Atoning

by Kelley Armstrong

  "Daniel and I had already started learning," Maya said, "during those weeks you were chasing us."

  "Trial by fire," he said. "Followed by hardcore, hands-on tactical training. You got away scot-free from these guys because of my lessons. And yet now you don't trust I'm on your side?"

  "Nope," Derek said.

  "Sorry," Daniel said.

  Maya crossed her arms and shook her head. I shrugged.

  Moreno broke into a grin. "You guys do me proud. I'd give you all a hug, if that wasn't a little creepy. And if I was the hugging sort. But if you survive the rest of this, I'll take you all out for beer and ice cream."

  "You don't need to be sarcastic," Rae muttered.

  "Oh, but I'm not, and they know it. This is exactly what I trained them for. Trust no one except one another. Excluding you, kid, because I don't know you, and you have a bad habit of screwing up. But these guys are doing the right thing. Next step?"

  "Turn the tables," I said. "Capture someone who's behind this and get them to talk."

  "Mmm, yes. That would work. But even better?"

  "Stop them," Derek said. "Don't just take down one. Take them all down."

  "Without running to the Nasts for help," Daniel said. "Because in another year, some of us will be off to college, and we need to be able to look after ourselves."

  "Starting with proving we can look after ourselves," Maya said.

  Moreno beamed. "You guys are ace. See, this is what I told Sean. The best time to train operatives is when they're still young and malleable. None of that shit about waiting until they're eighteen and legally old enough to consent."

  Maya shook her head. "I suppose you'd also suggest he have the Cabal terrorize them for weeks first, so they're properly motivated."

  "Exactly. Personal rights and freedoms are vastly overrated. And there's nothing wrong with a little PTSD. I've always found mine useful. Keeps me on my toes."

  Rae stared at him.

  "I'm kidding," he said to her. "Mostly. Don't you joke around like this with your instructors? Oh, wait. You don't have any. Which is why you got tricked--again. And got captured by these guys."

  "Can we tie him up now?" Rae said. "And gag him?"

  "Doesn't do any good," Derek said.

  "We could try."

  "No, actually, Derek's right," I said. "Tying him up is pointless. He's an Evanidus."

  When she frowned at me, Moreno groaned. "No fight training. No intelligence training. And no cultural training? You are a half-demon, right?"

  "Yes, but--"

  "Evanidus half-demon," he said. "Special power?" He disappeared and reappeared a foot away.

  "Oh," Rae said.

  "So there's no sense tying me up. Just take my keys, and I'll find my way..."

  He trailed off as I held up the syringe from his backpack.

  "I know you used tranq darts when you hunted Maya and the others," I said. "I guessed you'd have some sedative in your first-aid kit, just in case one of us decided to be difficult."

  "Smart girl. Now, uh...before you use that on me..."

  "Get you away from here, so if you aren't one of the bad guys, and the actual bad guys come looking for Luke, they won't find you conveniently passed out in the tent."

  "You got it. Hands on my head, I presume? Quick march to a secluded spot in the woods where I can take a long nap?"

  I nodded. "First, though, we're taking your cell phone. Both to check for calls and so you can't wake up early and get in our way."

  "And don't forget--"

  "Luke's phone," Daniel said. "It's our best source of intel. Take that and search him for a backup."

  "Gold star, kids. Gold star."

  Ten

  Moreno didn't walk quietly to his resting place. I don't think that would be physically possible. He had us bring the phone and tell him what was on it, and then he spent the ten-minute walk speculating about who might be behind the intended kidnapping. It wasn't blind speculation--it was advice. If it was a Cabal, did we remember our lectures on the differences between them, how to handle each one? If it was independent contractors--mercenaries hoping to sell us to the highest bidder--did we remember what he'd taught us about them? And the various splinter groups--those who'd want to control us and those who'd want to "free" us, what did we know about them? His money was on the splinter groups, but we shouldn't make any presumptions until we knew more.

  We left him, unconscious and resting comfortably, in a safe spot. Then, we plotted. We knew what we had to do. Or three of us did. No, Derek did know what we had to do; he just really, really didn't like it. In the end, we made an adjustment to increase his comfort level, and then we put the plan into action.

  "You're making the right choice," Rae said.

