by Kresley Cole
I had to admit I was surprised. “Like I said last night, I’m going to join my grandmother there. I belong with her.”
Selena took a sip of Jackson’s drink. “Why would you believe she’s still alive? I hate to say this, but she’s probably not, you know?”
Jackson threw his hands up. “Just what I told her!”
“There’s got to be more to this than a long-lost granny,” Selena said. “She’d never want you to sacrifice the safety you could find here just to try to locate her. All that’s out there is death and more death.”
—The water’s rising!— Matthew called, making my head throb.
Fighting for focus, I muttered, “She is alive.”
Jackson’s scowl deepened. “You’re not even goan to consider staying here? Not even for a few days?”
Days? My temper flared. I didn’t have hours! “You know I have obligations. I keep my promises.” I bit my tongue as soon as I said that.
“Ohhh,” Selena said, “this is because you two had a spat last night? No offense, honey, but it seems totally rash for you to go running off like this.”
She made it sound like I was flouncing away in a huff. As I commanded myself to rein in my temper, the strangest thought arose: She’s needling me so I’ll justify my leaving, so I’ll spill why it’s so important.
But why would she care? And if she was deceitful, did that automatically mean she was dangerous?
Even if I’d been tempted to level with Jackson about what was at stake, I feared he’d tell her.
“Thanks for your concern, Selena, but I’m going.” I faced Jackson. “Are you going with me?”
He narrowed his eyes. “She said you’re welcome to stay.”
Calm. Breathe, Evie. “Then this is where we . . . split up?”
“I’m good here.”
Don’t cry, don’t cry. Swallowing my pride, I said, “Okay, but would you please just drive me as far as half a tank will take us, and then you can come right back?”
He crossed his arms over his chest. “Non,” he answered, studying my expression.
Somehow I forced myself to turn to Selena and utter the words: “Can I please borrow your motorcycle, if I swear to bring it back?” As if I can drive one.
“Sweetie, take anything else you like, anything. But that’s my only transportation.”
With a sinking feeling, it dawned on me that these two weren’t going to assist me whatsoever. They were happy to let me walk out that door, to face the road alone.
Which meant they were just wasting my time. Matthew’s precious time.
“Okay, then, I have to go.” Yesterday Jackson had found a motorcycle out on the road. Maybe I could find a car? A freaking ten-speed? “Oh, I almost forgot.” Yanking open my bag, I snatched out that copy of Robinson Crusoe and tossed it across the counter. “Bonne chance, Jackson.”
Just before I turned toward the door, his brows drew together and that muscle ticked in his jaw.
Selena called, “Evie, at least let us set you up with some supplies or camping gear.”
My shoulders stiffened, but I kept going. Outside, I muttered, “Let us set you up?” I already cleaned you out of PowerBars, bitch.
I jogged to the end of the drive, telling myself that I didn’t have time to cry over Jackson. Matthew’s fear was palpable, his voice growing louder and louder until all the others were dim. Maybe that was because he was so close to me?
Or was it because I was learning to focus on just one at a time?
As I triggered the entrance gates to open, I imagined Jackson running after me, begging forgiveness. But I made it off the property and onto the street, alone.
He hadn’t even said good-bye.
I needed to get to a gas station, grab an Alabama map, then hope for a miracle in the form of a working car.
Shit. I probably should’ve asked for my shotgun back. But I’d gotten used to Jackson handling the weapons, and I’d never learned to shoot anyway.
Would my claws be enough to protect me? If I could ever get them to flare on command?
By the time I’d reached the first crossroads, I felt a slight breeze. Dreading the coming winds, I stood in the middle of the intersection, trying to guess which direction I should take.
I rubbed my pounding temples. I needed to go north. Which was where exactly?
Four possible choices. I was totally turned around, not surprising considering my sense of direction—as well as the fact that I’d been asleep when we’d arrived here last night.
I gazed up at the sun, as if I could determine my way from its position. I bet Selena could.
Hey, Matthew, I’m going to need some help here.
Again I got that flash of the rocket, accompanied by a new wave of pain.
No, no—I need help getting out of this subdivision!
I was starting to panic, ordering myself to choose a damn direction, any direction. I’d just taken a turn to the right when Jackson came striding around the corner with that menacing gait.
He’d pulled on a white T-shirt, inside out; his boots were unlaced. The shotgun was strapped haphazardly over his shoulder. He wasted no time insulting me. “You’re a fool, Evangeline Greene!”
So much for begging for my forgiveness. Between gritted teeth, I asked, “Jackson, I don’t suppose you came out here because you’ve changed your mind? About driving me for half a tank?” It was a long shot, but . . .
“Came out here to see if you were coo-yôn enough to go off alone. You doan even know where North Carolina is!”
I didn’t have time for this! “I figure I’ll head north.” I kept walking.
“Then why are you heading west?”
I jogged back to the intersection and adjusted my bearings, but he just laughed. “Now you’re marching south, peekôn.”
I did an about-face.
“There you go,” he called, following me as I picked up speed. “North! Guess that saying’s true: Even a blind pig can find a truffle every now and again.”
Ooh! I glared over my shoulder, but continued on. Great. The winds were increasing.
