I struggled to breathe, fatigue and heartache finally spilling out of me as I ran. Tears slid down my cheeks, hot on my skin in the cold night air. And for those moments I let them fall, let my sorrow fill me up. I didn’t dash the tears away.
Colt was worth all the tears. My friends were everything to me.
Once I found them, I should send them far away so my uncle Nicholas couldn’t find them and use them against me, so that Frost couldn’t use them against me. And yet, we were stronger together. And if I was honest with myself, in the short time we’d been friends, they had become more than that. A second family. One that I didn’t want to lose any more than I wanted to lose my dad, or the twins.
I wove through the stalled traffic that sat at a light, rolling my hip off several car hoods, and crossed to the southernmost edge of the park. Where I immediately slid to a stop.
A warning rippled through me right before I picked up the sound of heavy feet and a smell of B.O. that was stupidly familiar. I ducked behind a big tree, pulling the shadows around me.
“You think she’d come here?”
“No.” A chuckle from the other one. “She ain’t that smart. She’s a dumb-dumb.” Yep, that voice matched the stench.
Shaw, the big-ass, fourth-year Shade who’d attacked me on our first day in the House of Wonder. I stayed where I was as they approached, sliding around the tree to keep it between me and them.
“So, what are we doing here?” the other voice asked quietly. “Just wasting time?”
“Don’t know, Graham. I just do as I’m told,” Shaw grumbled. “Boss man said to radio in if we found her. But I’mma kick her right in the lady balls. Kapow!”
The other one—Graham—sighed. “Shaw, you are not the sharpest tool in the shed yourself, you know that, right?”
“I’m the biggest, though. Don’t that make me the best?”
They stopped on the other side of the tree, and I let myself peek around the edge to get a look at the pair. Graham was slender, tall, wore glasses, and had a wand in his hand. He tapped it against his leg. “Why did I get stuck with you?”
“You dissing me?” Shaw growled, folding his massive arms across his chest and turning his back to me. He had a walkie-talkie clipped to his belt. That could come in handy.
“Never.” The sarcasm was heavy in Graham’s voice, but Shaw just grunted.
“Good. Hate to smash your face and break your glasses. That’s bad luck.”
Graham rolled his eyes and whispered under his breath, “God save me from this stupid lug.” Speaking louder, he added, “Shaw, all I’d have to do is give you a riddle. You’d be busy for the next year trying to figure it out.”
If they had been two Shades, I could’ve taken them. But Graham had a wand, and I wasn’t sure I could do it. Besides, all I really wanted was the radio; there was a good chance it would be a direct link to the Sandman. I slid around the trunk as they continued to follow the path past the tree. Pulling the shadows around me, I stepped out behind them and lifted the radio from its loop on Shaw’s belt. I was prepared for him to react to the change in weight, if nothing else, but he didn’t seem to notice. I mean . . . he was a fourth-year Shade. He should’ve felt something.
“Not true. I’m good at puzzles. Good at finding the outside edge.” Shaw actually sounded proud. Of course, the fact he thought a riddle was the same as a jigsaw puzzle said it all.
Graham was right: Shaw was a big-ass lug.
I stepped behind the tree and held the radio tightly, praying it didn’t squawk. I found the volume dial and turned it down, then tucked it into my pack. Waiting for the two of them to clear my line of sight, I turned east and headed out of the park. So much for resting at House of Claw.
If people were looking for me here, would they be at all the houses? Or was this just where the Sandman guessed I’d gone?
I wanted to believe the Sandman would help me, but I wasn’t so sure. His methods were . . . extreme when it came to training, and he’d made no bones about disliking me right from the beginning.
I hurried down the sidewalk, crossed the street, and tucked into the doorway of a bakery with a big overhang. The smell of bread and sweets filtered out to me, making my stomach rumble. I was going to need food at some point. The Snickers in my bag were for emergencies only.
Above the city, a roll of thunder echoed over the noise of traffic and the constant flow of people. I pulled the radio out and turned the volume up.
“Shaw, answer the damn radio.” The Sandman’s voice came through sharply.
I pressed the button on the side and spoke slowly. “He’s not here, Rufus.”
Shit, was that the first time I’d used his given name?
“Wild.” The relief was . . . odd along with the fact that he used my first name. “You’re not with the Shadowkiller?”
“No. I got away.”
A heavy pause, then, “They’re hunting you, Johnson.”
“Who is?”
“The House of Wonder. Mara and I are—”
“She’s okay?” I blurted out.
“She survived,” he said. “Barely.”
I lowered the radio and let out a breath. “Thank God.”
“God had nothing to do with it, unless you want to start worshipping me? I got to her in time to get her to another healer.”
I stared at the radio before I pressed the button to speak. “Are you attempting to crack a joke?”
The silence hissed and then another voice came on the line. Mara. “Listen to me, the corruption goes deep, Wild. Your brother knew it. I know it. The sickness started a long time ago, but something has changed and we didn’t recognize it at first. It used to only hit nulls, but now it’s hitting everyone—it’s mutating and picking up speed. The attacks on the houses. Frost. The Shadowkiller. I don’t know how it’s all connected, but it is, and each layer goes deeper than I could have ever thought.”
The soft scuffle of feet had me backing farther into the shadows. I turned the volume down again. There was no warning, no whisper of danger, but why would anyone be coming this close to me?
“I smell her,” a newly familiar voice said.
I stuck my head out. “Gordy?”
But better than that . . . “WILD!” Wally screeched as she threw her arms around my neck. “Oh my hell, he found you! In a city this size, the chances were less than one percent! I couldn’t even bear to tell him the chances were so small! We were following the boys, who are following you . . .” She trailed off and I could see the worry in her face. They hadn’t found them yet.
So where the hell were the guys?
“Of course I did,” Gordy grumbled. “You can’t be a goblin with a nose like this and not be able to find someone you’ve met before. Might not be a shifter, but I got me some good smellers on me.”
Smellers, as if he had two noses. Nope, I didn’t want to know.
I hugged her back, relief flowing through me that the note Izzy had shown me was a ruse. “Wally, I have never been so glad to see you.” And I meant it. I wasn’t sure what I would do if she’d been hurt. If any of them had been hurt. A small shudder slid through me and Wally hugged me tighter.