Brandishing a cell phone like a weapon, she shepherded her kids to the handicapped stall. “I mean it.”
Cee covered her mouth with her hand, giggling.
“Sorry. We’re just leaving.” Simon took Cee by the arm, then hooked his other arm around Raven’s. “Let’s go.”
Once outside, they stopped at the end of the long hallway as Cee dissolved into a fit of laughter.
Raven couldn’t help but join in. Once she started, she couldn’t seem to stop.
Simon leaned back against the wall, watching them, and waiting.
Finally, Raven wiped her eyes. “Are you hungry?” she asked Cee. “We could get lunch and talk?”
Wiping her eyes with an eerily identical gesture, Cee nodded. Looking in both directions, she glanced longingly at the Panda Express restaurant. “I could eat.”
Simon linked arms with both of them and they made their way down the mall.
Once at the counter, they let Cee order whatever she wanted, which turned out to be six items. Raven ordered a meal, as did Simon. Once Simon paid, they each carried the loaded-down trays over to a secluded table where they had a good view of the doorway.
Cee reached for the food. While she scarfed down sweet-and-sour chicken as if she hadn’t eaten in a week, Simon filled her in on the massive manhunt for them.
“I knew someone was looking for me,” she said with her mouth full. “But I didn’t know why. I figured they think I killed the professor.”
Leaning forward, Simon waited until he had her full attention. “Did you?”
She didn’t even stop chewing. “Of course not. Why would I?”
Raven had to clamp her mouth in a tight line to keep from commenting. She wanted to see what Simon would do.
Simon smiled pleasantly. “You didn’t have a reason?”
Stuffing another fragrant piece of chicken in her mouth, Cee shook her head and continued chewing.
“The people that are looking for you have nothing to do with the police,” he finally said. “I used to work for them. A man named Ross is running the manhunt for both you and for Raven.”
“But why?” Cee looked from one to the other.
Still using his confidential tone, Simon shrugged. “Something the professor did is making Ross want you both pretty badly.”
“Did?” Cee shook her head. “He didn’t do much. Mostly, he was like my father.”
That did it. “Like your father?” Raven exploded, pushing out of her chair. “How can you say such a thing? He put you in a cage, for goodness’ sake. And if he treated you the same way he treated me, he did things no respectable father would do.”
Cee barely even paused in her chewing. “Like what?” There was only a mild curiosity in her voice, as if she truly didn’t know what Raven meant.
Raven sat back down with a thud. Face coloring, she found herself at a lack for words, staring at the teenager, hands clenched in her lap. When Simon’s hand closed around hers under the table, she stiffened.
“It’s all right,” he said. “Breathe.”
So she did. In and out. In and out.
Watching them, Cee polished off the last of the sweet-and-sour chicken and started on the rice. Mouth full, she shook her head. “Are you going to explain or not?”
Explain. How did one explain to a true innocent about a monster?
“Do you have parents?” Raven asked. “Someone who taught you right from wrong?”
“Not that I know of.” Finishing her rice in record time, the girl reached for the last egg roll. “Just the professor. Why?”
Cee was alone in the world, just as Raven had been. While she was sure that had significance beyond the professor not having to worry about nosy relatives, Raven couldn’t figure out what.
Simon squeezed her hand. “Are you sure she’s not your sister?”
Raven studied Cee, who continued to eat and watch them with interest. “Positive. Though we look identical, if she’s nineteen, I was ten when she was born. My parents had been dead five years by then.”
“As far as you know.”
“Oh, I know,” she said grimly. “I attended their funeral.”
“You were only five.”
“I still remember bits and pieces.” And the gut-wrenching feeling that her world had been turned completely upside down.
“Was it an open casket?”
“I don’t remem—” She bit her lip. “I don’t think you want to go there.” Delivering the warning in a soft voice, she leaned forward. “If you’re trying to say my parents are still alive, stop right now. There’s no way they could have been alive and left me. I was made a ward of the state. They loved me. I know. They would have come for me.”
Though he nodded, he didn’t look convinced. “Fine. Back to my original statement. Something the professor did to you both has to be the reason Ross is pulling out all the stops to find you.”
She shook her head, more than willing to get back on track. “He did horrible things to us and they want to punish us for that? Their priorities are screwed up.”
Simon looked from Raven to Cee, his expression thoughtful. “What about experiments? Any implants of any kind? Drugs? Tests?”
Pushing away her now-empty tray, Cee leaned back in her chair, a contented look on her young face. “That was good. Thanks.”
“You’re welcome. Cee, did the professor do any tests on you?”
“Of course he did.” Again she sounded supremely unconcerned. “He was always testing for something. That was his way of showing he cared.”
“What a bunch of—” Raven had to bite back the words.
“Crap?” Cee finished for her. “Maybe to you, but he really cared about me. He said ones like me usually don’t live long and he wanted to make certain I did.”
“Ones like you?” Both Simon and Raven pounced on the words. “What did he mean?”
“I dunno.” She gave them a smile so exactly like Raven’s it was eerie. “I always took it to mean he thought I was special.”
Raven wanted to curse. This was getting them exactly nowhere. “Where do you live, Cee?”
