Текст книги "Sweet Reckoning"

Автор книги: Wendy Higgins

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Текущая страница: 3 (всего у книги 17 страниц)

Ginger followed me in, wearing a face of stone.

Jay opened his bedroom door as we came down the hall. He wore jeans and was pulling a shirt over his head. I opened my senses to feel the anxious confusion in his gray aura.

“What’s going on?” he asked, looking back and forth between us.

“It’s hard to explain, Jay,” I said.

His guardian angel stood close, protective as ever.

Ginger never stopped moving, so Jay stepped out of her way and we all went into his room. Marna sat on the bed with one of Jay’s pillows on her lap. Something about her seemed . . . off. I couldn’t put my finger on it. I searched the room, wondering where the strange vibe was coming from.

Jay walked over and stood next to Marna, who gave her sister a defiant stare as Ginger’s sharp eyes went from Marna to Jay, and back to Marna.

Oh man. She did not look happy. The twins could sense romantic bonds between people—everything from attraction to love and marriage. Was that what was happening to me? I’d never sensed bonds between people before, but I couldn’t place the awareness I was experiencing.

“I’m sorry,” Jay said. “But I don’t see what the big deal is. We’re both adults. We’re just . . . hanging out.”

“Just hanging out?” Ginger asked sweetly. “Not falling in love?”

My heart kicked with surprise. Was that what she saw between them? But . . . he’d just been in a relationship with Veronica! I felt light-headed. This was so like Jay to let his heart be snatched up by another so quickly.

I watched Jay and Marna exchange a tender glance, and sure enough a fluff of pink floated up around Jay. Then he looked at me and his eyes dropped to the floor, a wave of gray guilt covering over the pink.

“It’s time to go,” Ginger said in her don’t-mess-with-me voice.

Marna lifted her chin. “I’m not leaving, Gin. I’ll take the red-eye to New York and be back in time for our flight.”

“Don’t do this,” Ginger warned.

Jay looked at her like she was crazy. Marna flung the pillow aside and stood face-to-face with her sister. I rocked back on my heels and gasped, slapping a hand over my mouth. My body reacted—heart pounding, limbs shaking, a chill of disbelief zipping down my spine.

“Anna?” Jay came over and grabbed my arm.

“What?” Marna asked. “What’s wrong? Why are you staring at me like that?”

She brushed a hand down her flat stomach, where my eyes had locked.

God, please. Don’t let this be happening.

The faintest recognition of buttery light pulsed from her abdomen.

I felt like I might hyperventilate as the reality of the situation crashed over me. Marna would be gone within the year. Dead. Because she was pregnant.

“You guys . . . had sex.”

It was a rude comment under any circumstances, and I couldn’t believe it was the first thing to leave my mouth. But I had to know if it was Jay’s. If it wasn’t, he didn’t need to be a part of this.

“Dude.” Jay’s cheeks reddened.

They’d definitely had sex.

Marna and Ginger converged on me, pushing Jay back, searching my face for answers.

“What is it?” Ginger asked.

“Yeah, you’re freaking me out.” Marna crossed her arms, and I forced myself to stop staring. When I looked up, I could feel the wetness of tears on my cheeks.

“I’m so sorry,” I whispered.

I was scared to say it. Scared to put the words out there and make it real. A sob rose up in my chest and I covered my mouth again. Sweet Marna.

“Anna.” Jay squeezed in and whispered to me, “Don’t cry. We didn’t plan for this. I know it’s fast, and . . . I know Veronica’s going to be hurt—”

“It’s not that.” I made a spontaneous decision. Jay needed to know what he’d gotten himself into. I gathered all the courage I had in me, trying not to cry harder.

“Marna.” I took her hand. “You’re pregnant.”

The three of them stared at me. Ginger was the first to react. She grabbed my shirt in both fists and shook me, screaming, “Shut up! You shut your bloody mouth!”

Jay tried to pry her off me, and I grabbed her wrists, staring her in the eyes. “I’m sorry, Ginger.”

She shoved me away like I’d burned her, and stumbled back into Jay’s desk, looking rabid. Marna stood still with her eyes wide.

