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He scanned the group again. “So what happened – how did you find each other? I thought you guys had to work in isolation too, just like—” He broke off as he felt Willow stiffen behind him. At the same moment, a low female voice came from the drive:
“You want to explain why you’re holding a gun on my group, hotshot? And it’d better be good, or I’ll blow your freaking head off. ”
Alex whirled in place, ready to shoot. Instead he just stared.
The dark-skinned girl who stood holding a gun on him was beautiful, and almost as tall as he was, with high, chiselled cheekbones and close-cropped black hair. Her brown eyes widened abruptly as they regarded each other. She wore tan jeans and a sleeveless T-shirt; he could see the slim, hard muscles of her arms, as if she spent half an hour every day doing chin-ups.
On her left bicep was a black AK tattoo in gothic lettering.
Time had come to a stop. “Kara,” whispered Alex.
The girl opened her mouth; closed it again. “Jake?” she got out. Her voice sounded ragged.
“No,” he said. “No, I’m—”
“Alex,” she finished for him. “Oh my god, Alex!” The next thing he knew, she had catapulted herself into his arms and they were hugging tightly. “I don’t believe it!” Kara gasped, sounding close to tears. “It’s really you – you’re alive, you’re okay. . . ”
“I thought you were dead,” he said against her neck. Kara. His throat felt too small for speech. “I thought everyone was dead, except for me. ”
She pulled back and touched his face; her slender hand felt firm and strong. “Look at you,” she breathed, her eyes shining. “You look so much like Jake! You’re all grown up—”
Suddenly they were both laughing. “Yeah, all grown up, just like you,” he teased, putting away his gun. Kara was only four years older than him, but when he’d been a love-struck fourteen-year-old, it had seemed more like four decades.
The tension in the courtyard had faded; the AKs stood watching in bemusement. Willow stepped forward. He could see her joy for him that one of his old friends had made it – though the slight tension around her mouth reminded him of when she’d met Cully, back in New Mexico. She’d been worried then that all the AKs would hate her because of what she was.
“Willow, this is Kara Mendez,” he told her. “We were at the camp together. ”
“Hi,” said Willow, offering her hand to Kara. She looked almost waiflike in the plaid shirt, her green eyes dominating her face. “I’m Willow Fields. ”
Kara’s eyebrows flew up; she gave Willow a cautious handshake. “Willow Fields – as in, the terrorist who’s all over the news?”
Willow shrugged, and tried to smile. “Yeah, something like that. I was trying to stop the Second Wave from coming. ”
“And she ain’t human,” put in Tex sullenly. “Check out her aura, Kara; it’s weird. Plus there was this angel with her face, and—”
“Shut up, Sam. ” From the way Kara said it, it was a phrase that got used often. But her expression turned wary as she glanced at Alex. “You want to explain what he’s talking about?”
Alex started to answer; Willow put her hand on his arm, stopping him. Lifting her chin slightly, she said in a steady voice, “He’s talking about the fact that I’m half-angel. ”
Kara took a sharp breath between her teeth; the others recoiled in shock, staring at Willow. “Whoa,” murmured the wiry-haired guy, taking a step backwards. Tex – Sam, apparently – had a mix of validation and stunned horror on his broad face.
“Half-angel?” sputtered Kara at last. “That’s supposed to be impossible!”
“I know,” said Willow evenly. “But it’s true. My father—” She stopped, a tautness crossing her features. “My father was an angel,” she finished. “I never knew him, though. I never knew anything about any of this until just recently. ”
Alex knew that Kara’s reaction was probably milder than his own had been when he’d first found out about Willow’s parentage, but he still hated it. She was staring at Willow as if she were some kind of unthinkable lab experiment.
“Willow and I are together. ” He put his arm around Willow’s shoulders and drew her against his side. “She almost died in Denver, trying to stop the Second Wave. ”
Kara didn’t move, but he had the impression she’d just been rocked to the core; that she was even more shocked at this than at the revelation of what Willow was. “Together,” she repeated in a monotone, her chocolate-brown eyes narrowing. “Let me get this straight: you’re telling me that you’ve got a half-angel girlfriend. ”
“Yeah,” said Alex. “That’s right. ” Their gazes collided; he saw the thrust of Kara’s chin and suddenly remembered how stubborn she could be. She and Cully had once had a stand-off for hours over a game of poker – the two of them bickering until late into the night, with Kara demanding that Cully take it outside with her. It had been funny at the time; he and Jake had taken bets on who would cave first.
It hadn’t been Kara.
Willow cleared her throat. “Look, I don’t want to cause any trouble or anything. ”
“You’re not,” said Alex, not taking his eyes off Kara. “Is she, Kara?”
Kara didn’t answer at first; Alex couldn’t tell what she was thinking. With deliberate movements, she put her gun away, tucking it into the holster under her jeans waistband.
“So,” she said coolly. “I guess we should go inside, huh? Seems like we’ve all got a lot to talk about. ”
It took Alex a second to get what she meant. He glanced up at the dark house beside them. “Inside – what, here? This is your base?” He turned and stared at the other AKs in disbelief. “You mean, you actually led them back here. To your base. ”
Kara looked sharply at Sam. “Led who back? Was there trouble?”
Alex couldn’t help it; he laughed out loud. “Yeah, let’s go inside,” he said. “You’re right, there’s a lot to talk about. ”
KARA TOOK THEM THROUGH the back door and switched on the light. Alex could see cardboard boxes stacked against the wall, and scuffed floor tiles with a blue and white floral pattern. A decorative niche that looked as if it should have a vase in it instead held a flashlight and someone’s change.
“What is this place?” he asked. He was carrying their camping stuff and helmets from the bike; they didn’t have much else.
“Welcome to AK Central,” said Kara. She led the way into a small kitchen. The other AKs hung back in the hallway, watching Willow with distrustful expressions. Sam especially was keeping an eye on her every move, as if she were about to sprout a halo and swoop at him, screeching, to feed. Alex dropped their stuff in a corner and put his hand on Willow’s back as she stood against the counter, stroking lightly between her shoulder blades. The small smile she gave him didn’t touch her eyes.
Kara introduced them all. Sam, Alex already knew better than he wanted to. The sharp-featured girl was Liz, who had long black hair and a pale, goth look. She kept casting appalled sidelong glances at Willow – apparently saving her life wasn’t enough to earn her trust. Trish, the freckled brown-haired girl, didn’t seem any less appalled; she also appeared anxious at the tension, gazing worriedly at the others.