Swarm (36 page)

“It's just a bunch of ice-skating idiots,” he muttered. “Full of Christmas freaking cheer.”

But how could he be sure? The other Zeroes had their magic insight into crowds, but Ethan would never see Swarm coming. They'd all turn into a flash mob of ravening zombies without any warning.

And about the only thing he could imagine worse than running from zombies was running from zombies
with ice skates on
.

He edged toward the rink. A twenty-foot Christmas tree towered beside it, a white star standing out against the dusk. A bank of lights swept red and green beams across the ice. Frank Sinatra crooned through tinny speakers. A food stand steamed near the gate, but it didn't serve beer. Which sucked. Ethan could have done with some liquid courage right about now, if the voice could have managed it.

His phone blipped. Sonia. Crap, she was already out there
somewhere on the crowded ice. So the only way to deliver his message was to strap some knives to his feet and give up any hope of outrunning a swarm.

Well, this was just perfect.

Ethan waited in line, paid his sixteen bucks for a pair of worn-looking rental skates, and struggled into them. He imagined being knocked to the ice by an evil horde and trying to defend himself by slashing at their hands with the old, blunt blades on his feet.

He wobbled out onto the ice, clinging to the rail. He had to shrink aside to avoid skaters moving three times as fast as him.

It was hard to search for Sonia when he was barely managing to stay upright. Why did
he
have to be the one to talk to her anyhow? She hated his guts, and Ethan was sick of people hating him all the time.

With one hand on the rail he managed to turn and examine the crowd. Her hair should be easy to spot, unless she'd dyed it again. Of course, it would probably be fluorescent green or flaming Christmas crimson or whatever, so she might still stand out from the rest of the skaters.

It took five long minutes to locate her. The compression sleeve on her right wrist was covered in glitter stickers. Her hair was tucked into a slouchy beanie, the bleached white of her bangs changing colors with the lights. It was pretty striking, if he was honest. She skated gracefully, while Ethan clung to the rail and pulled himself along one-handed.

“Sonia!”

She saw him, waved her sparkly hand, and one smooth circuit later swept up behind him.

She pulled him into motion. “You made it!”

She looked happy to see him. Ethan didn't like that look. It was usually followed by a rapid shift to disappointment.

“Why'd you choose a skating rink?” he bleated. “I can't skate!”

“I see that.” Sonia grinned. She didn't look disappointed yet, even though he was clearly the worst skater on the ice.

“Can we sit down?” he tried. “I need to talk to you.”

“You want to talk to me, keep skating,” Sonia said.

Crap. Ethan just wanted to deliver his message and go. But talking while staying upright was one thing too many. The voice could handle the talking part, but Sonia was a complicated case. She was wise to the voice, even if she didn't quite understand it yet. She'd work it out eventually, just like Mom and Jess and the Zeroes had. And if he wanted to delay that discovery, he had to watch his step.

“
Slice
with your feet,” Sonia said. “Try it with me. First, right.”

She linked her good arm through his and Ethan leaned into his wobbling right foot. Or rather, Sonia leaned and Ethan followed because he was holding on to Sonia. But together they slewed rightward.

“Now left,” Sonia reminded him, as if there were any other option.

Ethan tilted left.

“Great!” Sonia said. “Now without
leaning
on me so much. You're kind of heavy.”

“Sorry.” He eased off.

His ankles still wobbled like deboned chicken bits, but he hadn't fallen over yet. And he'd forgotten, mostly, about the ever-present risk of being swarmed.

“How's your girlfriend, the DJ?” Sonia asked.

The question made Ethan's knees shake. Kelsie was a basket case, more convinced than ever that she could go Swarm at any moment. The others were pretty worried too.

But not Ethan. To him Kelsie was still Kelsie. Even if . . .

“She's not my girlfriend.”

“Really?”

“Totally. For one thing, she's into girls.”

“Oh.” Out the corner of his eye he saw a smile creep onto Sonia's face. At his pain, Ethan figured.

He seriously did not want to talk to Sonia Sonic about his defunct love life. On top of everything else, the voice had gone and made him look like a dick, sending Kelsie out into the night alone, and vulnerable enough to wind up at an AA meeting. Add one Swarm, and you had an epic disaster.

At least he was skating half decently. Enough to deliver his message. “Sonia, I need a favor.”

“A bigger favor than teaching you to skate?”

“Definitely.” Ethan kept his eyes on the skates in front of
him, matching Sonia's rhythm. “We need you to post about a party at the Dish tomorrow night.”

“Oh, so
now
I'm useful to you guys?”

Ethan sighed. He'd known he wouldn't get through this meeting without using his power, but he was reaching for it sooner than he'd hoped.

Come on, voice, get to the point,
he thought, and the words came leaping out of his lungs. “All those photos you got sent? Of the Dish the night everything went haywire? That was a hit job on us.”

“A what?”

“Some people who wanted to mess with us. They set up that whole disaster, and took pictures, then made you their mouthpiece!”

Sonia stared at him suspiciously, and he shrugged.

“It's all true,” he said in his own voice.

“That sucks.” She thought a moment. “I thought it was weird, just getting all those photos sent to me. And they were behind everyone going crazy?”

“Yep. They're part of what's been going on all over the country.”

Way to go, voice! Still kinda true.

“Who would
do
something like that?”

“The bad guys,” the voice said. “People who want us good guys out of the picture. And it worked—we're getting major heat from the cops. So we're having a Love Saves the Dish party.”

“A
what
party?”