Jay glared at me. “This is not cool. Why would you say that?”

“She can’t be,” Ginger whimpered. “She had the surgery. We both did.”

Jay’s head swung toward her, a look of confusion on his face. I’d worry about him in a minute.

Right now, my mind searched for a possible answer. “We heal fast. Maybe the surgery corrected itself before it had a chance to take? But . . . I wonder why you never got pregnant before this?”

“Anna!” Oh, man. Jay looked appalled, and I couldn’t blame him.

“I usually don’t . . . ,” Marna whispered. Her eyes were glazed when she looked up at me. “I do other things, if I can help it. You know . . . anything but?”

“A half-arsed worker, just like you,” Ginger mumbled.

“What the hell are you guys talking about?” Jay sounded frustrated now.

Ginger ignored him and yelled, “This is stupid! You can’t possibly know she’s pregnant, Anna. She’d be less than a week!”

“I’ve always been able to sense it,” I said. I opened my mouth to explain and became very aware of Jay’s stare. He looked at me as if I were a stranger. “Jay,” I whispered, “I have a lot to tell you.”

“You’re being weird, Anna. You’ve always been weird, but this ain’t right.”

My eyes watered again. His words hurt. I knew what it must sound like to him.

Ginger stepped up to Jay. “I need you to shut up and stay out of this while we figure it out. Then we’ll all leave you alone and you won’t have to see any of us freaks again.”

His face scrunched in bafflement.

“Stop it, Gin!” Marna grabbed Jay’s arm, and he wrapped it around her, glancing at our faces like he’d found himself in another dimension.

“I’m not going anywhere,” Jay said. “I just want to know what’s going on.”

“I can sense a warmth,” I said, pushing on despite the overwhelming awkward tension. “It’s like an aura, but different. I can feel the extra life force—”

“It’s a multicellular freaking zygote!” Ginger screamed. “Not a life force! Not a soul!”

“I didn’t say . . . I meant, I just don’t know.” It was so hard to explain. “It’s like . . . an extension of Marna, only a tiny, separate entity.”

Ginger started pacing. “Oh, God. Oh, God. We need one of those morning-after pills.”

Marna’s eyes widened. “I’m not taking any pill!”

“An operation, then!”

Marna shook her head. “It doesn’t work, Gin. You know that! Other Neph have tried it, and it kills them just the same.”

Jay dropped his arm from Marna’s shoulder and stepped back. I’d never seen him so freaked out. The twins kept arguing.

“Those other Neph couldn’t have been as early on as you,” Ginger reasoned. “If there’s no soul in the thing yet, then you’re safe. When do babies get their souls?”

Both sisters looked at me, and I shook my head. “I have no idea.”

I knew souls were created in the heavenly realm, and the Maker knew every detail of our earthly lives and our purposes, starting from conception, but it was never specified at what part of the process the soul was embedded in the flesh.

“I’m not having an abortion,” Marna said. “I don’t care if there’s a soul yet or not. I’m not having one.”

“Why the hell not?” Ginger’s voice reached an all-time high. She got in Marna’s face. “Don’t be an idiot! There could still be time!”

Marna blinked and tears streamed down her cheeks. “And I could die today! I’m not doing it!”

Jay and I stood watching, silent.

Ginger was shaking. Marna covered her mouth, her eyes spilling over as she sat on the bed.

“I’m . . . I’m going to have a baby, Gin,” she whispered.

“You will be dead, Marna. Dead! You won’t get to enjoy it. You can’t be a mother!”

“But you can raise her and tell her about me—”

Ginger reeled back, scowling. “I don’t want anything to do with this creature! And how will I raise your stupid baby when I’m working? Shall I ask Grandfather Astaroth to babysit?” She looked wildly around the room, then grabbed Marna’s wrist. “We’re going to a clinic. Now.”

Ginger turned, and Marna twisted out of her grip. “I’m not going!”

A vicious, crazed scream tore from Ginger’s lips. Marna tried to reach for her, but Ginger slapped her hand away.

“Gin, please,” Marna sobbed.

Ginger turned to me, and I froze. “You! Fix this. Pray.”

