by Jus Accardo
Alex frowned. “That sounds a lot like underestimating the enemy.”
“We’ll bring everyone we can. Trust me, Alex. This will work out.”
Something in her voice sent chills down my spine. Like there was more to the sentence. This will work out—the way it was meant to. It wasn’t that I didn’t trust her, but I knew where her loyalties lay. To her gift and the weird code that went with it.
Still, I didn’t have a choice. I already had a backup plan if things went south. Picking up the phone, I scrolled through Kiernan’s contacts until I found Dad. Pushing send, I hoped—for a reason I couldn’t quite put my finger on—that it wasn’t really my dad that answered.
“Hello, Deznee.”
I sighed. And so went hope. “I guess my sister from the same mister told you she lost her phone, eh?”
“I’m surprised it took you this long. You must be in a great deal of pain by now.”
I glanced around the room. Ginger nodded encouragingly. Dax, who’d been standing behind Mom’s chair, was now beside me, bent close so he could hear Dad’s voice.
“I don’t want to die.”
Dad chuckled. “What is it you’re trying to say?”
“I’ll do it. I’ll turn myself in. Just swear to me that you’ll bring the cure, and I’ll do it.”
“I don’t know, Deznee. While Kiernan informed me that your abilities have progressed, I’m not sure we really have need of them. And to be frank, I haven’t decided if I’m going to waste the last bit of Supremacy cure on you. It would be pointless to make you suffer if we choose to administer it to someone else. I’m not that cruel.”
The room was starting to spin. The chill was back and tiny, pulsing barbs of pain trickled down my shoulder, spreading to every limb. “Please—”
“Now if you were to offer me 98, then we might have a deal. Your ability, as useful as it might be, isn’t offensive. 98 is far more useful to me right now.”
“No,” I growled. I had to bite the inside of my lip to keep from screaming. “I’ll suck it up and die slowly. Then you lose both of us. It’s me or nothing.”
Seconds passed, but they felt like hours. Possibly days. Finally, he sighed. “I suppose I can work with it. After all, the animal is so obsessed with you, it won’t be long before he does something foolish.”
“Where and when?”
“Next Monday. At Parkview Field.”
“Next week? I won’t make it till then, and you know it. Now. It needs to be right now.”
Voice low, I could almost see the smile on the bastard’s face. “Tomorrow. Eleven p.m.”
“I don’t know if—”
“Tomorrow. Eleven p.m. I’ll see you then.” A pause. “God willing.”
And the line went dead.
…
The poison had peaked. I could feel it, moving through my blood and under my skin. It was sapping up all my energy. Stealing my time away. When I came to around noon, I was positive I wouldn’t make it to eleven p.m. Every nerve ending was on fire, and twice I started screaming, convinced Dad was standing over my bed. Since pills didn’t really help anymore, I spent the majority of the day drifting in and out of sleep.
“How ya feeling?” Alex was in the corner, sitting in the chair Kale had been in each time I’d previously visited the land of the living.
“Remind me never to do this again.”
He smiled, but it was forced.
“Where’s Kale?”
He hesitated. “Ginger kinda had Jade drug him.”
“What?”
“I’ll give the dude this—he’s got some amazing stamina. I don’t think he’s closed his eyes in over four days. He was getting snappy. Ginger thought it’d be dangerous, so she asked him to please get some sleep. When he refused, she took his choice away.”
“Jesus.”
“It was pretty funny, actually. You would’ve appreciated it. They sent Jade in to do it—for obvious reasons. He freaked. Tried to choke her.”
“Of course. I always miss the good stuff. Is she dead?” I was sure he didn’t miss the hopeful tone in my voice.
He frowned. “Invincible, remember?”
Silence.
“I have something I need to say,” he blurted suddenly. “And it’s not easy, and it sucks, so I’m hoping you’ll just let me get through it, okay?”
I nodded. No reason to tell him he could stand there and sing show tunes, and I’d be in no position to stop him.
