Madeline and Uncle Cassius push open the doors. Kyle jumps out. Slams the door behind him. Uncle Cassius yanks me down to the concrete and shuts his door with his free hand. The sirens blare like they’re on top of us. Red and blue flash off the windows of the gas station. Coach Langer lies on the sidewalk, still but breathing.
We’re running. Past the silver ice cooler. Past the air compressor. Others run with us, feet pounding. Screams and shrieks fill the air. My only hope is that we blend in.
Police cars skid to stops outside the gas station. Tires squeal. Doors fly open and officers dash out, guns drawn. I glance behind me. I can’t make out anything past the trees except for flashes of red and blue.
There’s yelling. Shouting. We’re too far away now to make it out.
“Allie. Don’t stop,” Uncle Cassius breathes. He keeps his grip on me so tight that my hand’s going numb. “I’m sure the gas station cameras got us.”
He’s right. Oh, god. I’m a wanted criminal now, too. But I’ve got no choice but to keep running. He won’t let me go.
Kyle darts farther into the trees. We follow. I can’t do anything else. Uncle Cassius holds my arm so tight that I can’t feel my hand anymore. Shirts and sneakers vanish into the woods around us. People duck down low. Even Madeline keeps her head down. She won’t summon the Deathwind here. If the police catch her summoning it, they’ll follow the screams. They’ll think she’s setting off a bomb or something and shoot.
The trees clear and we’re in the subdivision. People scatter. Keep their heads down. Somewhere overhead, helicopter blades cut through the air. This is serious. They must think we’re terrorists. That the Deathwind was some kind of bomb or gas attack.
Madeline runs into a yard ahead of us into the shadows and slows. She leans against the house, breathing heavily. We stop, but Uncle Cassius won’t let go of my arm.
The helicopter grows louder. A spotlight darts back and forth in the distance.
Madeline closes her eyes, but she’s not calling the Deathwind this time. She’s sinking in the hole she’s dug.
Kyle takes her arm. “Dear?” I can’t miss the suppressed terror in his voice.
She opens them. “They must think we’re bombers. I know I shouldn’t have blocked the entrance of the football field with the van. I was reckless.”
“And it didn’t help that your van happened to be there every time the Deathwind appeared,” I say.
She ignores me. “We have to keep moving,” she says. “As soon as they realize we’re not in the van, they’re going to get the dogs out. They’ll search all these yards.”
Madeline speaks with conviction. With knowledge. She’d know. She’s a former police officer.
Kyle looks around the backyard of the house. Uncle Cassius pulls me after him. Madeline follows. All the yards stretch out, dark and full of shadows. Nobody’s letting off crappy fireworks. The only light comes from a house with a weak yellow bulb glowing on the back porch. It’s abandoned. Only thudding feet, an occasional shout and crickets fill the air. Somewhere, a car starts up. Someone else is evacuating.
And the helicopter grows louder.
I can’t see it through the trees, but it’s close.
We run. Uncle Cassius keeps my arm. I’ve given up trying to break away. It’s pointless.
Uncle Cassius coughs. Dodges someone’s fire pit. “Don’t send the Deathwind after the police. That could end badly.”
Madeline glares at him. “I’ll do what I have to do, Cassius.” She stops for a second. “We need a place to take cover,” she says. She faces my uncle. “We’re not going to your house. The police will have leads on us in no time.”
Uncle Cassius darts ahead, stops, and looks inside a dark window. “We need to get farther away,” he says, pointing to a street up ahead. “We can break into a house and stay there. Everyone’s leaving.”
“But we have only a few hours left,” Madeline says. “The Deathwind’s getting worse by the minute. It wants more people tonight. I got four at the gas station. The kid at McDonalds, and then four people at the fireworks. I still have to make up for the missed time.”
God. That makes nine victims here in Williams Town already.
We slow. My sides burn. I suck in valuable air.
“I know you do,” Uncle Cassius says. “But you won’t do that if they find us. They’ll shoot the second you summon the Deathwind. If you die, Madeline, it’s all over.”
Madeline stops. So does Uncle Cassius and Kyle. I stand there, watching them stare at each other.
“You know he’s right,” Kyle says. “We’re not sure what the Deathwind will do if something happens to you.” He takes Madeline’s hands in his. They look at each other for what feels like a long time. “I’m not going to lose you, Madeline. We’ll think of some solution. We’ve come too far to throw it all away now.”
She looks down, then back up at Kyle. “Okay. We keep moving. I won’t bring the Deathwind back until we’re far away from the police.”
“Allie, come on.” It’s as if Uncle Cassius has just realized I exist for the first time in minutes.
The helicopter blades grow louder. They’re leaving the gas station. Coming this way. The police have figured out that we’re not in the van anymore.
Uncle Cassius curses. “We need to get inside,” he says. “Here…this house. Get the door.” He points to a glass sliding door on someone’s deck. It’s dark inside. No one’s home.
Kyle rushes up and yanks it open. The lock breaks with a sound like a small gunshot. He pulls the screen open and we pour inside.
My heart’s pounding. Now I’m breaking and entering. I’m getting a record. Running from the cops. Assault. Major property damage…
Madeline closes the glass door behind us. A second later, the helicopter grows deafening overhead and light sweeps over the backyard of the house. I hold my breath. Then, after forever, it sweeps away, leaving safe darkness in its place.
Kyle lets out a sigh of relief. “We’re in a war zone right now. Make sure no one’s home.”
Uncle Cassius releases my arm and walks down the hall. He’s a silhouette vanishing around the corner in the dark. I could run. I probably should, but what’s the use? If the spotlight lands on me, the police will be on this house in no time. Madeline can’t get caught—or worse. If she does…
I don’t want to think about it.
