Shadow Walker (Neteru Academy Books) (49 page)

Again, Sarah just nodded, but Amazon Akoben’s words about pushing oneself and what it felt like to be in a real battle, carrying real artillery, stuck in her mind and fused with the aerial view she’d enjoyed less than an hour ago. What if she became head of this compound one day? What if she had to protect the people within it, secure their safety and their way of life?

The whistle sounded, and the runners took off at a steady clip around the damp track. Amazon Akoben ran backward for the first lap, yelling instructions about form and speed, and watching Sarah’s face. But soon everything around Sarah became blurry and distant, as heat and pain and heaviness cramped her legs. Air cut in and out of her lungs, rattling a rasp up her throat. Her face was on fire, her body wet as her sweats turned from light gray to charcoal. Her heart beat in her ears. It felt like a knife was stabbing her side, the blade turning as she struggled for air. One compound sister was missing… another was in critical condition. She would find the source, she would hunt it down, and she would find Yaya. And Hyacinth? Hyacinth had to get better. Everyone would be all right!

Sweat stung Sarah’s eyes, and she blinked it away, finally lifting her forearm to wipe at the stinging, salty rivulets that had merged with her tears.

A whistle sounded, and she registered it somewhere in the back of her mind, and then slowly but surely the room came back into focus. Amazon Akoben was jogging beside her, calling her name as she slowed to a stop and then bent over with her hands on her knees, gulping air. After a moment she managed to straighten, thoroughly prepared to face the ridicule of having earned another detention.

“You went two extra miles,” Amazon Akoben said loudly. “You see that!” She smiled broadly and slapped Sarah on the back, almost knocking her over. “In the time it took the rest of your sorry carcasses to run a five in running shorts and sneakers, Sarah was able to do seven while wearing hiking boots and sweats.” She turned to Sarah and nodded, her forearms crossed over her chest. “Well done, young warrior, well done—welcome to track and field.”

“But—”

“Varsity squad,” Amazon Akoben said. “I should have expected nothing less from a Shadows division student. One day you will chase the dark side and be victorious. I will see you tomorrow at six a.m., and I will accept nothing less than yes—you are a role model and an example. Welcome.”

Wil came over to her slowly, breathing hard. “That was…I’ve never seen anybody do anything like that, Sarah. Freakin’ awesome.”

She looked up but didn’t have the energy to respond.

Her legs were aching and rubbery, but she still ran to the girls’ dorm, arriving just in time to take a quick hot shower, find a clean uniform and yank it on, affix her pin to the collar, grab her backpack and head to the cafeteria. As she loaded up on apples for Peggi and some grapes she planned to hand peel later for Miss Tillie, she spotted her crew—but arranged in a very new configuration.

The walls had come down. Alejandro was at their table sitting beside Tami, while Val’s backpack was reserving the chair next to him. Donnie was seated across from Allie, scarfing down French toast, with Miguel next to her. Wil was next, sitting with Jess and a tall quiet guy from the track team, Randall Chapman, one of Wil’s buddies and an Upper Sphere Tactical. Sarah remembered him from that morning—he was a good runner with a nice stride, and kind, intense dark eyes—and released her breath. Why couldn’t Ayana have given a guy like that a chance? she wondered, becoming sad all over again.

Famished, Sarah piled her plate with tofu scramble and French toast, then hurried to claim the open seat by Val.

“Hey, everybody,” she said quietly, feeling oddly exhilarated physically, even though the prevailing mood was clearly somber. It was a difficult balance to manage. Part of her wanted to gush about the fantastic experience of riding Peggi and the awesome surprise stable duty had been, as well as shout to the rafters that she’d bested Amazon Akoben’s track team and some of her special powers were starting to come in. But she glanced at Wil and thought about how Hyacinth and Ayana should have been sitting with them, then sat down and kept her head low. It didn’t feel right that she was lucky enough to have so many things to celebrate when so many others were missing or fighting for their lives.

Quiet greetings met Sarah in return as everyone mumbled some form of hello. She picked up the strand of the morbid conversation and just pushed food around her plate, suddenly losing her appetite.

“I just wish we could go visit them, you know,” Allie said in a quiet rush. “Like, couldn’t we send them some love and light?”

“Take it to the chapel, kiddo,” Jessica said in a sad voice. “They won’t let any of us in there, and definitely don’t want any telepathy going on. That could get a healthy student sick—that’s why the quarantine. Dark consciousness energy spreads like wildfire.”

