by Liz Braswell
“Another of my Order has come to watch and help with the cause!” He threw them harder and harder.
Chloe twisted and fell as a throwing star buried itself in her side.
“You thought he was your what—boyfriend? He was hunting you, just like I was.” He laughed.
As Chloe struggled to get up, he reached down to the side of his pants and pulled out something that was smaller than a machete but larger than his previous blades. The pain in her side was like fire; every time she moved, it felt like her body was ripping apart.
He began advancing on her.
The wind whistled in Chloe’s hair. She watched him come at her slowly, pain masking sound and thought. She could vaguely hear Brian and Alyec shouting obscenities at each other and the occasional muffled thump as one of them landed a blow.
There really was a very good chance that if no one helped her, she was going to die.
And then something inside her snapped.
How dare you?
“How dare you!” she screamed. Chloe ripped the shuriken out of her side and threw it to the ground, wincing at the pain. “What the hell did I ever do to you? Or anyone? I didn’t ask for any of this!”
And she ran at him, blind rage eclipsing the pain.
He swung his blade down, but she lunged to the side and swiped her hand against his arm, raking her claws down it. He cried out, forced to switch the knife to his left hand. Chloe hadn’t finished moving, though. She spun and kicked him on the back of his neck with her toes, smashing the Kevlar collar into his flesh.
“Fuck you,” she screamed. “Get out of my life!”
The hot, blind rage was cooling, replaced with something much more cold and logical. She saw clearly ahead of time every punch, kick, and swipe—and followed up with an immediate counterattack. She never gave him time to draw another blade.
He backed up slowly until he was up against the rail. “How—many—others—have—you—killed?” With each word, she sent another kick into his stomach.
At the last minute he managed to launch himself so he was over the rail, keeping it between them.
“You fucking psycho,” Chloe spat into his face.
Battered and bloody, he still managed a smile. “I do service for the Lord. His will be done.”
“Yeah, well, tell that to the—”
And then he slipped.
Chloe was thrown off for a moment; this was something she hadn’t expected.
“Chloe! Don’t kill him!” Brian yelled. He tried to run over to stop her, but Alyec pulled him down to the ground again.
She leaned over, watching her assassin sway in the winds, struggling to hang on.
Finish him! Every part of her wanted to step on his fingers, to claw his face, to watch and smile as he slowly lost strength, slipped, and fell.
He tried to kill you! He hunted you down, like you were prey!
Even the human side of her agreed: this was a psycho who was better off not in the collective gene pool.
Then she offered him her hand.
I can’t. Fighting is one thing—I can’t kill someone in cold blood.
“You. On the bridge. Step away from the rail.”
The electronically loud bullhorn noise made everyone spin. A helicopter rose up from below, aiming its spotlight along the bridge.
Chloe looked up as well—
And the Rogue fell.
Twenty-one
“No!” she cried, trying to grab after him. But there was only air.
“They’re coming,” Brian said, to no one in particular.
Chloe was still leaning over the rail, looking at the water in shock and disbelief. She doubted that he would come back the way she had from her own fall. It was like a book had suddenly closed and she would never be able to open it and read it again—find out why he was filled with hate. Instead of relief she felt a lack of closure, even a little loss.
“We’ve got to get out of here,” Alyec said, grabbing Chloe’s arm and pulling her away.
The two of them ran.
Although she was exhausted from the fight and felt some of her strength bleeding out of the wound in her side, Chloe still found a joy in running. When she leapt onto the handrail at the end to jump down off the bridge, tightrope running along its slick metal surface, Alyec was right behind her.
She chose to go up to the Marin Headlands; she leapt in between passing cars, up and over fences like she was flying. Alyec was beside her. He kept up with her, scrambling up the hill, jumping over rocks with an extremely familiar feline grace.
When she looked over at him, he grinned.
The other cat person.
A friend.
They crested the hill and started down the other side. The sky in the west was still its cartoon pink and orange; couples and families dotted the headlands watching it, cuddled in blankets and sipping from thermoses.