Still supremely unconcerned, Cee grinned. “Wherever I can find a place to crash. I was staying at my house, but ever since the professor died, I’ve been moving around. One thing he taught me was to avoid the police. As soon as they showed up, I peaced out.”
“Peaced out?”
“Left.” Her grin widened. “I’ve snuck back in there twice since, to get my backpack and clothes. Since he homeschooled me, I don’t have any friends, so I’ve pretty much been on my own.”
“That’s where being able to change into a wolf comes in handy,” Raven muttered.
“I was just about to say that.” Openmouthed, Cee stared. “How did you know?”
“Because that’s what I did. I’ve been living up in the mountains, staying wolf as long as I could. It’s a lot warmer, isn’t it?”
“And easier, too, most of the time.” Cee’s grin faded. “But didn’t you get lonely?”
Inexplicably, staring at the younger girl’s forlorn expression, Raven’s throat began to ache. “I didn’t think I did,” she said slowly, squeezing Simon’s hand. “But now I realize I must have been. Though I always had my wolves for company.”
“Wolves? Awesome.” Cee stood, wiping her hands down the front of her blue jeans. “Well, thanks for the food and everything, but I’ve got to go. The professor said if anything like this happened, I should always keep moving.”
Though she had to clench her teeth at the way the teenager kept quoting the professor as if he were a god, Raven couldn’t help but wonder out loud at Cee’s words. “If anything like what happened?”
Shifting her weight from one dirty tennis shoe to the other, Cee shrugged. “You know, like this? Where people are looking for me. He told me they might, someday.”
Raven struggled to contain her excitement. Now maybe they could finally get somewhere. “Did he tell you why?”
“Nope.�
�� Lifting her hand in a casual wave, Cee turned to leave. “I’m going to peace out now.”
“Wait.” Raven started to grab her arm, then thought better of it. “You can’t go. I mean, we’re sort of in this together.”
Rocking back on her heels, Cee frowned with impatience. “No, we’re not. I don’t even know you.”
“Look,” Simon stepped in, his voice smooth and reasonable. “The same people are after you both. We should stick together.”
“Why? If we’re together and they find one, they’ve got us both. No way.” She started to walk off and got about three paces away before she stopped and turned. “Hey, do either of you have a cell phone?”
Simon nodded.
“Let me see it.” Cee held out her hand.
Showing no reluctance, Simon fished the phone out of his pocket and handed it over. Cee punched in some numbers and handed it back. “Now you’ve got my number. Call me later so I can store yours. I’ll be in touch.” And she sauntered off, looking like she hadn’t a care in the world.
Raven turned to Simon. “We can’t just let her go.”
“We don’t have a choice,” he said, dragging his hand across his jaw. “And what she said does make partial sense. For whatever reason, they want both of you. Why make it easier for them by having you both in the same place?”
“But she’s only nineteen.”
“And an adult. Come on.” He took her arm. “Let’s get on another bus and find a motel. I’ve got some cash. We need to get a room and figure out what we’re going to do.”
The exit door was only fifty feet away when Simon saw them. Two men, wearing military fatigues and dark sunglasses.
“Protectors,” Simon said softly. “Pretend a sudden interest in looking at costume jewelry.”
Casually, Raven turned into the store on her right, staring intently at a display of dangly earrings.
Gradually, she moved toward the back of the store, putting a large, center-aisle display between herself and the door. A moment later, Simon joined her.
They both jumped at a loud crash from farther down the aisle.
Out in the main part of the mall, someone screamed.
Chapter 13
T hough his first impulse was to dash out into the aisle, Simon grabbed Raven’s arm instead. “Stay put,” he whispered. “I think it’s a trick to flush us out.”
She shifted her weight from one foot to the other, her expression anguished. “But what if that was Cee? What if those two guys in camo grabbed her?”
His gut clenched. Though he really didn’t know the teenager, she looked so much like Raven he felt like they were old friends. “I’m pretty sure she left.”
“But you’re not sure. That sounded like a teenager.”
“It might have been a couple of kids, horsing around.”
“No.” She shook her head. “It’s not even three o’clock. I think most kids are still in school. It could have been Cee. We’ve got to help her.”
The salesclerk, a twentysomething, multipierced person of undetermined gender, wandered over. “Can I help you find something?” From the voice, he was a male. He hadn’t even reacted to the scream, which made Simon think such things were pretty common occurrences.
“No, thanks.” Raven flashed him a fake smile. “We were just looking.”
The kid nodded and turned to go.
“Wait.” Simon decided to ask. “Did you hear that sound a minute ago? It sort of sounded like a scream.”
“Yeah.” The guy grimaced. “Someone’s always yelling out there and stuff. Lots of teenagers come here and hang out.” He said the word teenagers with scorn, apparently to prove he was older. “Screams are pretty commonplace. I’ve gotten to where I just ignore them.”
Raven grimaced. “What if it was serious?”
“It wasn’t. Believe me.”
“Oh.” Simon kept his expression bland. “Thanks.”
“Yeah. Well, if you don’t need anything…” The clerk glanced at his watch, as though he had something important to do. When neither Simon nor Raven contradicted him, he wandered off to another part of the store.