“But I feel so helpless,” Tami said, blowing out a breath and holding her head in her hands. “So utterly…freakin’…helpless. I hate feeling like there’s nothing we can do but wait.”

“Yeah, I know,” Donnie muttered. “‘Cinth is one of the sweetest kids—a real innocent.”

Miguel nodded. “My pop used to talk about growing up in East LA before the war. He said street gangs would be going at it, somebody would pull out a piece or do a drive-by, and a bullet didn’t have no name on it. Kids, old people…hell, your damned dog in the yard, could get mowed down as easy as breathing. This ain’t no diff, the way I see it.”

“It’s fucked up is what it is,” Alejandro said, brooding over his plate. “‘Cinth, of all people.”

“I feel you, bro, but whatcha gonna do?” Val said, digging into his pancakes. He was sitting in his chair the way he always did, wide-legged, with it turned around backward. He glanced at Sarah. “Hey.”

“Hey,” she said quietly.

“How was detention?” He gave her a half-smile.

She returned it, deeply appreciating that he’d even asked, given everything that was going on. “It was all right,” she said, stuffing the butterflies down with a bite of tofu scramble. Now came the
real
balancing act, being sure to give equal attention to both guys who liked her. Damn, this was crazy. There were so many bigger issues at stake. “Tell you ‘bout it later.”

Val nodded and shoved a big bite of his pancakes into his mouth. “Cool.”

“Yeah, we can talk about everything that ain’t this problem later,” Al said, clearly annoyed. “We’ve gotta address this, gotta stay focused.”

“Thing is, though,” Wil said in a solemn tone, “Patty Gray got sick this morning, too. She’s in the infirmary. Far as I know, Patty didn’t do drugs or go off on the Shady Path, and I feel like I’m to blame. I was trying to get her to help us, for old time’s sake, and maybe she went in alone after everyone left.” Wil let his head drop into his hands. “I found out about her sit after I got out of track. Melissa sent me a text from the infirmary.”

“And what about Stefan?” Al said. “That dude is dangerous, and who knows who he’s working with on the outside? All these people getting sick and going down because of that mofo contagion? He could be the one who booby trapped the Shady Path, or maybe he’s been abducting students—maybe taking them to the Morrigan. I say if the Neteru Guardian squad doesn’t come back with a pelt in the next twenty-four hours, we take matters into our own hands.”

“You cannot be serious,” Sarah said quietly, but her voice was gentle, lacking the sarcastic tone she normally used when speaking to her brother. She stared at him, and everyone at the table looked from her to Al. “Didn’t we learn anything from what happened to ‘Cinth and the others? They could be dying because we tried to handle things ourselves, force-to-force.” She looked at Tami, then back to her brother when Tami looked away. “I know you heard about the plan we had and how it backfired, and now a bunch of kids—our friends—are on freakin’ respirators, Al.”

Fury kindled in her brother’s eyes, but she could tell it wasn’t directed at her; it was pure frustration.

“Yeah, I heard about it. But I don’t blame you—the plan was sweet. You all went about it the only way you could. But that’s the problem with all that devious female planning—it’s just too complicated. Sometimes brute force is required, and I’m ready to throw down right now, especially if it’ll help find Yaya.”

She just stared at her brother and Val when they bumped fists, then got Miguel, Wil and Donnie in on the action.

“Okay,” Sarah said, pushing back from her plate and folding her arms. “Just a question, so don’t shoot the messenger.” The last thing she wanted to do was go back to fighting with Alejandro, and she knew her twin well enough to know that if she stepped on his ego in public, she’d never rein him in from doing something stupid.

Sarah waited until Al lifted his hands in front of his chest. “Peace. Speak.”

“Okay,” she said after a moment. “I just want to know what on earth can we do, brute-forcewise against a dark forces virus? I’m not being critical, not trying to be a know-it-all. I just don’t get it. Call me slow.”

Alejandro let out a hard breath of impatience. “Sis…be real. What’s probably letting in the virus is that sick bastard, Stefan. You know the buzz is that those two fliers who got eaten in the dead zone lost their PIUs, which are probably still broadcasting as we speak. Find the PIUs and we should have a recording of what went down, and maybe a solid way to track that loser. Even if we don’t find him, getting those open channels shut down that are broadcasting from the dead zone is a key to all this, if you ask me.”

