“Blood vessels widen. She thought she was hot. Hikers get found all the time dead in the mountains, naked with their clothes folded nearby. They get confused. Brain tries to make order out of chaos. ”
“How do you know all this?” I despise that he knows it and I don’t. Makes him the better man for her in this situation. I want to be the better man for her in every situation.
“Mom was a doctor. I nearly died of hypothermia in the Andes once. ”
“I almost killed you,” Ryodan says.
“She can’t hear you,” the kid tells him.
“I wasn’t talking to her. ”
“Give me more hot packs,” the kid says. “Bugger, she’s cold!”
“A few weeks back. I almost killed you. ”
The kid gives him a look. I think, what the fuck gives a kid this young the balls it takes to snarl at me and give dickhead a look like that?
Ryodan says, “I stood in the shadows of an alley you were walking down. You wouldn’t have seen me coming. She would have died tonight if I’d killed you. ”
“Is that, like, an apology?” I mock.
“Does she gasp in horror every time she sees you, Highlander?”
I unfurl wings that aren’t there yet and hiss.
“You both talk too much,” the kid says. “Shut up. Don’t make me tell you again. ”
We shut up, which I find hysterically funny.
I suddenly see us from above. I do that all the time now. I think it’s because I’m losing my humanity and it’s my way of marking my descent into hell. I observe that there’s only one human male at this scene and it’s not me.
I see a radiant woman-child who has more curves under her clothes than I guessed, and from the way Ryodan is looking at her, he didn’t guess it either. She’s bloodless, blue-tinged, rolled up tight in the arms of a half-naked teenager that could have been, should have been, me. Keeping vigil over her are two monsters of very different breeds but monsters just the same.
Death on her left.
Devil on her right.
The kid looks like I did at his age, except for the glasses and a few inches of height he has on me. Dark hair, great smile, wide shoulders, the kid’s going to be good-looking.
If he survives past next week.
At the moment I’d wager strongly against it.
He’s in a sleeping bag with her, holding her. She has skulls and crossbones on her underwear. It charms me beyond reason.
The way I see it, if it’s not Ryodan in that next dark alley, it’s going to be me.
SIXTEEN
I fight authority and authority always wins probably always will
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I make a new discovery that totally blows.
Dying is the easy part.
It’s coming back to life that sucks.
One second I’m gone. I don’t even exist.
The next second, I’m on fire with pain.
I hear voices talking but I feel like somebody stacked weights on my eyes and don’t even try to open them. I hurt so bad I want to lose consciousness again. I groan, miserable.
“You said we could move her, so let’s do it. Now. We’ll take her to my place. ”
It’s Christian. I wonder what he’s doing here.
“She’s not going anywhere with you. She’s coming with me. If you’re wrong and it’s not safe now, kid, you’re dead. ”
That’s Ryodan. But who’d he call kid? The only person I know that he calls “kid” is me.
“I don’t take chances with her. It’s safe. ”
“D-D-D-Dancer?” I chatter.
“Easy, Mega. You almost died. ” He closes his hand around mine and I hold on. I like his hand. It’s big and holds easy but sure. It’s the kind of hold that says, I got you if you want me, but I’ll let go if you feel like running for a while. “She’s not going anywhere with either of you. She’s coming with me,” he says.
“The fuck she is!” Christian explodes, and I see flashing lights behind my eyelids from the hugeness of his voice and the pain I’m in.
Ryodan says, “She’s weak, and you don’t have what it takes to protect her. ”
“I’m n-not weak,” I mutter. “I’m n-never weak. ” I slit my eyes open and the faint light in the street nearly splits my head. I close them again. Feck, I’m weak.
“The hell I don’t. ”
“I sauntered right into your place and took her from you. ”
“I wasn’t there at the time. Or you wouldn’t have. ”
Ryodan laughs. “Puny human. ”
“She comes with me,” Christian says.
“D-Dudes, I feel really s-sick,” I say. “What’s closest?”
