by Ivy Baum
Their car sped ahead of ours. At first, I tried to keep track of it. But once we were on the highway, I lost sight of it—and wondered why I’d bothered.
I stared out the window, at the darkening landscape.
Dr. Sotheby glanced at me. “You should try to get some rest.”
Sleep? That was unlikely. The radios up front were constantly squawking with the back-and-forth between our car and the other.
I tuned in briefly, and heard them discussing an upcoming checkpoint. They seemed to think they needed to avoid it.
I had no idea where we were going, only that we were traveling west again.
In spite of everything, I did eventually drift off into a sort of confused stupor.
I awoke as someone slammed on the brakes. I started to drowsily close my eyes again—but something in the Hunters’ voices made me sit up.
“Car Two? What’s your status?”
No one answered.
“Radio them again,” Dr. Sotheby was saying. “If we still hear nothing—”
The driver slammed on the brakes—harder this time. “What the—?”
Something large filled the windshield, and there was the tortured sound of metal against metal.
Then everything went black.
Chapter 50
I blinked, opened my eyes.
I had the sense of having lost some amount of time, of having been unconscious. But I had no way of knowing how long had passed.
There was a dull pain at the back of my head and I was vaguely aware of a burnt-chemical smell. The airbags had deployed.
The Hunter who’d been sitting next to me was unconscious but alive, slumped forward over his seatbelt.
The driver and Dr. Sotheby, however, looked as though they’d been tossed violently against the dashboard.
I had no idea whether they were alive or dead—but I needed to get out of here.
I struggled clumsily with my seatbelt. Just as I got it unbuckled, my door swung open.
A face clad in a black balaclava appeared in the doorway.
I shrank back, assuming it was a Hunter from the other car.
But he gave me a toothy grin.
“Want some help?”
He wasn’t one of the Hunters, I realized. In fact, the other car was nowhere to be seen.
He extended a hand. “Come on.”
I hesitated. “Who are you?”
“Just another half-blood. Here to rescue you from the Hunters.”
I was growing less foggy by the second. Now new questions emerged. Where had he come from?
And how did he know about the Hunters?
“You—you crashed into us? On purpose?”
“Got the job done, didn’t it?”
I glanced up front. The driver still hadn’t moved, and I didn’t give him good odds.
Dr. Sotheby’s face was covered with blood—he’d gashed his forehead. But as I studied him, I saw that he was breathing.
He was alive.
I tried to move, and felt my limbs protest. I scowled at the man. “Were you trying to kill me, too?”
He shrugged. “Everyone knows the purebloods don’t wear seatbelts. They all think they’re invincible. Now, are we going or not?”
I took his hand and allowed myself to be pulled out of the SUV.
I emerged into the cool night air, feeling wobbly and uncertain. Behind a thick layer of clouds, the sun was setting.
The man in the balaclava led me away from the SUV. A single glance over my shoulder confirmed what I had suspected—that there were more men. They were all dressed in the same face-covering masks.
I looked around, trying to get my bearings. To my surprise, we were on one of the country roads not too far from Doe Lake.
The man gestured toward a waiting pickup truck. “Come on. You can ride with me.”
The back of my neck prickled. Something wasn’t quite right here.
I glanced over my shoulder—and saw something incomprehensible.
One of the balaclava-clad men was leaning into the car. As I watched, he pulled out the Hunter who’d ridden next to me.
The one who, I now remembered, had been wearing his seatbelt.
With the help of the other man, the Hunter was now hobbling toward another waiting truck.
Something didn’t add up.
I’d slowed. Now my rescuer gave me an impatient look.
As he reached out to grab my arm, his sleeve rode up, revealing bare arm.
I saw the bright orange tip of a flame.
Blood Right’s symbol.
I locked eyes with him. Understanding flashed in his eyes.
There was no time to think. I took off like someone had fired the starter pistol at the beginning of a race.
The road was uneven and still a little wet from an earlier rain. But I had the advantage of adrenaline—and surprise.
Behind me, I could hear the man yelling at the others.
A quick glance over my shoulder confirmed my worst fears—they were chasing after me.
If I could reach the woods before they did, then I could lose them in the thick foliage—and hopefully find my way to the Doe Lake cabin afterwards.
I stumbled over a deep rut in the ground. I managed to catch myself at the last second, but the move had slowed me down.
They were catching up. Close enough, in fact, for me to make out specific curse words.
Now would be a good time for some magic.
I wasn’t sure where the thought came from, but it seemed to open up something inside me. I felt the hollow place fill with energy.
This time, there was no conscious release of energy. I only knew that something had happened when I felt the earth rumble beneath my feet.
I glanced back long enough to see a fissure the length of a school bus open up behind me.
Well, that would slow them down.
Heart pounding, I ran and ran until I could no longer feel anything below my waist, and all I could hear was the sound of my own heavy breathing.
