The White Rabbit Chronicles

by Gena Showalter

  “So much I’ll probably rearrange your spinal cord if you refuse to tell me.” The reasons he loved me were just as important to me as breathing.

  Smiling, he said, “Even if you know the end is coming, you refuse to let me go.”

  The end? No, no, no, we weren’t going there. “We’re just getting started,” I said and dropped the towel to beat at his shoulders. “There will be no end.” Not for decades to come. “You said we’d be okay.”

  “I know, love. I know. I’m not talking about the vision.”

  I relaxed, but only slightly. “Then what?”

  “When we had the vision of you making out with Gavin—”

  “Hey now! We weren’t making out. Z.A. was trying to eat him.”

  Cole kissed the crown of my head. “I know. But the point is, I stopped trusting you, and what I knew about you, instead trusting in what my eyes, or mind, had seen. But you didn’t. You loved me, and you were willing to fight for me. Well, I need you to trust me again. Trust that I’m not going anywhere.”

  Trust. He was right.

  Last night I’d trusted him with my body. Today, I would trust him with this.

  “Like I said before, I just won you back. Nothing and no one will be able to take me away from you, Ali. Not ever again.”

  Chapter 14

  THERE’S NO

  PLACE LIKE BONES

  During the hour-long drive to Mr. Ankh’s house, I created a mental decision tree.

  Root question: Where had Camilla and River gotten the coded papers?

  Trunk: to ask or not to ask.

  The branches: if I asked, they would know I’d seen them. If I didn’t ask, I wouldn’t get an answer.

  Would their knowing be such a bad thing?

  Not really. What was the worst they could do? Accuse me of snooping?

  So I did it. I asked.

  “How dare you!” Camilla snarled. “You went through my things.”

  “Actually, I didn’t.” Maybe I should have charted the branches a littler farther and picked a better place to have this conversation. A crowded car—bad decision. “Is it my fault you left the papers on your desk for anyone and everyone to see? Wait. Let me answer that for you, since I’ll be honest. No. Now, who wrote the code and do you have any idea what it says?”

  The question I really wanted to ask: Do you know who “she” is?

  River scowled at me. “One of our spies saw the document at an Anima facility and made copies. And no, we haven’t been able to decode it.”

  Truth or a lie? Trust him or doubt him? I couldn’t do both.

  “Can you?” Camilla demanded. “Decode it, I mean?”

  Well, heck. No matter what it cost me, I couldn’t—wouldn’t—lie. Isn’t that what I’d told her? “Yes,” I said. “They talk about the sacrifice of one leading to the liberation of many and a ‘she’ that is coming. What they don’t say is who she is or what she’s supposed to do.”

  “How were you able to decode it?” River asked.

  I pressed my lips together, refusing to mention the journal.

  “It’s a spirit thing.” Cole drummed his fingers against the wheel of Mr. Ankh’s SUV. River’s crew had been the ones to take it but had given it back as a gesture of goodwill. “You have to look at the pages through the eyes of your spirit, not your mind.”

  My phone beeped, the sound almost like a trumpet in the sudden quiet.

  I looked at the screen. Another text from Kat.

  RED ALERT. Cops R here asking Q’s about Trina & Lucas & Cruz. Like what we were doing other nite, & Ankh is being honestish, just not mentioning Cole’s injury, the Z’s or Anima. He even told them U guys were on UR way. Oh, & FYI, he said Cole’s dad is away on business, & UR Nana went w/him—she’s like his new assistant, I guess. Now, back in the lion’s den 4 me. I told them I had 2 pee, & I don’t want them 2 think I ran away. Or, U know, had 2 do #2. C U when I C U. Good luck!

  “Guys,” I said with a sigh. Like we really needed another dose of trouble. Legal, at that. “We’ve got a bit of a problem.” I read the text aloud. Well, most of it.

  River and Camilla cursed.

  “They’ve already come knocking at my door,” River said.

