by Anna Abner
He met her gaze, finally. “Actually, there’s something we should cover today. I’ll let you get dressed.”
“Okay.”
Yep, something was definitely wrong.
Ali watched him go, and then stood, already regretting leaving the bed. Life had seemed better from between their wrinkled sheets. Reluctantly, she dug through backpacks, ending up with a short jean skirt and a soft printed tee.
Half an hour later, Ali emerged from the bathroom, clean and slightly damp under her new clothing.
Leftover oatmeal and coffee sat cooling on the kitchen counter. She wolfed down the cereal, which tasted like wallpaper paste, but savored the coffee, adding four packets of real sugar from the pantry.
Connor found her inhaling fragrant steam from her mug. “Time to test the limits of your fancy glow.” He paused, his eyes unreadable.
She glanced through the doorway at Roz, lounging on the recliner with her smart phone on one thigh and a pistol on the other. No help there. Either Roz hadn’t noticed Connor’s new attitude or she didn’t care.
Ali was tempted to admit she’d never tested anything about her issue before, that the opposite was true. She’d spent twenty-two years forcing it to lie dormant. Ali didn’t know the first thing about setting it free.
But Connor seemed anxious, and she didn’t want to add to his worries. “Sure.”
On the way outside, he swung a shotgun onto his back and grabbed a pack from beside the front door. The sun climbed the eastern sky, heating the air and the earth past temperatures she was used to. Almost immediately, sweat rose between her shoulder blades and across her brow.
They trudged over warm sand toward the low, rocky hills behind the cabin. Finding a spot he found acceptable, Connor paused to inspect the area, swiveling his head. She wondered what he sensed that she’d never be able to.
“Show me how you access your power,” Connor said.
Ali tripped in a hidden burrow. “What?” Very real panic hit her. The idea of Connor knowing she glowed was terrifying enough, but glowing in front of him? “No. That’s ridiculous. Besides, I don’t have any power.”
“Let’s find out.” By the way he crossed his arms over his chest and stared, she knew he wasn’t giving up easily.
Begrudgingly, she allowed herself to feel strong emotion. At the moment, that emotion was annoyance and a bit of anger. In answer to her call, her skin flushed and she glowed a faint pinkish hue from her head to her toes.
“Get upset,” Connor goaded. “Get really pissed. What happens then?”
Feeling anger wasn’t an issue because she did not want to do this. Didn’t he understand shifting into first gear after a lifetime of living in reverse wasn’t simple or easy?
Her color intensified. “Nothing happens.” Or, if it did, she’d never found out about it. “I just grow pinker.”
“But it feels like power,” he argued. “Come on, wake it up.”
“Enough.” She swallowed the color deep down inside herself where it was safest. “I don’t want to do this.”
“Hey.” He crossed the expanse between them and lifted her chin, forcing her to meet his gaze. “Best case—you’ll never be near another infected the rest of your life and I’m wasting my time. But if Olek or Volk or anyone else comes after you, I want you to know how to stop them.”
“If I could control the light within me,” she said, “I agree it could act as a weapon.” She thought of the uncomfortable sensations associated with her power. “But I don’t have any control over it, and I don’t want to accidentally hurt you or anyone else.”
“You don’t sense any control?”
She shook her head. “Not so far.”
“We’ll work on it.” With a last, reassuring squeeze, Connor stepped back. “Now, show me how bright you can really get.”
“Is this really necessary?” She wiped a layer of sweat from the back of her neck.
“If something happens, the more comfortable you are with your power, the quicker your reflexes. It could save your life.”
“You think it’s going to get bad?”
“Yeah. I’m working out a plan, but things are gonna be intense. I need you to promise me, no matter what goes down, you’ll survive and get away. No matter what,” Connor said.
“I wish you wouldn’t joke.” Ali toed the area around the burrow, testing the ground. “I can’t watch you die again. You have no idea how awful it was.”
