It isn't fair. This should be like Desmond thinks it is—totally cool. We shouldn't have to live in the shadows, hiding from our own government.
It makes me think a little more about Elzie's agenda. Getting rid of everybody human isn't the answer, but there must be something we can do. Not just to save the natural world the way she wants to, but to save all of us.
It should have taken us around forty-five minutes to get to the old naval base. We make it in twenty. Elzie stops us at an embankment shored up with boulders. When we peer over it, we see a long stretch of flat land on the other side of the chain-link fence, acres of pavement beyond it, flat warehouse-type buildings past that.
"It's a big place," I say.
She nods.
"Do you have any idea where they keep their prisoners?"
"No. I'm going to scout around a bit. You wait here for me."
"I don't think that's such a good idea."
"You should listen to him, cousin," a new voice says.
We turn to find Cory sitting on his haunches looking at us. He's in human form but he still gives off a doggish vibe.
How did he get so close without either of us noticing?
Well, with me it's not such a big surprise, I guess, but Elzie's been at this a lot longer than I have. You'd think she would have twigged to his presence.
"And why the hell are you wearing those goofy masks?" he asks.
I want to tell him that the surf band Los Straitjackets wears them for gigs and they're a pretty cool band, but Elzie's already talking.
"You know they've got cameras in the wildlife refuge?" she says. "Without these, they'd have our pictures on file. Maybe they could use them to track us down."
"So go in your real shapes."
"Yeah, like a mountain lion trotting through their property's not going to send up any warning flares."
"Point taken. But you look like a couple of kids playing Halloween."
"If you're not here to help," Elzie tells him, "you should just go away."
He shrugs and turns his attention to me. "Do you remember what I told you about keeping a low profile? And alliances? Are you sure this is the choice you want to make?"
"This isn't about politics," I say. "It's about stepping up when someone's in a jam."
He looks from her to me. "So which one of you's in a jam?"
Elzie mutters, "Loser," and turns her attention back to our target.
"I'm serious," he says, "because Danny Reed doesn't need rescuing."
"What the hell is that supposed to mean?" Elzie says.
I can hear an angry growl in her voice.
"Well," Cory drawls. "Right now he's sitting in his brand new apartment waiting to start his brand new government job in the morning."
"Bullshit."
"I have it on good authority."
"Yeah? And whose would that be?"
"Auntie Min's."
"You know I can check that out."
"Be my guest. She says the whole charade of him getting taken down was so that nobody would start sniffing around asking questions. I guess they didn't figure on you going all hero to bust him out."
"Who's Auntie Min?" I ask.
"Queen of the street cousins," Cory says. "She's over in the cardboard city under the Santa Feliz Boulevard overpass."
"How does she know?" Elzie asks.
"She said she's seen it coming for awhile."
"Why wouldn't she have told me?"
Cory shrugs. "You know how it is. That's a pretty serious accusation. Nobody's going to come right out and say it, based only on a feeling."
"Except she's Auntie Min. Everybody knows she's a mojo woman."
"I know," Cory says. "All the more reason for her to be sure first."
Elzie seems to shrink inside herself for a moment. I wonder what her face looks like behind the mask.
"Crap," she finally says.
"I'm sorry to have to be the one to tell you," Cory tells her.
"And that's why you came all the way out here?"
Cory shakes his head. "This is a holding facility for those of us who don't want to play the Feds' game. I'm here for the same reason you are, scouting a way in. The difference is, the cousins I'm looking for are actually in there."
"And you're going to break them out. Some low profile you're keeping."
"Oh I'm going to remain invisible," he tells her. "Like you, I'm just doing some recon for them. It's only natural that they'd break themselves out, but they need to know the lay of the land. Speaking of which ..."
He tips a finger against his brow and points it at me. Then he's up and over the fence so fast I can hardly register the movement.
"Top wire's got juice," he says when he lands on the other side.
Then, just like that, there's a coyote in his place. It turns away from us, loping toward the buildings.
"Aren't we going with him?" I ask.
"He doesn't need our help."
She turns and starts to walk fast, back the way we came. I look across the big empty space, trying to spot Cory, but even my night vision can't penetrate that far into the darkness.
"I'm sorry about how things worked out," I say when I catch up to Elzie.
She looks at me, but keeps on walking. I don't have to see her features to know she's upset.
"No biggie," she says. "I'm getting used to it. Wasn't your fault anyway."
"I know that. But it must be hard to find out that somebody you thought you knew really well turns out to be somebody you didn't know at all."
"Yeah, that pretty much sucks. I'd never have thought it of him. He always seemed so committed to the cause."
That makes me think of something else.
"I guess he'll have told his new bosses all about us," I say. "You, me, the rest of your group."
"I thought about that, but I don't think anything's changed. I was already on their radar. And I doubt you have to worry. Danny never got close enough to you to know for sure if you're a Wildling or not. And even if he did finger you, there's nothing they can do unless you screw up and change in front of them or something."