They had long outpaced the National Guard on foot, but the helicopter swept down the bridge and over the water, looking for trouble. The whole thing had Amy and Paul written all over it—still trying to save her after she’d made them go.
Chloe leapt. It didn’t matter. The helicopter wouldn’t be able to track her and Alyec. They were too fast. She felt like screaming with joy.
Alyec screamed instead—in pain—and went down on one knee, tumbling into the dirt.
Chloe stopped immediately and ran over to see him. He held his leg; a throwing star stuck out of it.
“Shit,” he grunted, pulling it out and wincing.
“What the—?” Chloe turned around, looking for the attacker.
Brian stood twenty feet behind them, another star in his hand.
He began running toward them.
“That bastard!” Alyec growled, standing up with some difficulty.
Chloe put herself in front of him, between him and Brian. “Who is he? Why does he want to kill me?”
“He’s a member of the Order of the Tenth Blade,” Alyec spat. “I should have guessed before, the first time I saw him.”
“Wait—Chloe—“Brian caught up to them. Chloe tensed, ready to spring.
“Coming to finish me off?” she demanded.
“I wasn’t trying to kill you!” Brian protested. “I was trying to get Alexander!”
“Uh-huh,” Chloe sneered. But … she really wanted to believe him. She wanted to believe that someone so close to her so quickly couldn’t be capable of hunting her down and killing her. “And what about Alyec? Is he one of my ’race’ that your… friend and you want to destroy?”
“I didn’t mean to hurt you, but I had to stop you.”
“Didn’t mean to … ?” Alyec demanded, pointing at the blood running down his leg.
“I had to stop you,” Brian reiterated. His brown eyes were wide, begging her to believe him. “If you keep heading down to the water … there are others, at least a dozen or more of… us, waiting for you, in case you do escape. Some with more … conventional weapons.”
“Who the hell is the Tenth Blade?” Chloe demanded. “And what do you have to do with them?”
“Their only purpose is to kill people like us,” Alyec said.
“Not all of you; that’s not true. …”
“Tell that to the Rogue.”
“Only the dangerous ones!”
“And what is Chloe? Dangerous?” Alyec growled and leapt at Brian, pushing past Chloe. His claws were fully extended; they were shorter and thicker than Chloe’s. He was aiming for Brian’s neck.
“STOP,” Chloe said, pushing him out of the way and planting a firm hand on Alyec’s shoulder to stop him. But he was angry, raging, out of control.
Without thinking, she took her hand and cuffed him on the side of the head to snap him out of it.
Like a cat cuffs her kittens, she realized after she did it.
Alyec shook his head, dazed, but stumbled back.
“Is that why you hung out with me?” Chloe demanded. “To keep tabs on me so they could kill me?”
She looked Brian in the eye. So much made sense now—and it was a thousand times worse than she’d ever thought.
“No! I mean, I was supposed to keep track of you, learn about you, talk to you. Become … friends.” They held each other’s eyes for a moment; it was obvious he meant something else entirely. He hung his head. “Then I found out the Rogue was after you, and I wanted to stay by you and protect you—when I couldn’t convince them to call him off.”
“Don’t believe him! Stupid monkey,” Alyec said.
“I’m here talking to you, aren’t I?” Brian shouted at him. “Why would I lie now?”
“I can’t believe it.” Chloe backed away from him. “I can’t believe you’re part of a group that wants me dead.”
“It’s more complicated than that, Chloe,” Brian said tiredly. “Even Alyec can tell you that.”
“Why did you warn me to stay away from him?” Chloe demanded. “Because you didn’t want me learning the truth?”
“No. Alyec is a known … troublemaker. I didn’t want you drawing attention to yourself, falling in with the wrong crowd.”
“Looks like I fell in with the right crowd,” Chloe said disgustedly. “Finally.” She ducked down and put Alyec’s arm around her shoulders to help him walk. “A couple of years of working out in the ’real world’ so you could be a zoology major?”