“I’m sorry. About what happened with that girl at Roudey’s a few years ago. About what happened at Sumrun. I tend to be…impulsive. I don’t think things through. At Sumrun, I wanted to hurt Kale. I wanted to show you he was weak, and I was strong. I could protect you.” He sighed and lifted his head toward the ceiling. “But you have to believe I never meant to kill him—no matter what it looked like.”
“But you were going to hand him over to my dad?”
He lowered his head to stare at me. “Absolutely. And that I won’t apologize for. I thought I was doing what was best for you, Dez. Because you’re the only one that mattered.” Shoulders squared, he added, “Matters.”
“Alex—”
“I get it. You love him. And ya know what? I can see he loves you. The way he refused to leave your side to sleep, the look in his eyes when he realized what Jade had done—he’d do anything for you. But I want you to know I would, too.”
He stood and took two steps toward the door. “I’m not asking you to pick between us. You’ve made your choice, and I’ll live with it. But you needed to know—really know—that everything I’ve ever felt for you has been one hundred percent real.”
34
“Everyone is clear about their part, correct?” Ginger stood in front of the Hummer in a crisp blue housecoat with matching orthopedic shoes. I felt sorry for anyone on the street that mistook her for a helpless little old lady.
Parkview Field was a playground that had been under construction for three years now. The park was at the top of a hill and had cliffs bordering one side. They were in the process of putting in a six-foot fence around the property. Without it, it’d be too easy for some kid to chase his soccer ball right over the edge.
The plan was for Kale and me to enter through the front gate and head straight through to the other end. By the cliffs. The layout of the park made it easy for Ginger and the rest of the guys to watch from a safe point on the outside and fall in, surrounding the place when they saw Dad and Aubrey come through. The perfect bottleneck scenario.
I was originally supposed to go in alone—which honestly scared me a little but made total sense. Why waltz in with the two things Dad wanted most? But Kale, completely uncompromising, refused to let me go without him. He’d used my own words against me. We’re a team. It’s us against everything else.
After a while, it was obvious Kale wasn’t going to budge. Ginger’s options were limited. Either let him go with me or drug him again. In the end, I think she agreed because she knew she’d never fool him twice. He was staying clear of everyone—especially Jade—which kind of made me happy.
On the ride to the park, I drifted in and out. Watery images and strange sounds lingered on the edge of consciousness. Brandt was there again. He held my hand as Kale talked about what great humanitarians the people at Denazen were. At one point, Dad was there, Mom wrapped in his arms laughing and smiling in a way that made all the wrong things right in my world. It was a scene right out of my childhood wishes. A happy family.
By the time we arrived and I pulled myself from the backseat of the Hummer, I couldn’t be sure what was reality and what was a hallucination. Everything was too loud. Too sharp. My legs were rubbery, and my muscles all ached like I’d been hit by a bus.
Sweat beaded across my forehead and dampened the back of my neck, yet I couldn’t pull the hoodie tight enough. The ground was covered in a thick layer of fluffy snow. That would have been odd enough considering it was only September, but even stranger was the snow’s color. Gre
en and a bit stringy. Snow-grass.
“Ready?” Kale stepped up beside me.
I pulled the hood over my head and tucked the sleeves over my fingertips, nodding. Words were painful and took too much effort. I’d been sucking on razor blades. That was the only explanation. I forced myself to swallow, tasting their metallic tang. Like that funky aftertaste you get when carrots aren’t quite ripe—only with razor-y sharpness.
Ginger stood in front of me. Her eyes seemed bigger than normal, and her voice echoed just a little. “Jade will go in behind you. In case something happens, I want her there.”
In case something happens. That must mean in case I didn’t make it. I wanted to argue that Kale could easily carry my corpse back—but then remembered he couldn’t. Not if they wanted something to bury. Somehow it wouldn’t be fair to hand me over to Mom as a pile of ash. Here’s your daughter, Sue. Sorry about the mess—I should have brought a Tupperware container.
The scene brought an insane giggle to my lips. They all turned to stare.
“We need to hurry,” Mom said, reaching for my face. I batted her hand away. She was going to pull my hair out. I just knew it. I refused to die bald.