“I am,” I promised her. “But I don’t get everything I ask for, Ginger.”

“You’re His little prodigy child, aren’t you?”

“No. I don’t have any more access than you or anyone else! Maybe we could all pray together?”

I reached for her hand, but she yanked it away.

“I am not praying. He let this happen! He bloody hates us!”

Ginger made a sound that broke my heart, and then reached for her keys and ran from the room. Marna covered her face. I pulled her to me and we hugged, both of us crying. My heart was in shreds.

“Give her some time,” I whispered. “She just needs a minute to herself.”

I glimpsed at Jay, who’d backed himself against the wall. Marna and I pulled away and faced him. He didn’t look scared anymore. He didn’t look anything. Just kind of blank and pale, like it’d been too much for him and he’d shut down.

“Jay?” Marna whispered.

We didn’t step any closer to him.

In a robotic voice, he asked, “Can you please tell me what’s going on now?”

Marna and I looked at each other. She gave me a nod. I turned to Jay’s guardian angel, half expecting him to shake his head, but he only watched me sadly.

“It’s going to sound crazy,” I told Jay. “Even worse than the conversation you just heard.”

“It could not get any crazier. Just tell me.”

I took a deep breath. “There are angels on earth, Jay. And demons, too.”

He didn’t move.

“Most of them are in spirit form, and you can’t see them,” I continued. “But twelve of the demons are in human bodies. They’re called the Dukes.”

I looked at Marna’s pinched face, and she nodded for me to keep going. Jay was still in zombie mode.

“Our fathers are two of the Dukes,” I whispered. “Same with Kai, and Kope, and Blake. We’re children of demons.”

No reaction whatsoever.

“We’re called Nephilim,” Marna said. “But we usually just say Neph.”

Still he was unresponsive, eyes glazed. Marna looked worried.

“We can prove it to you,” I said. “Come with me. We’ll leave our cell phones here. Marna, you stay here and listen, okay?”

She nodded. I motioned for Jay to follow, and he did. We got into my car and drove down the street, almost a mile away. I felt his eyes boring into the side of my face the whole time. I stopped the car and parked.

“Tell me something nobody else knows,” I said softly. “When we get back to your room, Marna will tell us what you said, because she can hear us right now.”

“How can she hear us?”

“We have supernatural abilities—heightened senses.”

At first I didn’t think he’d play along. His eyes widened, but he was silent.

“Uh . . .” He finally spoke, and his voice came out quiet and dry. “Okay. I used to dream of Marna when I was with Veronica. I always woke up feeling guilty, but I couldn’t help it. And I’m pretty sure I’m still dreaming now. Only it’s not such a good dream anymore.”

Oh, Jay.

“I know this is a lot to take in. I only found out when I was sixteen, and it’s still hard for me.”

He looked at me now, really looked at me.

“Angels and demons aren’t real, Anna. They can’t be.”

“They are,” I whispered.

He stared at me. “I just don’t get it. You’re both sweet. How can you be . . . part demon?”

“We have urges, Jay. Worse than any human could understand.”

“Urges.” He continued to study me.

“Drugs and alcohol for me.” He sort of swayed backward as understanding rocked him. I kept going. “The twins deal with adultery—cheating. We’re meant to hurt people.”

His brown eyes swelled while he pieced everything together. “The night I was deejaying . . . New Year’s Eve . . . when we . . .”

“Yeah,” I said. “She saw a bond between you and Roni. There were demon spirits there watching, and she worked on you, but she liked you. Genuinely. And it says a lot that she loves you, now, completely single.”

“She really loves me?”

“The twins can see bonds. Ginger saw love between the two of you today.”

Poor Jay. He looked so overwhelmed. His eyes shot to mine again.

“Is Patti . . . ?”

“No.” I shook my head. “She’s human. All the other Neph were raised by their fathers and Neph siblings, but my dad was in prison and I don’t have siblings.”

“What about all the mothers?” he asked.

I swallowed hard, feeling the burn behind my eyes again. I had to catch my breath.

