On Edge

by Gin Price

  “Brennen, to the right!” I yelled, and he glanced back at me before veering in that direction. I felt relieved he trusted me enough to listen.

  “LL,” Warp chastised beside me, shaking his head and picking up speed.

  I knew that if I weren’t his sister, he probably woulda elbowed me in the face.

  Haze disappeared up the steps to the city transit station and around the corner. He would’ve probably missed the entrance, tucked back into an alcove as it was, if I hadn’t told him to turn. Everyone always went for the main entrance straight ahead instead of the emergency stairs. Except the freerunners.

  I chose his escape based on the knowledge that Haze had mean vault skills.

  Warp ran up the steps ahead of me, cursing my name, and by the time I hit the top, I saw the blur that was Haze run to the turnstiles and Speed Vault to the opposite side. Pride welled inside of me.

  Epic caught the toe of his shoe and fell forward on his knees, his face following suit soon after.

  Zone managed to follow Haze onto the platform, though, where both cat and mouse disappeared.

  Warp vaulted lazily over to the opposite side and offered an arm up to Epic as security ran up yelling and carrying on.

  I grinned and casually walked toward the cashier to pay for Haze and Zone. The woman behind the Plexiglas glared at me, but she didn’t dent the happiness I felt in knowing that Haze would get away. Zone was the king of the obstacle course, but his improvisational skills sucked as bad as his endurance.

  Warp and Epic were in a heated discussion with transit police, trying to keep themselves from getting a ticket.

  “LL, tell them,” Warp yelled at me over the turnstile.

  “Tell them what?”

  “We were trying to protect you from that murdering bastard!”

  The security guards looked dubious. Far be it for me to disappoint them. “This has gotta stop, Warp.” He cursed at me again, but I turned my attention to the transit police. “I paid for the two boys that made it to the platform, but now I’m broke so these two,” I nodded to Epic and my dear brother. “They’re on their own.”

  Twenty-four

  “Emanuella,” my Pops growled into the phone. “What the hell is going on over there? I get a clipped phone call from your brother about getting detained by the transit police.”

  “Let’s face it, Pops. It isn’t the first time one of us has been detained by the transit police, now is it?” Despite my flippant tone, I feared I was about to pee my pants.

  I’d returned home to find Surge standing at the open front door. Before I could tear him a new one, he had thrust the phone at me mouthing Pops as a warning. But nothing coulda prepared me for the wrath in my father’s voice. Quite honestly, I was scared.

  “I’ve told both you and your brother time and again that you are not to do anything troublesome while I’m away on a trip. I’m contracted out, Emanuella. I own the rig, but I don’t own my time and I am NOT going to break the contract for anything less than death. If I have to come home and bail someone out of jail, I am not going to be happy. Do you understand me?”

  I tried to make my gulp as silent as possible. “Yeah, I understand. But they’re not going to arrest him. They’re going to make him sweat it out and give him a ticket.”

  “John told me you coulda helped him out, but you left him there.”

  “I only had enough money for a few fares, Pops. Warp was dumb and got himself caught.”

  “And now I’m going to have to pay a hefty price for it.” He sighed. I knew he stressed over money all the time, and I did feel guilty, but I needed Warp to be detained so I could get to the school and do what I needed to.

  “I know, Pops. I’m sorry. We’ll keep clear of the dramatics okay? I won’t ruin this for you. I promise.” I hoped I didn’t do anything “troublesome” to break my promise—like die.

  Again, my father sighed heavily and I could hear the wind whipping into his rig through a cracked window and the low murmur of country music. He wanted to say more but obviously wasn’t sure what.

  “I love you, Daddy. Just drive safe, okay?”

  I heard him swallow. I rarely called him Daddy. He was always Pops, but in case I did get killed, I wanted the last thing I said to him to be tender.

  Of course that was probably the worst thing I coulda done.

  “Emanuella? What’s really going on?”