“No one,” Uncle Cassius says, returning. “I found a lot of clothes on the floor. They packed up and left.”
“Turn on the TV. Keep the lights off,” Madeline orders.
Uncle Cassius rushes over and turns it on. A blue glow fills the room and she scrolls through the satellite channels until we pass a national news station.
“Wait. Back. That one,” Uncle Cassius says.
Madeline scrolls back.
My stomach drops and I sink to sit next to the couch.
It’s the gas station we left minutes ago, from the air. It’s surrounded by a sea of police cars. Ambulances. Fire trucks. Nobody’s left in the parking lot. Coach Langer’s gone from the sidewalk. They’ve taken him. Madeline’s maroon van waits there, doors still closed. No one dares go near it.
She turns up the volume.
“…again, we are unclear on what the threat actually is in this situation. The pumps to the station have been shut down in case there are explosives involved. We’re getting unconfirmed reports of several explosions or possibly even a tornado at Williams Town’s fireworks display, and police are investigating whether something may have gone wrong with the display itself. However, that does not explain the situation here at the gas station, in which several witnesses have reported seeing smoke and more possible explosions. We have incoming reports that several people have been taken to local area hospitals…”
“They’ve got no idea,” Kyle says. I can’t miss
the nerves in his voice. The way his words crack down the middle.
“Now what?” I ask. I sound the same.
Madeline’s shaking in the blue light. “They’ll have my description by now. If we get out of here, I’ll have to go into hiding.”
Her words hang in the air. That means Uncle Cassius could have to go with her and that they might make me go with them. Madeline doesn’t trust me to keep my mouth shut and she never will.
I can’t leave Tommy, or leave my parents to worry about me.
I turn away from them both and face the wall. There’s a framed picture of a family, a happy couple with two kids in baseball uniforms. I stare at it, avoiding my uncle as much as I can even though he’s sitting a foot away from me.
I want my parents. I want Tommy here. Now.
“…there are also unconfirmed reports that the suspects may have a young hostage with them. Police will be conducting door to door searches in the area and advise anyone who has not left town already to remain indoors with their doors and windows locked. However, as we can see, many residents are taking to the freeway in an effort to evacuate.”
A hostage. They know I’m kidnapped. Mom and Dad must have called the police. Hope rises in me. I might not have to leave Tommy and my family after all.
Madeline paces across the room. She’s not even paying attention to the TV anymore. I watch her. Her eyes are wide. Scared and shiny in the shifting light. “We’re running out of time. The Deathwind’s getting more unstable by the minute. We need to keep looking for people. And we have to find them before they find us.”
“But they’re all leaving,” Kyle says. He shrugs. “Or they’re hiding. We can’t start breaking into more houses to look for them. All it’ll take is one nine one one call, and we’re done.”
She stands. Listens. The helicopter’s faint now, far away. Madeline goes for the back door and yanks it back open. She stands framed in the door like a ghost.
Then I know what I have to do. I have to save Tommy’s life. My parents’ lives and the lives of everyone else left in town. There are still people around here, and if the Deathwind isn’t happy in a few hours, they’re going to die.
I have to help Madeline find more victims.
“Look,” I say. “I can go out and find people. They’re not after me. I’ll put on some different clothes just to be extra safe. They won’t arrest me. The worst that will happen is that they’ll take me back to my parents.”
Madeline thinks for a second. “How do I know you aren’t going to go to the police and tell them about me?”
“If I do that, my town gets wiped off the map. Fair enough, isn’t it?”
Madeline’s expression darkens. The helicopter grows louder again, then fades. My stomach heaves, but I know this is the only way. A clock on the wall reads past midnight. If I don’t do this, Williams Town will get blasted into wood grains and death.
I close my eyes. Before I can open them again, Evansburg spreads out in front of me, flattened and unrecognizable in the dark. Only shattered trees point towards the stars. They guard the graveyard of homes, the burial site of memories and safety. It’s so real that I’m sure I’ve warped back there and left Williams Town behind to its fate. The night breeze whips over me, whistling the end of the world.
Dorian’s there with me, hanging his head. We stand in the road together. Main Street? Some other road? I can’t tell. It all looks the same now. At last, he looks up at me, face sickness and fear. But there’s something else there, too.
“Allie, don’t let this happen again. I know you can stop it.”
I tremble. “There’s no good answer to this.”
“I know there isn’t. At least not right now.”
“Allie.”
It’s Madeline.
“Allie!”
I open my eyes. Dorian’s gone. I’m back in some strangers’ house. Back in Williams Town with the TV droning in the background and my betrayer uncle standing next to it like he’s proud of his handiwork.
“I think we’ll have you go,” Madeline says. “You walk in the road and look for people. Pretend that you’re walking around, looking for help. The three of us will follow you in the shadows, a block behind you. You send your uncle a text when you find someone. Make sure it’s nothing that can incriminate us in court. We need a code phrase.”
I need something good, something that won’t get me in trouble if they decide to investigate. “How about, ‘I never want to speak to you again?’”
Uncle Cassius flinches. “Allie, you have to understand—“
“It’ll work. They won’t think I’m working with you guys if they pick me up and look at my phone,” I say. When I see the doubt washing over Madeline’s face, I quickly supply, “And don’t worry. I’ll lead them off your trail if that happens.”
In a way, I’m glad that they’re going to follow me. I can’t think of a way to lure someone back here and not go to court with Madeline later.
My throat’s dry. Weight collapses down on my shoulders. I have to ruin the lives of more people. But it’s better than letting hundreds or even thousands die. And if I fail…
I need out of this house, out of this thick air, away from my uncle. I push past Madeline and out into the night.
Chapter Twenty-Six