Stolen

by Cheree Alsop

  The cars moved in slowly. “Marek!” I said in warning.

  “I know,” he replied through gritted teeth. He fought to control the wheel when the cars jammed us in the middle.

  “Get us outta here. They can shoot us through the windows,” Raven said with an arm around May. The little girl looked terrified, her face pale and eyes wide.

  “Hang on,” Marek commanded. He stomped on the gas.

  Everything happened in slow motion. The little Neon gunned bravely ahead of the cars on either side. Just before we cleared the cars, however, the vehicle on the left swerved in, clipping the Neon hard on the back bumper. Our car spun to the left with the impact.

  The car that had hit us rammed the driver side next to where Raven sat. The grind of metal on metal filled the air. The Neon continued to spin with the force of the impact. The car that had been behind us to the left hit us head on. I heard screaming as our car lurched with the impact. The air bags exploded with the smell of toxic fumes. Glass crunched as the car crumpled in on itself.

  Then it was over. A car horn sounded continuously. I fought to keep from passing out. My head ached, pain radiating from where I had hit it on the passenger window. Then I remembered. Falconans. We had to escape.

  “May!” I shouted.

  “It’s okay,” Raven said from behind me. “I’ve got her.” The door groaned in protest when he forced it open.

  “Stay down!” Marek ordered. “We don’t know how many there are.” Blood ran down the side of his face from a gash above his eyebrow. He looked me over quickly, then glanced in the back seat; relief reflected in his eyes that everyone was alright.

  Marek kicked out the broken windshield, then climbed cautiously onto the hood of the car. A shot rang out. Marek dove off the hood and rolled, shooting as he came back to his feet. Two Falconans from the untouched car that had pulled over on the side of the road fell to the ground.

  Marek turned in a circle, shooting with a precision that told of years of preparation for just such a situation. He hit the gas tank of the car that had clipped us. It caught fire in a roar of bright light. He shot two more Falconans who attempted to escape the flaming car.

  “Get out,” Marek shouted.

  Raven and I obeyed and left out opposite sides of the vehicle just before it was peppered with bullets. The muzzle of an automatic rifle showed through the cracked window of a car across the road from us. Marek returned fire, shattering the window. We heard a scream from the occupant of the car.

  “Get in the ditch!” Marek yelled over the sound of gunfire.

  Raven ran with May in his arms and had almost reached the ditch that followed alongside the road when two shots rang out. Raven spun with the force of the blow. He stumbled to his knees, staring down at May.

  “No!” Marek and I said in unison. Marek growled the word between bared teeth; I gasped it.

  A flower of red appeared on May’s shirt. Her face grew pale as she stared at Marek. “No!” Marek shouted again. He spun toward the shooter and pulled the trigger. The click of an empty chamber sounded loud in the chaos. Marek threw down the gun and ran at the triumphant Ras who stood unafraid with a taunting grin on his face. Just before Marek reached him, Ras shot again. Marek dove and tackled him below the knees.

  Before I could cry a warning, two more Falconans were there pulling him off. They held Marek up. Ras punched him in the stomach again and again, enjoying the way he gasped for breath. Pain showed on his face, but Marek refused to cry out.

  I searched around wildly. My heart slowed when I saw a gun lying on the road where it had been dropped by one of the wounded Falconans. I ran and picked it up. My hands were shaking. I aimed, afraid of hitting Marek. He fell to his knees. I squeezed the trigger.

  The Falconan on Marek’s right crumpled to the ground. Marek took advantage of the diversion and swung his elbow up and back from where he knelt on the ground, catching the other Falconan in the solar plexus. When the Falconan doubled over, Marek jumped up and kneed him in the head. He crumpled to the ground.

  Ras backed up, the gun in his hand once more. “I could shoot you,” he said in a calm voice. “But I prefer that you suffer before you die.”

  He got into the car on the shoulder of the road, his gun still aimed at Marek. “No one is ever safe, Marek, especially with you,” he said; his yellow eyes shifted to mine for a brief second. Marek ran at him with a growl, but the Falconan gunned the gas and took off down the road.