"Is that why they're following me around?"
"Probably."
"What are you going to do?" I ask.
"Lay low for awhile, just until I can figure something out."
"Well, I'm still not joining your cause or anything, but if you need a hand with something ..."
She stops and looks at me again. There's something in her eyes, but I can't quite read what it is.
"I've … you know …" I say, falling back on what Chaingang said to me. "I've got your back."
"Why?" she says.
"Why not?"
She grins. "Good answer."
"Plus there's, um, you know. The cuteness factor."
"An even better answer."
She turns around so that she's walking backwards, which she still manages to do with a swagger.
"Race you?" she says.
She takes off before I can answer, running full out. I take off after her, but I can't catch her. I end up trailing behind all the way back to the highway. We tear off the luchador masks when we get back to the car, sweat streaming down our faces. She tosses hers inside the car and I follow suit. We can hear music coming from the campfire below. It sounds like somebody doing a pretty good version of a Dave Matthews song.
"Do you want to check out the party?" Elzie asks.
It's late, but I'm not tired. And while there's a bit of a burn in my muscles from our run, I'm not at all sore. Truth is, I feel really alive.
"Sure," I tell her. "Wish I'd brought my guitar. I love jamming."
She gives me an admiring look. "You play? Cool."
Nobody takes any real notice of us when we approach the campfire, except for a few nods of hello. I like hanging with the surf crowd. They're all so laid-back and easygoing, and this bunch is no exception. They have a nice, relaxed vibe and the music's good. The Dave Matthews song segues into a Beach Boys medley and we all sing alon
g. Everybody breaks up at the end, laughing and clapping. Somebody hands me a beer, but I shake my head.
"I'll have it," Elzie says. "Thanks."
She toasts the guy who gave it to her, then takes a long swallow.
"Anybody else know any more of those old corny songs?" a girl close to the fire asks.
"I bet Josh here does," Elzie says.
"I just know instrumentals," I protest.
I get a guitar put in my hands all the same. This little Yamaha acoustic's way different from my Les Paul, but I give it a go, starting out with "Walk, Don't Run," sliding into the theme from the old Batman TV show with everybody shouting "Batman!" at the appropriate place and ending with "Wipe Out." I have to laugh as everybody plays on the drum solo, using their thighs, the backs of other guitars, the logs they're sitting on.
When I'm done, I pass the guitar on to a girl who does a low, husky-voiced version of a Jewel song.
Later, when things are winding down, Elzie and I go walking along the tide line. She's still in her bare feet. I've taken off my runners, tied the laces and let the shoes dangle over my shoulder. The water's cold, but it feels good on my feet. Out in the distance, we can see the lights of a freighter going by.
"I'm curious about something," she says.
I turn to look at her.
"Were you listening to The Wild Surf when you changed?"
"How would you know that?"
"The paper said that when you disappeared your computer was on their site and the police thought you might've taken off to go to one of their shows."
"I was just listening to demos of their new album," I tell her.
"Did you know that they're all Wildlings?"
"That can't be true."
"Totally is. I heard they were going to change their name to The Wildlings, but I guess they smartened up in time."
"But they've been around since long before people started changing."
"Maybe what happened to me happened to them when they had a gig here. Or maybe they're old school like Cory. Born that way."
"How do you know they're Wildlings?"
"From time to time we have these ... they're kind of like raves. Sometimes back in the hills. Sometimes in an empty warehouse. I don't know who puts them on, but the word gets out and people show up. A few weeks ago, I found a very drunk La Bamba staggering around the parking area after one of them."
"He is such a great guitarist."
"Well, he was a real pukemeister that night. God, he was drunk. I found his car and drove him home, and he told me his whole life story on the way." She laughs. "He probably still doesn't remember how he got home."
I think about her telling me all this. Is she telling other Wildlings about me?
"I thought Wildlings weren't supposed to out each other."
"Just not to humans. And even if I didn't tell you, you'd have known as soon as you met any of them. When you get up close, how can you not know? The only thing that might throw you off is if you knew the person before you changed. They'd still smell the same—nothing would be different. They'd probably have to tell you before you could figure it out on your own."
"I told my friends Marina and Desmond about you," I admit. "I wasn't thinking and I didn't expect to see you again."
"Do you trust them?"
I nod.
"Then it's cool."
"Just like that?"
A little smirk plays at the corners of her mouth. "Well," she drawls, "I know where you live ..."
We drive back to where Elzie first brought me to the car, a couple of blocks away from my house.
"So that was an interesting night," she says as she shuts off the engine. She rests her forehead against the steering wheel.. "I still can't believe Danny went over to the dark side."
"I put my hand on her shoulder. Are you going to be okay?"
She turns her face toward me and smiles. "I liked Danny and I'm disappointed that he abandoned us the way he did, but it's not the end of my world. And except for that part of the night, I really enjoyed myself."
"Me, too."
I don't want to take my hand away.
She studies me for a moment. "Are you going to school tomorrow?"