I thought I might have gotten myself lost in the these woods forever, when I emerged onto a gravel road. I looked around, and caught sight of a teetering, rusted mailbox.
I was on the road that circled Doe Lake. Not too far from the cabin, actually.
I was going back to the safe house—only this time, I was alone.
Chapter 51
I found a blanket in a dusty old armoire and wrapped it around myself. It smelled of mildew and campfire smoke, but I was grateful for it.
For a while, I simply sat by the light of a lantern. Outside the grimy window pane, a soft rain had begun to fall.
I started to shiver.
By then, I was sizing up the old wood stove in the main room. I’d seen my father light one, once—at a much nicer cottage than this one.
There was a pile of dry wood neatly stacked in one corner, and a book of matches in the kitchen junk drawer. Soon, I had a decent fire going, and the shivering stopped.
Slowly, methodically, I took stock. Sol and his team had left enough canned food to supply me for months—if I chose.
I thought of the last time I’d been here. I’d stood in this very room in my soaking-wet dress…
Now I had nothing—even less than that night. No backpack, no cell phone. I had the clothes on my back, and the dubious supplies of the safe house.
And magic.
But what good would it do?
I saw, now, how little it mattered.
Because it was never the magic that brought you power.
No, it was the team. Sol and the others. My allies.
Being a half-blood hadn’t changed me. I was still the same, weak Kes.
And now I was alone.
Worse than alone. Sol had betrayed me.
Don’t fight them, he’d told me.
I found myself replaying Clover’s parting words.
You think you’re so special. She’d been so angry, so bitter. She truly had hated me.
Now
I thought I understood why.
She was right, I thought miserably. I wasn’t special.
I was just one more unfortunate half-blood whose pureblood father couldn’t keep it in his pants.
Just like Sol said.
They were both right. I’d just been too blind to see it.
Suddenly, I was restless. I stood, the blanket falling from my shoulders.
I paced the cabin. How long had Sol spent here? What had he been doing this entire time—other than his Calculus homework?
Inside the cabin’s undersized bedroom, there was a tiny writing desk.
Sitting on top were stacks of books and several dog-eared notebooks.
Picking them up, I felt my heart start to race.
This wasn’t homework. These were Sol’s notes on Blood Right.
Maybe Sol hadn’t stayed in White Falls for me. Maybe he’d been here because of Blood Right.
And maybe I could find something useful here.
I gathered up the entire pile of books and paper and deposited it in front of the wood stove. Then I went through each and every scrap of paper.
But it wasn’t long before my excitement waned.
The notes were extensive—but they didn’t really provide any new information. Nothing that would be useful to me, anyway.
He’d been tracking Blood Right for awhile, and had learned that they were recruiting in former Treaty Zones. Targeting new half-bloods.
But what Sol had really been obsessed with was Tacitus.
He’d even printed out a picture of the original Tacitus—who, based on the grainy print-out, was some sort of politician from Ancient Rome.
And on that front, he’d turned up almost nothing.
Most of the books had been taken out of the White Falls High School Library, and were, by this point, severely overdue.
I picked up one of the books, wondering what Sol could have possibly been looking for.
The half-blood Tacitus was obviously full of himself, if he’d named himself after this guy. But I failed to see how any of these books, which were about the original Tacitus, would illuminate his true identity.
I let one book fall open, and saw a dry, yellowed page of quotations.
God, this was worse than Calculus homework.
But then my eye snagged on a quotation.
Deos fortioribus adesse.
The gods are on the side of the stronger.
It took me a second to place where I’d heard it. But when I did, my jaw hung open.
Lucan had said it. Back in the motel.
After all, the gods are on the side of the stronger.
My heart felt like it was going to beat right out of my chest.
Lucan was Tacitus.
That’s insane. He’s a pureblood.
But I felt certain that I was right.
It explained why he’d never tried to kill me back in the motel. He’d been there to recruit me.
Just as he’d done with Clover.
You’re not the only one…
Everything fit.
I understood, now, how Blood Right had known exactly where to attack the convoy of Hunters. Perhaps Lucan even had several members of Blood Right planted within the Hunter team.
But if pureblood Hunters were part of Blood Right…
…Then it wasn’t just half-bloods who were part of Blood Right. There were purebloods, too.
Maybe even some purebloods in the Capitol.
I set down the book. I was trembling all over.
This changed everything.
But what could I do? Who could I tell?
The person I really wanted to tell was Sol. And he was in the Capitol—or would be, shortly.
I stopped pacing.
The Capitol.
It was the one place I’d avoided. But it was exactly where I needed to go.
I didn’t have a plan—not yet. I only knew that now that I had this information about Lucan, I had a very powerful bargaining chip.
But would it be enough?
Enough for what?
But I already knew the answer to that—as much as I hated to admit it.
I had to make a deal with the purebloods.
But how to get to the Capitol?
You could’ve gotten a free ride there a few hours ago.