“They all died during childbirth, Jay.” I held his eyes, waiting for the terrible moment when he’d understand. “Earthly bodies aren’t made to be able to release a Nephilim soul.”

“Even . . .” He stared down the street in the direction of his house.

“Even Marna,” I whispered.

“That’s why her sister’s so upset.”

I watched Jay grow up in that moment. He sat up straighter, and his eyes cleared. He wore an expression of bravery. It was a sad and beautiful thing to see him so serious.

“Take me back to her,” he said.

I turned us around and did just that. He leaped from the car when I pulled into the driveway, and ran into his house. When I got to his room I found them sitting on the bed, Jay holding her, letting her cry into his chest until she quieted.

“You dreamed of me?” she whispered.

He kissed her forehead. “Yes.”

Marna gazed up at him. “I can see that you’re afraid. But happy. Me, too.”

“You can see it?” he asked.

She pulled back and ran her fingers through the haze at his chest. “Your aura.”

Jay shot me a questioning look.

“We see emotions as colors,” I explained.

“Anna can feel them, as well,” Marna added. “She’s different from the rest of us.”

Jay raised his eyebrows, and I shrugged. He came forward and hugged me more gently than normal, like I was fragile. I squeezed him until he squeezed me back. I didn’t want him to treat me differently.

He pulled away and stared down at me as if seeing me for the first time. “All along . . . you could always see this stuff? And you had, like, superpowers?”

I dropped my eyes. The heightened senses had been a struggle for me. “It’s not as cool as it sounds. I’ve always hated it, and I’m still not so good at it.”

“And Kai!” Jay’s eyes widened. “Duuuude . . .”

“Yeah,” I said.

“It’s all making sense now.”

He sat on the bed next to Marna again. Their hands immediately linked. “So, what makes you different from them?” he asked me.

“Their mothers were all human. My mother was a guardian angel. That’s why I can see the pregnancy when other Neph and the Dukes can’t. It’s an angel ability.”

“Nuh-uh.” I saw in his eyes that his perception of me fully changed in that moment, from the silly, strange Anna he’d once known, to an Anna who elicited awe. “So, your mom was an angel, but your dad’s a demon?”

“It’s complicated. They knew each other in heaven, before he became a demon.”

Jay stared at me.

“I’m still just me,” I promised him.

“No . . . you’re more.”

I shrugged again, embarrassed by the attention.

“And wait,” he said. “There’s really guardian angels? Here on earth?”

“Yes,” Marna said. “All humans have them.”

Jay got still. “I have one?”

Marna and I nodded, and then giggled as Jay’s head swiveled side to side, searching.

“You can’t see him!” I said.

“No way! No way!” He jumped up and spun now, looking right past his guardian angel, who stared down at him with a look of mirth on his celestial, misty face.

“I think he’s laughing at you,” I said. Marna giggled and nodded.

Jay went into spaz mode. “For real? I got a cool angel with a sense of humor!”

“He loves you,” I told him. “He’s always watching over you.”

“Like . . . as in, always always?” His eyebrows went up. Marna giggled again.

“Yep,” I said.

“Oh, man. This is crazy.” His face paled and he started babbling. “Holy crap. Demons. What do they do, exactly? Never mind. I probably don’t wanna know. I knew there was something messed up about your dads, but dang.”

I didn’t want to talk about our fathers. Jay would learn soon enough about the demons. He’d have to know everything he was getting himself into. Even mentioning the demons gave me the creeps. Dark thoughts raced through my mind, followed closely by a tumbleweed of emotions.

Jay was in danger.

Marna had less than forty weeks to live.

If the Dukes or whisperers found out about this baby, the child would be killed after birth.

I pressed a hand to my chest. What were we going to do?

“You all right, Anna?” Jay asked.

I nodded and shot him a quick smile. “Yeah.”

“Do you think your sister’s okay?” Jay asked Marna.

Marna’s face darkened. “I’ve never seen her that upset. She’s always been protective of me, but this isn’t something she can save me from. I know she feels like the world is ending, but I need her now more than ever. If I give her a little time and space, maybe she’ll be okay. . . .”

