by Stephen Cole
‘It’s not that!’ Tom stormed. ‘How can you even think that?’
Kate turned away. ‘You don’t know what I think, Tom.’
‘While I’m ’wolf, I can protect us, till we’re both out of this mess for good. Together!’
She wanted to shout at him: If you weren’t ’wolf, maybe we could really be together. Maybe we could stand a chance.
But how could she, now?
Without looking back she set off for the locker rooms. She’d forgotten she only had one sneaker. It was hard to keep your dignity when you were walking lopsided.
‘I should go after her,’ she heard Tom say.
‘Perhaps she needs a little space right now, huh?’ the old man said gruffly.
I don’t, Kate thought desperately. I want you here with me, Tom. Come after me. Stop me acting like a freaked-out little kid.
But her own uneven footsteps were the only ones echoing around the freezing arena.
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CHAPTER TWENTY
That night, Tom’s thoughts were heavy with what Kate had said. He knew she was just upset, knew that she’d been through a hell of a lot. But he knew too that what Jicaque had said in that little coffee shop was dead right. Takapa had to be stopped, whatever the risks – or none of them could ever rest easy again. If Tom could make more of a difference as a ’wolf, then he’d have to stay that way until this thing was over. Once and for all.
He caught up with Kate the next morning at Park East Hospital, feeling nervous as hell. She was lying on her side on the couch in Stacy’s office, cleaned up from her ordeal in the meat net and dressed in grey hospital pyjamas like an in-patient. She looked like she’d been up all night, crying.
His heart sank like a stone. ‘Rico?’
‘He’s doing OK,’ she said, not meeting his gaze. ‘He lost a lot of blood, but he’ll pull through.’
‘Thank God.’
‘Polar’s stable too.’
Tom nodded, standing awkwardly beside the door, uncertain what to say. ‘Have you been here all night?’
She nodded. ‘The ambulance was still there when I got outside. Stacy vouched for me, and they gave me a ride here.’
‘Would’ve been a long walk otherwise. Especially with one sneaker.’
She didn’t smile, but at least she looked directly at him. ‘How about you? Where’ve you been?’
‘The arena. Jicaque was fixing people up.’
‘With deranged tailors?’
Tom glanced down at his ill-fitting jeans and shirt. ‘There were a whole load of old clothes down there. I guess for re-clothing the troops once they …’ He broke off. ‘Anyway. I just wanted to watch him perform the first rituals of the cure.’
It had been fascinating, watching the old man chant over the prone bodies, pressing his old, gnarled fingers against pressure points of their bodies, warming the freezing air with the colourful words of his incantations.
She must have seen the faraway look on his face. ‘I’m sure it was something. Maybe he should charge admission.’
Tom ignored her. It was what she did; coped with the world by holding it at arm’s length and waving sarcasm in its face.
‘I tried calling you …’
‘I was asleep. Dead to the world.’ She half-smiled. ‘Lucky for you, you didn’t wake me. I feel a lot friendlier after a good long sleep.’
Tom nodded. ‘I’m dying for a soft bed,’ he said with feeling.
‘Well, if you will stay up all night …’ The light in Kate’s eyes showed him she was in better humour now. ‘What about all the other walking wounded?’
‘At another hospital, I think. Jicaque took care of it … he’s started work on the cure with them all.’
She nodded. ‘Happy ending, then. Right?’
‘I hope so.’
They looked at each other for long, silent seconds.
Then Kate took a deep breath. ‘I was wrong to say what I did last night …’
‘You were upset. Jeez, we were all upset.’ He cleared his throat. ‘I’m sorry I didn’t go after you. I felt bad all night.’
‘Really?’ she murmured. Her voice sounded hard, tired. ‘Well, I guess it’s your shit. You’ve got to get through it your own way. Right?’
‘Uh-huh.’ He paused. ‘You heard Jicaque, his cure takes a month. And I don’t think we have a month before Takapa or your mom and dad try to catch us again.’
‘So what are you going to do? You going to see your parents?’
‘Not until we’ve seen yours,’ he said firmly. ‘Not until we’ve cleared our names.’
Kate pulled a face at him. ‘And just how do we do that?’
‘I don’t know. But until then we can’t turn to anyone for help.’ He swallowed hard. ‘When I see my mom and dad again, I want them to see me, Tom Anderson, as I used to be.’
‘You think things can ever be the same after all we’ve been through?’