  Cole stopped drumming. “What did you tell them?”

  “That I had nothing to do with what happened. Then I gave a rock-solid alibi.”

  I bet his alibi involved his crew, which meant the police probably hadn’t bought it. And if they ever found Collins... “Will showing up together hurt us or help us?”

  “Help,” Cole said, at the same time River said, “Hurt.”

  Great.

  Cole added, “Why not let them know we’re working together to find the people trying to take us both down? Because if they ever put a tail on us, and I’m sure they will, they’ll see us together and wonder why we kept quiet about our association.”

  River thought for a moment, nodded. “All right. But if you sell me out, I’ll kill you.”

  Oh, heck no. Death threats weren’t allowed. “Say that again, and I will do horrible things to your intestines.”

  River gave a mock shudder.

  Cole reached over and tugged on my earlobe—I’d claimed the passenger seat. “That’s sweet of you, love. A part of me kind of hopes he repeats himself. Later. For now, everyone will put on a cheerful face. We’re here.”

  The iron gate blocking Mr. Ankh’s property from the rest of the world opened automatically, responding to the sensor on the dash of the car. Neither River nor Camilla looked particularly impressed by the sprawling mansion with alabaster columns and wraparound balconies, and I wondered if pride had anything to do with it. They seemed to have more than most.

  There was an unmarked sedan parked in the circle driveway. Cole stopped behind it, and we each removed our weapons, hiding them under seats and in cubbyholes, leaving nothing out in the open.

  I finished first and stepped into the cold morning, exhaling deeply. Mist plumed in front of my face. I think my damp hair turned into icicles as I searched for a rabbit cloud. When I spotted one, my heart tangoed with my ribs. So, on top of everything else, we’d be fighting zombies tonight.

  Great! We didn’t have time for this.

  Um. A slayer without time for zombies? I should finally get that spanking, because dang, I was being so dumb.

  Cole came up beside me. We walked inside hand in hand, with River and Camilla trailing behind us.

  “There’s a rabbit cloud,” I whispered.

  He stiffened but said, “We’ll be ready. Don’t worry.”

  The moment we were ensconced inside, warm air embraced me, but it wasn’t very welcoming. What kind of interrogation awaited us?

  “Cole?” Mr. Ankh called.

  “Yeah,” he returned, as if he hadn’t a care.

  “Come to my office, please. And bring Miss Bell.”

  Okay. This was it.

  Game on.

  The four of us trekked to the office, our boots thumping against the marble tile. The doors were open, allowing us to see inside before we entered. There were two detectives. A man and a woman. The man looked to be in his thirties, and the woman looked to be in her forties. Neither smiled in welcome, but both twisted in their seats to assess us.

  Mr. Ankh introduced everyone but River and Camilla. I nodded at Detective Gautier, the male, then Detective Verra, the female. “They have some questions about the night of the shooting,” he said. “Your friends should probably wait—”

  “No,” Gautier said. “They’re a part of this. They can stay.”

  Everyone but Mackenzie, Veronica and Juliana was present. Kat and Reeve, sitting together on the couch, gave me terse waves. Frosty and Bronx stood beside Mr. Ankh, who sat behind the desk. Jaclyn and Gav
in perched at the edges of the desk. So awesome seeing him on his feet.

  Gavin noticed me staring at him and winked, and I had to curb the urge to run over and hug him. He didn’t look like a guy who’d just suffered a mortal injury. He looked healthy, whole...and thank God, like a major pain in my butt once again.

  Cole took the only remaining space on the couch and pulled me onto his lap. River sat on the arm of the couch, and I expected Camilla to claim the other side, but she settled at his feet.

  “Tell us what happened the night of the attack,” Verra said, peering at Cole. Everything about her was no-nonsense. “And then explain why you’re with your biggest rival.”

  Cole just blinked at her. “Rival?”

  Gautier tapped his pen against his thigh. “You two are feuding, are you not?”

