general store. She barely even looks my way when I hold the door open for her. I know I deserve the silent treatment. That doesn’t make it hurt any less.

A bell above the door rings as the door shuts behind me. Bright lights shine above the many aisles of candies, snacks, and trucker hats. No one is at the counter. One person’s blah energy wafts toward me from behind a door marked office. employees only.

I’m like a puppy with separation anxiety as Arella and I head into separate bathrooms. It’s the first time she’ll be out of my sight since I got her away from Shadow Ridge. I’m hesitant to leave her, but if the Royals suddenly appear here, I’ll know it the second I sense more than one person.

After I do my business, I scrub my bloody hands off with soap and water at the sink. In the mirror, a gory version of myself stares back. Dark untrimmed beard. Bruised cheeks. Gashes in my lips. Lines of crusty red drip down my face. I look like a victim in a horror film.

I stick my head under the faucet to wash off my face and hair. It hurts like hell to bend into the sink like this. Still, I do it until the water runs clear. When I glance back up at the mirror, the blood is all gone—mostly.

I hiss through my teeth as I unzip my leather jacket. Spots of black and blue cover my torso. The area where my ribs are on fire has the worst discoloration. With a light finger, I press on it. Big mistake. It stings so much, it sends the pain all the way down to my calves. We’ve gotta get to that Healer—stat.

Carefully, I zip my jacket back up, then exit the bathroom. Since I took so long, I thought Arella would already be out here waiting for me, but she’s not. A quick glance around the general store shows no signs of her either.

I knock on the women’s bathroom door. “Arella?”

No answer.

I knock again, harder this time. “Arella?”

I curse that I can’t sense her. I turn the knob, expecting it to be locked, but it opens. The bathroom is empty. My stomach plummets.

I sprint across the aisles. “Arella!”

She’s nowhere in sight. Did she return to the car?

I bolt out of the store. At the car, I peer through the windows. She’s not here. Where the fuck is she? Did they find us? But how? I would have sensed them arrive. Arella would have screamed, and I definitely would have heard that.

A spike of anxiety comes from inside the store. I still only sense one person. Why are they suddenly—it hits me. She’s asking for help.

I rush back toward the store with so much adrenaline that I almost forget about the agony in my torso. The bell above the door rings as I sprint inside. Exactly like before, no one’s at the counter. Not missing a beat, I jump over the counter and burst through the office door.

At least, that’s what I was trying to do.

Instead, my body slams into the locked door, and it ignites a fire throughout my rib cage. I brace myself against the wall and groan as I press a hand against my side. It takes me a few seconds to recover. Once I do, I wave a hand at the doorknob and stumble in.

A thick man wearing glasses sits in a rolling chair behind a messy desk, with a cell phone pressed to his ear. He takes one glance at me, then his fear whips me in the face.

“Could you explain that again, sir?” a woman says from the phone.

I march up to the pudgy guy with the dennis name tag pinned to his polo shirt. I snatch the device from his hands and glare at the screen. The numbers 9-1-1 flash back at me. I press the big red End Call button, then chuck the phone onto his desk. “What did you tell them?”

Dennis puts his hands up in surrender. “I—I told them that some people appeared out of nowhere and kidnapped a young woman out of the store.”

“What?”

“I—I saw it happen on the security cameras.” He points to a computer monitor showing a bunch of empty aisles.

“What do you mean, some people appeared out of nowhere?”

“Like they j—just appeared. Like out of thin air. Then they disappeared.”

I pull at the ends of my hair. You’ve gotta be fucking kidding me. I just went through hell getting her away from them, and they stole her back within mere seconds with a goddamn Teleporter?

How did they even track us here? Arella assured me she was making me immune the whole time and— Wait... How did the Teleporter pop Arella out of here when she’s immune? There’s no way. Also, why did this man’s anxiety only spike now and not while I was in the bathroom when he would have seen it on the cameras? He’s lying, and I bet I know who told him to.

I grit my teeth together as I grab Dennis by his polo and yank him toward me. “Where is she?”

“I—I told you! They took her!”

“No, they didn’t.” I shake him. “Where. Is. She?”

The man shrinks into himself. “Please! Don’t hurt me! She just told me to call the police and to tell you that some guys appeared like magic and took her. I just did what I was told. She looked like she was bleeding. I thought I was helping her!”

“No! I’m the one trying to help her! Do you realize what you just did by calling the police? Now they know exactly where she is. They’re probably on their way right now.”

Some rustling comes from the other side of a door marked supplies . I drop Dennis back into his chair and run to the supply closet as the door swings open.

Arella slams into my chest on her way out. My ribs light on fire again. I take a moment to gasp for air, then I lay it on her.

“What the hell are you doing?” I grab her by her shoulders and shake her. I’m not trying to stay calm anymore. I can’t. I’ve never been so angry with her. “Why did you tell him to call the police?”

She shoves me off her. “Because I want someone I can trust to come get me.”

Ouch. She’d rather trust a bunch of strangers in uniforms than me. Add that to the growing list of things she’s said that will tear me apart at night. “Arella, the Royals have people planted all over the system. We can’t trust anyone! Now come on. We’ve gotta go before they get here.” Seizing her unwounded arm, I tug her toward the exit.

She jerks her arm back and stands her ground. “No. I’m not going anywhere with you.”

I press the heels of my palms against my temples. “Please, please, tell me you’re joking right now.”

“I’m not. Staying around you is dangerous. You’re the one they’re tracking. Not me. Wouldn’t it make the most sense for me to get as far away from the thing they’re tracking as possible?”

I toss my arms up and let them flop to my thighs. “Fine. Let’s say we do that. Where are you gonna go? It’s not like you can run back to your apartment, or Javina, or your grandparents. They’ll find you there. And once they do, who’s going to protect you?”

“They won’t find me. I’ll hide.”

I scoff. “Where?”

“I can’t tell you! What if they capture you and torture you for that information?”

I screw my eyes shut and pinch the bridge of my nose. She’s being difficult on purpose, and the only thing it’s accomplishing is wasting time. “You’re not telling me where because you don’t know of a place to go.”

“Okay, maybe that’s true. If it is, it’s not much different from your nonexistent plan, except my plan is better because mine doesn’t involve sticking around the thing they’re tracking!”

I hate that she’s mostly right. The only thing she’s got wrong is that, while I might be dangerous by association, I’m also the only person in this world who’s willing to die to keep her alive. She’s safer with me than she is without.

I debate throwing her over my shoulder, chucking her into the car, and driving away. Save her first, answer questions later. She can be mad at me all she wants. At least then she’ll be safe. The Royals could be here any?—

Pop!

From right outside the gas station, three people’s emotions enter my head.