‘Maybe not the same,’ Tom said. ‘But maybe better. Because of what we’ve been through.’
‘We have to make it count for something, right?’ She rolled her eyes, but Tom saw she was trying not to smile. ‘Give me a break, Tom Anderson. Stop being so damned good, saying the right things all the time.’
‘OK.’ He smiled wryly. There was so much he wished he could say to her. ‘You look a total mess.’
‘Don’t push it, Anderson!’ He ducked as she threw a pillow at him. But when he looked at her again, he saw the worry in her eyes. ‘I wonder where they’ve gone now … my parents.’
Tom sighed. ‘What we need is a psychic.’
‘Uh-huh.’ Kate suddenly seemed to brighten. ‘And I know where we can find a couple.’ She crossed to Stacy’s PC and moved the mouse to wake up the screen. ‘See if we can get online. I haven’t touched base with the geeky Net community in days. Maybe someone’s heard something about the lupines we should know about.’
Tom smiled wryly. ‘Right. That extreme possibilities chatroom you hang out in?’
‘I’m beginning to think no possibility’s too extreme these days,’ she murmured.
Soon she was connected and signed in – as ‘Troll Lover’, her online alter-ego in these chat rooms.
‘No way!’ she cried suddenly, making Tom jump.
He crouched to look at the screen over her shoulder. ‘What is it?’
‘A message from Adam Blood,’ she said, her hands flying to her mouth in excitement. ‘Sent this morning.’
‘Genuine?’ asked Tom nervously.
‘Only two people in the world know I call myself Troll Lover. You and him.’
‘Well, what does he say?’
Quickly she typed in a password and hit the ENTER button. Tom blinked as the short message appeared on screen:
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Dear Trolly,
Hope you are as sexily aloof as ever – and hope Tom isn’t ripping his way through a new wardrobe every week (down, boy!). Heard a whisper – something big, secret, scary and wolfy is going down in Chicago sometime soon. All the pureblood clans have been summoned by Takapa … So in case you happen to be in Chicago right now – get your stupid arses out of there! And if not, AVOID LIKE THE BLOODY PLAGUE IF YOU HAVE ANY SENSE!
AB
g
‘It sounds like him,’ said Tom dryly.
‘Well?’ Kate looked up at him nonchalantly. ‘Am I as sexily aloof as ever?’
‘He’s such a great kidder, isn’t he?’ Tom turned so she wouldn’t see his blushes. ‘But I guess now we have a fair idea where Takapa’s holed up. And your mom and dad.’
‘Better than a psychic.’ Kate nodded thoughtfully. ‘You meant what you said, didn’t you? About needing to finish this …’
Tom nodded. ‘And Takapa said his HQ was in Chicago …’ He took a deep breath and turned to face her. ‘I hear the Windy City’s lovely this time of year.’
‘Then I guess,’ Kate replied, with the tiniest of smiles, ‘maybe we should check it out.’ She t
urned back to the computer and typed a brief reply:
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Dearest AB. Too aloof for sense and plague, too broke to keep running. We’re going to Chicago. See you there? X
g
‘You never put kisses on notes!’ Tom protested.
She sent the message and smiled innocently. ‘Don’t I?’
‘Well,’ he grumbled, ‘even with a kiss, I can’t see Blood coming.’
Kate stretched and yawned. ‘He’d better,’ she drawled, bunching her fists. ‘Otherwise – sexily aloof or not – I’ll hunt him down myself and smash his face in.’
g
Kate slept for most of the afternoon. Rest came easier now she’d cleared things up with Tom. She knew he was right; she’d known last night he was right about what they had to do, and about being in it together. He was facing up to the future, and she knew she had to as well. Whatever it held.
A fresh change of clothes had been left out for her on the floor along with her rucksack: her black corduroys and a bottle-green sweater, and her battered Timberlands. She dressed quickly, and went out to find Tom.
He was sitting in Rico’s room, dressed more normally now in blue jeans that fitted him and a grey ribbed T-shirt. She watched him, waiting in gloomy silence while the boy lay asleep in crisp white sheets. It must be tough for Tom, she knew, with his parents just down the hall.
‘Hey,’ he said softly, his face brightening as she walked over.
‘Where’d you get the clothes?’ she asked.
‘Jasmine got them from the hangout, along with our gear.’ Tom tapped his own rucksack and sighed. ‘I think they were Ramone’s. She didn’t want them slung out in the trash.’
Kate nodded, and turned to look at Rico. ‘He seems so peaceful.’