“Why are you so set on leaving?”
“It’s not like I just sprang a trip on you,” I tossed back at him. “I’ve told you from the beginning that I had to do this. And now you’ve made it clear that you want to stay here indefinitely.”
—Water! Rising!— Matthew’s urgency was like a banged gong reverberating through my mind.
I barely resisted the urge to clasp my forehead. “What do you want, Jackson? What more is there to say? I asked you for help, and you wouldn’t give it to me!”
“So you just took off.” In a low voice, he said, “I’m that easy to leave behind?”
“Seriously?” I snapped. “After last night?” At once, I regretted it. What he and Selena did was none of my business.
“Damn it, Evie!” He caught up to me with a scowl. “What is so all-fired wrong with me trying to sleep with you? You act like I’m stupid for even considering it!”
—Empress!— I couldn’t think, quickening my pace even more.
But Jackson kept at me. “I’m good enough to travel with, to fool around with, but not to have sex with? You can take the girl out of Sterling . . .”
“That’s not . . . it’s not something I’m just going to throw away on a boy like you.”
He stopped cold. I couldn’t help but glance over my shoulder again.
He’d clenched his fists until tendons strained in his neck. “Like me?” He threw back his head and bellowed to the sky before facing me. “What is so goddamned wrong with me?”
He lunged forward, seizing my arm. “ ’Cause I didn’t have money? That it? ’Cause of where I’m from? From the first day we met, you’ve looked down your nose at me. You’ve laughed at me, you’ve messed with my head.”
“Money?” How had we started talking about that? The whole concept of it was fading from my mind, having as much significance to me as movie tickets or search engines.
He followed. “In school, you treated me like I was something you needed to scrape off the bottom of your boot!”
I didn’t bother hiding my bewilderment. “I was always nice to everyone. Everyone. We just got off to a bad start. And things went downhill.”
I slowed when I came upon another intersection. All the estates around here had gates, all of them looking similar. Was I heading deeper into this neighborhood? I took another right.
So did Jackson. “Tell me you never think about the difference between how I grew up—and how you did. Or what you saw in my house that last night!”
“Oh, I think about it. And I regretted judging you for beating that man. Or at least, I did before you were such an asshole! Why are you dragging the past into this anyway?”
“Because you said a boy like me!”
“Yeah, a selfish boy like you.”
“Selfish? You are calling me selfish?”
“In the pool, I thought you were asking me if I wanted more kissing—then the next thing I see is a condom? You couldn’t have cared less if I was freaked out because you skipped over all the bases I’d thought to expect, or nervous about your ancient-looking protection, or—or not ready to go that fast! In general. I didn’t expect you to declare, like, love for me forever or anything. But for my first time, I’d hoped for more than ‘It’s slim pickings out there.’ ”
He drew his head back, looking confounded. “Why didn’t you tell me any of that?”
“I started to! But you got all pissed—shocker—and I was angry that you’d interrupted things . . . things that I’d . . . really liked.” God, this was embarrassing! “None of this matters anyway. Looking back, I’m grateful it turned out the way it did.”
“And why’s that, you?”
“I don’t want to be with a boy who can replace me at the drop of a hat with a strange girl he knows nothing about!” Though I was yelling at him, he seemed to be growing less and less angry.
“Those are the only reasons?” he said over the wind.
I cried, “That’s not enough?” Another intersection?
—EMPRESS!—
I flinched with pain this time, taking another right. “And how dare you call me a miserable tease, Jackson! You are the tease. I thought things were great until you snatched the rug out from under me! So we both were hoping for something we didn’t get.”
Jackson and I were lockstep, out of breath, staring at each other. Then he just nodded.
“Nodding?” I nearly shrieked the word. “You’re nod—Ugh! I don’t understand you!”
“Just taking your point, cher.” He looked like all his anger had just evaporated.
While mine had ramped up. “You’ve accomplished what you came out here to do. You’ve confirmed that I’m a coo-yôn. No reason for you to stay with me any longer!”
He didn’t say anything, just hurried in front of me, striding backward, blocking the wind with his back. All considerate-like.
He was making me crazy! “I can’t keep up with your moods! Shouldn’t you be back playing house with Selena?” With a sinking feeling in my stomach, I realized that I’d taken so many rights I was almost back to her place.
“Well.” He rubbed his chin. “I never thought I’d see this.”
“See—what?”
“The day when Evangeline Greene was jealous over ole Jack.”
“I am not!”
He laughed. “Your eyes are green with jalousie. It’s an awful feeling, ain’t it? How it rips at you inside.”
“Sounds like you’re talking from personal experience?” He said nothing, just kept staring at me. “Doesn’t matter. I couldn’t care less who you get with.”
—EMPRESS, EMPRESS, EMPRESS!—
I stumbled, palm flat on the ground before I righted myself. Okay, that one hurt. My eyes watered and my nose started to run.
Jackson lunged forward to catch my arm. “Evie!” All of a sudden he was yanking off his shirt, balling it up to shove it at my face. “Your nose is bleeding, bébé.”
“Oh.” I held the shirt against my nose, hating how much his scent comforted me.
