Toxic

by Jus Accardo

  “Think of the wardrobe possibilities,” Kiernan continued. “You’ll never have to spend cash on clothes again. Walk in to a store, check out the merch, and BAM. Insta-wardrobe. Oh! And catalogs! You can totally stock up on fashion mags and be Parkview’s own runway diva.” She tugged at the end of her shirt. “Try this.”

  “Try—”

  She rolled her eyes and gave an exaggerated sigh. “My shirt. Try mimicking your shirt into my shirt.”

  For a brief moment I had a Denazen flashback. That tool Rick commanding me to mimic on cue. Meaty, sweat-covered fingers on my skin as his greedy eyes all but ate me up.

  Deep breaths. In and out. That was over.

  Eyes closed, I concentrated.

  I didn’t need to open them to know it worked. It wasn’t the slight, drained feeling that overcame me or the cool, welcome breeze tickling my now bare midriff. It was Kiernan—who was obviously way more excited than I was.

  “Oh-my-frigging-God.”

  “I think you’re right,” I said, trying to cover up the sick feeling in my stomach. “This could be epic for my wardrobe.”

  Suddenly there was a loud bang. Seconds later, someone screamed. It was garbled and frantic, but when the wail of a police siren sounded, I had a pretty good idea what they’d said.

  “Shit!” I scrambled up, the last of the pink liquid buzz gone, and raced to the window. Pulling up in front of the house were four patrol cars. “Not good…”

  Kiernan threw open the door and froze, shoving me back inside as I tried to peer around the corner. “No good! They’re already in the house.” Frantic, she slammed it closed. “We have to go.”

  She made a move to grab my arm, but I stepped out of reach. “Not a chance. Kale is here! I’m not leaving without him.”

  With a growl, she pointed to the window on the other side of the room. “Go out there. I’ll see if I can find Kale.”

  And before I could make an objection, she disappeared. A second later, the door opened and closed again. Kiernan was almost as impulsive as me. We should have used her ability to sneak past the police and right out the front door, but that would have meant stopping to think for a second. We were cut from the same cloth. Act first and think later.

  I was able to drop to the patio awning just below the window. On the front lawn, a flood of people streamed from the house as the wailing sirens drowned out their panicked cries. The cops had a few kids in cuffs by the cars. They were trying to grab the stragglers as they ditched the party.

  As soon as the coast looked clear, I lowered myself to the ground. But I’d underestimated the height. My feet buckled as I landed in the dew-damp grass. I jarred my shoulder, which sent a dizzying wave of stars dancing into my field of vision. No time to think about it. I shook the pain off, cursing, and was about to get up and make a run for the woods, but a pair of worn, black shit-kickers came into view.

  “Not leaving, are you? Party’s just getting started, yeah?”

  14

  “What a surprise.” I got to my feet and brushed off my jeans. The cops were busy with the front door and weren’t paying us any attention. “Slumming?”

  Able grinned. “Is it so hard to believe I came to see you?”

  It was believable, all right. Should have known that crap Dad spouted about having a choice was bullshit.

  Able took a step closer. “Since I’m here, and you’re here, how about we go somewhere? Together, yeah?”

  He reached for me at the same moment Curd came barreling out of the house and around the corner, followed by a very shirtless Vicki Donnor. She bounced like runaway Jell-O, nearly popping out of her zebra-striped bra, and knocking over anyone unfortunate enough to get in her way. I could understand her hurry. After the last party, her father threatened a nunnery if she got caught again.

  Able was focused on me so he didn’t see them come around the corner. I took a small step to the side to avoid collision. Vicki, determined not to get snagged by the cops, slammed him from behind. The surprise blow knocked Able off balance and sent him stumbling sideways. She muttered an apology as she zoomed by, and Able cursed, but I didn’t wait around.

  I sprinted around the corner to the front of the house. The lawn was out of bounds because the patrol cars were still there. The backyard was a no-go. I couldn’t make a run for the woods because Able was blocking my path. The only choice was the house.