Marna met my eyes, and I could see we both knew. Ginger, the mama bear, would be wrecked by the loss of her twin. I couldn’t imagine the world without Marna, so I couldn’t begin to understand how it felt for Ginger.

“I’ll talk to my dad and ask what he thinks we should do.”

Jay jumped to his feet, a terrified look in his eyes. “You can’t tell him!”

“Her dad is good,” Marna explained.

We spent the next hour explaining everything to Jay. From meeting Kai, to my parents’ story, to the Great Purge when demons killed all the Neph, to Sister Ruth and the prophecy that said I’d rid the earth of demons. By the time I got to the events on the island, Jay looked ill.

“Is there anywhere I can take the baby to be safe?”

Those words made me dive forward and hug him, getting choked up.

“Oh, my gosh. You’re going to be such a good daddy.”

I heard Marna sniffle.

“You’ll take good care of the baby, Jay,” she said. We were a mess.

I wiped my eyes and thought.

“We took Zania to a convent. What about a church? Demons avoid places where two or more people convene in prayer.”

“I’m on it,” Jay said. “I’ll contact every church I can find and see if they have something, like a room to rent or a basement, or anything. I don’t know. I’ll figure out something.”

Marna beamed up at him.

“It’ll be okay,” he said to her. He sounded strong and sure.

He sounded in love.

UNCORRECTED E-PROOF—NOT FOR SALE

HarperCollins Publishers

..................................................................

CHAPTER SIX

LIE DETECTOR

Like every other night in the hotels, I couldn’t sleep well. I spent a lot of time begging for peace and clarity, and now I had the Marna situation on my mind, too. I couldn’t think too hard about losing her. I just couldn’t. I wanted so badly to talk to Kai about it, but for all I knew he was flanked by whisperers at any given time.

I wanted to cry with relief that night when I received a text from my father.

Where are you?

I gave him the name of the hotel and the city: Marietta, Georgia.

I waited, but he didn’t respond. After an hour I was starting to get worried, and considered leaving the hotel in case someone else had gotten ahold of my father’s phone. Just as I was shoving stuff into my bag, I heard a familiar, gritty voice in my head.

Greetings, daughter of Belial.

I’d gotten good at controlling my reactions, even while my innards liquefied with fright.

Azael, I responded telepathically.

He peered down at me, his heavy feline features fixed in an intense glare. My pulse slowed as I watched our spirit ally, but my nerves were still shot as I waited to hear his news.

You will have Nephilim visitors. Be careful what you say.

Neph visitors? Oh, heck no. I shoved the last of my things into the bag and ran to the door as Azael flew away. I lost my cool, letting out a scream when I swung the door open and found two people standing there—a young girl with dark, slicked-back hair, and a blond man with sharp cheekbones and icy eyes. Both had black badges at their sternums.

“Going somewhere?” the girl asked in a high-pitched voice, her accent replacing w sounds with v’s and rolling her r’s. Her identity hit me with a sickening slap.

Caterina. Daughter of Jezebet, the Duke of Lies.

I fought to control my breathing. Caterina may have looked young and harmless, but I knew better. Up close, the evil glint in her eyes made my stomach turn. She had no idea I’d been hiding under the dock on Duke Melchom’s private island. She had no idea I had witnessed the part she’d played in the death of Flynn. She was the one who’d told the Dukes he was lying.

“What do you want?” I asked.

“We aren’t here to hurt you.” The man’s accent was thick and European, sounding something like Russian to my untrained ear.

“Who are you?” I asked.

“I am Marek, son of Shax. From Czech Republic.” Son of the Duke of Theft. I held the shoulder strap of my bag a little tighter as he continued. “And this is Caterina, daughter of Jezebet, from Romania.”

He smiled warmly. She didn’t.

“What do you guys want?” I asked again.

I had to be careful, just as Azael had said. Caterina could sense lies and she was absolutely no friend to fellow Neph.

“We just want to talk,” Marek said, never losing the pleasant smile. “May we come in?”

I remembered back to last week when I’d seen Dad in L.A. He’d mentioned looking into the possibility of the son of Shax being an ally. That made me feel slightly better . . . but only a smidge. For a possible ally, he didn’t keep very good company.