  “What?” My feigned surprise sounded lame even to me. “Nothing! I want you to know I love you and that I will try to do better, that’s all. I’ll keep out of trouble, as well as hold Warp down when he decides to do something idiotic.”

  “You sure that’s where you stand on the issue? We got cut off so John’s gonna call me when he can. Is his story going to be the same as yours? That nothing’s going on?”

  No.

  “Yup! No worries, Pops. I’ll call you every night when I get home so you know I’m safe and sound and right on curfew.”

  “Uh huh.” He sounded doubtful.

  “And I’m surrounded by boys who look out for me. Surge even answered the phone, so you know I’m not lying.”

  My dad was quiet for so long, I knew he was mulling things over. Did he think there was something between Surge and me, too? Seemed to be the theme lately. “I expect a phone call later.”

  “Of course. When do you rest?”

  “Probably soon. I want to be on the road again by nine tonight.”

  I nodded to the phone. “Okay. I’ll call you around ten or eleven.”

  “Ten. It’s a school night.”

  “Right, right. Ten, it is.”

  “Good. I love you, too, darling. Tell Surge I said hi and stay outta my beer. He sounded drunk as hell, babbling on about graffiti.”

  Oh, hell. “Uh…sure will.” I was glad to hang up. I could finally breathe—and shake.

  Surge came over, took the phone out of my hands, and hung it back on its receiver.

  I stared at him for a minute and guided him to the couch. “What are you doing here? You should be at home resting. I can’t believe your parents let you out of the house.”

  “They don’t exactly know I’m here. They gave me my pills and went to work and I felt AWESOME.” He grinned at me all goofy-like, and for the first time since I walked into my house I really looked at him.

  “Oh my God. You’re beyond stoned.”

  He tried to look casual in his shrug but his ear-to-ear grin was all the confirmation I needed. “Surge! You shouldn’t be out walking around and definitely not answering my house phone. Yanno, once those drugs wear off, you’re going to be bumming big-time.”

  “I’ll take more. That’s what pills are for.”

  “No. Pills are to take away the pain in between rest and only to be taken every few hours, you jackass. Ugh!” I gently pushed him back until he lay down on the couch. I covered him with an afghan and pushed a pillow beneath his head. “I so don’t have time for this right now.”

  Pursing his lips together, he tilted his head at me. “I’m sensing some pissy coming off of you.”

  “Good to know your sensors aren’t broken.”

  “What did I do?”

  “You mean besides putting your recovery in jeopardy, talking to my Pops about graffiti, and telling my brother what I confided in you about Haze? Nothing much,” I finished with sarcastic flourish.

  His face looked genuinely horrified. “Oh, LL. I’m sorry. I remember now. I woke up from a weird dream.”

  “A drug-infused dream filled with paranoia, no doubt.”

  He frowned. “Well, yeah I guess. I called Liv and had her drive me over here to stop you from going out tonight and Warp was here.”

  “Lucky me,” I interjected.

  “He asked me what could be so important to have Liv chauffer me over.”

  “And bein
g the awesome friend you are—you gave him the whole story.”

  I took a little bit of pleasure in Surge’s wince.

  “Well, not the whole story but, I did spill a little. Chemical persuasion aside, you know I wouldn’t hand you over unless I was really worried about you dyin’, right?”

  I did know that. But letting him off the hook early wouldn’t do me any good. I stayed quiet, going for the emotional torture.

  “Aw, come on, baby girl. You know better.”

  “Right now, the only thing I know is that there will be a huge brawl tonight, and someone will get hurt unless I make it to the school and get some of Decay’s artwork to prove Haze didn’t kill his sister. Where’s Liv?”

  “Said she needed to apologize or something. So she went to see if she could catch up with you, and oh, to keep you from doing anything stupid.”

  “Doing stupid things are what I do best.”

  “Wait, I skipped a step. You think Decay’s the guy? Warp swears the style of your stalker is the same he’s seen of Haze in the past.”