I had no money. No resources. No car. Not even a cell phone.
As for my magic—well, it seemed to be more of a liability than an asset at this point.
Maybe I could go out there and get myself deliberately caught?
It would be a gamble.
Dr. Sotheby had made it clear that Hunter Squads would just as soon murder a half-blood on the spot than take them to the Capitol for a proper trial.
Besides, for all I knew, I’d run into an SUV full of Blood Right groupies.
Getting there on my own, though, seemed even less likely.
For starters, I didn’t even know where it was. I would need a guide.
But who would be crazy enough to take on a job like that?
The Common Market. If I was going to find anyone willing to take a job like that, it was the Common Market.
Except—I had no money. No skills worth bargaining for.
Not to mention the fact that it was a really long walk to New Mexico.
The more I went over my situation, the more hopeless it seemed.
I had no team. No allies. No friends.
Then I smiled. That wasn’t entirely true, was it?
I did have a best friend…though we’d hit a bit of a rough patch lately.
And even if she didn’t know it yet, she had something that might just solve all of my problems.
Chapter 52
I stood across the street, weighing my options.
It was getting close to dusk—it had taken me that long to get to Silver Oaks, and I was fairly sure that I’d ruined my shoes in the process. But I was here.
Now I just had to decide what to do.
In the rapidly-dimming light, I appraised the situation once last time.
Sydney’s car was in the driveway, as I’d hoped it would be. And more importantly, Dr. Sotheby’s wasn’t. Nor did I see CeCe Sotheby’s sporty red BMW—a contingency that would have thrown a minor wrench into things, but for which I’d had a plan.
One thing, however, I had not planned for.
Rain’s truck was in the driveway.
It doesn’t change anything.
The plan was the same. I was going to go inside and wow them with some magical fireworks—and hopefully not do any permanent damage to the house in the process.
Then, once they were convinced I had real powers, I would take what I needed.
I approached the side door, the one Syd and I always used when we didn’t want her parents to know how late we’d been out.
But when I went to open the door, I got my second surprise of the night. It was locked.
I frowned. They’d never locked it before.
No big deal. I shook off my surprise and crouched in the garden. After a moment, I found the fake rock—and the key hidden underneath.
Inside, the kitchen was dark save for the light above the range and the soft blue glow of the fridge.
I hesitated at the bottom of the stairs. Was I really ready to do this?
For a moment, I wavered.
Then I remembered: I had no choice.
And so I climbed the three long flights up to Syd’s massive bedroom on the third floor.
Upstairs, I heard soft laughter, and the muted sound of the television.
As I approached Sydney’s bedroom, I reached inside, felt out the hollow place, and the energy that had begun to fill it. I needed everything in place before I walked through that door. The magic needed to look effortless.
And my entrance needed to be dramatic.
When I was right outside the door, I gathered as much energy as I could.
Then I stepped inside the room—and released my magic.
The lights wen
t out. Just like they had at Homecoming.
Well, it was a good start. I was glad it hadn’t been something less useful, like an earthquake—or a hole in the ground.
The lights were already flickering back on as I walked into the bedroom. The television now displayed an error message.
And Syd and Rain were on the bed.
They had their clothes on—I was grateful for that. But they’d clearly been getting pretty cozy.
When they saw me, they jumped apart. Sydney screamed.
You’re playing a part, I told myself. You need to convince them.
That gave me confidence. Because I was about to do something the real Kes would never dream of.
“Hello, Sydney. Hello, Rain.”
“Kes?” Syd blinked at me. “What are you doing here?”
Rain was staring like he’d seen a ghost.
I took another step into the room. “I’m just passing through town. I needed to borrow a few things.”
And without another word, I walked up to Syd’s bureau.
I peered inside and plucked out a thick roll of cash. Then I pocketed it.
“What are you doing?” There was a note of outraged disbelief in her voice.
I barely looked at her, but went straight over to her walk-in closet. I opened up the empty duffel bag, which I’d taken from the cabin, and began to throw in some clothes. “Like I said—I need to borrow a few things.”
“You can’t just walk in here!” Syd had gotten out of her bed, but still kept her distance. She was watching me, hands on her hips. “And—where have you been? All these people just disappeared. You and Junie and—and that annoying goth girl.”
“Don’t forget Rob Blandish.”
“Who?”
I shoved in a few warm-looking hoodies and sweaters, along with some jeans and t-shirts. I even found a puffy down jacket.
Rain had gotten out of bed and was standing next to Sydney. “People are saying you guys ran away with that satanic cult.”
I zipped up the duffel bag and threw the strap over my shoulder. “Well, in that case, you’d better not piss me off.”
Syd’s face contracted in surprise—then anger. “I’m calling the police.”
I pulled on the reservoir of magic again.
Please, no earthquakes.
I felt it rush inside, and when it seemed to be ready, I released it. I focused on Syd, who was picking up her cell phone.
