Page 63

CHAPTER 62

HOLO DOESN’T THINK—HE obeys.

It’s instinct. Self-preservation. If you can’t fight, flee.

He knows Kai’s running, too. If they get separated, they’ll find each other again. They know the woods better than anyone. And they always stick together.

Pretty soon he hears footsteps, quick and light behind him.

There she is , he thinks. Knowing her, she’ll probably pass him any minute. Laugh at him as she leaves him in the dust.

I’m going as fast as I can, Kai. We just have to get away.

Brambles scrape his legs. Branches whip his face. He doesn’t feel them. He doesn’t feel anything but the need for escape. He has to go where the wolves went. To the higher ground. Higher’s always better.

He sprints through a forest obstacle course, dodging thickets, scrambling over fallen trees. His legs burn with fatigue. He can’t hear his sister’s footsteps anymore, not over the hard, rasping sound of his breath. He just has to trust that she’s there. Or maybe she’s split off to give their pursuers two targets. It doesn’t matter. They’ll meet later on top of the ridge. They knew how to hide where no one can find them. They’ll wait there until it’s safe. And when it is, they’ll rescue Wendy. They can do anything, as long as they’re together.

He hears thrashing in the brush behind him.

Kai! She’s getting closer. He slows, just a little, so she can catch up. So she can race by him, smiling.

Crash! Something slams into him from behind. Pain shoots through his whole body like fire.

It isn’t until he’s flat on the ground, with a panting, two-hundred-pound body cursing and pinning him down, that Holo realizes his mistake. It was never Kai behind him.

It was a man.

An enemy.

An FBI agent.