Brian flushed with shame. “Chloe, I really liked—I really like you.”
“Whatever,” Chloe said, leading Alyec away.
Epilogue
Alyec lay on her couch, his injured leg raised. It wasn’t that large a cut, but the shuriken had sliced through tendon, making it impossible for him to walk. Chloe’s own wound on her side had stopped bleeding but continued to ache.
Dazed, exhausted from the fight, and unsure what else to do, Chloe took some taquitos from the freezer and put them in the microwave. She had maybe an hour before her mom came home and serious explanations began if Alyec wasn’t gone.
“This sucks.” Alyec swore, looking at the cut.
Leaning against the stove, Chloe put her hands to her face and finally began to cry.
“Hey, don’t do that,” Alyec said, pushing himself up and hobbling over to her. He put an arm around Chloe. “It’s very confusing, I know. … But don’t worry! Everything will be explained. There’s so much you need to know—about who you are and where you came from. And you will be safe, I promise. There are these people you should meet now; I think you’ll like them. …”
Chloe gave Alyec a small smile. Somehow she knew he didn’t mean any of his friends from school. And that was fine by her.
THE STOLEN
For K. A. Kindya. Ra, Ra, Ra!
Prologue
She was back at the Golden Gate Bridge.
Paul and Amy were already gone. The highway spanning the bridge was empty of cars. The water below had stopped. Everything was silent, waiting.
Chloe wasn’t surprised when Alexander Smith—the Rogue who’d tried to kill her before—seemed to drop out of the sky, a dagger in each hand. He was saying something but making no sound. She could tell he was going to attack and ducked, but her movements were so very, very slow….
There was a scream as one of his daggers grazed her head. But that didn’t really happen, she realized, confused. That’s not what happened last time. I was supposed to leap at him. … He was coming at her, two more daggers in his hands, murder in his eyes.
Chloe couldn’t make herself move.
But I won this fight, she told herself, panicking. I’ve already been through all this and I won—
The Rogue’s arm shot out, dragging a blade across her face. Chloe leapt back just in time. Did he scratch me? Am I bleeding?
“Brian!” she called out, knowing her friend was supposed to appear. But wait, wasn’t there some confusion? Had he been helping her or the Rogue?
Brian appeared, standing at an impossible angle on the rail. He looked serious and his arms were crossed. “Who is it?” he asked gravely. “Me or Alyec?”
“Help me!” Chloe screamed, trying to run away from the Rogue.
“You cause a lot of trouble,” the Rogue said with a faint smile.
Then he drove a blade deep into her belly.
As she fell, she saw Alyec run and leap at Brian.
“No!” she screamed as the two boys went tumbling off the bridge.
The Rogue smiled, his face so close that his sour breath enveloped her. He raised the blade again, this time aiming for her neck.
One
“No!”
Chloe woke up covered in sweat and trembling.
“It was a dream,” she said, letting her tense muscles sink back into the bed. She had fought the Rogue a day ago—and she had won, if you could call it that. He had fallen off the bridge when Chloe failed to grab his arm, and now he was the one who was dead. Chloe was okay. Alyec and Brian were both alive. Everything else was just a nightmare.
The room was bathed in a soothing half-light that could have been dawn but somehow felt like dusk. She wasn’t home; the crisp richness of the bedding and the velvet fringe of the throw someone had tucked around her were definitely alien to the King household. Where was she? Slowly it came back to her.
Alyec had taken her to this place after the fight. His leg was injured by one of Brian’s throwing stars. Brian had claimed that he was trying to stop them from running deeper into Tenth Blade territory, but Chloe still wasn’t sure if that was true. … They had taken a taxi; she remembered looking out the window and seeing that they were on the bridge, the beautiful lights of San Francisco receding behind them. When they finally stopped, she was led through pitch darkness up to a house, where a short blond woman greeted and welcomed them, even though it was the middle of the night. She led them through narrow halls and—
Chloe sat up, remembering more from last night.
