Over My Head (Wildlings)

by de Lint, Charles

  "So you're saying I should back off some—communicate better," I say.

  All three of them nod.

  "Though you'll still run into the odd mad dog," Tío Benardo adds, "and when you do—"

  "Those you have to put down hard," Tío Goyo finishes.

  The tracking device in my head has been aware of Des approaching. I turn when he calls my name and los tíos choose that moment to leave.

  "Hey, wait!" I call after them.

  They're not Wildlings, but they're capable of the same deceptive speed that we have. In seconds, they're out of the park.

  "Dude," Des says when he reaches me, "did you just make Fat Boy and his whole crew stand down?"

  I shake my head. "Honestly? I don't really know what happened. But they're going to leave us alone."

  Des grins. "Well, it looked golden from where I was standing. You weren't giving an inch. Who were those old Mexican dudes?"

  "Los tíos. They're the real reason the Kings backed off. I told you about the one I met at the restaurant."

  Des nods. "I wonder whose uncles they are?"

  "I don't know. I think that's just what they're called. Los tíos. The uncles."

  Des takes my arm.

  "Come on," he says. "Sandy wants to meet you."

  I don't have to look in her direction. The tracker in my head shows me she and her cousin are already approaching us.

  "I don't have time," I tell him. "I need to make sure Ampora and her sisters are okay and let them know that they're not going to have any more trouble from the Kings."

  "Dude, this girl's hot."

  I know she is, but I don't need any more complications in my life—especially not from someone who's only attracted to me because I'm tough and stood up to the Kings.

  "Later," I tell him. "Distract them for me—would you?"

  "Seriously?"

  "Later," I repeat.

  I head off before they can reach us.

  Chaingang

  By the time we get there, it's all over. There aren't any Kings at the skatepark, and there's no Josh. All I see is a bunch of kids hanging out on the benches and practicing their skills.

  Cory gets off the back of my bike, but I keep my seat. I don't expect to stay long. I see Dwight and wave him over, but then Des leaves a couple of cute girls he's been talking to and jogs over before Dwight can reach me. I wave Dwight back since you can never tell what's going to come out of Des's mouth. If it has anything to do with Wildling business, I don't want Dwight to hear.

  "Cory, dude," Des says as he gets close enough. "You've got to tell me. Erik never showed at school and ever since we left you last night I've been dying to know what you did to him."

  Cory and I exchange glances. He still looks like the surfer dude he changed into so how come Des knows who he is?

  "You can recognize me?" Cory asks.

  Des laughs. "Why wouldn't I? I'm not a stoner."

  I start checking the area for any sign of Vincenzo.

  "This is interesting," Cory says.

  "No, it's not," I tell him. "If Vincenzo spots us, my being with you is going to blow up in my face. Maybe he already has."

  Des gives me a confused look. "Dude, what are you talking about?"

  "No, it's just him," Cory says. "I've seen this before. It's rare, but some five-fingered beings just see through the illusion."

  "What illusion?"

  "And if Vincenzo is one of the rare ones?" I ask.

  "He's not. Cousins can't see the difference. If he was close enough, he could smell me, but he's not."

  "Um, standing right here, guys," Des says, waving his hand in the air then tapping his chest. "What are you two talking about?"

  Cory shrugs. "Nothing much. As for Erik, I just explained the logic of good manners and what happens to those who don't have them."

  That's enough to distract Des.

  "So you didn't, like, eat him or something?"

  "No, I didn't eat him."

  Des looks thoroughly bummed and I understand. I learned back in grade school that the one thing you don't ever do is back down. You might get the crap kicked out of you, but you don't command any respect by rolling over. I get what Josh was trying to do, but with guys like Erik Gess, you have to put them down right from the start or they never go away.

  "What happened here?" I ask.

  Des fills us in and I'm left with more questions than answers.

  "He just talked to Fat Boy," I say, "and then the bangers all left? This whole business with the Kings—it's done?"

  "That's what Josh told me."