  Marek turned back. I was already running to Raven. The bird Shifter held May, tears streaming down his cheeks. Blood flowed from a bullet wound in his arm, but he didn’t care. May was gone.

  Marek stared at the little girl, unwilling to believe his eyes. His chest heaved, his eyes battling between blue and gold. He tried to speak, shook his head, then grabbed the gun from my hand. With ruthless efficiency, he put extra rounds into each of the slain Falconans, tears mingling with the blood on his cheeks.

  Marek then removed his jacket and took May’s body gently from Raven. He wrapped her in his coat as if she was still alive and just sleeping. I could almost pretend his jacket was just there to shield her from the cold.

  He held her for a few minutes, her head resting under his chin, his arms shaking. His jaw was gritted so tight I was afraid his teeth would break, but before I could think of anything to say, Marek set May tenderly in the back seat of one of the Falconan’s cars. As I watched helplessly, he went back to the destroyed Neon and returned with her teddy bear.

  Marek tore a page out of the phone book Mom carried in her car. With a careful, accurate hand that trembled slightly from the dawning impact of all that had just happened, he penned May’s name along with her grandmother’s name and address. Brushing the tears from his eyes in frustration, he wrote a brief synopsis of what had happened to her and how she had been trying to come home.

  Marek tucked the note under the ribbon around the bear’s neck, then gently set the bear in the crook of her arm. “They have a right to know,” he said quietly. “They have a right to know how she died, how they killed her.” A sob escaped him when he shut the door, hiding her from view. “They killed her,” he said even quieter, his words almost a growl.

  “Marek, I. . . .” Raven stumbled forward, clutching his arm. Blood flowed between his fingers. His face was white.

  Marek caught him, holding him up. “Rave, you’ve been shot!” he said in shock. He helped Raven to the back of the other black car that had been unscathed by the evening’s gunfight. I followed behind feeling helpless, sad, and emptier then I had ever felt before. I kept seeing May in my mind, the way her brown curls fell around her soft cheeks, her eyes closed as though sleeping.

  “Kyla,” Marek repeated. His firm hand on my arm broke through the haze. I stared at him. “We’ve got to get Raven to your dad. He’s lost a lot of blood.” I couldn’t gather my thoughts; they raced in a matted jumble through my brain, making no sense. “Kyla,” Marek repeated again, quieter. “I need you to drive the car to your dad’s clinic. Can you do that?”

  I nodded. I got behind the wheel and started the engine, my motions automatic. Marek sat in the back next to Raven. The wolf Shifter pulled off his shirt and tied it around Raven’s arm to staunch the flow of blood. At his nod, I drove back toward the city. The trip was silent except for Raven’s ragged breathing. The hum of the road seemed shockingly normal after the terror of the evening.

  We had just entered the outskirts of Charlton when Marek whispered something. He sat up, then said it louder. “Ras said, ‘No one is ever safe, Marek, especially with you,’ right?” I nodded, remembering the Falconan’s deadly calm and the shock of his yellow eyes as he looked directly at me. My heart grew cold. “He was looking at you when he said it, wasn’t he?” Marek sat up ramrod straight. I nodded, realizing what Marek did. “Your family, Kyla. They know where you live!”

  Marek glanced at Raven, his eyes searching. The bird Shifter nodded. “Go. Save them; hurry!” he said, his face growing even p
aler.

  “Get to your house,” Marek said urgently. “Drive there as fast as you can.”

  Before I could question his intentions, Marek had opened his door and jumped out. He shifted into wolf form before his feet touched the ground. The black wolf disappeared down a side alley at a mile-eating lope.

  Chapter 30- Marek

  My heart pounded, my mind racing. Falconans at the Marchs’. I had to get there in time. I couldn’t let them end up like May.

  My paws drummed along the pavement as I practically flew down alleys and side streets, cutting through the trees at Mason’s Park, then thundering up the next road. There was a car out front, a black one with tinted windows.

  Without hesitation, I dove through the living room window and placed myself between Kyla’s family and the two armed Falconans. A deep growl ripped from my throat.