“That still could have been Cee,” Raven said, the second he was out of earshot. “We won’t know unless we go and find out.”
“There’s no sense endangering you for a remote possibility.”
“Those two men might have grabbed Cee.” But now even Raven didn’t sound certain.
“If they did, there’s nothing we can do.” He held up a hand. “Right now. First, those guys are armed, I’d bet you anything. The last thing we want them to do is start shooting in a public mall.”
“Surely they wouldn’t do that?” Raven looked shocked. “Too many innocent people would get hurt.”
“Somehow, I don’t think they would care.” The new breed of Protectors, if they even still called themselves that, appeared to hold to an entirely different set of ethics than the ones Simon knew by heart.
“How dare they even call themselves Protectors,” Raven said. Simon stared, startled that her words exactly mirrored his thoughts.
“What? What’s wrong?”
He shook his head. “Nothing.” He listened, head cocked, then nodded. “Okay, I don’t hear any more screams. Let’s slowly walk out of this store. We’re going to head toward the exit.”
“But Cee—”
“I’ve got her number. I’ll call her later, once we’re out of this place.”
“Simon…”
“Listen to me.” He took her arm. “Do you want to go out there and announce your presence to those guys?”
“I—” She bit her lip.
“Then do as I ask.” At the stricken look on her beautiful face, he attempted to soften his tone. “Please. Cee probably left right before we did. Give the girl some credit. She’s smart. She’s been able to avoid them this long.”
Finally, Raven took a deep breath. “You know what? I’m tired of running.” She gave him a look full of defiance. “If they want me, I’m going to let them have me.”
His heart stopped dead in his chest. “Absolutely not. Eventually they’ve got to—”
“No.” Though her interruption sounded harsh, her smile wavered toward a kind of frightened bravery. “You’ve tried enough times to make them see reason. They’ve demonstrated over and over that they won’t. It’s time to move on to plan B.”
“Plan B. I don’t have a plan B.” He thought furiously, hoping they could settle on some sort of compromise. “Let’s talk about this more later. We can hash out something. You know we’ve got to work out a few more details.”
“No, we don’t. We’re going with my plan B.”
“What, committing suicide? That’s your plan? After all we’ve done trying to keep you alive?”
“Giving myself up wouldn’t necessarily mean they’d kill me.”
He cursed, low and furious. “Haven’t you learned anything in the time we’ve been together?”
Lifting her chin, she nodded. “I’ve learned a lot. And I don’t think we’re ever going to get any answers if we keep running.”
“Answers? Do you really think they’re going to tell you anything?”
“They might, if we go about this the right way. I told you, I’ve got a plan.”
Every second that he could keep her talking bought them time. The longer he could prevent her from doing anything drastic, the more chance the Protectors had left the mall.
“You’ve got a plan?” He spoke in a way to let her know he was only humoring her, knowing provoking her would make her more inclined to argue and discuss, rather than simply act. “And your plan would be?”
“I’m taking the battle public.” She glanced past him into the mall. “I’ll go out there and make a scene. They won’t dare to murder me in front of the entire world.”
“You never know.” He knew he spoke the truth, sadly. “This new breed of Protector seems to care about nothing but getting the job done.”
“Then I’ll go to t
he media. Tell my story. They’ll put me on the news. I would think such a thing would make headlines around the word, especially if I let them film me changing.”
If he’d thought she couldn’t shock him more, he’d been wrong. “Let them film you…Raven, you can’t. Sometimes I forget you led a sheltered life. The entire human part of the world doesn’t know about shape-shifters.”
Again she tilted her chin up at him in that stubborn way he was coming to know. “Maybe it’s time they found out.”
“No, it’s not.” He sighed. “You don’t know about this, because you weren’t given a proper shifter education, but that particular argument has been going on for years. Several people have tried over the centuries. Never a good thing.”
“Times have changed. People are more accepting. What is the worst that could happen? We’d be ostracized?”
At least this discussion was helping him stall for time.
“No, much worse than that. Mankind would panic. Suspicion would give way to hysteria, lynch mob mentality. The pack would be slaughtered.”
“Surely not. What with the discrimination laws in place now and all—”
“Those laws were made for humans. Not monsters.”
She hissed at his choice of word. “We’re not monsters.”
“Yeah? Try telling that to a panic-stricken mother who believes the big, bad werewolf is going to eat her baby. They’ve always thought us monstrous. That’s one thing that’s never going to change.”
Finally, Raven seemed at a loss for words. At least, she appeared to be mulling her decision over. Simon hoped she would reconsider. Just in case she didn’t, he needed to come up with a better plan. Something to distract her. Something that might actually work. But what?
A group of giggling teenage girls entered the store, glancing curiously at them before dismissing them as a couple of unhip old people. Still holding Raven’s arm, Simon stepped aside to let them pass, wondering if one of them had been the one who’d screamed earlier.
He sure as hell hoped so. He didn’t want to think about what it would mean if the Protectors had been successful in grabbing Cee.
“Please reconsider,” he said once they were alone again. “There’s got to be another way.”
Wild Wolf Page 17