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“Oh, okay, whew. That is not what I thought you said. Whole different meaning there. I would choose a different word if I were you. One that’s not quite so easy to confuse with certain reproductive organs. Anyway. You guys are zealots, apparently.”
“All should be zealously engaged in—”
“Cool story about zealots. They blew up almost everyone I’d ever known or cared about. So guess who gets to have more than their knees broken?” I punch him square in the face.
A shock stick gets me in the side. I push through the disorienting jumble of pain to grab the arm holding it. I jerk up, dislocating the arm. She drops the shock stick, and I kick her knee. And then I punch her in the face too, for good measure. The remaining three come at me at once. I grab the first and throw him into the other two. It feels dirty to kick them while they’re on the floor. I do it anyway, one-two-three knees, no one able to follow me out.
The truck is idling. Whoever is driving it can’t see what’s going on behind them. They’re in for a nasty surprise. I jump and catch the top of the truck, pulling myself up. I walk across the roof of the back of the truck, then jump down onto the hood. I crouch there and turn around.
“Nina?” Artemis stares at me in shock from the passenger seat. She rolls down her window. “What are you doing?”
“What are you doing?” She must have gone after the cloakers and been kidnapped! But … she’s wearing a seat belt. And Honora is in the driver’s seat. No. No no no. This isn’t how it was supposed to be. Artemis was supposed to be out there fighting evil in her own way. Not chauffeuring for it. I feel sick.
“Hey,” Honora says. “How’s things?”
My fists clench. I could punch through the windshield. Rip Honora out and throw her to the side like trash. Artemis shakes her head once, somehow anticipating my thoughts.
I focus on her instead. “Artemis, how could you?”
She lifts an eyebrow. “How could I help capture demons? It’s literally what I trained for my entire life. Did you forget?”
“When we talked in the library, you said—I thought—”
“You have no idea what’s going on here. Get down. You look like an idiot up there.”
I flinch. I had imagined how I would look leaping onto the hood of the car, and in my imagination I was Buffy. I was badass. I was … like Artemis. But she saw, and she’s embarrassed for me.
Honora looks in the side-view mirror. “Hell’s bells, Wheezy, what did you do in there?” I want her to sound scared or impressed, but she just sounds annoyed.
“Get in.” Artemis opens her door.
“What?”
“Get in. Come with us. I’ll explain on the way.”
“On the way to free these demons?” My voice can barely muster a hopeful tone.
“On the way to deliver them.” Honora drums her fingers on the steering wheel. “Come on, Wheezy. In or out. We have a schedule to keep and loyalty to prove. We’ll give you this one chance to join.”
Artemis frowns at her. “No, we’ll drop her off somewhere safe. I don’t want her to be part of this.”
“Part of what?” I want to stomp my foot, but it feels petulant and immature.
Honora wrinkles her nose in distaste. “I hate to admit it, but if it’s all as big as you say, we could use her help.”
“No.” Artemis turns toward me, and her face is set in such hard lines I can barely see my sister there. “Floor it.”
Honora blows a huge gum bubble. It pops. She grins, and then she does as she’s told. I’m thrown off the hood and roll, tumbling hard against the asphalt. The truck wheels squeal as Honora careens out of the alley, the back doors flapping wildly, several demons still inside.
Artemis. What is she doing?
I stand with a groan. I can still catch them. I can—
A blinding jolt of electricity freezes me. Someone has a shock stick against my spine. They hold it there. The edges of my vision start to go fuzzy and black. And then I fall to my knees as the current is cut off. The cloaker slumps to the ground next to me. A neon-yellow hand reaches out to me, and I take it.
“I got Jason in a cab,” Doug says. “He’ll be fine. And I didn’t see any other trucks, so they’re not going to be hauling off more demons. But we should get out of here. I don’t like any of this, Nina. This wasn’t Sean’s MO at all. Too big. Too coordinated. Something else is going on. And I don’t think it was about me, either. They grabbed Jason, yeah, but so many others.”
“It was Honora,” I whisper. “And Artemis. In the truck. They’re helping.”
