Darker Days

by Jus Accardo

  Some kind of spell to put everyone to sleep so they couldn’t do each other any more damage would be awesome, but since Kendra didn’t have reliable control over her magic, I didn’t dare voice the suggestion. With our luck, she’d turn everyone into toads, and let’s face it. That would have been much harder to explain than this.

  “It’s the crowd. They’re way too amped. We need to get him out of here.” I turned to Lukas. “Lukas? Lukas can you hear me?” He was staring right at me, but the glazed look in his eyes said he didn’t see me.

  Behind us, a chair crashed against the wall, and Kendra let out a toe-curling scream.

  I turned to her. “Go into the hall and hit the fire alarm—then get as far away from the school as possible.”

  She shook her head, strands of blond whipping back and forth. “Leave you alone? No way.”

  “I got this. I promise.”

  She didn’t budge.

  “I’ll be fine,” I pressed.

  Reluctantly, she stood and made a beeline for the door. A few moments later, the fire alarm went off. The noise got most people’s attention, and they swarmed the door, making their way in chaos mode to the nearest exits.

  I focused on Lukas. Sliding my arm under his, I hauled him to his feet. His skin was hot to the touch—not the comfortable warm it’d been last night when our hands had touched—no, this was scalding. Almost on fire. We started for the door but only made it several steps before he collapsed, dragging us both to the ground.

  “Lukas, please!” I tried in vain to get him standing again. Without his help, it was pointless. He was too heavy. Times like these were when a little of Dad’s demon genetics would’ve come in handy.

  “Jessie.” His voice came in a strangled growl. “Have to get out—” He grabbed my arm and used it to pull himself upright.

  Some stumbling and a few pulled muscles later, we made it into the hallway.

  “Farther,” Lukas gasped. His fingers were digging trenches into my arm. “Outside.”

  Outside was a no go. That’s where everyone would be gathered because of the fire alarm. From bad to worse. But the gym was right down the hall and, more than likely, empty. “I’ve got a better idea.”

  By the time we’d made it down the hall and to the gym, Lukas was shaking and pale. Damp hair clung to his forehead and the back of his neck as he struggled to stay on his feet.

  “It’s okay. We’re out.” I steered him toward the bleachers. He stumbled several times, and I thought for sure we’d both topple to the ground again, but we made it without wiping.

  His breath came in shallow pants, fingers clamped like a vice around the edge of the bench. After a few minutes, his breathing evened. “Are you okay?”

  “Other than wanting to hurt your friend—I’m great.”

  “My friend? You mean Kendra?”

  The corner of his lip curled up and he shook his head, angry. “The boy in the hall. That whole disaster was his fault. Whatever you were arguing about sent me over the edge. I felt it. There was no way to pull it back in time.”

  I sighed. “Maybe school is a bad idea.”

  “I need to stay away from everyone.” He rubbed a shaking hand across his cheek. “The pull of the box is intensifying. It’s making it difficult to keep Wrath under control. Someone’s going to get injured—or worse.”

  I was about to tell him modern high school was a dangerous place regardless of his presence, but the speakers above the door squealed to life.

  “Can I have everyone’s attention,” Principal Dubois’s voice crackled with static across the PA system. “Due to the fact that I no longer feel like being here, school is dismissed for the day.” In a sing-song voice, he ended with, “You don’t have to go home, but you can’t stay here.”

  Even from inside and down the hall, we heard the hoots and screams of appreciation from the student body on the front steps. Idiots. They didn’t think this abnormal? Since when had Dubois ever let us leave early?

  He nodded and looked to the door. “It’s one of them.”

  I bit my tongue against an instinctive Duh. “I figured.” The look of agony on Lukas’ face back in the cafeteria was the only thing keeping me from jumping up and charging out to find them. You’re losing your touch, a little voice inside my head chided. Letting him slip under your skin.

  “It’s okay,” he said, watching me like my skull was made entirely of glass and he could see right through. The twisted wheels turning—itching to charge. “Mostly everyone’s cleared out. It should be safe to have a look around.”

  Part of me screamed victory, while another hesitated, terrified to repeat the incident in The Pit. “You sure?”