  There were a few partygoers still trying to bail. They trickled from the house, some from the front door, others trying to sneak around the side from the backyard. Luckily, the cops were so busy rounding them up that they didn’t see me slip back inside. I pulled out my cell and pointed the glowing screen toward the ground so I could see where I was going. The stereo was still blasting, the opening beats of the song familiar.

  In the corner, the keg had been knocked on its side. Small droplets of golden liquid formed an expanding puddle underneath it. The folding table that once held the mixed drinks was also on the floor, a pool of pink creeping toward the center of the room. Scattered glow jewelry lay everywhere, making the room look like a tiny neon graveyard.

  I hesitated at the stairs, listening. All quiet. It seemed like everyone had gotten out. Pointing the cell into the hall, I used it to light my way to the kitchen. There was still noise coming from outside. Faint voices and car doors slamming. The Parkview police were on a mission. A few weeks ago the local paper had done an article about the party scene and how the Parkview PD wasn’t doing enough—aka anything—to stop it. Now, they were determined to prove themselves. They’d chase you through the woods all the way to the next town from what I’d heard. I had no intention of testing that theory.

  I brushed the old lace curtains aside to check the backyard. If the coast was clear, I could make a break for it and find Kale and Kiernan. But unfortunately, the coast wasn’t clear. Thin material aside revealed Able on the other side of the glass, grinning like a cat that’d just eaten an entire flock of baby birds. I nearly toppled backward out of surprise.

  My hands shot out to fumble with the lock, but he was too fast. He slammed the door open and pushed inside. “Thought you lost me, yeah?”

  Running was my first plan, but it didn’t pan out. I tripped over a fallen metal folding chair and went down hard. Breath caught in my lungs as my left elbow slammed against the floor. Thousands of tiny tingles shot down my arm and up my neck.

  Able was on me, and there was no time to run. Time for plan B. Scrambling upright, I took the folding chair and backed away several steps. No way was I going to make this easy for him.

  He chuckled. “You’re gonna hit me with a folding chair, yeah?” He stopped and spread his arms wide. “Go for it. I’ll even give you a free shot.”

  No need to tell me twice. Fingers tightening around the legs, I swung the chair at his head as hard as I could. At the last second, I mentally crossed my fingers and pictured one of the heavy wooden chairs in the lobby of the Sanctuary. Cherry wood, deep red velvet seat cushion, and an ornate back. Tacky as hell, but seriously heavy. The sudden weight change knocked me slightly off balance but not before the chair collided with Able in a satisfying thud. He and the chair crashed to the ground, and I took off toward the door.

  I made it to the stairs and was about to slip back out the front door, but Aubrey stepped out from the dining room and into my path. There was only one way to go. Up. I changed direction, skidding on the drink-soaked floor, and took the steps two at a time. When I got to the top, Able’s scream split the air. Any sense of humor he had was gone.

  Really, coming back into the house was one of the more brain-dead things I’d done recently. I’d backed myself into a corner.

  “Hey!” someone whisper-yelled as I passed one of the rooms.

  I knew that voice. It was like nails scraping against a blackboard.

  Jade was standing by a sliding glass door that lead to a small second-story balcony. There was just enough light from the moon filtering through the dirty glass to make out her a
nnoyed expression.

  “What are you still doing here?” A quick glance down the hall. Still clear. They had to be regrouping or something, or they would be here by now. “More important, where the hell is Kale?”

  “We got separated by the crowd.”

  I stared. “You got separated? Are you crazy? In this kind of chaos, do you know the damage he could accidentally do if you’re not with him?”

  She rolled her eyes. “Relax. When we heard the sirens, I told him if we got split up to head back to the hotel.”

  “And he agreed to that?” I was relieved but also a little annoyed by the idea he’d leave without knowing I was safe.

  Jade read my expression like a book, lips curling into a cruel smile. “Of course. You just have to know how to ask.” She leaned closer. “Weren’t you wearing a different shirt? And what’s up with your hair?”

  “Never mind. Why are you hiding up here? You could have easily gotten snagged by the cops.”