‘Just how peaceful this place will be when he wakes up remains to be seen,’ Tom said dryly.
Kate smiled. ‘Where’s Jasmine, anyway? I thought she’d be here.’
‘She’s been busy.’
Kate turned to see Stacy walking into the room with a welcoming smile.
‘But she’s going to be busier,’ Stacy added.
‘She is?’ Kate queried.
‘Uh-huh. She’s out front right now, waiting for you guys.’ Stacy held out her hand to Kate. ‘Goodbye.’
Kate looked at Tom. ‘We’re leaving already? How’re we getting to Chicago?’
‘I think it’s going to work out,’ said Stacy, helping Tom struggle into his rucksack. ‘But I’m trying to steer clear of the details. I’m already an accessory to God knows how much …’
Tom shook Stacy’s hand. ‘Goodbye. Thanks for everything. Especially for looking after my parents.’
‘I’m going to have to spin them one hell of a line to explain why they’ve spent the last thirty-six hours fit and well in isolation,’ she said dryly, ‘but I’ll make sure they know your last sighting was somewhere on the way to Hawaii.’
He grinned. ‘You’ve done so much for us already.’
Stacy shook her head. ‘Before you two came here, I was doing more harm than good to the people I was supposed to be helping.’ She smiled. ‘Now maybe I can turn that around. With some help from my friends.’
Stacy crossed the room to check on Rico, who was still sleeping peacefully.
Kate fumbled in her purse for the picture Polar snapped when she and Tom had first arrived at the tenement. Ramone stood between them, scowling in the middle of the picture; his old, habitual look. She placed the picture on Rico’s bedside table. ‘Someone to watch over you,’ she whispered.
Then she and Tom left the room.
g
Jasmine was out in the parking lot, leaning against a glossy black Daimler that seemed to shine in the wintry sunlight. ‘Thought you might need some wheels,’ she said. ‘Friend of Ramone’s fixed up the plates. Should get you where you need to go without the cops on your tail.’
Kate hoped Tom’s dazed grin was down to the car and not the sight of Jasmine in her leather pants and fitted top.
‘I don’t know what to say,’ Tom said finally.
Jasmine snorted. ‘Then get out of here already.’
‘What are you going to do now?’ Kate asked her.
‘Ain’t gonna be stealing no more cars, for one thing,’ she said dryly. ‘Stacy’s rule.’
‘Stacy?’
‘She finally got her way. Fixed me up with a job, helping out with one of her hard luck programs.’ Jasmine shrugged. ‘Guess I ain’t got much to go back to now. So I’m thinking I can help out them howler kids now the fighting’s over … Help them work stuff out.’
‘Kids like Polar?’ Tom asked gently.
Jasmine glared at him. Then her face softened. ‘Maybe. I guess. Stacy says we gotta give them for real what they thought they were getting from Takapa. Kind of self-respect. You know?’
Tom nodded. ‘We know.’
‘Don’t pay much. But Stacy knows some hostel where me and Ric can stay.’ She shrugged. ‘It’s something.’
‘It’s really something,’ Tom said. ‘And you are, too.’
He went to kiss her cheek, but Jasmine pulled away. ‘Just take care of yourself, Tommy-boy.’
Tom opened the door of the Daimler, his cheeks burning, threw his rucksack into the back and climbed in the driver’s seat.
Kate waited till he’d shut the door, then crossed to Jasmine. ‘I never thanked you for that stunt with the cigarettes,’ she said. ‘You saved my life.’
‘So I did.’ Jasmine eyed Kate coolly. ‘He’s in love with you, the poor bastard. You knew that, right?’
Kate took a step back involuntarily. ‘What did you say?’
‘Guess it’s just the way life works out.’ Jasmine shook her head wryly. ‘Take care of him, ’K?’
Kate nodded and she crossed to the car’s passenger side just as coolly as she could, doing her best not to show she was trembling.
Tom turned the ignition, and drove the car out of the lot.
Kate saw Jasmine in the rear-view, watching them go, hands on hips. Her figure dwindled then vanished as Tom swung the car out into the busy New York traffic. ‘Penny for your thoughts,’ Kate murmured.
‘I’m saving my pennies. We’ll need them if we’re going to eat tonight.’ He frowned. ‘Know any good diners on the way to Chicago?’
Kate smiled, fastened her seat belt, settling in for the long drive. ‘We’ll find one,’ she said.