  He watched me in that way of his. Searching, yet somehow distant. Annoying, yet at the same time intriguing. “Positive.”

  The halls were so empty that I heard each tap my sneakers made as they hit the floor. Every now and then, my foot would turn the wrong way and the rubber would make an annoying squeak. Stealth had never been a strong suit for me.

  We passed the cafeteria and hooked a right to head through the English wing. At the end of the hall, two girls were playing tug-o-war over a green football jersey.

  “Give it to me. I want it!” The taller one screeched. It was Gabriele Murphy, the editor of the school paper.

  “It goes better with my eyes!” the other wailed. I didn’t know her name, but we shared the same gym class. At the beginning of the year, she’d spiked a volleyball at Kendra’s head because Jeff Brennan, her summer fling, had been talking to her in the hall before class.

  I stormed up to them and yanked the shirt away. They’d already started to tear it, so the rest was easy. With a loud rip, the jersey separated down the middle. I handed one half to Gabriele and the rest to the other girl. “Here you go. Enjoy!” I turned back to Lukas. “Greed again?”

  He shook his head, distracted. “Envy.” With a few steps toward the science lab, he cupped his hands to either side of his face and peered through the window. “Vida.”

  I elbowed him to the side and stood on my tiptoes. Principal Dubois was locked at the lips of Mrs. Hastings—the guidance counselor. Good thing I hadn’t eaten lunch. I seriously would’ve lost it.

  We left them to their gropefest and continued down the hall, peering into classrooms as we went. Everything was empty. Like the mall on the first day of school. I was about to suggest we call it, convinced the Sins had scattered already, when we came to the teacher’s lounge.

  Pushing though the door, I froze, trying to digest the scene before me. Mrs. Manning had her feet kicked up onto the table, shoes off and stare vacant. Around her head, a fly circled, landing finally on her cheek. I waited for her to shoo the bug away, but she ignored it.

  Across the room, Mr. Marks sat in front of a small TV screen, expression eerily blank. There was nothing but static on the screen, yet he still seemed enthralled. Every few seconds his eyebrow would twitch along with his right cheek. On the floor by his feet was an overturned cup of coffee leaking out across the floor.

  As I watched, James Farley, one of the school’s janitors, shuffled past. He slipped in the cream-colored liquid, losing his balance and landing hard on the floor. When Farley finally pulled himself into a sitting position, two of the fingers on his left hand were twisted at an odd angle. Broken. Instead of cursing the pain, he simply sat there staring ahead as the cuff of his pants soaked up the coffee.

  “They’re just… It’s like they’re dead. Breathing, but dead.”

  “Sloth,” Lukas said in a low voice. “He would have them sit here and waste away—starve to death slowly—and feed from the resulting energy.”

  The looting at Flankman’s had been bad. Chaos and fighting. People had gotten hurt… But it was somehow more unsettling to see those people just sitting there. Blank and expressionless. It was like they were alive, but trapped. Trapped—like Lukas. “No, he won’t. We won’t let it get that far. The Sins are going down.”

  I scanned the r
oom and, in the far corner, saw a man I didn’t recognize. He leaned against the wall, watching with pale blue eyes and a bored expression. Bored—yet more alive than the others.

  I stalked toward him. “Leave them alone.”

  He barely glanced my way before yawning and casually waving me off. “Go away.”

  “Sloth, right?”

  “Tony,” the guy responded. He spoke with a thick city accent and nodded his head a lot. Turning to Lukas, he said, “That’s this body’s name, anyway. I like it. Wrath?”

  “Lukas,” he said in an icy tone. “My name is Lukas.”

  “You’re the human, aint’t ya? Tough break gettin’ stuck in the box, kid.” He almost sounded sympathetic. “Vida’s lookin’ for ya.”

  Turning back to me, Tony said, “Lookin’ for you, too. Not fans of ya family.”

  “The feeling’s mutual.”

  “What’s a little laziness, eh?” Tony grinned. “And ya should be thankin’ me. I got yas out of school.”

  “I’ll be sure to add you to my Christmas card list. Where are the others?”

