Enthralled: Paranormal Diversions (15 page)

“And I can’t?”

A growl. He knew better than to answer. Despite my lack of defensive superpowers, I’d gotten myself—and Tori—out of plenty of scrapes. Sometimes, knowing you don’t have the skills to fight can be a bonus. With Tori, overconfidence equals lack of caution and, yes, as Derek would say, common sense.

“I’m just going to talk to her,” I said. “I’ll bring her home—”

“No, you’ll come back. Right now. That’s an order.”

“Well, in that case . . . no.”

A louder growl.

“Seriously?” I said. “An order? Has that ever worked?”

He grumbled something I couldn’t hear and probably didn’t want to.

“I’m not kidding, Chloe. Stop running, turn around, and—”

“I’ll be back as soon as I catch her. ’Kay? Bye.”

I hung up and turned my phone on vibrate.

I used to think that once we started going out, Derek would change. When I admitted that to Tori, she nearly laughed herself into an aneurysm and gave me a lecture on the stupidity of expecting to change a guy. Maybe I didn’t have her dating experience, but I knew you didn’t go out with someone because you thought you’d change him. That wasn’t what I’d meant. I liked Derek the way he was. I’d just hoped getting closer would mean landing on the sharp side of his tongue less often.

I should have known better. He did the same to Simon, who was not only his brother but his best friend. Derek had spent the first five years of his life in a lab. No mother; no father; nothing even remotely like a family. That does stuff to you. Stuff that’s hard to overcome.

I had to understand, like Simon did, that Derek lashed out when he was worried about us. We’re like the weaker members of his pack, and he’s always trying to herd us back behind him, where it’s safe, growling and snapping if we wander off. That doesn’t mean I need to let him get away with it. Just follow Simon’s lead—understand he doesn’t mean anything by it, but don’t let him push me around either, and push back when he steps over the line. Like now.

Right before the turnoff into the mall parking lot, there’s an abandoned house. Once when we went to the restaurant across the road, Kit asked about it, and the server told a story about how the dead owner’s son didn’t want to move back, but didn’t want his family home razed for parking spaces either. After she left, Kit said the guy was probably holding out for more money and locked in legal battles with the developers.

When I saw Tori running through the yard of the abandoned house, my heart did a double thump. For necromancers, that’s exactly the kind of place to avoid, in case there are ghosts in residence. For a genetically modified necromancer, who can accidentally raise dead rats and bats and other beasties, it’s trouble, guaranteed.

I rounded the house to see a broken window and no sign of Tori.

Please tell me you didn’t climb through that window.

I called her on my cell. Voice mail picked up right away, meaning she’d turned off her phone. Great.

I made my way through the waist-high weeds.

“Tori?” I called. “You know I can’t go in there.”

Which is why she
is
in there.

“Tori?” I stepped toward the window. “Can we talk about what happened?”

A flicker of movement. I glanced over to see Tori vaulting the back fence and running into the mall parking lot. Whew.

I tore off after her.

Finding one teenage girl in a shopping mall on a Saturday was like finding the proverbial needle in a haystack. That day, I swore half of the teen girls had short dark hair, white T-shirts, and jean shorts. I was hurrying over to a promising one, when a deep voice behind me rumbled, “If you’re looking for Tori, I think she’s a girl.”

My target turned. “She” had a scruffy beard. I stopped short and sighed as Derek stepped up behind me, arms sliding around my waist. I leaned back against him and relaxed.

“Thought I told you to come home,” he said, bending to my ear. There was no trace of anger in his voice now.

“Did you really expect me to listen?”

Now it was his turn to sigh. “Always worth a shot.”

As people passed, they glanced over, and I remembered the rules and reluctantly stepped out of Derek’s arms. He grumbled that his dad worried too much, and it wasn’t like we knew people in this town anyway. It didn’t matter. People were looking over because we caught their attention, and for us, that’s bad.

We caught their attention because, well, we kind of stand out. Derek’s a foot taller than me and twice my size. I’m hoping for a growth spurt, but I figure he’s just as likely to get one, so it won’t make much difference. I’m tiny, and makeup makes my skin break out, so I look young for fifteen.

