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I shrugged. “Yell. Distract him. ”
“If it was real, you shouldn’t have even thought of getting involved. The guy had a knife. He was obviously ready to use it. ”
“That wasn’t really the point,” I murmured, watching my toe kick a pebble along the roadside.
“Okay. So the point was…”
“I saw that knife and I froze. All I could think about was that girl in the alley, the one who held a knife on me. If last night had been real, I might have let someone die because I was too freaked out to do anything. ”
“But it wasn’t real. ”
I looked up at him.
“Okay,” he said. “Again that wasn’t your point. But what happened in that alley—you still hadn’t had time to slow down and…” He gestured, searching for a word. “Process it. You talked to Simon about it, right?”
I shook my head.
He frowned. “But you did tell him what happened. ”
Another head shake.
“You should. You need to talk to so
meone. You sure can’t talk to Tori. Liz is probably a good listener, but she’s not around. ” He paused. “You could talk to me, but you’ve probably figured out I’m not good with stuff like that. I mean, if you wanted to…” He trailed off, then came back firmer, shoulders hunching against the morning chill. “It should be Simon. He’d want to know what happened, and he’d want you to be the one to tell him. ”
I nodded, though I didn’t know whether I would. Simon had spent enough time lately on Chloe-comfort duty. I needed to start working stuff out by myself. But there was a related issue I did want help with.
“I’ve been thinking,” I began. “After what happened, I should learn how to defend myself. Some basic self-defense moves. ”
“That’s a good idea. ”
“Great, so could you—?”
“I’ll ask Simon to teach you some,” he continued.
“Oh. I thought…I guess I thought that would be more your area. ”
“Our dad taught us both. Simon’s good. Unless…” He glanced down at me. “I mean, if you want, sure, I can help out. But Simon would be a better teacher. He’s got the patience for it. ”
“Right. I’ll talk to Simon then. ”
He nodded and we lapsed into silence again.
We reached the bus station with twenty minutes to spare. Derek had me hang back, where the agent could see I was a teenager without getting too close a look, in case my photo was circulating. He went up to the counter alone. When he seemed to be having trouble, though, I joined him.
“What’s wrong?” I whispered.
“She won’t give us the youth fare. ”
“It’s not a youth fare,” the woman said. “It’s a student fare. If you can’t produce ID, you don’t get it. ”
“But we got tickets in Buffalo without any ID. ” I put my used ticket on the counter.
“That’s Buffalo,” she said with a sniff. “Here in the state’s capital we follow the rules. No ID, no student fare. ”
“Okay, adult tickets, then. ”
“We don’t have enough,” Derek murmured.
“What?”
“It’s thirty-eight each for adults. We’re six bucks short. ”
I leaned into the wicket. “Please, it’s really important. You can see on our ticket there that we already bought fares to New York, but my friend got sick and we had to get off the bus—”
“Doesn’t matter. ”
“How about one adult and one youth? We have enough—”
“Next!” she called, and waved up the man behind us.
The bus station also serviced Greyhound, but their sign clearly stated that their student fares required a special card, which was why we hadn’t bought from them in Buffalo. I tried anyway. The woman there was more sympathetic, but she explained that she couldn’t issue the reduced fare tickets without entering a student discount card number into the computer. So we were out of luck.
“We’ll figure something out,” I said as we moved away from the Greyhound counter.
“You go. I’ll give you directions to Andrew’s house. He can pick me up here—”
“What if he’s not there? He could have moved or could be away. Then I’d have to find Simon, use a good chunk of money for us all to come back and get you…. ”
Derek nodded, conceding my point.
“You lived around here for a while. ” I raised my hands. “I know, it’s not your favorite place to remember, but is there anyone you could borrow ten bucks from?”
“A friend?”
“Well, sure, maybe…”
A small laugh. “Yeah, you sound as doubtful about that as you should. You may have guessed I don’t go out of my way to make friends. I don’t see the point, especially when I’m never in one place long. I’ve got my dad and Simon. That’s enough. ”
His pack…
He continued, “I suppose I could find someone. Simon’s bound to have a friend or teammate who owed him money. He’s bad for stuff like that—lends it and never asks for it back. ”
“On second thought, considering you vanished under bad circumstances, reappearing now might not be the wisest idea. The last thing we need is someone calling the cops. ”
I walked to the stand of brochures and took one listing fares and schedules. Then I went to the map of New York State and studied the two. Derek read over my shoulder.
“There,” he said, pointing to a town on the map. “We can afford the full fare to New York from there. ”
“As for how we’ll get there…”
That was the question.
Thirty-one
OUR BEST SHOT OF getting where we wanted to go was by hitchhiking. We weren’t stupid enough to thumb a ride, but we might be able to sneak one. So we decided to go back to the truck stop. I dozed for a few minutes while we rode the city bus, then we started the long walk.
We were about halfway there when Derek said, gruffly, “I’m sorry. ”
“About what?”
“This. You helped me last night after all the crap I put you through. And this is your reward. Stranded in Albany. ”
“It’s an adventure. I can’t remember the last time I took a city bus. I’m getting my exercise, too. After a week cooped up in Lyle House and that laboratory, I’ve never been more in the mood for a long walk. ”
We walked a while longer.
“I know you’re tired,” he said. “And hungry. And pissed off. ”