  I sighed. “Who better to bite off Haze than his best friend?”

  “If it is Decay, that’s messed up. But what’s outing him gonna do to stop the shit going down tonight?”

  “I dunno, but I have to try something. All I can think about is paper hearts and it’s tearing at me. I think about Warp and Haze trying to really hurt each other and I can’t deal with it, Surge. I can’t let anything happen. I have to believe deep down that Warp doesn’t want this war. That it isn’t power making him act like such an ass but the pain of losing first Mom, and then Heather.” My eyes moistened, and I had to swallow several times to keep from choking.

  “Hey, hey.” Surge tried to sit up, but I pushed him back down and sat in the alcove his stomach created. “LL, we’ll get this sorted, a’ight? I’ll come with you. We’ll storm the school and steal whatever we need….”

  “No. You’re going to stay here and when Warp gets home, you’re going to keep him from calling Pops. Liv and I are going to the school to get what I need.”

  “What do I tell Warp when he gets home?”

  “Well, I’m hoping the transit police will keep him for questioning for a little while to mess with his head. That’s why I have to head there now. The sun’s going down, so I can get in and out without anyone seeing me.”

  “I don’t think you and Liv should be out running around without me.”

  “Please. Zone ran off Haze and no one’s seen Decay since he rubbed down his Camaro with your face. He’s probably hiding from the police. Right now everyone else is recovering from the run, and Spry is probably at Mercy General getting an X-ray.”

  “Why would Spry need an X-ray?”

  “He missed a Level to Level.”

  “Oh, man. He sucks at those.”

  “Mmhm. This is further proof of his epic fail. My point is, I can get to the school and back without involving anyone.”

  “Pfft. Except Liv, and of course, me. You don’t seem to mind involving me in this.”

  “You asked for it by opening your mouth.”

  He gave me the fish-lip. “A’ight, that might be true.”

  I called Liv, and within minutes I heard her pull up outside.

  I stood and Surge grabbed my hand. “You still got my cell?” When I nodded, he added, “Call me when you’re on your way back. Call me if you run into trouble. Call if you need anything.”

  “I’m sensing you want me to…call?”

  He glared at me and I laughed some of my tension away.

  “Yes, dear. I promise. Tell Liv what’s going on, I’m going to go change.”

  I smiled and ran up the steps to my room, threw on my lucky black hoodie and equally dark Ima-break-n-enter-something jeans, and stuffed the news clipping photocopy in my back pocket. My shoe collection was a little out of sorts but I found a pair of cheap black shoes that barely had a sole. I liked them the best for freerunning because I could feel the contours of whatever course I was on, like I was barefoot but without the bleeding calluses. In case I got caught tonight, I might have to use my skills to do a little escaping.

  I tromped back down the stairs snagging one of Pops’ mini flashlights and frowned at Surge, who stood pacing my living room in front of a reserved Liv.

  “Promise me you’ll be okay?” Surge asked. “That dream—”

  “—was just a dream,” I finished. “Surge, Liv’s driving, we’ll be there and back before you know it.”

  He nodded and I hoped, once again, I’d be able to keep my promise.

  ***

  The school wasn’t as black as I’d imagined it’d be. The hall lights were on and the main doors were open so everyone attending the football game had access to the bathrooms.

  I hadn’t accounted for high traffic. The night lights illuminated everything, including sneaky-me as I crept along the brick wall toward the Art classroom windows.

  “Yeah, this is a real covert operation, Ellie.”

  “Shh! At least try not to draw attention to us. You’re supposed to be pretending to wait around for your boyfriend.”

  “Yeah, cuz what our little saga needs is an invented troublesome penis to go with all the other ones.”

  I grunted but I didn’t commit fully to Liv’s man-hating snark.

  “Wouldn’t it be easier to just go through the main entrance and pick the lock of the Art Room door?”

  “No. Haze leaves this window open. Besides, there are cameras everywhere inside and a lot more lighting. Out here I’m just going to look like a dark blob with a blond blob.”