“My place,” Christian says.
“The hell it is,” Ryodan says.
“You don’t even know where it is,” Christian says.
“I know everything. ”
Dancer says, “Chester’s. ”
To him I say, “Take me there. And h-hurry. I’m starving and f-f-freezing. ”
When we walk into Chester’s the noise just about splits my skull from temple to temple. I’m so sick I’m wobbly. Ryodan tells Lor to get blankets warmed and take them to a room somewhere upstairs. I hope it’s soundproofed. Knowing Ryodan, it is. Like Batman, he has all the best toys. I don’t care where I go right now. I just need to lie down. I want them to stop making me walk but I insisted that they let me walk, because I hate being carried so I’m faking. Every muscle I’ve got is burning and cramping. I can’t think straight.
“Get the kid out of here,” Ryodan says to another of his men.
Two men move in, close their hands on his arms.
“Leave Dancer alone!” I say.
“It’s okay, Mega. I’ve got things to do anyway. You take care, you hear?” He looks at me hard and for a second I want everyone to go away and leave me alone with him. Life is so easy with Dancer. I want to ask him how he ended up in the street with me. I want to know what happened. Someone saved my life tonight. I want to know who and all the details.
But I don’t want him here. Not in Chester’s. I don’t want the stain of it on him. “See you tonight?” I say.
He grins. “Hope so, Mega. Got a movie to watch. ”
“Get him out of here. Now,” Ryodan barks.
Dancer impresses the feck out of me when he shakes their hands off his arms and says real calm, “I can see myself out. ” He doesn’t shake testosterone off his skin like a wet dog. He doesn’t turn into a stupid bull, throwing his horns around. He just takes care of himself.
I’d watch him go but Ryodan is suddenly turning me away, steering me like I’m a go-cart. He snaps an order for warm water and Jell-O and tells Christian to get the feck out of his club.
Christian laughs and settles on a bar stool in the subclub closest to the stairs.
As I hobble up the stairs, I see a funny thing. Ryodan pauses for a sec and I look back. He’s looking out over the dance floor, down at the kiddie subclub, and like she can feel him or something, Jo looks up, straight at him. Almost like she’s been waiting for this moment. Like there’s some kind of rubber band between them and she can feel him if he tugs on it. I think her highlights are even more dramatic than they were a couple days ago, gold in her dark hair. She’s sparkly between the boobs again—I wouldn’t notice except the sparkly makes you look there!—and wearing pretty bangles on her arms. She never wears jewelry. Even sick as I feel, I think Jo looks good. Ryodan gives her an imperceptible nod and she goes real still and wipes her hands on her skirt and swallows so hard I see her throat work from here. They look at each other and neither looks away.
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After a long moment Jo nods back.
And I think what the feck? Is she an empath like Kat? How did she know what he was saying? And what was he saying anyway? And why is she
turning her tray over to somebody else?
Then my legs are going out from under me because I faked as long as I could, and he’s got me before I hit the floor, carrying me, and I don’t even fight it because I’m too miserable.
They take me to a room a few doors down from Ryodan’s office and put me in bed. I burrow deep into the soft mattress, sigh with relief and pass out cold. Ryodan pisses me off what can’t be more than three minutes later by waking me back up and forcing me to drink warm Jell-O water.
At first I don’t want it but it tastes like heaven.
“What happened?” I say. “Did I, like, die and come back?” What an adventure! I wonder if this’ll get put into the legend of me when I do die. I wonder how many times I might kick Death’s ass in my life. How wicked cool is that?
“Drink. ”
“Where’d Dancer come from?” My stomach cramps. “Aw, it’s hurting my stomach. ”
“Stop gulping. Take small sips. ”
I see another funny thing when he pours a second glass of warm Jell-O water. “Dude, shake much?”
“I got too cold. ”
Lor laughs and gives him a look. “Or too hot. Get out of here. I’ve got it. ”
Ryodan looks at my empty glass. I’ve drained the pitcher already and I want more.