Derek’s size means people think he’s older than sixteen. He doesn’t really appear older, though. His skin has cleared up a lot in the last month, since his first Change, but it’s not perfect. His lank, black hair usually seems in need of a wash, even if he showers twice a day. All this means he’s learned not to tug me into back alleys for some private time, because someone’s liable to call the cops.

“Dad said he told Tori that he’s her father,” he said as we started walking. “He saw you guys talking by the oak tree. Then when I got home, you were gone.”

“She’s upset.”

“Why? Her dad turned her over to her mother when Tori called him for help. I say good riddance. Now she has a real father.”

That was his way of looking at it. The best I could do was try to get him to see things from her point of view, even if he didn’t agree with it. Now wasn’t the time for that, though.

“I screwed up,” I said. “I let it slip that I’d known for a while.”

“Yeah, you shouldn’t have told her that.”

I gave him a look. “I mean I should have told her
sooner
. She considers me a friend.”

“Does she? Huh. Never thought friendship started with one girl locking the other—bound and gagged—in a crawl space.”

“That was in Lyle House. Tori—”

“—has changed? Right. Like when she left you behind to fight a gang of girls with knives, while she escaped.”

“We’ve come a long way since then.”

“Sure. Now she only throws you around in self-defense practice. She really enjoys that quality time with you too. Won’t practice on anyone else.”

I glowered up at him. “Yes, she’s never going to be my BFF. But what do you want me to do? Hang out with only you and Simon? Ignore her?”

“Um, yeah, because that’s exactly what she’d do to you.”

“Which doesn’t mean I should do it back. She’s been trying to fit in. You know she has. And if she doesn’t have at least one person she can talk to, she’s liable to just take off. Get captured or killed. She might not be your favorite person, but you don’t want that.”

He hesitated a second too long.

“That’s cold, Derek. Even for you, that’s cold.”

“I didn’t mean—”

“Just go back to the house, okay? You obviously aren’t interested in helping Tori. Or helping me.”

“I—”

“Just go.”

When he didn’t, I did.

Evading Derek in a crowded place isn’t hard. I can slip through gaps. He can’t, and no one moves for him . . . until he starts scowling, then they move fast, but by then, I’m long gone. Even his werewolf nose isn’t very helpful in crowds. He can follow my trail, but it takes a while to tease it out.

Derek and I don’t fight a lot. Okay, we do, but it’s usually spirited disagreement, not real anger. The subject of Tori is the exception. He’s frustrated by how quickly I’ve gotten over her past mistreatment. I’m frustrated by his inability to get over it. Even Simon sees she’s trying and treats her like a part of the group.

Who’s right? I don’t know. I just know that Tori has lost more than any of us. First, her mother. Now her father. And although she tries to hide it, a big chunk of her self-confidence is gone, too. She went from being the popular girl to the one nobody wants around.

As I concentrated on dodging Derek, I found Tori. Typical. Stop looking for something, and there it is. She was walking straight toward me, so there was no mistake. Then she saw me, and swung the other way, moving as fast as she could without breaking into a run.

I
did
run. I’m not as worried as I once was about what people think. Blame Derek. Or thank him, I guess. Being less self-conscious is a good thing. As Aunt Lauren pointed out the other day, I hardly ever stammer anymore.

When Tori ducked into a back hall, I knew I finally had her. It was a dead end leading to the restrooms.

She hesitated near a service door. A group of girls came out of the bathroom and took up the whole hall. When they’d passed, Tori was gone. I reached the door, and quickly looked around to make sure no one was watching. Then I opened it and peered inside.

The room was empty.

I was about to back out when I heard Tori curse. I followed her voice to a big metal grate on the wall. No way. How would she even get up—?

Well, there
was
a table under the grate. But still, crawling into a vent? Wasn’t that a little dramatic? Even for Tori?

Depended on how badly she wanted to get rid of me.

Or was it a test? See how far I’d go to help her?

When I climbed onto the table and peered through, I could make out a distant light. It shifted, and I saw Tori’s face, illuminated by the light-ball spell Kit had taught her.

I lifted the cover and crawled in. I could still see Tori ahead, stopped, glancing around as if trying to figure out where to go next.

I felt my way along. When Tori started crawling again, I instinctively picked up speed, then stopped myself. I didn’t have a light ball, so it was almost completely dark. I had to take it slow and steady.