  “Listen up, girly. The thing ya gotta worry about is Vida and her new friend. The rest of us just wanna be left alone. I ain’t hurtin’ no one in here.”

  That got my attention. “New friend? What new friend?”

  “Sometimes we don’t get what we want.” Lukas’ fist shot out, lightning fast, and caught Tony across the lower jaw. There was an instant of shock before the man’s head rocked back and his eyes rolled up. He crumpled to the ground like a sack of quartz powder, expensive looking suit jacket bunching at the waist.

  “Effective, but badly timed. Now we don’t know what he was talking about.” I poked him with the toe of my sneaker. Twice. Just to be sure. If it were me, I’d play possum if outnumbered and wait for an opportunity to strike. “And getting him back to the office is going to be a little tricky now. Ya know, with him out like a light and all… Unless you’re rocking the super strength thing.”

  Lukas frowned. “He wasn’t going to come quietly.”

  He had a point. I scanned the room and saw a roll of duct tape on the edge of one of the desks. Grinning, I grabbed it and waved it back and forth.

  “What’s that?”

  I bent over Tony and went to work. “This is the coolest invention of the twentieth century.” Once Tony was secured, I handed Lukas the roll.

  He peeled the edge back, letting it dangle from the tip of his finger in awe. “This is amazing.”

  I took the tape from him and gave it another wave. “Awesome,” I corrected.

  “What?”

  “This is awesome. Use the language of the land, gramps. Jeez. Didn’t you have slang back in the stone ages?”

  “Awesome,” he said, as if trying the word on for size. “And that means amazing?”

  “Yep.”

  He nodded and wiggled his finger. “We had slang in 1882. Do people still use ragamuffin?”

  I choked back a giggle. “Um, no. No they don’t. Ragamuffin? Seriously? That’s such a lame word!”

  He stared at me for a moment before shaking his head. “Sometimes, I want to beg you to put me back in the box.”

  “Aren’t we the High Drama Dude?” I toed Tony again and put the roll of tape back on the desk.

  “Is it strong enough to hold him?”

  “It’s strong enough. Trust me. The captain of the football team used this stuff to hang our rival school’s mascot from the sign in the quad. I’m not known for my school spirit, but it was pretty damn funny to see a dude in a purple chicken suit suspended mid-air.”

  “You’re not like anyone I’ve ever met.”

  “I’m full of surprises.”

  His grin widened, and the butterflies came rushing back. “You really are.”

  Chapter Sixteen

  Getting Tony out of the school was easy. The teachers in the lounge were far past noticing anything. With Sloth gone, hopefully they’d go back to normal sooner rather than later. Between Lukas and me, we were able to drag Sloth across the tiled floor with little trouble. He slid along nice and easy against the well polished floor. Once outside, though—that presented a challenge.

  My options were limited.

  Public transportation wouldn’t work. I couldn’t come up with a reasonable excuse as to why two teenagers would be dragging around an unconscious, duct taped man in a dirty designer suit.

  Carrying him was out of the question. Tony wasn’t a small guy. Even with Lukas helping, we’d end up doing more dragging than actual carrying. There was a human in there—I didn’t want to give him road rash.

  Really, there was only one option. Mom. I pulled my cell out and dialed the office. This wasn’t exactly how I pictured presenting my victory, but unfortunately it was all we had. But even that didn’t work. The machine picked up on the fourth ring and I hung up.

  “No answer. Makes sense, though,” I said to Lukas as I punched in her cell. “She and Dad are out hunting down the Sins.” It went right to voicemail. I snapped the phone closed and stuffed the cell back in my pocket. “Well, now we’re officially screwed.”

  I stepped from the brush and glanced up and down the street just as a red Mustang turned the corner. It slowed, horn honking twice as it pulled alongside the curb. “Hey, beautiful, lookin’ for a ride?”

  Great timing—wrong person. With the way he’d acted earlier, it was probably a bad idea to even consider this, but I was desperate. The longer we stood out in the open, the better the chances were of someone happening along. “Hey, Garrett…Yeah.”

  The Garrett Girl Charmer beamed out at me from inside the Mustang. “Well then hop on in.”