  She nodded at the sliding glass doors. “I was in the bathroom when the cops came in. I ran in here to hide and was going to go out and climb down, but it’s stuck.”

  Pushing her aside, I reached for the handle and yanked. Yep. Stuck.

  “Up here, yeah?” Able’s voice came from down the hall. “In one of these rooms. She didn’t get far.”

  I tiptoed back to the door and peered around the edge. Aubrey and Able were making their way down the hall, peering into the rooms along the way. There were two rooms between them and us. Only one choice left. “I’d love to say I’m sorry about this, but really, I’m so not.”

  Jade scrunched up her nose and folded her arms. “Sorry? About wha—”

  I ran at her with as much speed as I could gather in the short distance. Grabbing her shoulders, I propelled us into the sliding glass door. It shattered into a thousand tiny pieces, some skimming my neck and cheeks, but most missing me, thanks to my handy-dandy human shield.

  Could we have found another way out? Maybe. At the very least, I probably could have kicked the window to break it instead of tossing Jade through it like a volleyball—but that wouldn’t have been nearly as satisfying. Or as much fun.

  The plan was for us to land on the small patio, then climb to the ground below, but I’d underestimated the balcony’s size. It was much smaller than it looked from inside.

  And way less stable.

  We crashed into the handrail—then through it. Jade yelped as we tumbled over the edge and plummeted to the ground. It wasn’t a long fall—ten feet, maybe—but it still could have ended badly for me if Jade hadn’t been kind enough to cushion most of the impact with her body.

  “You bitch,” she seethed and shoved me off.

  I rolled away, gasping for air. The fall had knocked the wind from my lungs and jarred my good shoulder. For a moment, I was sure it was broken. Unresponsive fingers and sharp pain from neck to elbow made me panic. Broken bones would be more than a simple inconvenience at the moment. But when the pain started to ebb and my fingers began to wiggle, I knew I was in the clear.

  I glanced to the window in time to catch a blur of black. The twins. They’d be down the stairs and around the house in no time. Up. I needed to get up and away. I stumbled upright and wobbled as a wave of vertigo hit.

  “What the hell is wrong with you?” Jade squealed. She was on her feet and obviously in better shape than I was.

  What the hell was her problem? It wasn’t like she’d gotten hurt.

  Unfortunately.

  From the right corner of the house, the twins stepped into the moonlight, and our eyes met. Aubrey flashed a wicked grin as they started forward.

  “Shit,” I cursed, whirling in the other direction.

  “Don’t move!” someone yelled.

  To our left, two police officers were rounding the other side of the house. When I glanced over my shoulders, the twins were backing into the shelter of the tree line. Within seconds, they’d blended into the darkness—but I knew they were still there. Watching and waiting for their chance.

  The toxic twins or a nice, bumpy ride in the back of a squad car. It was no contest.

  “Over here!” I called, arms flailing. Nodding to Jade, I called, “She’s underage—and drunk!”

  As they hauled us to the squad cars, Able stepped out from the darkness. His head was bleeding where the chair had hit him, and his expression was full of fury. His lips were moving, and even though it was dark, there was enough moonlight for me to get a pretty good idea what he’d said.

  “This isn’t over.”

  15

  “I cannot frigging believe you. You throw me out a window and get me arrested? Taking this jealousy thing a little too far, don’t you think?”

  I tucked my feet up, cringing, and rested my head against the wall. The throbbing in my left shoulder had doubled since our impromptu swan dive from the window, and the itching was driving me insane. I had to sit on my hands to keep from scratching at it. Then there was Jade’s voice. Each word was like a knife slicing my head in two. I tried to ignore her, but she wasn’t deterred.

  “That was totally selfish.”

  The police were gallant enough to escort us from the party in the back of their squad car. To take their hospitality one step further, they even provided us with our own special waiting area as they called Mom and Ginger. It stank like week-old puke, was decorated with pretty metal bars, and had several gruesome-looking stains on the floor.

  I closed my eyes and gnashed my teeth into my tongue. “What the hell are you whining about?”