“It's just a fund-raiser, so we can go legit. We need your help to pull a big crowd. But the
right
kind of crowd.” He glanced sideways at Sonia. She was still listening. “Otherwise the Dish is dead and we probably all have to become fugitives. Which would leave you nothing to post about.”

Sonia's eyebrows shot up. “Is it really that bad? You'd have to leave town?”

“Yep,” he said in his own voice. It was just the truth, after all. He let the voice finish up. “You screwed up our thing, so now you gotta help us. Just make it sound like a happy club.”

That was the core of Flicker's plan—the crowd's good vibes, along with the music, lights, and Nate's and Kelsie's influence, would win against Swarm's anger. Ethan just hoped she was right.

“Am I invited?” Sonia asked.

“Um . . .” The voice hesitated, and Ethan realized he wasn't sure if he wanted her there.

Sure, Sonia was his enemy, sort of, but this party might turn deadly.

“Well, you had a pretty rough time the other night,” the voice said. “We only want people with happy memories of the club.”

“Oh, so I'm a bummer now?”

Great. Now she was pissed, and that was a disaster. If Sonia's post brought a bunch of bad vibes to the party, Swarm would turn the Zeroes into pulled pork.

He opened his mouth and let the voice fix it. “Hey, if you
can get the right crowd through the door, I'll personally put you on the VIP list.”

He felt a stab of guilt as he said it, but after all, they were risking a lot of other people too. At least this might be the last crowd that Swarm endangered.

And Sonia looked pretty happy. She gestured with her sparkly bandaged wrist. “Just give me a time and date.”

The voice was on autopilot now, delivering Flicker's message. “Tomorrow night, starting around eight, and use the word
love
as much as possible in your post. That'll get us a nice crowd, not some random mob of . . .”

Kelsie's code name in his mouth sent a shudder through Ethan, strong enough to make even the voice falter.

“I get it,” Sonia answered. “Duh! I'm a woman on the internet. You think I don't know about hate mobs?”

The voice went into sleep mode, and Ethan realized the job was done.

But she was still looking to him for a response.

“Great,” he said. “I mean, thanks a lot.”

“Did you actually think I
wouldn't
help you?” Sonia rolled her eyes. “Why do you always doubt me, Ethan?”

“I don't know. Because you hate me?”

Her mouth dropped open. “Where'd you get that idea?”

“Because you turned that video of me in to the cops! Because you made it look like I was best friends with bank robbers, when all I was trying to do was save you from getting shot!”

“Hey, you knew their names. What was I
supposed
to think?” She didn't sound angry, but for a moment her balance beside him felt uncertain.

“Yeah, but . . . ,” Ethan began, but he didn't have anywhere else to go. It probably
had
been pretty suspicious-looking, chatting with Jerry Laszlo in the middle of a bank robbery. “You really thought I might be a bad guy?”

“Of course! Why else would I turn you in to the cops?”

“Because I didn't like Jay White!”

Sonia stared at him for a long moment; then a sudden peal of laughter spilled out of her. She angled away from him and swooped toward the edge of the rink.

“Whoa, wait up.” He followed, shaky without her support. But he made it to the edge without face-planting.

She was leaning over the rail, still laughing.

“Any time you're ready to quit that . . . ,” he said.

“It's just,” she managed between gasps, “you really thought I was still mad at you for dissing Jay White? I mean, he's
so
last June.”

“Okay.” Ethan hesitated. “But you looked pretty angry at the time. And then you got me busted!”

She grinned. “You know, whatever it is with you guys, I'm going to figure it out. But until then, it only makes you more interesting, Ethan.”

He didn't know what to say to that. He stood with one hand on the rail for balance, as the small army of ice skaters
shushed past. No one had ever called him
interesting
before.

Maybe it was some kind of fatalism from the whole Swarm thing, or maybe it was because Sonia was a smart girl with cool hair. But whatever, Ethan wished he could tell her just how interesting he
really
was. How the voice worked, how it always got him into trouble. How he had to fight against it anytime he wanted to really connect with someone.

Which was what he wanted to do now, he realized. He wanted to connect with her—Sonia Sonic. His worst nightmare from last summer.

“Oh, crap,” he muttered.

It was totally nuts. Sonia Sonic was a time bomb who could blow up the Zeroes' secrets at any time. She was out to increase her own microfame at their expense.

Plus, there was the fact that he'd just invited her to a party that might become a massacre.

“I should go,” he said. “We've got a lot of work to do before tomorrow.”

Finally, the look of disappointment he'd been waiting for crossed her face.

She shrugged. “Okay. Hope you had fun skating.”

“I didn't fall and slice my fingers off, which I count as a win.” He hesitated. “Can you put that post up tonight?”

“Sure. Wouldn't want to ruin your big party.” She smiled. “Love Saves the Dish!”

Ethan grinned. Either the voice had done an even better
job than usual, or Sonia was in a great mood today.

“Thanks.” He felt his smile fade. Part of him still wanted to warn Sonia off the party. But at the same time, he didn't want her to think he didn't like her.

So all he said was, “Stay safe, okay?”

“Okay, freak.” She winked.

Ethan skated to the exit, with barely any of the wobble he'd had before meeting up with Sonia.

“HOLD IT STEADY . . .”

Thibault sent the bolt through the steel sheet into the door frame, the drill spitting spirals of metal and wood. When he stepped back, the main entrance to the Petri Dish was smaller, and pretty much indestructible.

“Booyah,” the Craig said.

Thibault slapped the man's huge shoulder, keeping physical contact. The six people working in the Dish were too scattered for the Curve to take hold, but he liked to focus the Craig's attention when the guy was swinging big pieces of metal around.