Something had passed them in one of the halls that still scared Chloe, even now that she was safely tucked in a luxurious bed.
The hall was dark and empty, and then, seemingly out of nowhere, a girl her own age drifted past them, silent as a black ghost. Her eyes gleamed in the low light, green and slit like a cat’s. From underneath her straight black hair poked two giant ear tips, pointed, black, and covered with fur. She was gone as quickly and silently as she came.
Chloe had gasped and pointed and Alyec rolled his eyes and explained that the cat girl was just Kim. The other woman nodded nonchalantly. But even that simple explanation didn’t make Chloe feel any better. She had no idea where she was or who these people were that Alyec had taken her to.
“I’ll come by soon,” he had promised after they stopped at a door.
“Go away, Alyec,” the woman said sweetly, pushing Chloe into the room. For some reason it was that maternal tone, the nice-but-ordering voice, that had set Chloe at ease again. Wherever they were, there were normal rules and people.
She couldn’t see much in the tiny space except for a bed with about a thousand down pillows. She collapsed on it without asking.
“You have a nice little nap,” the woman had said, clucking her tongue and pulling a velvet chenille throw up over Chloe’s shoulders.
As exhausted as she was, Chloe hadn’t been able to fall asleep instantly, and when she had, her dreams had all been nightmares: she was back on the Golden Gate Bridge, fighting for her life against the Rogue, the Order of the Tenth Blade’s most lethal—and psycho—assassin. Sometimes in her half dreams Alyec was there, sitting on the side and watching like he had or fighting beside her. Sometimes Brian was there, helping her like he had—or chasing her the way she thought he had. Even though it had all really happened, it still didn’t feel real. But it was.
Now that she was awake, Chloe was still tired and without answers to the questions that had been plaguing her nightmares: Why me? What did I ever do to anyone?
Chloe noticed a little side table that had been set up next to her while she slept. It was covered with a large doily and on it was
a plate with various cold cuts and cheeses, slices of bread, and little cups of mustard and other condiments. A glass—crystal?—of water was placed next to a can of Diet Coke.
Chloe made herself the largest sandwich she could manage between two slices of thick brown pumpernickel, slathering it with mustard. It took only about a minute for her to gobble it down, maybe another to toss back the water and the Diet Coke. She let out a mighty burp (then looked around nervously, but no one was there). Somehow she wasn’t as frightened as she should have been. Her belly was full, she was in a beautiful room, and she was safe. Strangely, she sort of felt happy.
Chloe looked around: the beams and floor planks were ancient wood, dark and polished just enough to keep the dust away, not so much as to be shiny. The room itself was small but cozy: there was an intricate Oriental rug in dark colors in one corner, on top of which sat a lightly worn velvet armchair. Over its back was another chenille throw. An old-fashioned floor lamp with a slightly cracked marble base and brass upright lit the room with a soft orange glow from three fake candle lightbulbs. If Chloe had the money—and the right house—this was exactly how she would decorate it.
She rose and stretched, feeling her joints and muscles snap into place. Back to my old self, finally. She pulled her cell phone out of her back pocket and turned it on. Three-quarters battery left. No one had left her a voice mail, not even her mom. She must have bought that whole “I’m going over to Keira’s” thing, thought Chloe. She called Amy and was a little surprised when she didn’t pick up—both Amy and Paul had seen the whole Rogue-Alyec-Brian-Chloe mess last night—shouldn’t they be worried?
Amy’s voice mail beeped.
“Hey, it’s Chloe. I’m fine. I’m staying with some …” She paused for a moment, trying to think of the right word. “Uh, distant cousins and friends. Don’t call—I’m going to keep my phone off for a while. Save the battery. I’m safe, and I’ll call you later.”
Chloe then left a message for her mom, who wasn’t home. “Hey, I’m going to be with Keira for a little longer. …”
She heard the sound of old-fashioned high heels clicking down the hallway outside her room, growing louder as they came closer.