  “Instead of going to make sure Kale was okay, you try to kill me. When that fails, you get me arrested as payback for showing up at the party.”

  “You’re invincible, remember? I can’t kill you—no matter how much I’d like to.” I opened my eyes and snorted. “And ego much? That had nothing to do with petty crap and revenge. In fact, I did you a damned favor.”

  She balked. “A favor? You’re a lunatic. What person in their right mind throws someone through a window? Or tries to get arrested, for that matter? You’re a seriously damaged individual! I don’t know what he sees in you.”

  Standing, I took a deep breath. We were in a cell. Alone. There was no one to stop me from kicking the crap out of the little twit. I couldn’t actually hurt her, but there could still be some serious enjoyment in trying.

  “One with good survival instinct. We were about to get raided.”

  “Um, duh? The cops were already there.”

  “The cops? No. I mean by Denazen. While you were busy trying to throw Kale in my face, a group of Denazen flunkies was coming toward us. Or maybe you already knew that.”

  She scowled and turned away.

  I took a step forward. “And how is it they found their way there? Any ideas?”

  Shoulders stiff and cheeks flushed, she turned to glare at me. For a minute I thought she might actually take a swing. Or try to. “What is that supposed to mean?”

  “It means, you pop up at a party, and then Denazen shows right on your heels? You don’t think that’s odd? Especially after that post office stunt?”

  Her eyes were wide, and she flashed me a look of mock surprise. “Post office stunt? You are truly certifiable, you know that?”

  “Don’t play that innocent crap with me. I know what you’re all about. And come on! You drag Kale out of the hotel to a party that Denazen crashes? How’s that supposed to look?”

  “Like I wanted to hang out with the guy I like?”

  “The guy you like?” My mouth fell open. Had to give her credit. It took some serious balls to say that. That, or stupidity. “The guy who made it clear he already has a girlfriend? That guy?”

  Her annoyed expression melted into smug satisfaction. “In case you haven’t noticed, Kale likes spending time with me. Maybe your girlfriend status isn’t as solid as you think.”

  “Kale is being forced to spend time with you. There’s a difference.”

  She folded her arms and s
at back down. With a flip of her hair, she said, “It didn’t feel forced earlier. Ginger gave him the choice to do something else or hang out with me and practice. Thousand guesses what he picked.”

  I snorted. “Practice. Of course he chose that. Ginger told him you’re here to help, and he actually believes it. He wants to learn to control his gift and be done with you, so things can go back to normal.”

  I heard the words and even managed to make myself sound totally sure of them, but a little tingle in the back of my brain started poking. They always looked so cozy. Close. Maybe Kale did enjoy spending time with her.

  No. That was crazy thinking.

  “Hey, whatever you need to tell yourself. Seems to me he likes the new normal just fine.”

  “Jam a sock in it,” a cranky voice snapped.

  When I turned, Ginger was standing in front of the cell doors with one of the officers that brought us in. Her lips were pressed in a thin line as she slammed her cane into the ground twice, then banged it against the bars.

  The officer unlocked the door and pushed it open, stepping aside.

  “Thank you, Larry. Give my regards to Lillian, will you?” Turning to us, Ginger snarled, “Get out to the car. Now. Someone my age is supposed to be in bed by seven p.m. Instead, I’m dragging two trouble-making kids out of jail.”

  Without a word, I slipped past her and all but ran for the door. Ginger was mostly bark, but there was enough bite in the old woman to have even someone like me worried. She wasn’t the kind of person you wanted to piss off.

  “It was Denazen,” I said after Sira—another one of the Sanctuary Sixes—pulled the car from the police lot. “I saw them. Betting they called the cops as a distraction.”

  “Which would be exactly why you were all told not to leave the hotel after dark.” Ginger twisted in her seat. “Does that sound familiar?”

  I sighed. Normally my first instinct would be to tell her she was overreacting. It was a party. What harm ever came from a teenager sneaking out to a party? But with everything going on, I should have used more caution. Should have known better. I didn’t know if Kiernan had been caught, so I didn’t ask, but Kale was a different story. “Is Kale okay?”