Tean.
“But you know what you have to remember?”Jem said.And inside, he was trying to find that place that wasn’t bruised, wasn’t hurting, that wasn’t bright pain.The place where he knew he couldn’t fuck up.That place where he was lightning.“You don’t have to define yourself.That’s what I’m working on.I spent all this time thinking that I was a survivor.That was a big part of what made me who I am.And I know you’ll understand this, but it really fucked with my head to have to deal with the fact that hey, maybe I’m actually a victim, and I don’t know how to handle that.”
Jem cleared the last of the round tables.He stumbled back across the clear stretch of floor until his hip checked the mask-making station.
Zeb stepped out into the opening.He carried the knife low.
“Maybe that’s how you need to think about it too,” Jem said.“The next time Kai’s railing you, hammering that little bitch button inside you and making you shout his name—”
“Shut your mouth,” Zeb said thickly.
“—you just tell yourself, ‘I’m not defined by a label.I might be a cock-sucking faggot who loves taking it up the ass—’”
“Shut up!”
“‘—but I’m also a big, bad wolf.I can be two things at the same time.’That’s how you’ve got to think about it.”Jem reached back blindly, groping across the table.“Just like me, see?I’m a survivor.I’m a victim.I’m—”
With a grunt, Zeb launched himself forward, knife slicing in and up.
Jem grabbed a handful of glitter and threw it at Zeb’s face.
Zeb screamed and shook his head, and his sprint toward Jem changed into a stumble.Jem caught his arm, trapped it, and twisted.Bones and tendons protested, and Zeb flailed blindly.He got in one good hit that made Jem’s head rock back, but Jem held on, and the knife fell.As soon as Zeb’s hand opened, Jem relaxed his grip and moved in.Zeb was still shouting and blinking, trying to get his eyes clear.It was like Jem had all the time in the world.
The headbutt was perfect.
Zeb cut off mid-scream and dropped to the floor.He didn’t move again.
Panting, Jem braced himself on the mask-making table.He wiped his nose and found a little blood.He spat.
“I’m Jem fucking Berger.And I am fast as shit.”
Fire crackled.
Shadows shifted.
Movement drew his eye.
And there was Reed, wolf mask slightly out of place, but on his feet again.Hunched over, covered in blood, but standing among the tables.And he had a gun in his hand.
36
The flames screamed.
That was Tean’s first, fragmented thought as the fire sprang to life.It was the sound of the fire spreading so rapidly, a part of him understood.This fire had plenty of fuel thanks to the paint thinner that the wolves had spread throughout the house, but fire also required oxygen, and as the flames spread, air rushed in to replace what had been devoured.
And then his brain separated out the sounds: the whistling of air, and the screams of the children.
The children.
Kai had the children.
The fire that Kai had set ran across the landing, a wall of flames that blocked the doorway to the turret.The heat pounded on Tean.He turned his face away; the skin was already tight and stinging, and he wondered if maybe he’d already gotten a minor burn.Even through his clothes, the heat was almost unbearable, and he took another step back.More flames raced down the stairway.For another minute or two, he could still make his way down.Still escape.But once the fires caught and began to burn in earnest, the stairway would be an inferno.
Run.
Stay.
The house was lost.An old building like this, with as much accelerant as the wolves had used—the firefighters might be able to put it out eventually, but how long would it take?People died from smoke inhalation in a matter of minutes.Already, the haze was thickening above Tean, and he coughed on his indrawn breath.