“I’ll do what I can. But if getting my ass kicked distracts the bad guys from touching you, it’s worth it.” He smiled at his own joke, making her tingle all up and down her legs. A sensation that had nothing to do with her glow.
“There you are!” Roz hurried over, her phone in her hand, and an unhappy expression on her face. “Natasha just texted,” the witch announced, not the least bit concerned with their sudden desire to test the limits of Ali’s mutation. “They lost Volk.”
“What?” Connor asked, scowling.
“He was in our hotel, but in all the crowds and traffic, they lost sight of him and his Jeep. They haven’t seen him on satellite or CCTV for nearly twenty-four hours.”
“Shit,” Connor swore, kicking a rock across the ground.
“Something’s not right with you,” Ali said. “What is going on?”
Both girls stared as he frowned at the earth. “I got a visit last night from the Oracle.”
Ali gasped, while Roz grew too quiet.
“We were together last night,” Ali argued. “How is that possible?”
“After you fell asleep, she made an appearance.”
“Ilvane the Oracle popped in to say hello,” Roz growled, “and you waited until now to tell me?”
“It wasn’t a pleasant visit,” Connor shot back. “She hit me with some heavy-duty stuff, okay? I needed time to think.”
“What did she say?” Ali pressed, her stomach plummeting to somewhere below her toes.
“Basically, if Oleksander captures you,” he glanced at Ali, “then he wins. It’s game over for the world as we know it.”
#
Ali took time off to curl onto the sofa and play video games because things between Roz and Connor had gotten a little tense after their conversation in the hills. Roz had made some anxious declarations about trust and teams and their New Zealand friends. Connor had stood like a stone statue and silently absorbed her ire. Ali, though, didn’t do confrontations.
Connor had gone for a run into the scorching desert plains over two hours earlier, and though a lunch of leftovers had come and gone, he still wasn’t back yet.
From the recliner in the corner, Roz made angry, grumbling noises that could have been human speech.
“What was that?” Ali asked.
With an exaggerated huff of annoyance, Roz said, “I’m working out the pros and cons of different plans. So far, they’re all overflowing with cons but short on pros.”
“What’s the best one?” Ali asked. “Which one will end with Oleksander dead and the three of us alive?”
“I don’t know.” Roz sighed, her shoulders drooping, and Ali saw through her prickly exterior to the terrified college co-ed beneath. It must have been frustrating to have so much magical potential, but no way to tap it. “Connor will want to blast his way into their hospital hide-out, but that’s messy. I was there when he tried to do that at the army base. We almost got blown up. But,” Roz added, “I don’t know what else to do. I’m leaning toward making an anonymous tip to the army about Olek’s location and hope they blow him and his entire horde sky-high, but who knows how long that might take. Or what could happen while we sit around waiting and hoping.”
Neither option sounded very appealing to Ali, though she liked the call-the-army plan better than the frontal assault. “Well, what do your New Zealand friends think?”
“They say to stand down,” she said with resignation. “They think it’s too dangerous to confront the horde by ourselves.”
That was the smart thing to do. No
ne of them, Natasha and Anton included, knew how to properly handle infecteds.
“They have a point.”
“Whatever,” Roz said, clicking onto her phone and dismissing Ali.
She was about to say something about the futility of banging their heads against the wall when Connor returned from his run soaking with sweat and sticky with sand. He didn’t say a word, just bee-lined for the bathroom and ran the shower. Not sure what to think anymore, Ali returned her focus to her game.
Fifteen minutes later, Connor reappeared, clean and dry. “Come on.” He grabbed Ali by the hand, pulling her away from the living room sofa and the PlayStation Vita. “Let’s go for a ride.”
“A ride?” Ali raised her eyebrows, hoping to see him smile. “Is that code for something?”
“Please, don’t make me gag,” Roz said, gathering her laptop and leaving the room.
“It’s no code.” He led her through the house. “But I like it when you talk dirty.”
They scampered into the garage, and then he opened the passenger door of his pickup for her.
“Ladies first.”