“I’ll get it,” Lor says. “Go do what you need to do, boss. ”
I wonder what he needs to do, why he’s shaking. If this is his weakness, I want to know all about it. Too bad I’m about to pass out again.
Ryodan stands up. “Take care of her. ” He walks out.
Lor says, “Sleep, kid. I’ll be back before you know it. With candy bars. ”
I slump into the pillows, curl up and sigh. Candy bars. Life is sweet. All I have to do is lie here where it’s cozy and warm and wait for them. They heated blankets for me. Someone’s bringing me candy bars in bed.
I’m going to sleep for days.
I wonder what happened. Dying to talk to Dancer. But it’ll have to wait.
I’m drifting, just about to pass out again when I suddenly get wired, struck by a certainty that pisses me all kinds of off.
I know why Ryodan gave Jo that look!
Because they’re in his office right now, talking about me! Conspiring, with Jo all worried about me because I almost died.
And they’re trying to figure out what to do with me since I don’t follow rules and almost got myself killed tonight. I hate it when adults have their stupid powwows about me! They always end with me getting read the riot act and handed a whole new list of rules that nobody in their right mind could possibly obey, most of which aren’t even logical or smart.
How the feck was I supposed to know if I touched one tiny little thing it would snap me out of freeze-frame? Why couldn’t he have just told me that? I would never have done it!
Thinking about how I didn’t almost get myself killed tonight, really he did, I start to steam from the inside and warm right up from sheer temper. I crawl out from under my huddle of blankets, get my sword, stumble to the door and wobble out into the hall. I look up and down but don’t see anybody. ’Cause, like everybody’s probably already in his office, dissing me.
I careen down the hall, stumbling from wall to wall, using them to steady me until I make it to his door, then I slap my palm where I always see him put his, and the door slides open. I don’t even wait for it to finish opening before I begin airing my gripes.
“It is not my fault I almost got killed, dude. It’s your fault and here’s ho—ooooww—Ew!” I shake my head, horrified and … and … and …
Horrified.
My mouth hangs open, with nothing coming out.
Ryodan looks over his shoulder at me.
He’s got Jo in there but they’re not talking. She’s bent over his desk with her skirt up. And he’s doing that thing I wish I’d never seen him doing. Holy travel agent! Did I, like, go through a time warp or something? How long did it take me to get here? Don’t grown-ups do other things before they get to this point? Like maybe hug and kiss, make out for a little while? I move fast and all but, dude! Kind of thinking some things’d be nice, a little slow, like maybe give you a chance to get ready for stuff that’s happening!
Jo gasps and turns bright red. “Oh! Dani! Get out of here!”
I’m seeing more of Jo than I ever wanted to.
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They aren’t talking about me.
They weren’t even thinking about me.
Like I wasn’t even lying a few doors down the hall on my deathbed with obviously nobody worrying about me at all!
“You are such a traitor! Sleeping with the enemy! What’s wrong with you? This is just too gross for my eyeballs!”
“Go back to bed, Dani,” Ryodan says, looking at me funny.
I hate him and I hate her and I hate his stupid retracting door.
I can’t even slam it on the way out.
I wake up feeling amazing. Usually I wake up confused and cross. I’m thinking maybe I should almost get killed more often. I have no clue why I feel so good but I love it so I stretch, milking it for all I can get. My muscles are totally smooth and happy and relaxed, and I don’t feel a bruise anywhere, which is impossible. My muscles are always knotted somewhere. Bruises are me. This feels like a brand-new body! I figure I must be in some kind of pre-waking state I never been in before, where the brain’s been turned on but the body’s still numb. I feel candy bars in bed with me, melty in my warm nest. One’s mashed between my cheek and the pillow, I feel another plastered to my butt. I scootch them both out, tear one open and eat it without opening my eyes, blissfully happy. I could get used to this. No pain from assorted bumps and bruises, breakfast in bed.
Then I remember where I am.
Chester’s.
And I remember what I saw before I fell asleep.