“Another vision?” His brows were drawn with concern. “This is why you’re in such a rush, then?”
I dropped my gaze to his chest, staring at his rosary, realizing where I’d seen it before. His mother had been wearing it, the night of the Flash. He wore it to remember her? “Why should I tell you anything?” My voice was thick.
“Because if you tell me the truth, I might just get you wherever you need to go.”
The truth? I scanned my surroundings for any alternative—
And saw a familiar flourishing crest. I was at Selena’s once more. Shit! Back where I started from.
“You can trust me.” He pulled me closer.
“But I don’t trust her, Jackson.” Should I reveal that she was one of the voices? That I’d had disturbing visions of her? I recalled Matthew’s mysterious comment: Arcana means secrets; keep ours. Had he been warning me to keep my mouth shut to non-Arcana? Jackson was the only non-Arcana person I knew in the entire world. In any case . . . “If I tell you something, you might tell her.”
“I think she’s solid.”
I wanted to scream, “Of course you would! Because you slept with her!” But I bit my tongue. Without him, I would never make it out of the neighborhood—much less to Matthew’s in time.
“Evie, I woan tell her anything you doan want me to. I haven’t told her anything more than I’ve had to.”
So he hadn’t revealed anything about my visions or my grandmother. Seeing no other choice but to trust him with at least some of this, I said, “Do you remember the boy that I sometimes see, the one who lectures me? He’s not far from here. And he’s calling for me. Loudly. Jackson, I saw him trapped in a flooded basement. He’ll drown soon. And I get the feeling that . . . that I won’t be alive much longer without his help.” When Jackson didn’t reply, I added, “I just know it’s imperative that I reach him today.”
“You believe you’re goan to die if you doan find some strange kid you’ve never met? And you think you can find him?”
I adjusted the T-shirt against my nose and raised my chin.
Jackson gave a decisive nod. “All right.”
“Excuse me?”
“See how easy that was? In the future, just tell me what you need, and let’s see where things shake out, yeah?”
I gazed away. I might need you. For more than a bodyguard. “Why go with me? I know you want to stay here with her.” Deny it, please deny it.
He didn’t. “You and me started this thing. Guess we should finish it. And I got puzzles to solve, me. Besides, I plan to ask Selena if she’ll come with.”
“What?” She would. I had no doubt that she’d follow Jackson anywhere.
He started leading me back to the mansion. “You’re not the only one who can keep secrets. And why wouldn’t I invite her—since you couldn’t care less who I might be with . . . ?”
30
Hundreds of Bagmen. All in one place.
“Nom de Dieu,” Jackson murmured, booting the Ducati’s kickstand into place. We’d just driven up on a rise to get the lay of the land around Matthew’s home, an isolated ranch-style house situated in a valley below.
And found a horde of zombies teeming around it.
Selena pulled up behind us. Naturally, she’d been up for the trip. She drew off her electric-blue helmet, shaking her long hair free. “What are you guys staring at?” When she caught a look at the swarm, she whistled low.
The nearly full moon was high in the sky. Almost midnight. It’d taken me forever to home in on Matthew.
Once we neared the space center, I’d listened for his voice, directing Jackson closer. Sometimes we’d make a turn, drive for a mile before I rea
lized Matthew was growing fainter. Then we’d be forced to backtrack. The winds—though still not nearly as bad as usual—hadn’t helped.
Jackson had told Selena that we had to make a stop on our way to North Carolina, and the girl had said nothing about our fitful progress. She seemed to trust Jackson implicitly—while I probably would’ve been mouthing off in the same situation.
“Is this our ‘stop’?” Selena asked with a hint of amusement.
Could she not sense Matthew’s closeness or hear his call? Or was she again fishing for information?
“There’s a boy inside,” Jackson said. “Somebody Evie was supposed to check on.”
Her eyes lit up. “A boy for Evie?”
“It’s not like that,” I hastily said. “I haven’t even met him.”
She adjusted the bow strapped over her shoulder, popping the top on her quiver. “What do you think the Baggers down there want?”
They were mindless with thirst, banging their hands against the door, the boarded-up windows, even the melted vinyl siding.
“There’s got to be water inside,” Jackson said, shooting me a look. “Maybe a flood.”
—Running out of time, Empress.— Matthew’s voice rang clear with our proximity, but I could tell he was weakening. “He’s trapped in there. We’ve got to save him.”
“We’ll wait until dawn, till the Baggers scatter for cover,” Jackson said.
Considering their frenzy, Matthew was going to be done for soon—water or not. “They’ll break in way before then.” Already they were denting the garage door. “We have to go now!”
He gave a harsh laugh. “Not in a million years, Evangeline.”
When Selena hopped off her bike, heading to the very edge of the cliff, he muttered to me, “You didn’t mention anything about Bagmen.”
“I didn’t know about them! But I do know he’ll drown soon.”
Selena called, “I don’t see any lights or movement.” Rejoining us, she asked, “Are you sure somebody’s even home?” But again I got the feeling that she already knew the answer.
Jackson smoothly said, “Right before you drove up behind us, we saw a flashlight signal.” He would lie to her for me? I eased closer to him.