  There's got to be more to this. Fat Boy never backs down.

  "What did he say to them?" I ask.

  "Don't know, dude. I was too far away to hear. I would have been right there with him, watching his back," he adds, "but Josh insisted he do it on his own."

  "Yeah, he's growing bigger balls all right."

  Des nods. "Is it true—what happened at that restaurant this afternoon? Some dude shot him and he just got up again?"

  "Pretty much. But it wasn't easy on him. I'll bet it hurt like hell."

  "These older Mexican men you saw," Cory says. "They weren't part of the gang?"

  Des shakes his head. "Josh called them the uncles and says they pretty much diffused the whole sitch."

  That's the second time today, I think. What's in it for them?

  "So what's their game?" I ask Cory.

  "At the moment?" he says. "Keeping Josh safe, it seems."

  "I don't trust them."

  Cory smiles. "From my experience, you don't trust anybody."

  I don't take offense. You can't be offended by the truth.

  "You know," I say, "I never got Donalita's number."

  "I rest my case," Cory says.

  "Who's Donalita?" Des asks. "Man, I am so out of the loop."

  I don't bother to respond to either of them.

  "Josh say where he was going?" I ask.

  "To tell Ampora that everything's settled now."

  I nod. "Okay. That should keep him out of trouble. Cory, why don't you set up a meet with the old lady? Meanwhile I'm going to check up on my grandma. Text me the where and when, and I'll track down Josh, see if I can convince him to come talk to her."

  Des grins. "With your grandma?"

  "Ha ha."

  "I'm serious, dude. I don't have a clue about half of what you two are saying," Des says.

  "Tell Josh he owes me the meeting with Auntie Min," Cory says to me.

  "Will do."

  Des looks at me and says, "Let me give you my digits and I'll take yours."

  Des waits for me to rattle off my phone number and tells me his, then says, "I can find Josh. Shoot me a text and I'll make sure he shows up."

  I can't help it. My eyebrows go up in a question.

  "Dude," Des says, "I've got this. I know Auntie Min—she's cool, and I'll tell him that. Josh'll meet with her on my say-so."

  Cory looks to me and I just shrug. It's his call.

  "Someone should fill Marina in while we're at it," I say.

  "I'll text her," Des says before I can offer to do it myself. "I already told her about what went down earlier."

  I open my mouth, but close it before the protest comes out. It's probably better if nobody knows I have her cell number.

  "Later," I tell them and start up my bike.

  Grandma's house is in Orangewood—that's the part of Santa Feliz where the tourists never come. There's nothing pretty about it. Just a lot of adobe and clapboard houses with dirt yards, scraggly trees and more junked cars in the lanes than ones that actually run. J-Dog and I tried moving her out years ago, but she won't budge. She won't turn her back on us—family doesn't do that, not around here—but she'll, and I quote, "be damned if I'll let you spend one penny of that blood money on me."

  She lives off her pension and the groceries we sneak in. Since she doesn't throw them out, I figure she's opinionated, but not stupid. She knows she can't surviv
e on her pension alone.

  When I get to her house I find the two of them drinking iced tea on her front porch. So much for Donalita staying invisible. She's still looking like a skinny teenage girl, dressed like she might have come from the skatepark I just left. Grandma's not much bigger than her, but you only need to exchange a few words with her to know that she stands tall.

  Donalita raises a glass to me in a toast as I come up the walk.

  I nod at her and bend over to give Grandma a kiss before I settle in one of the other lawn chairs.

  "Donalita tells me you're her Big Brother," Grandma says.

  The way she says the words I can see the caps. I shoot Donalita a dirty look.

  "I didn't know boys could mentor girls in that program," Grandma goes on.

  "It's not an official program," I say. "She just calls it that. I'm looking out for her is all. She's got nobody else."

  "You better not be taking her anywhere near your brother and those friends of yours."

  "No, ma'am."

  She fixes me with that look of hers that can read any lie.