She climbed in, a little wary, and he followed, shutting them inside. It seemed unusually quiet in the cab, only her breathing punctuating the quiet, stale air.
“I want to draw you.” He glanced away, maybe a little bashful. “Is that okay?”
Her mouth went dry. She nodded, unable to speak.
Connor pushed through the hinged rear window and reached into the truck bed. After rummaging around, he emerged with his sketchbook and pencils. “Stay like that.” He flipped to the back of the book, and then his pencil scratched across the surface of the page. Every nerve ending in her body reacted. She couldn’t catch her breath.
“You know,” he said, “I wasn’t sure if I’d be able to draw the same way after being infected.” A smile played at the corners of his mouth. “I’m glad it didn’t change everything.”
Ali found her voice. “You want to write comic books?”
“Graphic novels.”
“Ones about vampires?”
He wrinkled his nose. “I’m so sick of vampires.” He turned a page. “Keep your hands still.” He arranged them on her thigh and sketched. “Maybe I’ll draw a girl who tries to be normal, except she glows when she gets upset.”
Ali rolled her eyes. “No one would buy that, trust me.”
“Don’t move.” Connor adjusted her hands again. “Sure they would. But I might have to change a few things.”
“Like what?”
“The glow gives her super strength or maybe poisons people.”
“Or she feeds off the emotions of the people around her,” she added, getting into the creative spirit.
“Anyone who sees her glow—their eyeballs melt out of their faces.”
“Oh, my God! Too much.” She laughed. “How would she be able to hang around other people?” she wondered. “Or boys?”
He pointed at her hands, and she quickly re-set them. “I still have some kinks to work out.” Connor smiled at her from under his lashes. “But I’m glad you like the idea.”
“It’s got potential.”
The pencil scritch-scratched across the paper, and every few seconds he’d glance up at her face or her hands. “Do you have a job back home?”
“I’m a shopgirl,” Ali told him. “Very unglamorous, I assure you. I help men pick out nice jewelry for their sweethearts.”
“Is that your goal in life? Helping men buy earrings?”
She snorted. “No.”
He didn’t say anything else and didn’t look up for a few moments.
Into the silence, she said, “I always thought I might go back to school someday. I had a hard time as a kid. I might…” It sounded stupid when she said her little fantasy aloud.
Connor glanced up, his pencil hesitating above the page. “You want to be a teacher?”
“More like a counselor,” she admitted.
“That’s a great idea.” He said it like he meant it, and she pictured herself in the future working a professional job, talking to kids, helping families.
He put his pencil back onto the paper and drew in the corner for a while. Finally, he snapped the book closed and faced her, lifting his knee onto the seat. “We go to war soon.”
She dropped her chin onto her chest. Not yet. Ali wasn’t ready for a fight. She wanted peace and quiet and Connor within arm’s reach. But she nodded because she wasn’t stupid.
“In the morning I’m putting you in a car to L.A.”
“But I can help.” Maybe not much, but she was, at the least, another set of eyes and two more hands.
Connor shook his head. “I need you to be safe. And that means as far from Olek’s horde as you can get.”
“No, but—”
“I don’t want you to go. But it’s the best option,” he said. “You’ll be in L.A. tomorrow, and then you’ll go to the British consulate and stay until you have plane tickets in your hands.”
Ali didn’t want to go home. Not yet. What was there to go back to? A job she tolerated? A lonely bed? Her father’s memory hanging over her head? Screw all that. “I want to stay. There’s nothing in London for me. I can be of use here.”
But when Connor’s eyes met hers, she saw how desperate he’d become for this idea to work.
“When you get to England,” he said, as if he hadn’t heard her, “don’t go home. Stay at a hotel, and pay with cash. I’ll give you plenty.”
He wanted her to travel to London, alone, and live in a hotel by herself? Maybe forever? Ali couldn’t think of a less attractive plan.
“I don’t need your money.” I need you.
He didn’t even respond, just kept rambling. “If something happens to me—”
“Connor.”