“Dez, can you walk?” Kale’s voice.
Something deep inside me stirred. Kale wouldn’t steal my hair. He wouldn’t feed me razor blades. I nodded, letting him wrap his arm around my shoulders and steer me to the path.
The walk down the hill was surreal for some reason. It might have been trying to walk in the weird, sludge-like snow-grass, or it might have been the feeling that it wasn’t really me. Like I was there doing it but also there watching it as a spectator. Like a movie with really bad camera angles. Several times my legs gave out. Kale caught me carefully just before I toppled into the snow-grass. I was thankful. It smelled bad, and I was sure it’d stain. I didn’t want to ruin Meela’s sweatshirt.
We made it down the hill to the cliffs in no time, which was a little disappointing. As I stood there, something poked me. Something I was supposed to remember. I’d caught a glimmer of it here and there as we made our way down the path, but no matter how hard I chased it, the thing always skated just out of reach.
Wrinkled hands. Green ink. Urgent teeth. No. That wasn’t right. Not urgent teeth. Urgent instructions. Wait till you’re there. Then look. Shaking, I slipped my hand into the right front pocket of the hoodie, pulling out the small note Ginger had slipped me before we’d left the cabin. As soon as Kale turned away for a second, I flipped it open.
At first I couldn’t read it. The words on the paper blurred and jumped around. When they finally stayed still for a moment, I saw two simple words. That’s all. Two words that made my pulse pound stronger and the blood in my veins turn to ice.
I’m sorry.
“Kale,” I whispered, swallowing the impossibly large lump in my throat. My voice sounded funny. Small. Garbled. I hoped he could understand. “Do you love me?”
He tensed. “You know that I do.”
I held my breath for a moment to keep from panicking. Reality wasn’t just fraying at the edges anymore, it was splitting right down the middle. I had to keep it together. Just a little bit longer. “If you love me, then you’ll do something for me, right?”
He was cautious, eyeing me suspiciously. “I would do anything for you.”
I nodded. “I’m going to ask you to do something for me. Something you’re not going to like.”
He dropped my arm and took a step back.
The tears fell. I couldn’t hold them back. They slipped down my cheeks, leaving searing, possibly even smoking, trails in their wake. Beneath me, the snow-grass shuddered. The sky quaked. Time was coming to a stop. Now or never.
I had to concentrate on each word so hard, I thought my brain might explode. “It’s something you swore you’d never do, but I’m going you to ask to—to do it anyway. Even though it will be hard. It will be horrible. I need you to do this.”
Realization sparked in his face. “They’re not coming. Ginger’s backup.”
“Isn’t this a surprise,” Dad said.
I turned to see him standing on the path behind us, Aubrey on one side, Kiernan on the other. Somehow this time I knew he wasn’t a hallucination. This was the real deal.
“Don’t come any closer,” Kale breathed.
“Do you really want to be the reason she dies, 98?”
I pulled back on his arm. “Remember what I asked you a few minutes ago?” Pale, he nodded. I let out a breath I hadn’t realized I’d been holding. Or maybe, it had been holding me.
Turning to Dad, I said, “Deal’s a deal. If you let Aubrey heal me, I’ll go with you.”
“No!” Kale roared. Blue eyes wild, he grabbed my face and turned it to his. I knew it wasn’t real—couldn’t be real—but I relished the sensation. “Me! I’m the one who will go. That’s what you asked.”
I should have known he didn’t understand. He’d been too accepting of the whole thing. “It’s not. I want you to let me go.”
Dad cleared his throat. “This argument is really very pointless.”
Kale’s lips twisted, and he actually laughed. At least, I think it was a laugh. He could have mooed for all I knew. Everything was hollow and watery sounding. Staying on my feet was becoming close to impossible. The only thing keeping me up was the aversion I had to the funny snow-grass. It seemed to have gotten thicker. Deeper. It certainly smelled worse. Like death and decay. The smell that emanates from roadkill baking in the summer sun for days.
“You can’t touch me,” he said. “And if you try to touch her, I’ll kill you.”