My fingers inched along the metal bottom. Then they touched down on empty air, and I pitched forward, but caught myself.

“Chloe?” Tori’s voice sounded oddly weak as it echoed down the vent. “Is that you?”

She waved the light ball around and squinted.

“Yes, it’s me,” I said. “Just hold on.”

“I . . . I smell something. It’s . . . it’s making me dizzy. I need— Oh, God, I feel sick. It’s some kind of gas.”

“Hold on.” I reached out gingerly. I couldn’t feel the floor. “There’s some kind of gap.”

“It dips a little. Just climb over. I . . . I really feel sick.”

“I know. Just wait until I—”

Fingers grasped my ankle. I jumped, and if it wasn’t for that iron grip, I’d have tumbled right into the gap.

“Careful!” Derek yanked so hard I fell flat on my face. “It drops off right in front of you.”

I kicked free and glared over my shoulder at him. “I know. That’s why I stopped. But thanks for almost
scaring
me over the edge.”

“You’re too jumpy.”

“Huh. Shocking, really. Between ghosts popping out and my werewolf boyfriend sneaking up, you’d think I’d have nerves of steel.” I turned back to Tori. “Sorry! We’re coming. Just hold on.”

“Who’re you talking to?” Derek asked.

“Tori.”

“What? Did she fall down that hole?”

“No, she’s right there.” I pointed.

He squinted into the tunnel. “Well, if she was, she’s gone.”

The light ball had gone out, but he should have seen her earlier. He had a wolf ’s night vision, which was how he’d noticed the gap.

“But you heard her, right?” I said. “We were talking.”

“I—” He lowered his voice. “I only heard you, Chloe.”

I started scrabbling forward. “Tori!”

Derek caught my ankles and pulled me back along the shaft. Next thing I knew, I was standing on the floor, struggling, with his arms around me.

“I need to go back,” I said. “I’ll be careful. I need to—”

His arms tightened. “She’s okay. There must be a logical explanation.”

A logical explanation for why I could see and hear Tori, and he couldn’t? Of course there was. She was dead.

“And it’s not that,” he said, as if reading my thoughts.

He lifted me onto the table and leaned down until his face was right in front of mine. “Nothing could have happened to her. Not that fast.”

“No?” I looked up at him. “She couldn’t have been grabbed by someone following us? Dragged into a hall and shot?”

The flash of terror on his face made me regret the words. He knew it could happen—to any of us, at any time, and there was nothing he could do about it, no matter how hard he tried to protect us.

We tell ourselves we’re too valuable to kill. Then Liz pops around, and we’re all reminded that she’d been one of us. Another Lyle House resident. Another genetically modified supernatural. Our friend. Now a ghost. Murdered by the Edison Group.

“I’m sorry,” I said. “I’m just—” My heart thumped so hard I couldn’t breathe. “If anything happened to—”

“It didn’t. I . . .” I could tell he wanted to say, “I know it.” But he couldn’t. The fear flickered again. Then he straightened. “This isn’t going to help. Where did you see her last?”

“I—I’m not sure. I mean, there’s no way of knowing when it was her and when it was . . .”—I couldn’t say
her ghost
—“not her.”

“Did you see her open the door to get in here?”

Right. That’s how I could narrow it down—when was the last time I’d seen Tori move something or be noticed by someone?

“I didn’t see her open the door,” I said. “Kids were blocking the way. The grate was closed, too. And when she was walking through the mall, she was dodging people, but no one looked at her.”

“Okay. What else?”

“On the road, a car crossed over to give her room, but it was clearly her then, because she was in my sights all the way from the house to—”

I glanced up sharply. “The abandoned house. I thought she went inside. Then I saw her running across the backyard.” I slid off the table. “We have to get to that house.”

Outside the service room, there was a second door just past the bathrooms, an exit clearly marked emergency only. Derek ushered me through it. Someone shouted behind us, but we took off running.

As we jogged, Derek kept his fingers wrapped around my upper arm. At one time, I’d have thought he was pushing me along, telling me to hurry up. I knew better now. It was part protection and part reassurance. Every time I stumbled, he’d keep me upright. Every time my breath hitched, as I thought of what might lie ahead, he’d murmur, “It’s okay, it’s okay,” and stroke my arm with his thumb.