“—you’ll have to go somewhere else. And you’ll change your name, so they can’t find you.”
“You think they’d chase me to London?”
“Yes.”
She blinked rapidly, forcing her tears away. “How will I know if something happens to you?” He wouldn’t even keep a cell phone, for crying out loud.
Connor dug a scrap of paper from his back pocket and handed it to her. “It’s Anton and Natasha’s contact info. Stay in touch with them. They’ll know if Roz or I…”
Die. Right. No biggie. “I don’t want to go.” Ali sniffed back the tears that just wouldn’t dry up.
“It’s the best idea.”
“You’re going to kill Oleksander.” Like you tried to do before, but couldn’t.
“I’m going to give it my best shot, but if I fail, there will be no one left to protect you from them.”
A tear fell, and her color brightened, lighting up the interior of the truck. “It’s so dangerous.” She wanted to say, You’ll never survive. Either of you. But she couldn’t demolish his last hope.
He reached out and wiped away her tear with his thumb. “Hey, look at me.” He smiled bravely. “We’re not going after him empty-handed. We’re going to have lots and lots of weapons. Body armor, if I can find some. I’ve seen him in action, and I’m not going to make the same mistakes again. Distance is our friend. If I have to blow his hovel to bits and pieces to get to him, then I will watch the flames from a mile away.”
When he laid it out like that, it sounded so easy. But her stomach twisted. It wasn’t going to be simple.
“I want you to take this with you.” He held out his sketchbook, but she didn’t take it. Couldn’t.
“No. That’s yours.” It was his most prized possession. All his drawings, his dreams, his hopes for the future. No way.
“I want you to take it.” He laid it across her knees. “Because I don’t want you to forget that wherever you go, I will find you. And I will get this back when I do.”
Connor pulled her, and his sketchbook, onto his lap. Ali grabbed his shirt and held on like she could keep him there forever. Another tear fell, and her color intensified, lighting up the whole garage.
The moment Ali led Connor into the cabin’s front door and past the leering stuffed animal trophies, Roz was there waiting for them.
“I think I have a plan,” she said. “I narrowed it down, and I’m going to contact the Coven,” Roz announced. “I’m going to explain everything, as if they don’t already know, and convince them to stop Olek without alerting or involving human civilians.”
“No,” Connor said simply. He snatched a large paper map from a pack near the sofa and spread it across the coffee table. “Come here, and look. This is us. This is the abandoned St. Peter’s Hospital. This is the Vegas Strip,” he said, pointing at different spots on the map. “What we need are weapons. Big ones. How fast can Anton ship them to us?”
“Anton says to stand down,” Roz told him.
As if she hadn’t spoken, Connor added wistfully, “A tank would be cool. But I don’t want to end up in prison.”
“What exactly are we going to do with all these weapons?” Ali asked.
“We’re not doing anything with them. I’m going to storm the hospital and assassinate Oleksander.” He pointed to the map. “One way in and one way out. It means they’ll be trapped inside. Of course, so will I.”
“You’re going in alone?” Ali exclaimed. Her heartbeat pounded through her chest like a steam locomotive. “Are you nuts?!” She glanced at Roz. Surely, the witch was on her side. Connor would need her magic to succeed at his mission.
Roz had no reply.
“Is this because of the Oracle?” Ali asked. “Because it’s all sodding psychic bullshit. Nobody can tell you what you’re going to do. Your future is up to you.”
Connor shook his head. “Everything she’s said has come to pass.”
“Not everything,” she argued. “Not your prophecy. Not mine. Probably dozens are just sitting there, unfulfilled.”
“Nothing she says doesn’t happen. Eventually, they all prove true.”
“I refuse to stand with a monster, ever.”
“What you want doesn’t play into it.”
“Besides, who says it’s about us anyway? There’s more than one Connor from Cleveland. And definitely more than one Anya from Nadvirna.”
“Then why am I here? Why did your father hide your identity?” Connor stared at the map. “I wish we had a grenade launcher.”
