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“Th-?there was a man. He—” I balled my hands into fists, pushing the image back. “A ghost. A man. He j-?jumped onto a saw. ”
Simon pulled me against him, his hand going to the back of my head, burying my face against his chest. He smelled of vanilla fabric softener with a trace of perspiration, oddly comforting. I lingered, catching my breath.
Derek wheeled around the corner. “What happened?”
“A ghost,” I said, pulling away from Simon. “I'm sorry. ”
“Someone heard. We gotta go. ”
As I was turning, I saw the ghost again, standing on the platform. Derek followed my gaze. The ghost stood in exactly the same position, gripping the railing. Then he stepped up.
“It's r-?repeating. Like a film loop. ” I shook it off. “Never mind. We—”
“Have to go,” Derek said, pushing me. “Move!”
As we started down the hall, Rae let out a piercing whistle.
“Did I say softly?” Derek hissed under his breath.
We veered into Rae's hall to see her standing at a door marked EXIT. She reached for the handle.
“Don't!” Derek strode past her and cracked the door open, listening and sniffing before pushing it wide. “See that warehouse?”
“The one, like, a mile back there?” Rae said.
“Quarter mile, tops. Now go. We're right behind—” His head whipped up, tracking a sound. “They're coming. They heard the whistle. Yo
u guys go. I'll distract them, then follow. ”
“Uh-?uh,” Simon said. “I've got your back. Chloe, take Rae and run. ”
Derek opened his mouth to argue.
Simon cut him off. “You want distractions?” He whispered a spell and waved his hand, fog rising. “I'm your guy. ” He turned to me. “Go. We'll catch up. ”
I wanted to argue but, again, there was nothing I could offer. My powers had already proved more hindrance than help.
Rae was already twenty feet across the lot, dancing in place like a boxer, waving for me to hurry up.
As I turned to go, Derek shouldered past Simon. “Get in the warehouse and don't leave. For one hour, don't even peek out. If we don't come, find a place to hole up. We'll be back. ”
Simon nodded. “Count on it. ”
“Don't stay in the warehouse if it's dangerous, but that'll be our rendezvous point. Keep checking in. If you can't stay, find a way to leave a note. We will meet you there. Got it?”
I nodded.
“They must be back here,” someone called. “Search every room. ”
Derek shoved me through the doorway.
Simon leaned out, mouthing “I'll see you soon,” with a thumbs-?up, then he turned to Derek. “Show time. ”
I started to run.
Forty-five
WE WAITED IN THE WAREHOUSE for one hour and forty minutes.
“They caught them,” I whispered.
Rae shrugged. “Maybe not. Maybe they saw their chance to get away and they took it. ”
A protest rose to my lips, but I swallowed it. She was right. If they had the opportunity to escape and no easy way of alerting us, I'd want them to take it.
I lifted my numb rear off the ice-?cold cement. “We'll wait here a bit longer, then we'll go. If they got away, they'll hook up with us later. ”
Rae shook her head. “I wouldn't count on it, Chloe. It's like I said, the way they act, the way they behave, it's always us against them, and 'us' means the two of them. No one else, except maybe that missing dad of theirs. ” She shifted into a crouch. “Did they even give you any idea where they think he is? Or why he hasn't come for them?”
“No, but—”
“I'm not arguing, I'm just saying…” She crawled to the opening and peeked out. “It's like last year, when I went out with this guy. He was part of a clique at school. The 'cool kids. ' ” She added the quotes with her fingers. “And, sure, I kinda liked getting to hang with them. I thought it'd make me one of them. Only it didn't. They were nice enough, but they'd been friends since, like, third grade. Just because I had an in didn't mean I'd ever be one of them. You've got these superpowers. That gives you cred with Simon and Derek. But…” She turned my way. “You've only known them for a week. When push comes to shove…”
“Their first priority is each other. I know that. And I'm not saying you're wrong, just—”
“Simon's nice to you and all, sure. I see that. But—” She nibbled her lip, then slowly lifted her gaze to mine. “When you were back there, looking for Derek, it wasn't you Simon was worrying about. He didn't even mention you. It was all about Derek. ”
Of course he was worried about Derek. Derek was his brother; I was some girl he met a week ago. But it still stung a little that he hadn't mentioned me at all.
I'd been about to tell Rae about the part of the plan she missed, to make this our permanent rendezvous point, and keep checking back. But now it would sound like I was trying to prove the guys hadn't turned their backs on me. How pathetic was that?
I still thought they'd come back after things died down. It had nothing to do with whether Simon liked me or not. They'd come back because it was the right thing to do. Because they said they would. And maybe that makes me a silly girl who's watched too many movies where the good guy always comes back to save the day. But it's what I believed.
That did not, however, mean I was sitting here like an action-?flick girlfriend, twiddling her thumbs waiting for rescue. I might be naive, but I wasn't stupid. We'd set a rendezvous point, so there was no need to stick around any longer.
I crawled from our cubbyhole, looked, and listened. I waved Rae out.
“First thing I need to do is get money,” I said. “I've got my dad's but we might need more. There's a daily withdrawal limit, and that's probably all I'll get, so I have to act fast, before they put a trace on it or freeze the account. Derek said the nearest ATM was—”
“What are you doing?” Rae asked.
“What?”
She took hold of my arm and pointed at the blood. “You don't need money; you need a doctor. ”
I shook my head. “I can't go to a hospital. Even if they haven't put out an APB on me yet, I'm too young. They'd call my Aunt Lauren—”
“I meant your Aunt Lauren. She's a doctor, isn't she?”
“N-?no. I can't. She'd just take us back—”
“After they shot at us? I know you're mad at her right now, but you've told me how she's always worrying about you, always looking out for you, defending you. If you show up at her front door and say that Davidoff and his buds shot at you, even with tranquilizers, do you really think she'll march you back to Lyle House?”
“That depends on whether she believes me. A week ago, yes. But now?“ I shook my head. ”When she was talking to me about Derek, it was like I wasn't even Chloe anymore. I'm a schizophrenic. I'm paranoid and I'm delusional. She won't believe me. "