  We were darting along a path, lit only by Moreno's penlight. I stumbled over a root, and she helped me upright. Dry leaves crackled to our left, but we pretended not to hear them.

  "I-I don't know," I said. "It doesn't feel right."

  "And staying in Badger Lake doesn't feel right either. You know something's up there. That's why you're doing this."

  "I-I just want to talk to these people. I can do that, right? Just talk? You said that would be okay."

  "It's definitely okay," she said, gripping my elbow and propelling me along the path. "They aren't the bad guys. They want to help. Just talk to them, and you'll understand."

  "B-but what if..."

  I trailed off as we stepped into the campsite parking lot. The door on a dark van slid open.

  "Th-they're here?" I said, tensing, as if ready to bolt. Rae gripped my elbow tighter.

  "That saves us from having to find them then, doesn't it?"

  We'd guessed it wouldn't take long for Luke's compatriots to show up at the campsite. Rae and I had been bumbling around--"whispering" as loud as we could, supposedly in flight from the others--for about ten minutes before we'd heard the van arrive and two people come after us, following through the forest, listening to our conversation.

  When I faltered on seeing that van, it hadn't been entirely faked. I couldn't help thinking: Isn't this good enough? We had a van full of the enemy, all focused on us. Derek, Maya and Daniel could jump them and--

  And then what? Revert to plan A, where we interrogated someone, got answers and took them to Sean to complete clean-up? No. Moreno was right--we had to dispatch this threat on our own. We also had to think of Rae's mother, who was with the enemy. If we gave them time to realize their plan had been foiled, they'd whisk her away as negotiating collateral. Or that's what I'd told Rae they'd do. My fear was that she wasn't worth enough for that.

  "I-I'm not sure," I said, poised at the edge of the lot.

  "It's okay, Chloe. You want to do this. You need to do it. For yourself and for the others."

  "That's right." A dark-clothed woman approached from the van. "This is the best thing for all of you. You know that, Chloe."

  "I-I just want to talk. Rae said--"

  "We heard what Rae said, and she's absolutely right. We're the white hats here. We've come to help you. Now let's find someplace where we can talk."

  "Well, that didn't take long," I muttered when I woke with my hands bound behind my back.

  "They're not tied very well," a girl's voice said behind me. "Here, lift your thumb about an inch..."

  I glanced back. The room was lit only by light seeping under the door, but I could see a girl with long blond hair and a Minnie Mouse nightshirt.

  "Liz?" I whispered.

  "The shirt gave it away, huh?" she said with a grin. "I wore it for old times' sake. Thought you'd get a laugh. Of course, I didn't expect to find you out cold, bound hand and foot. Trying on a little nostalgia-wear yourself?"

  "Ha-ha."

  "Okay, now lift your thumb--"

  "Leave it for now," I said. "I can't afford to go off-script just yet."

  "Ah." She hunkered down in front of me. "This is a performance piece. Well, that makes more sense. I'd be concerned if yo
u'd really gotten taken captive again. Especially given your cellmate." She waved at Rae, lying on her side on the floor, unconscious. "Care to give me the Cliff's Notes version?"

  I did, and then I said, "I kinda expected they'd stretch out their good-guy routine a little longer. The last thing I remember I was in the back of a van with Rae. A woman was talking to me, and then I woke up here. Gassed? Sedated? Knocked out? I suppose it's not important." I blinked hard and looked around. "This isn't quite what I hoped for, but I can work with it."

  She laughed, a high girlish laugh. "You should hear yourself, Chloe. Knocked out, tied up, held captive--huh, I can work with this."

  "Not quite the girl you met in Lyle House?"

  She went serious, pushing her hair back. "Not exactly, but not all that different either. You had guts, even then. You just didn't know how to use them. Now you do. We've all changed. Evolution, though, not devolution. That's what Derek says." She sat cross-legged. "Speaking of the big guy, I'm guessing he followed you here and is lurking around outside."

  "That's the plan. Except not exactly as you might--"

  A commotion sounded outside the door. Then, a snarled, "Get your hands off me. Am I trying to escape? You made your threat, and I'm coming along peacefully, and if you use that damned cattle prod again..."