“I was just leaving. We can talk outside.”

The last thing I wanted was to be stuck in a room with them. I felt the light weight of the knife in my pocket, though I didn’t like the two-against-one odds.

They crowded the doorway, but I pushed my way out. The door was almost closed behind me when Caterina slapped her tiny palm to my chest.

“We prefer to speak in the room,” she said.

I smacked her hand away on instinct and yanked the door shut.

“Sorry, but I prefer to speak outside.”

“You are not sorry,” she scoffed.

Dang it. Stupid lie detector. I’d have to watch every word I said around her.

“Fine. I’m not sorry.”

“It’s all right, Caterina.” Marek smiled at me. “You can hardly blame her for being cautious, yes?”

He gave her a look that said something along the lines of Chill out, you’re scaring her. She rolled her eyes and started moving to the exit door down the hall. She looked like a soldier the way she marched in her black pants and stiff button-up white shirt.

“Come on then,” she called brusquely.

Marek shot me an apologetic glance and waved a hand out for me to go next. I went, looking over my shoulder at him several times with distrust. I had the hilt inside my bag since I was wearing shorts, and I wasn’t letting his stealthy hands anywhere near it.

When I slowed near the door, Marek bumped me from behind and I let out a little screech, turning on him. He kept his hands on my back to steady himself, and I had to shove him away with an elbow.

“My apologies,” he said, all innocence. He slipped his hands into his pockets and nodded down at the paper outside someone’s hotel-room door. The caption was about a huge pawnshop robbery in Atlanta. “The headline caught my attention.”

Not knowing whether or not to believe him, I pulled the bag around from my back to my chest as I pushed through the doors. I felt the shape of the hilt through the bottom of the bag and breathed a sigh of relief.

Outside it was dark, but the air still held the heaviness of the day’s heat and humidity. I didn’t walk to my car, opting instead to stand in a patch of grass at the side of the hotel, away from prying eyes. I faced them with my stance wide, sliding the book bag onto both shoulders in case I had to fight, which I prayed I wouldn’t.

“Strange things are happening,” crooned Caterina. “Would you not agree?”

I kept my hands loose at my sides, prepared. “You have one more chance to tell me why you’re here before I leave.”

She narrowed her beady dark eyes at me, and Marek stepped forward to speak.

“We have a few questions, daughter of Belial. That is all.”

“Questions from you? Or questions someone sent you to ask?”

I was losing patience, feeling overly anxious.

“Are you a virgin?” Caterina blurted.

Great.

“Okay, so something you’ve been sent to ask,” I said.

She smiled, a malicious show of teeth. Dread pooled in my belly.

Marek glowered down at Caterina.

“I’m not answering your questions,” I said. “I don’t trust you.”

Her smile was one of genuine amusement this time. “It’s true—you don’t trust me. But evading questions is almost always a sign of guilt.”

“Almost,” Marek pointed out, speaking to Caterina. “But not always. You’ve cornered her like an animal, and she obviously feels threatened.”

“If you can do better, do it yourself!”

The look she gave him was frightening. He had over a foot of height on her, but she stared at him as if she could take him down one-handed.

“Forget it!” I yelled. “It’s bad enough I have to deal with whisperers following me around. I’m not dealing with a couple of Neph, too. I’m out of here.”

I turned for the parking lot, walking fast.

“We are not finished!” Caterina spat.

Marek said something to her in a different language, using a scolding tone, and she responded in kind. I heard them following me, and I was shaking by the time I got to my car. I reached into the stretchy side pouch of my bag for the keys.

They were gone.

A jingle sounded behind me. In a flash I dug my knife out of my pocket, slid it open, and turned, jutting it out.

Marek and Caterina were five feet away, at the back of my car. He dangled my keys in front of him, a pleading look on his face. How the heck had he taken them?

Caterina’s eyes widened at the sight of my knife.

“Give them to me,” I said.

Marek spoke calmly. “I will, but I had to be sure you would speak to us before you left.”

“Throw them to me,” I demanded.

Caterina crossed her arms. “Not until you answer our questions. If you prefer not to speak with us, I’m certain the sons of Thamuz would be more than happy to pay you a visit.”