  This was the tricky part. “Um, actually, I have a few people with me, too.”

  “Assuming you mean your shadow,” he grumbled.

  “Lukas is here, yeah, but I’ve also got someone else…it’s a work thing. One of my mom’s alternative cases.”

  Garrett, as far as I knew, had no idea about Penance’s supernatural underground, therefore had no clue what an alternative case meant, but I seemed to have his interest.

  He perked up a little. “A work thing?”

  I turned and motioned for Lukas. He appeared from the bushes, dragging Tony along.

  “Dude…” Garrett put the Mustang in park and jumped from the car. “Is he like a criminal or something?”

  I moved to help Lukas. Together, we lifted Tony off the grass and leaned him up against the side of the car. “Sort of. Deadbeat Dad. The family paid us to find him. Kind of like yours.”

  Garrett nodded and opened the back passenger’s side door, moving to the right so we could set Tony inside. Before I could stop him, Lukas made his way around to the other side and slid in next to Tony, forcing me to take the front seat.

  Great.

  Thankfully the drive was short—and silent. Garrett kept his eyes on the road and hadn’t tried to grab anything or profess his undying love. He did however, keep glaring into the backseat through the rearview mirror. I couldn’t tell if he was looking at Lukas or Tony.

  He pulled the car alongside the curb in front of the office and killed the engine. Whatever Vida’s touch had done, it seemed to have worn off. Everything appeared to be back to normal. “Listen—about before…”

  “All good.”

  In the back seat, Tony stirred. He was pulling against the tape, glaring at the building like he knew just what was coming. Lukas flung open the door and climbed out, dragging him along. Tony cooperated for the most part, trying to be a bit more discreet in testing his bonds.

  I opened the door to follow, eager to give Mom the good news. We’d found one of the innocents. Two down—technically, counting Lukas—only five to go. I had one leg out and was mid-swing with the other when Garrett grabbed my arm.

  “Wait—we need to talk.”

  Oh, hell in a hailstorm.

  “I’m sorry about my meltdown earlier.”

  I was hoping he wouldn’t do this. Awkward
apologies were something I didn’t do well. “I told you, it’s cool. Momentary brain blurb. It’s already forgotten. It’s not like you meant what you said.”

  “Jess—I meant everything. I love you.”

  There was that word again. That evil, four-letter word. Love. This was all a bad dream. A product of one of my notorious sugar binges right before bed. That, or I’d entered Bizzarro Land and had forgotten to leave a trail of neon breadcrumbs.

  I lurched forward and scrambled from the car before he started getting grabby again. It would be hard to explain to Mom—and everyone else—why his balls were lodged firmly in his throat and he was singing soprano.

  Next to Lukas, Tony mumbled something that, without the duct tape, probably would’ve been pretty colorful. Lukas spun him toward the office and started walking. A few times, he stopped to glance back over his shoulder.

  “Well?” Garrett called. He leaned across the seat, poking his head through the open window. “Don’t leave me hanging.”

  I didn’t answer. Instead, I spun to follow Lukas up the walk. He’d stopped and was waiting by the door. Our eyes met, and for a moment, I got the feeling that he’d been watching Garrett because he was worried. About me. The thought made me happier than it should have.

  As Garrett gassed the engine and tore away from the curb, I heard him laughing. The sound sent chills up and down my spine. Vida had zinged him yesterday. It had to wear off soon, right? I’d just keep away until then.

  With a sigh, I made my way up the walk to where Lukas stood with Tony. He shook his head and gave the Sin a small shove through the door. “I really don’t think Klaire is going to be happy about this.”

  “Are you nuts? The fact that I snagged a Sin all on my own is going to blow her away!”

  Eyebrows raised, he stopped.

  “Okay, maybe not all on my own, but you know what I mean.”

  Sloth gave one last attempt at struggling free, but Lukas flipped him around and pinned him face first against the wall. One arm locked at the small of his back while the other wedged behind Tony’s neck, Lukas said, “I think you’re wrong.”

  …

  “I was very specific with my instructions. School. Home. Not once did I suggest you flounce off on your own and try apprehending one of these things.”