  I didn't hear the rest of the threat, cut short by Liz's gasp as she said, "Derek?" and then ran through the wall as I hissed, "Stop! He's--"

  She was gone. A moment later, the door opened. I'd already dropped to the floor, eyes shut. I listened as they shoved Derek inside, with him still cursing and snarling threats.

  "Can I sedate him again?" someone said.

  "Mike said it just takes longer with werewolves." A soft thud. "And there he goes. Better lie down, kid. That's a long way to fall, and you're going to hurt yourself--"

  A bigger thud as Derek slumped to the floor. The man sighed. "I tried to warn him. Okay, two down, two to go. Send out the rest of the team. If the necro and the wolf are here, then cat-girl and the witch-hunter won't be far behind."

  The door shut. I scrambled up. Liz was kneeling beside Derek. As I crawled over fast, he opened his eyes. Then, he rose, sitting, and gave himself a shake, blinking hard.

  "You're all right?" I said. "That sounded like a hard drop."

  "Yeah, I gotta work on my pratfalls. Having my hands tied doesn't help."

  He blinked harder, lips curling in a yawn.

  "The sedative?" I whispered.

  He nodded. "It's not enough to knock me out, but I could really use a nap." He made a face. "Just give me a couple minutes." He shook himself and then peered over. "You're okay?"

  I nodded.

  "Yeah, should have asked that first. Definitely a little fuzzy."

  "Are you going to be all right?"

  "Eventually. Just hope they don't come barreling through that door in the next five minutes." He craned to see his hands. "They've done a good job with the bindings. I'll need to be more awake before I can snap them."

  "Liz thinks she can help me untie mine. If I can do that, you can save your strength."

  "Hey, Liz."

  "Hey, sleepy," she said, smiling. "You're a lot friendlier when you're tired, you know that?"

  I relayed the message. He only chuckled, his eyelids flagging. Liz hunkered down, watching him, her head tilted.

  "You've both learned a lot, Chloe," she said. "But one lesson he's not picking up? That you can take care of yourself. I mean, it's really sweet that he worries about you and looks out for you. You don't want a boyfriend who doesn't care. With Mitchell-- Oh, wait. I haven't seen you since Mitchell finally asked me out. On a date. A real one. We went to..." She trailed off and made a face. "Sorry, brain-flit."

  I laughed under my breath. We weren't the only ones who'd changed in eighteen months. When Liz finally accepted she wasn't coming back, it had marked a change in her, too. She wasn't the girl I'd met, flighty and a little bit, well, unfocused. There were still hints of that girl, though--the brain-flits, as she called them, her mind temporarily zigging down another path.

  "As I was saying," she said. "As nice as it is that Derek watches out for you, you'd have both been a lot better off right now if he hadn't come charging to your rescue."

  "He didn't," I said. "It's part of the plan. It's safer for me and Rae on the inside if he's here for muscle. Also, his nose can help us find Rae's mother. But if Rae showed up with both of us in tow, it'd have looked suspicious. So we did it this way."

  "He faked coming after you so he'd get captured. Good plan. But now that I'm here, I can find Rae's mom for you. You guys hang tight and sleep it off. We'll spring this trap as soon as I get back."

  Eleven

  Liz was gone exactly the right amount of time--long enough for Derek to get a wolf-nap and for Rae to stir from her sedated sleep, but not so long that I started worrying our captors would reappear any second.

  "Found her!" Liz said when she popped back in. "Oh, hey, Rae. Been a while."

  I conveyed the greeting. Rae looked abashed. They hadn't exactly been friends in Lyle House. Well, Rae hadn't been friends with Liz. I think Liz had considered herself friends with everyone. To Rae, Liz was just a blond ditz. I'm sure that would have changed if she'd believed me about Liz's death, but she hadn't, and this was the first time she'd "seen" Liz since that.

  "I'm really sorry that..." Rae cleared her throat. "I mean, obviously, I'm sorry you're..."

  "The word is 'dead,'" Derek said.

  Rae scowled at him.

  "What?" he said. "You were trying to avoid saying it, which only makes it worse. She's dead. The Edison Group killed her. It was a shitty thing to happen to anyone, but even shittier for Liz. She was--is--a good person who really didn't deserve that."