I nod, thinking vaguely about that history essay that I never finished.
"Well, that's still hours away," she says.
She leans over and kisses me, long and hard. When she breaks off, I have to catch my breath. Remember that whole heightened senses thing? Mine just went into overdrive and I feel like I'm vibrating all over.
"Wow," I say.
"You want to make out?" she asks.
She pulls her shirt over her head before I can answer and squeezes between the seats to get into the back area of the Taurus.
I think, this car's parked here on the street where anybody can just walk by and see us. But it's four in the morning and right at this moment I don't care who might come walking by. I also no longer care about my essay. I wriggle my own way between the seats. As soon as I get back there, she puts her arms around my neck and pulls me down for another long kiss. She grins when we stop to get some air and looks down at the bulge in my pants.
"I think someone's happy to see me," she says, reaching down.
It just gets better from there.
"Don't worry," she says later when we're lying side by side, her hand casually draped over my stomach. "This isn't going to tie you down into some kind of monogamous relationship."
"How do you know I don't want that?"
"I don't. I just know that I—"
"Don't have time for boyfriends," I finish for her.
"Exactly. Especially right now."
"What are you going to do?"
She shrugs. "I don't know. Go underground for a while, I guess. But right now you need to scoot. I have to get this car off the street in case the police are looking for it."
"I thought you said Danny wouldn't mind your using it."
"That was when I still thought we were rescuing him. Now all bets are off."
I want to say, will I see you again? But it'll probably sound dorky to her.
I wriggle into my pants and pull my shirt on over my head.
"Be careful," I say.
"Always." She grabs my chin and kisses me. "Just because I'm not looking for a boyfriend doesn't mean I don't really like you. You know that, right?"
"I do now."
She kisses me again, then gives me a little push.
"Now you really have to go," she says.
I only sleep for a couple of hours after I get home, but I don't feel at all tired when I get up in the morning. Mom gives me a look when I come into the kitchen after my shower, humming a Ventures tune.
"Somebody's in a good mood," she says.
"I'm just happy to get my life back, I guess."
She nods. "Or could it have something to do with you getting in at five this morning?"
Uh-oh. Busted. But she goes on before I can figure out how to explain.
"I know you've had a rough couple of days," she says, "so I'm not going to call you on this. I trust you enough to know that you must have felt it was important. But this is a one-time reprieve—understand? Pull something like this again, buster—especially on a school night—and you'll be grounded until you forget what it was ever like to be allowed out of the house."
"You're really not going to grill me?"
"Did you do anything for which you should feel ashamed?"
"I didn't do anything that you haven't done yourself."
"Well, then, let's just leave it at this. The next time you feel the need to leave the house in the middle of the night, you come see me first. Deal?"
"Deal," I say.
The next day at school goes much better than my first day back did. I haven't completely reclaimed my usual anonymity, but people are moving on to other things and I don't feel quite so much like the zoo monkey in his cage. At lunch I tell Marina and Desmond about my night—though I don't go so far as talking about
what happened in the back seat of Danny's car.
Marina shakes her head. "I told you she was trouble."
"What's that supposed to mean?"
"Hello? Breaking into a government facility?"
"We didn't."
"But you would have if that Cory guy hadn't come along."
"If those agents had grabbed me," I say, "I'd sure appreciate somebody making the effort to get me out."
Desmond nods. "Dude, you have such an awesome life now. You're like freaking James Bond."
"It's not like that," I tell him.
"No," Marina says. "It's really really dangerous."
"I know," I say. "Trust me. I know just how dangerous it is."
She shakes her head. "I don't think you do. I only hope you don't ever find out."
"Listen, I was warned about stuff by Cory right after I changed. So I found out then."
"Well, if I were all wired up for a big rescue last night," Desmond says, "I'd be feeling let down after."
I shake my head. "No, in real life you'd feel relieved—just like I did. But the night wasn't a total washout. When we got back to the car, we went down to the beach where a bunch of surfers were having a campfire. We sat around with them for awhile, singing songs and stuff."
Marina perks up some. "Anybody we know?"
"No, but they were a nice bunch. Now here comes the cruncher. I didn't know it, but my mom heard me coming in. When I saw her this morning, she totally busted me for sneaking out."
Desmond shakes his head. "Dude, are you telling me that you've got this awesome mountain lion thing going for you, but now you're grounded for like forever?"
"That's the thing. She said she knows I've had a rough couple of days, so she gave me a one-time-only free pass."
Desmond puts his hand up for a high-five.
"You are golden," he says as I slap his hand.
"Unless I pull the same thing again. Then my ass is grass."
"Are we practicing tonight?" Marina asks.
"Why don't we go to the skate park first?" Desmond says. "Everybody cool with that?"
My phone vibrates in my pocket as Marina, Desmond and I walk out the front door of Sunny Hill at the end of the day. It's a text from Elzie: Wanna hang?
Under My Skin (Wildlings) Page 7