  "See that it stays that way," she says. "You're not so big that I still couldn't give you a licking."

  I am, and we both know it, but all I say is, "Yes, ma'am."

  Donalita snickers and Grandma smiles at her.

  Great, like I need them colluding on me. But since they're getting along so well …

  "I was hoping maybe you could look after Donalita for a few hours," I say. "Just while I take care of some business."

  Grandma's smile disappears.

  "It's not like you think," I say. "Some friends of mine are in trouble and I want to help them clear things up."

  "This have anything to do with your brother?"

  "No, ma'am."

  She gives me that look again.

  "Well," she says, "I'm going to consider the fact that you have friends outside that gang as a step in the right direction. What kind of trouble are we talking about here?"

  "Somebody's trying to hurt them."

  Grandma sighs. "I suppose it would be a waste of time to ask if maybe just one time you let the police handle something like this? It's their job, after all."

  "Not in this case."

  Grandma shakes her head. She turns to Donalita and says, "You're still young enough to break any bad habits you might have, so let me just tell you, never get too stubborn for your own good."

  Donalita lays her small smooth hand on Grandma's wrinkled one.

  "This time he's right," she says. "I'm one of the people he's helping and I can tell you for a fact that there's nothing the police can do to help."

  "What have you got this poor girl mixed up in?" Grandma demands of me.

  Donalita answers while I'm still trying to come up with what to say.

  "Theo didn't start anything," she says. "He's just going to fix it."

  "Do I want to know more?" Grandma asks.

  "Probably not," I say.

  "But it's dangerous?"

  I don't answer, but for Grandma, that's answer enough.

  "I never thought I'd be saying this," she tells me, "but if it starts looking bad, you call your brother."

  "I will. I need to go now."

  When I stand up, she does, too.

  "Come give your grandmother a hug first. You stay safe," she adds, talking into my shoulder as I hold her. I love this old lady more than life itself.

  I step back and there's Donalita looking expectant.

  "What?" she says. "No hug for me?"

  I ruffle her hair.

  "You know what I need from you," I tell her. "Be good."

  "Don't worry. We'll be fine."

  She goes to stand with Grandma. When I look back from the street, they're still standing on the porch, arms around each other's waist now. I find myself wondering what Donalita really wants more: vengeance on Vincenzo, or a new family she can call her own. I give them a wave and drive off.

  I only go as far as the next block before I pull over to the curb. Leaving the engine idling, I take out my phone.

  Josh

  There are no hawks following me as I head into East Riversea—or at least, not that I can see, and I can see with more than my eyes now. I'm getting the hang of dialling down this weird info overload in my head. It's a sweet relief, but now that I know how to use it, I decide to let it hang in the periphery because it's pretty useful. It lets me know there aren't any Kings around. I don't "see" any of the Black Key Securities guys that Solana warned me about, either. No ambushes. No hidden snipers.

  I already know that Ampora's in the park with her sisters when I'm a block or so away. As I come into sight, Suelo notices me and jumps down from her swing. A moment later she and Ria are running toward me, waving and calling my name. I don't need my Wildling sight to tell me that Ampora's reaction to my showing up is the opposite of theirs.

  The girls hang off me, each taking an arm as they chatter away. Ampora gives them a few moments before she calls them back.

  "Okay, brats! Time to go home."

  They won't let go of my hands, so I follow along with them. Ampora frowns at me, but she doesn't say anything as she leads the way back to their house. The girls make up for their older sister's bad mood by keeping up a constant stream of conversation until Ampora ushers them inside to wash up before dinner. Not until they're out of hearing does she turn to me, arms folded across her chest.

  "What now?" she asks.

  "I know you don't like me," I tell her, "and that's okay. I just wanted you to know that I had a talk with Fat Boy. You and your family are off limits—and so is the park. If one of them so much as gives you a wrong look, tell me and I'll deal with it.

  "I don't need the protection of one gang to save me from another."

  "I'm not in a gang."

  "Bullshit. Everybody knows you're tight with Chaingang."