The mention of the sons of Thamuz made me dizzy with fear. Thamuz was the Duke of Murder, and I knew their methods of extracting information. They’d broken sweet Marna when she was still just a child, hurting her in unthinkable ways until she opened herself to seeing the demon whisperers.

A knowing smile lit up Caterina’s face. “I see you know of them. Do you know what they do for a living, daughter of Belial? They assist in kidnapping-for-ransom heists in South America.”

I had to shut her up before she said another word about those two psychos.

“I don’t appreciate you showing up unannounced. I don’t answer to you or any other Neph. I do what my father tells me. He’s not the kind of Duke you want to cross, so I suggest you give me my keys and leave me alone.”

Caterina began to laugh, but quickly stopped when she saw Marek toss the keys to my free hand. She gave him a disbelieving look.

“She hasn’t answered our questions!”

“And she won’t now that you’ve treated her as our enemy.”

I pitied Marek. I’d hate to have to deal with the enraged mini-vamp girl.

I hit the Unlock button, opened the door, and threw my bag in.

“Good luck,” I said to Marek before I quickly slipped in, locked the doors, and cranked the engine on.

“Wait!” he yelled, grabbing the door handle. His face looked panicked. “Don’t leave yet!”

What did he expect when he threw me the keys? Caterina made a run for the front of the car to block me, but I hit the accelerator and she jumped back as I sped away. They’d have hell to pay with the Dukes for letting me go.

At the first stoplight I opened the bag and felt around until the hilt was in my hand, then I breathed a sigh of relief. I texted Dad with my information code: A411. I tried to keep my hearing around the two Neph, but they were both silent, and I wasn’t great at following sounds of cars when other cars were around. Just to be safe, I kept driving for the next three hours until my body demanded rest.

I pulled into the back of a supermart’s parking lot and used my backpack as a pillow. I never heard back from Dad. That night, I fell asleep haunted by the look of regret in Marek’s eyes as I sped away. What did he regret, exactly? Was he an ally or a foe? I didn’t know, but I intended to find out.

UNCORRECTED E-PROOF—NOT FOR SALE

HarperCollins Publishers

..................................................................

CHAPTER SEVEN

JAY’S FUTURE

I was certifiably grumpy when I woke in the car the next morning. If those restless moments of dozing could be considered sleeping.

I texted Patti first thing. U ok?

Yes. You?

Fine, I texted back.

We said nothing more, and I deleted the conversation from my phone, wishing it was safe to tell her I loved her. I would have given anything to sit out on our balcony with her this morning, sipping coffee like we used to, discussing college plans and other normal things.

I texted Dad again.

He never responded, which made me antsier. I felt stuck in limbo and I didn’t know what my next move should be. I decided to swing by our apartment in Cartersville to check the mail. It probably wasn’t the smartest move, but I tried to be careful. I stopped as I neared the neighborhood and did surveillance. No strange cars or people. I pushed my hearing into the apartment. The place was silent, but I wouldn’t be going in. I got the mail and left as quickly as I could.

I drove to Jay’s house and sorted through the envelopes as I sat parked in his driveway. I was glad I’d gotten the mail, because there were things from Virginia—information about checking into campus housing at Virginia Tech, and letters from the bank and realtor about Patti’s new house in the small town of Riner. I shoved everything into my backpack, slung it over one shoulder with a quick glance for whisperers, and walked into Jay’s house.

His parents were at work, and in his room I could hear clicking on a keyboard. The door was open, so I knocked and peeked in.

“Hey,” I said.

He tried to smile, but he looked stressed. “I think I found something, but I don’t really know what I’m doing. I—”

I put a finger to my lips and motioned toward a pen on his desk. He picked it up and wrote in messy handwriting, There’s a church in Atlanta that needs a night janitor and they offer lodging.

Janitor? I wrote.

He shrugged, seeming so much more unsure of himself than usual. He bent over the page and scratched out another message. I’ll have to give up DJ stuff at nights, but I don’t know what else to do. I can get one of those carrier things for when I’m sweeping and stuff.