Ryodan doing the dirty with Jo.
On his desk.
Gah!
Like I’m ever going to be able to look at his desk again! How am I supposed to sit in his office now?
I’m so pissed off I shoot bolt upright in bed and swallow the last half of my candy bar so fast it gets stuck in my throat.
I start choking and all the sudden a fist slams into my back. My mouth pops open and half a mangled candy bar goes flying into the glass wall with a gooey chocolate splat. It’s too gross for me so early in the morning. My stomach heaves and I double over trying to keep it down.
Yeah, this is more like how I wake up. All screwed up and confused. When I lived at the abbey, Ro told me I have growing pains and that superheroes have them worse than most people. She said that’s why I need to sleep so hard and deep, and wake up so slow, because my body has to do more work to repair me on a cellular level. Makes scientific sense.
“Might help, kid,” Lor says behind me, “if you chew more than once before you swallow. ”
“I never chew more than once. I wouldn’t be able to eat fast enough if I did. I’d have to spend my whole day chewing. I’d get jaw muscles the size of Popeye’s biceps. ”
“You’re too young to know who Popeye is. ”
When you spent most of your childhood in a cage in front of a TV, you know who everybody is. I can sing the songs for Green Acres and Gilligan’s Island. I even know who That Girl was. I learned everything I know about the world from watching TV. There’s a whole lot of psychology in there if you’re paying attention, and I was a captive audience. Ro said I got all my melodrama from growing up that way. That I think folks are supposed to be larger than life like they are in shows. Dude, of course I do! But I didn’t need TV to tell me that. Life’s a choice: you can live in black and white, or you can live in color. I’ll take every shade of the rainbow and the gazillion in between! I push up from the bed, grab my sword and head for the door.
Lor’s in front of it, arms folded over his chest. “Boss didn’t say you coul
d leave. ”
“I didn’t say your boss could boink Jo,” I say real calm-like, but inside I’m seething. I don’t know why I feel so betrayed. Why do I care? They’re grown-ups. Grown-ups never make sense. Jo doesn’t even like him. And I know he doesn’t give a shit about Jo.
“Honey, boss don’t ask nobody who he fucks. ”
“Well, he ain’t going to do Jo again. Get out of my way. Move. ” I’m going to tell her I’m never talking to her if she has sex with him ever again. I’ll make her choose and she’ll choose me.
“So you can start some shit?”
“Yep. ” I don’t even try to deny it. I’m ready to knock heads and I’m not going to feel better until I make somebody else as miserable as I am.
He looks down at me. I slant my jaw at a jauntier angle, and I can tell he’s trying not to laugh.
“What? You think I’m funny?” I’m so sick of people smiling at me like that. My hand goes to the hilt of my sword. It closes on his hand. They’re all faster than me. “I’m not funny. I’m dangerous. You just wait and see. I’m not full grown yet, but when I am, I’m going to kick your ass from one end of Chester’s to the other. You just wait and see. ”
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He lets go of my sword and moves out of my way, laughing. “Go ahead, kid. Raise some hell. Been boring around here lately. ”
On my way out the door I decide maybe I could like Lor. He lives in color, too.
When I blow past Ryodan’s office, I think I feel a breeze and spin around real fast, ready to fight him if I have to, but nobody’s there. I shake my head and bounce down the stairs, freeze-framing sideways in between steps because I have so much energy this morning, checking out the dance floor as I go. It’s packed and the place is rocking. Looks like I either didn’t sleep long or I slept a whole day until the next night, because there’s Jo, waiting tables in the kiddie subclub, looking all long-legged and … Geez! I squint over the railing at her. Happy. She’s, like, glowing! What does she think? That this is some kind of fairy tale she’s living? It ain’t. These fairies maim and kill, and the dude she’s having sex with lets them. How can she glow about that? There wasn’t even any romance or anything. Just … Gah! I don’t even want to think about it. I can’t scrape that memory off the inside of my skull fast enough!