  “You seriously believe what the stations are reporting? That we’re part of rival gangs?” Cole scoffed. “Sorry, but that’s probably the stupidest thing I’ve ever heard.”

  Both detectives scowled at him.

  “I have a group of friends,” he continued. “We hang out together. That’s it.”

  “We’ve been over this,” Mr. Ankh said.

  “The way we hear it,” Verra said, never looking away from Cole, “you and your friends constantly show up to school cut up and bruised.”

  “And that’s a crime?” I asked.

  Now the detectives focused on me. I think they assumed I would squirm, but I’d faced worse without backing down.

  Before either one could say anything, Cole jumped in and said, “Look. I was watching TV when Ali texted me. She asked if she could come over. I said yes.”

  “What time?” Gautier asked, making notes in a small pad. “And what were you watching?”

  “It was right around 3:00 a.m. Duck Dynasty was playing.”

  “Even though it wasn’t airing?” Verra asked, no doubt thinking she’d caught him in a lie.

  “Netflix,” he said with a shrug.

  A barely perceptible flash of irritation, before she turned to me. “And you? What were you doing? Why did you text him so late?”

  If they could get hold of our text exchanges—and according to Castle, they totally could—there would be problems. I had to circumvent things now.

  “I was hunting zombies,” I said, earning shocked glares from most of my friends. “Kids like to play video games, you know?” All true.

  A collective sigh of relief was released.

  “Why did you text Mr. Holland so late?” the detective repeated.

  I hiked my shoulders. “I was up, and I couldn’t sleep.” It was the truth, with a few of the more pertinent details left out.

  “She came over,” Cole said. “We...” His violet gaze circled the room, narrowed. I knew he hated discussing personal things in front of other people. Especially strangers. “We were distracted. Someone fired a shot. Shattered my window.”

  Gautier started tapping his pen again. “We’ve been to your house. Someone tried to clean your bedroom, but just because something can’t be seen doesn’t mean it’s not there. We found blood on your floor.”

  “The bullet grazed my shoulder. I’ve already recovered.”

  Nice. The bullet had grazed his shoulder all right...as it had cut through skin and muscle and come out the other side.

  “The blood is mine,” he continued, “and you can feel free to take a sample to compare with what you found. And yes, my dad tried to clean it up. He didn’t want me living in a cesspool of broken glass and congealed blood. I didn’t know that was a crime.”

  “Obstruction is always a crime.” Verra took notes of her own and said, “You’d been shot. Why not go to the police? Or at least call? Why not go to the hospital?”

  Cole rested his chin on my shoulder. “As you can see, I’m fine. I didn’t need to go to a hospital and spend thousands of dollars on a bandage and a couple Advil. And I didn’t call the police, because I didn’t know what had happened at first, didn’t know about the others. When I did, well, I didn’t know who I could trust.”

  Honest and inarguable.

  “Where’s your dad now?” Gautier asked.

  “He’s a travel writer, and I’m not sure where he is most of the time. I’m staying with the Ankhs while he’s gone.”

  Mr. Holland was a travel writer? Was that for real?

  “Seems odd that he’d leave his son the day after he’d been shot,” Verra said.

  Cole offered a small, pitying smile. “I’m a legal adult very capable of taking care of myself. He knows that.”

  Gautier had another follow-up. “Do you have his flight info? We have a few questions for him.”

  “I don’t,” Cole replied. “Last I’d heard, he was going to drive.”

  “I see.” Verra turned her attention to me. “And your grandmother left, too?”

  “Yes,” I said. “I’m staying with Mr. Ankh, as well.”

  Now her attention shot to Mr. Ankh. “You’re responsible for a lot of kids.”

  “Not all of them are kids. But, anyway, they’re safe here,” he said, hands forming a steeple on his desk. “I have security most people can only dream about.”

  “And you need this security because...”

  Wasn’t gonna let up, was she.