Dad, unmoved by Kale’s threat, smiled. “Your backup appears to be—late.”
He knew. Never try to lie to a liar. Dad was one of the best. Hell, he’d fooled me into thinking he was a normal lawyer for seventeen years.
“Where are they?” I managed to spit. To me, it sounded something like, Werarhtha, but I hoped the insinuation was clear.
Dad laughed. He obviously understood. “They’re fine, don’t worry. I have employees preventing them from entering the park.” He added, “In a very peaceful manner. I’d say it was very generous of me considering my mood.
“You see, Deznee, I’ve changed my mind. I know if I left here with you now, 98 wouldn’t rest until you were free. Eventually, he’d slip up, and I’d have you both—but that’s too easy as you’ve managed to destroy what little patience I had with you.” He folded his arms. “98 will come with us, and Aubrey will cure you. Those are the terms. If you decide you want the Supremacy cure, you may seek me out, and we’ll discuss it.”
I opened my mouth to object, but a series of earth-shattering coughs shook my entire body. Despite my disgust for the snow-grass, I collapsed. Fluffy, my ass. I landed on the ground with a jar, the stench of rot triggering my gag reflex.
“I need weapons, Deznee. To fight the war you started. Had you not been whoring yourself out to the neighborhood the night 98 escaped, none of this would have happened. I could have happily shipped you off to college, gotten you out of my hair, and moved on with my life. This will solve two problems. I will get my favorite weapon back, and you will learn not to piss me off.” Dad took a step closer. “A lesson you will need to learn if you hope to get the Supremacy cure.”
“No deal,” I snarled, grabbing Kale’s arm and getting to my feet. “Let’s go. We’ll find another way.” Lies. Bitter, rotting lies. But I would have said anything to get out of there. To get Kale away from Dad. To get myself away from that smell. Anything. But Dad wasn’t letting go.
He’d never let go.
“The only one who can stop the spread and reverse the poison is Aubrey,” Dad pushed.
The toxic twins. He had a creepy obsession with touching Sixes. I tamped down another inappropriately timed giggle.
Waving a hand in front of my face, he chuckled. “She doesn’t look good. If you don’t hurry, 98, it will be too late. You’ll be responsible for yet another death.”
Besi
de Dad, Aubrey flashed a feral smile. “So what’ll it be, 98? Dez—”
“Or Denazen.” Kiernan smiled, revealing several rows of jagged, deadly looking teeth. Her jaw was longer than I remembered, and her skin had a slight sheen to it. Almost scaly.
Hallucination. It was just a hallucination. Not real.
Notreal. Notreal. Notreal.
My stomach rolled—and this time it wasn’t the poison. This is why I hadn’t told Kale to begin with. Obviously I didn’t want to die, but no way in hell did I want him going back to Denazen.
Kale was staring at me. Leaning close, he brushed the softest of kisses across my lips. With his thumb, he skimmed my cheeks, wiping away the fire-tears. More hallucinations—but this kind I was okay with. My memory deserved some serious kudos. It was almost as good as the real thing.
“I love you, Dez,” he whispered. Turning to Dad, he said, “Make her better.”
“We have a deal, then?”
“Anything. As long as you fix this.”
“No!” Jade came tearing down the path. It pissed me off to see she had no trouble navigating the snow-grass. Even more of a reason to hate her.
“Jade Banna,” Dad said. “Formidable. I take it you dispatched my employee?”
She put herself between Dad and Kale. “Sending a telekinetic to keep me grounded? Someone hasn’t done their homework.”
I wondered what she’d done? Bitched him to death? Maybe there was more to her.
Dad chuckled. “Indeed. What would you say if I were to offer you a job, my dear?”
Jade didn’t answer right away. When she finally made her choice, the movie in my head had her shaking hands with Dad and high-fiving Kiernan and Aubrey right before running a victory lap around us.
In reality, she flipped him off.
“Are you certain?” Dad pressed. “I could offer you more than you can possibly imagine. You’d never want for anything again. Your family could come out of hiding, free to live a normal life.”
“No, thanks.”