  In the background, I could hear the cheers of the crowd, probably for the visitors, as our football team had the motto “The team with the most unnecessary roughness calls, wins the game.”

  “Hurry up. I feel like I’ve slammed a few hundred energy drinks.”

  “Okay, okay. Try to relax and look casual. I’ll be right back.”

  Pushing the blue lock of hair behind my ear beneath the cowl of my hoodie, I moved in between the row of waist-high bushes and the building until I stood outside the Art Room.

  I curled my fingers under the lip of the slightly cracked window and tugged. My eyes crinkled, half-expecting Haze to have forgotten to leave it open and some dramatic alarms to sound.

  Nothing.

  Phew. Good to know I was just paranoid.

  I climbed through the tiny opening and over the radiator, which I remembered this time, trying to be as quiet as possible even while fighting with the thick curtain for freedom. Once it spit me out, the curtain settled and the hemmed sides gaped enough to let the field lights peek through, but the small stream of illumination wasn’t enough to navigate by. If I tried I’d probably fall and bash my head open. A nice little present for Mrs. Peris when she opened her door in the morning.

  I patted down my clothes until I felt my small flashlight and pulled it out. I’d seen too many movies to go around waving it like a light sword, so when I flicked it on, I kept it pointed to the floor as I walked to the students’ art drawers.

  Shining the light over the names of the students, I was surprised by how many drawers there were. Even Warp had one.

  Hm. I’d assumed Warp had no interest in graffiti, but he’d dated Heather for a while and I’d been clueless about that. Even though I was certain Decay was my target, I had to look. I opened his drawer and my heart fluttered. What if going through Warp’s drawer turned up proof of his guilt?

  A second later I was disabused of that notion. An artist my brother was not. Giggling, I flipped through his portraits, his objects, his shadings and, on the top, his most recent landscapes. He actually drew a tree with cloud-shaped canopies like he was five. Poor Warp. How embarrassing.

  I shut his drawer and reached for Decay’s, my fingers trembling in anticipation for the big reveal. />
  The drawer came open—but nothing was inside it.

  Damn! Who cleaned out Decay’s drawer? Did he? He more than likely knew about Haze leaving this place open.

  My phone vibrated. Well, Surge’s phone vibrated, but I could barely feel it. I slammed the drawer shut, ready to give up, when I remembered Mrs. Peris’ favorite collection.

  Steering the flashlight to the last cabinet on my right, I zeroed in on the Artists’ Tantrums drawer. Haze had made the comment that all Decay’s projects ended up in there.

  The phone incessantly buzzed.

  I knew if I didn’t answer, Surge would probably call the cops just to make sure I wasn’t dead somewhere. I pulled the phone out of my belly pocket.

  “What?” I whispered, annoyed at being interrupted when I was so close to proving Haze innocent I could taste the victory.

  “Your brother was here. Said he was done with the games and then took the other guys with him to Haze’s.”

  “Oh, no.”

  “Sorry, LL. I tried to talk sense into him but I can’t argue with psycho logic. He’s determined to kill your boy.”

  Damn. Damn. Damn. “Surge, call Haze, tell him to get out of the house. Liv and I will be on our way to him and we’ll meet up at the Pizza Pie Pagoda.”

  “You find what you need?”

  “I hope so! Go. Call Haze.”

  I tucked the cell in my pocket, jerked open the Artists’ Tantrum drawer and grabbed every piece of paper in it.

  A second later I was falling out of the window and yelling for Liv to get in the car. “We gotta get to the Pizza Pie Pagoda now-ish, Liv. Drive like it’s your mom’s favorite Mercedes.”

  ***

  “What are you looking for?” Liv asked me as we sped down the road.

  I sat in the passenger seat sifting through paintings and drawings, trying not to drop anything on the floor. “Anything with Decay’s name on it.”

  “Oh. Is that who you’re looking to blame it on now?”