  Chapter 31- Kyla

  I ran into the house, leaving Raven in the safety of the car. The door was wide open and blood and glass were everywhere. Mom and Dad stood up quickly from where they sat on the couch, Rosie wide-eyed between them.

  “Kyla, oh thank goodness!” Mom exclaimed with a sob. She threw her arms around me, holding me tight.

  “We were worried sick,” Dad said, holding Rosie as though he would never let her go.

  “What happened?” I asked as soon as I could get free from their embraces.

  Mom started to tremble and Dad put his free arm around her. “We were eating dinner when someone pounded on the door. Before I could open it, two Falconans burst in with guns. They made us get Rosie, then said they were going to kill all of us, but they never said why.” Dad looked at the shattered window. “Before I could do anything, a big black wolf jumped through the window and fought them. They finally left, or he would have killed them.”

  I looked at the blood splattered across the floor. “Where-”

  “In your room,” Dad answered before I could finish. “Kip wouldn’t let us up there. He said you knew the wolf, that he was your friend.”

  Turning without a word, I took the stairs two at a time, trying hard not to notice the bloody tracks I followed. Kip ran to meet me when I reached the top. I hugged him tight, my tears wetting his shirt.

  “He saved us, Kyla,” Kip said. “He fought them and chased them off. He dove through the window.” His voice cracked. I nodded and let him go. He made his way slowly down the stairs.

  I took a calming breath, then opened the door to my room. Blood streaked the floor. I followed it to where Marek stood by my bed, wearily pulling a worn tee-shirt over his head. He had found the small pile of clothes I had stuffed into the back of my closet from when he was in the tree house. He looked ready to collapse. Blood coated the side of his face from the gash above his brow. His neck was scratched and bleeding. His hands were red where the glass had cut his paws on the living room floor. Tears no longer fell from his blue eyes, but he looked sad, tired, and determined.

  “I’ve got to stop them, Kyla,” he said in a tone that was firm and empty. “They won’t stop until they’ve destroyed us all. I’ve brought this on your family.”

  I shook my head, horrified. “No, Marek. What about May? What about the other Lost? The Falconans are the ones who took them. They did this.”

  Marek didn’t seem to hear my words. He made his way past me out the door and down the hall. He stumbled slightly before he reached the stairs. He steadied himself against the wall, then stared at the bloody handprint he left there. He clenched his fists and made his way down the stairs. I followed slowly, searching for words to stop him, to turn him back from the suicidal intentions I saw on his face, but the words wouldn’t come.

  “Marek!” Mom said softly as if he was a ghost.

  Marek shook his head to clear the blood-soaked hair from his eyes. “I’m sorry,” he said quietly, unable to meet my parents’ eyes. He stood there, uncertain.

  “Sorry?” Dad repeated. “You saved my family. You-”

  Marek shook his head again as if trying to erase Dad’s words. “I’ve endangered your family. I brought this to you. This is my fault.” He took a step toward the still-open front door, his steps faltering slightly.

  “Marek, they would have killed us,” Mom said, her voice shaking. She stood by Dad with her hands on Kip’s shoulders. Kip nodded.

  “They’ve got to be stopped,” Marek continued as if he didn’t hear her. “They’ll find the Den. They’ll kill the pack.” He looked back at me. The pain in his eyes tore at my heart. “I’ve got to stop it, Kyla. Take care of Raven, okay?” Without waiting for me to nod, he left through the open door into the darkness. I heard his footsteps speed up to a run that faded into the night.

  I looked back. Mom and Dad were watching me. I rushed to avoid their questions. “I’ll tell you everything, but first, Raven’s been shot. He’s in the car.”

  ***

  It took longer than I thought it would to explain what I had experienced in the past few weeks. Kip helped me when I faltered. I was grateful my parents didn’t ask questions. They sat on the floor in Kip’s room; Raven, his arm cleaned, stitched, and bound, lay in the bed. Kip stood by the dark bedroom window while I sat on the edge of the bed, twirling the necklace between my fingers in a reassuringly normal action that soothed my nerves. I ended with Ras shooting May and Raven, the fight, and then our rush back home.