  "That's not a gang thing," I say.

  She gives me a mocking look. "Oh yeah? Then what kind of a thing is it? Is it a bromance like some people say?"

  I don't give her the satisfaction of seeing any reaction, but she really pisses me off. How would she react if she knew what I really am? And besides, is there really any point now in pretending otherwise?

  "No," I tell her. "I guess Chaingang likes the idea of knowing a Wildling."

  She starts to laugh, but then she sees how serious I am. Her eyes go cold.

  "So you're with the government," she says.

  "What?"

  "Come on. You don't expect anybody to really believe people are turning into animals, do you? I'm not stupid. I know it's all some weird-ass scam they're running."

  I almost laugh. Here I'm thinking that she's going to be all freaked out, and instead, she doesn't even believe me. So I lift my index finger until it's right in front of her eyes, then I let the change come over that one finger. The mountain lion's big claw pops out of its furry sheath and I wiggle it at her before I make it go away.

  She jumps back, banging into the door frame.

  "Madre de Dios," she says.

  "Do you still think the government's faking it?"

  She grabs my hand and turns it back and forth, studying my finger. While she's doing that, I let the claw pop out again—just for a moment. She drops my hand like it's a hot coal.

  We look at each other for a long moment. I expect her to freak now, but she doesn't.

  "So you really took care of the Kings on your own?" she asks, her voice soft for the the first time since I met her. "There's no gang—I mean, you're not in one or anything?"

  I shake my head. "I'm just a kid who woke up one day and he's a Wildling. It was the luck of the draw, nothing more. I could have just as easily gotten some really horrible disease and be on my deathbed right now. Why either might happen is something that nobody can really explain. It just does."

  She gives a slow nod.

  "It just does," she repeats. She looks mesmerized.

  "Well, it's sure not something I chos
e."

  "Okay," she says. She waits a beat, then asks, "Why are you telling me all of this?"

  I shrug. "I honestly don't know. I suppose I was interested in your reaction. You already don't like me, so I guess you could say this is a trial run for when I tell all the other people who feel the same way you do."

  "That's messed up."

  I give her another shrug.

  "So who else knows?" she asks.

  "My mother. Your sister. Des. A couple of FBI agents suspect. Oh, and Chaingang."

  "What about your girlfriend—the one you were running with a few weeks ago?"

  How would she even know that? And why would she care? I hate how this town just runs on gossip.

  But all I say is, "You mean Elzie? Yeah, she knows, too."

  "Whatever happened to her?"

  "She went away."

  "Is she coming back?"

  "To me, or to Santa Feliz?"

  "Either, I guess."

  "I don't know."

  Ampora gives me a considering look. She looks soft, more like Marina.

  "Huh," she finally says. "And you don't have a thing for my sister?"

  "She's my friend. Why?"

  "Maybe I'm curious about how upfront you're going to be with me."

  I'm confused. A minute ago she was dissing me.

  "Why would that even matter to you?" I ask.

  She smiles. "I don't know. You could call me sometime and maybe we can find out."

  She leans forwad and gives me a quick kiss—right on the lips—then steps back inside the house and closes the door, leaving me standing there on her porch feeling like a complete idiot. Because now I know why she had all those questions.

  I so don't need this complication. She hates Marina, who's my best friend, and Marina hates her. I've got a million things on my mind, all kinds of things I have to figure out and do. But right now, all I can think of is the touch of her lips on mine.

  Marina

  My phone pings with a text while I'm composing a comment to the post about the upcoming anti-Wildlings rally. I grab it, my heart lifting. My pulse drops just as fast when I see it's a message from Des, not Theo. Des is updating me on what just went down at the skatepark. I send him a brief thanks and breathe a sigh of relief.

  I think about how Josh never wanted to be a leader, yet there he went and somehow convinced the Kings to leave my family alone. I'm grateful, but it also makes me realize how much everything has changed. And it reminds me that he's still in danger from this elder.