  “I get that you’re doing your job,” Cole said before Mr. Ankh had time to answer. “That you want to find out who killed my friends and tried to kill me. I’m glad. I want you to find the people responsible, too. I want you to make them pay. But my dad wasn’t responsible, and neither was Ankh. Of course he needs security. Look at this house and all the valuables inside it.”

  He didn’t give them time to respond, adding, “Also, River isn’t responsible for this. Yeah, I heard the news reports, too, so I was eager to chat with him. But he’s convinced me he didn’t do it, that he was set up, so I suggest you do a better job of detecting, before we beat you to the truth.”

  Gautier straightened in the chair as if his spine had been pulled on by an invisible wire. “Don’t even think about seeking revenge, son. You get in the way of our investigation, and you’ll find yourself behind bars.”

  None of us made any promises.

  As if on cue, both detectives stood.

  “I think that’s enough for now. Thank you for your time,” Verra said. “We’ll be in touch.”

  I’m sure they would.

  Footsteps echoed as they marched to the door. Clink. A minute later, their car’s engine purred to life. Only then did everyone breathe another sigh of relief.

  Cole gave me a bear hug, whispering, “Do me a solid and get the girls out of here. I’m going to have River tell the slayers about Collins and Justin.”

  Poor Cole. He’d have to relive the horror all over again.

  I’d make up for it later. I kissed him and stood. “Kat, Reeve, why don’t you come with me? I’m starved, and while I’m devouring half the contents of the pantry, you can give me an update about everything that happened while I was gone. Or grill me with questions about what happened on my end.”

  Both girls hopped to their feet, eager.

  “First,” River said, his attention riveted on Kat, “introduce me. Please.”

  Uh-oh. Someone was about to wake Papa Bear.

  “All you need to know about this one—” Frosty said, proving Papa Bear had done been woken as he stomped over to Kat to clasp her by the back of the neck and pull her close for a swift, hard kiss “—is that she’s mine, and I don’t share.”

  To Kat he said, “Miss me while you’re gone.”

  “Never.”

  “Harsh. I’ll miss you.”

  “That’s because you love me more than I love you.”

  He barked out a laugh and spanked her on the bottom. “Everyo
ne knows you love me more than I love you. Now get out of here before I make you prove it.”

  She was grinning as she skipped from the office.

  “You don’t talk to or even look at the other one,” Bronx said, hitching his thumb in Reeve’s direction. “She happens to be mine.”

  Reeve waved.

  Mr. Ankh dropped his head into his upraised hands.

  “Possessive little buggers, aren’t they?” River said to Camilla. “What happened to friends sharing with friends?”

  She was too busy staring at Cole to answer.

  I rolled my eyes. After hooking my arm through Reeve’s, I drew her out of the room. Kat was already in the kitchen, making me a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. Owed her big-time! I claimed a chair at the table.

  “Thank you,” I said, beyond grateful as she set the plate in front of me. “How are you feeling?”

  “Better,” she said.

  She looked it.

  “So, where are Veronica and Juliana?” I asked.

  “Holed up in their room,” Reeve said, taking the chair at my left. “My dad wanted them out of sight. He also told us not to mention them to the police.”

  They really were off the grid, then. I wondered why.

  “Um, Ali,” Kat began, claiming the chair at my right.

  Uh-oh. “What?” I said, the bite I’d just taken settling like a lead ball. “What’s happened?”

  They shared a look laden with dread.

  “The boys were talking about some new ability you have,” Kat said, twisting her fingers together. “They said it’s, like, as un-cake-like as possible.”

  To zombies, sure. “And?” I prompted, relaxing.

  “Well,” Reeve said, picking up where Kat had left off, “when my dad heard about it, he paled. He fell into his chair, and I swear I thought he was going to vomit the dinner I’d spent an hour preparing.”

  “And?” I asked. Getting answers from these two was worse than pulling teeth.

  Kat nibbled on her bottom lip. “He said he knew of only one other person who could do what you did, and her name was Helen Conway.”