  “So where did Marek go?” Mom asked quietly. She and Dad held hands, their fingers intertwined between them.

  I shook my head, fighting back the tears that threatened to spill over. “I don’t know, but if they find him, they’ll kill him. I just know it.”

  Dad rose to his feet, helping Mom up. “Then why are we sitting here?” he asked. Raven made as if to get up, too, but Dad shook his head. “You’ll stay with Kip. I need you boys to watch over Mom and Rosie, got it?” Both boys nodded.

  Mom looked at Dad, her face calm but eyes worried. “The gun’s in the safe,” she reminded him.

  He met her gaze. “You’ll be okay?”

  At her brave nod, he hugged her tight, gave her a kiss, then turned and motioned for me. “Let’s go.”

  Chapter 32- Marek

  I ran. I didn’t know where I was going and didn’t care. “Ras!” I shouted, my voice echoing through the building-lined streets. “Ras, where are you?” Shadows played havoc with my eyes, their edges blurred and ever-changing. “Ras!”

  A noise sounded on my right. I spun on my heels, my knees bent, ready for attack. I breathed in the night air. My wolf senses lit like a flame. Ras was near. “Show yourself, you coward,” I spat. My head pounded, my heart filled with a pain I knew didn’t come from external wounds.

  “Coward, am I?” I spun again. Ras was behind me, a red-tipped flame in the streetlight. I squinted and the vision dissolved to show the red-and-gold Falconan, his wings outstretched, a knife in one hand and a gun in the other. “You’re the one who’s running.” The words were cold, slithering as though crawling with snakes.

  “To find you,” I growled. I circled slowly.

  “For what?” Ras gave a cruel laugh. “Justice? Truth? You’re blind to the truth, Marek, and justice doesn’t exist among brothers.”

  I stopped short. “What did you say?”

  Ras paused, then laughed again. “Oh, the irony! All this time, I thought you knew. I thought that was why you fought me so hard, but never seemed able to kill me. You, with mercy and hope as your shields. Save the Lost so they don’t become like Shane.” He spat the name like a foul-tasting curse.

  I stared at Ras, my will dissolving. “Shane?”

  Ras pointed his gun at me. “Little Shane is no longer here, brother. Galbran, my true father now, has turned me into an efficient killing machine.” He shook his head, his red-tipped hair waving like fire in the light of the street lamp behind him. “I don’t feel your pain.”

  The shot sounded and a red-hot iron seared low into my left shoulder. I stumbled with the force of the blow. My mind screamed for me to fight bac
k, but my body wouldn’t respond. All I could think of was Shane and Ras, the two ends of the spectrum I could never face, and yet they were the same person. Another gunshot. Pain blossomed from my thigh. Glancing down, I saw blood spread through my pant leg. In my mind, I saw blood from another wound. A pale little hand. I fell to my knees, lights flashing in my fading vision.

  “I wish I could kill you,” Ras said in a tone of longing. “But Galbran wanted me to bring you back home. Home to the labs you left me at so long ago, the labs where you first failed your little brother.” Ras walked behind me. He raised the gun.

  Pain exploded from the gun butt against my skull and I fell forward on the pavement. I rolled over, my thoughts sluggish. Even the voice urging me to fight was quiet now. Ras’ head blotted out the faint stars above. “Nighty-night, big brother,” he said with a cruel laugh. My vision went dark.

  Chapter 33- Kyla

  I drove through the Downs to the Den, my dad in the passenger seat. He didn’t question me when I pulled up next to the warehouse. I led him quickly through the machines, down the ramp, and into the Den. Without giving him time to take in the view from the landing, I ran down the steps and out into the main room.

  Some of the Lost were in their beds asleep. The remaining few watched Aladdin from the couches. I ran straight to where Flint sat at the computer, searching through more missing posters. He turned when he heard my footsteps.

  “Where are the labs?” I asked breathlessly. Flint looked wide-eyed from me to Dad. I followed his gaze. “He’s my dad,” I reassured the Shifter. “He’s okay. I need to know where the labs are. I think they’ve got Marek.”