“Yeah, and I can work with some of the other Blends to triangulate on the signal,” Donnie said. “All we need is to get someone inside to be able to—”

“You all are not going into the dead zone. Tell me you aren’t even remotely thinking about it!” Sarah glanced around frantically.

“Okay, okay,” Donnie said in a defensive tone. “I can try to lock in from up on Mojo’s platform, if the other guys mind stun him long enough.”

Sarah leaned forward and looked at all the boys at the table, and then sat back horrified. “No! And by the way, if you were listening to anything Mr. Everett said in class, you cannot broadcast in or out of the dead zone. It’s on demon vibration—totally different frequency from a white light channel. If it were that simple, don’t you think they would already have done it?”

“Gotta do something,” Al said, silver beginning to overtake his irises. “Plus, if it’s werewolf virus that’s booby trapped the Shady Path, there’s only one cure if people are turning.” He looked around the table and nodded. “You’ve gotta take the wolf’s head off before the victims turn. I’m not just sitting here—”

“Wait! You aren’t making any kind of sense. This isn’t a werewolf virus, it’s a dark energy virus—two completely separate things, even if Stefan is a—”

“All right, all right,” Alejandro said, talking quickly and gesturing with his hands. “Maybe he’s not turning people into werewolves, but his ass is contagious and is dark as hell. That’s your source right there. If not, why is he missing? We find him or the PIUs, and we’ve got our problem solved.” To end the subject, her brother folded his arms over his chest and lifted his chin, looking very much like their father in that moment.

“But don’t you think the doctors and staff have already tried everything you’re talking about?” Sarah looked around the table, incredulous. “I’m dead serious. Don’t you think that trying to find those PIUs in order to stop a contagion leak into the school would have been the first thing they did? And are you actually going to hunt down a fellow student and behead him—
just in case
? Al, listen to yourself. I know we’re all upset about Yaya, ‘Cinth and the other girls, but come on. Be serious. You don’t even know what’s going on, what they’ve got.”

Silence was her vindication.

“Aw’right,” Al finally conceded, rubbing his jaw. “You’ve always been the best with the books, so maybe you’ve got a point about the science.”

Sarah slumped back in her chair, relieved, but it was a short-lived victory as Al let out another hard breath and sat forward again.

“But we still need to go after wolf boy, even if it’s just to drag him back to school so those in the know can deal with him.” Al looked around the table as though counting Senate votes.

Sarah shot her brother a glare. “But then here comes my next stupid question.” She returned her gaze to Al. “Are you ready to actually launch a wolf hunt against a fellow student and possibly actually kill him if he fights back—and you know he will?”

Alejandro rolled his shoulders. “Him or me. I ain’t trying to go for the kill, and the plan as it stands is to only drag his mangy ass back here, but in the end, I gotta do what I gotta do.”

“Oh, for crying out loud!” Sarah slapped her hand on the table, temporarily drawing looks from other tables. “First of all, until there’s clear evidence that it was him—”

“I looked the SOB right in his eye,” Al said, leaning forward. “I’ve got night vision, Val’s got it, Tami’s got it and—”

“Yeah, well, I’ve got it, too,” Sarah said, hysteria escalating her voice. “And even though I think it was him, the fact is, I can’t say for a hundred percent sure!”

“Well
I’m
sure,” Al said through clenched teeth. “What I saw up close and personal was somebody who didn’t have a problem with taking my life, so why should I have a problem taking his, if it comes to mortal combat?”

Sarah dug her fingers into her hair and pulled, exasperated. “Do you hear yourself, Al? Do you really want blood on your hands?”

“I know it’s a hard concept,” Val said calmly, then took a sip of his orange juice like he was talking about the weather. “But I, for one, am standing with Al on this. We can’t let that predator hurt anybody else. I know Nana Marlene’s got a problem with that, philosophically, but Pop ‘Bazz don’t. Why?” Val set down his juice glass. “Because he understands the law of the jungle—kill or be killed. Pop ‘Bazz understands the mind of a predator. He’s been one—kinda still is—been in lockup, seen things. Do you feel me?”

Sarah slowly lowered her hands and sat back. She’d never been so thoroughly disappointed in her life. Hurt constricted her throat. Val was siding with her brother on something so wrong that she was finding it hard to breathe.