  "Aww," Liz said. "That's so sweet. Tell him that's sweet. And that I totally take back anything less-than-sweet I've ever said about him."

  I relayed it, verbatim. Derek smiled and then said, "So what'd you find, Liz?"

  "Has Derek given you the lay of the land yet?" she asked. "I'm guessing he got a good look around outside."

  He had--when he'd woken, he'd told us that we were in what looked and smelled like an old lumber mill. Long abandoned, about twenty minutes outside North Bay, in the forest. Right now, we were in an office. There was a row of them, all window-free.

  "Jacinda is being held in another office," Liz said, "at the end of the hall. She's bound and gagged. Obviously, none of you get the preferred-guest treatment. She's fine, though. I also got to overhear their plans. Well, not all of them. I never seem to wander in at exactly the moment when they're sitting around discussing their master scheme." She glanced at me. "Do bad guys actually do that?"

  "Only in the movies, when they need a convenient way to tell the audience what they're doing...by repeating their plan to people who already know it."

  Liz snickered. "Well, I never hear those conversations. I just get people giving orders and talking on radios, and I have to piece it all together like a jigsaw. I didn't hear anything about who they are or why they're doing this."

  "Because you aren't the action hero, tied up and about to die. That's when you get to hear who they are, what they've done and what they plan to do. Then, you can stop them when you escape."

  "Otherwise, again, everyone I hear talking already knows who they are and what they're doing. Which is very inconvenient for a spy. I did hear something that... Well, it was weird. They seem to want..." She shook her head. "I'll get to that. First thing: the plan. It's pretty much what you've figured out. Rae was supposed to capture you. Derek would come running and they'd nab him. Then, Maya and Daniel. Except they're having trouble finding Maya and Daniel, not surprisingly, considering I'm guessing that getting captured isn't their role."

  "It's not."

  "They're still hunting for them. Once they have them, they'll hold all four of you for ransom. Well, five, because they're tossing in Rae as a bonus."

  "Ransom?" I said. "Tha
t's all this is?"

  Derek caught my eye. He'd been waiting, as patiently as he could, while I talked to Liz, but, at that, he needed an explanation. I told him and Rae what was going on.

  "Mom and I are bonus captives?" Rae said.

  "Apparently."

  "So it was all about money," Derek said. "Huh. That's new."

  I passed him a wry smile. "Yep, after all these months of being chased because we're dangerous, we're finally valuable...as a quick way to turn a profit. Just like any other kids with rich guardians. Makes me feel normal again. It's a bit discouraging too, though. Just once, I want someone to try to kidnap me to harness the awesome potential of my amazing powers."

  "I'd rather they didn't kidnap us at all," Rae said.

  "True, but still, if you have to be kidnapped, it's better for your ego if it's actually about you."

  Derek chuckled and tugged me back to lean against him.

  "Actually, it isn't," Liz said. "They don't want money."

  "Ah," I said. "They want something else the Nasts have."

  "Kind of."

  "Business stuff? Stock shares or clients? Or supernatural stuff? Access to special spells or books?"

  "They want one of you. Just, uh, not you guys."

  I told Derek and Rae, and said, "Typical, huh? I'm guessing one of the Salmon Creek kids, but I'm surprised it isn't Maya or Daniel. Annie, Rafe and Ash aren't as far along as Maya with their skin-walker skills. And for benandanti, Sam's still struggling with her powers. Wait--Corey. A guy who can see the future is way more valuable than one who can change into a mountain lion or fight demons. Corey's powers have a long way to go, but, he's definitely the most valuable. Just don't tell him that."

  Corey was the kind of guy that I'd never have crossed paths with at school. The party-boy, class-cutup jock. I would have worried, if our paths did cross, I'd become a source for his jokes, because of my stutter. In Corey's case, I won't say he wouldn't have done it, but it would have been ignorance rather than cruelty, and he'd have stopped as soon as he saw that it upset me--or as soon as Daniel caught him and told him to cut it out.

  "Ooh, I like Corey," Liz piped up. "He's super cute. Super funny, too. He's not a genius, but I don't mind that. Cute and funny is better. Plus, he was really sweet that time he wanted to know more about Greek myths, and I asked a ghost who'd been there and--"