“Who the hell sends a sheep skeleton to do their dirty work?” I yelled at it, part horrified, part amused. “Especially going after a farm girl!”
It turned its head toward me, blood dripping from the empty eyeholes.
So much for the amusement factor. Well, this was a turn I’d not counted on.
I held my blades up. “Let’s dance, sheep.”
9
Wally
I ran from the marble gardens back the way Wild and I had come, dodging a few pedestrians, but there weren’t actually that many people kicking around. Rory said they needed a distraction. But I was questioning myself now about leaving Wild behind.
What if the guys were in bigger trouble than I could handle? I put a hand to my head. “What the hell was I thinking?”
It was well after midnight now. Though the time from when Wild had been taken by the Shadowkiller to now had gone by both fast and slow. From what I could feel, the guys weren’t too far. But to run off like that . . . it wasn’t like me. I knew it.
What if Ethan had done something?
I let out a slow breath. “I’ll make this right.”
I had only one goal. I would find the guys and take them to Wild. Then we’d all be together, and we’d have a sixty-seven percent better chance of survival. Maybe even seventy percent if we were very lucky.
At least, that was what I told myself. Because if I was being honest, the numbers were not in our favor, not at all. Two Chameleons were trying to control or kill Wild (or possibly one, then the other), we were being hunted by the Helix family on behalf of Frost, and we’d already lost Colt. To Ethan. And now maybe he’d turned on us again.
My throat tightened, feeling his death hit me once more. Feeling him die and not being able to stop it like we had with Ethan.
“I should have let you die in the Culling Trials,” I said to myself. He’d fooled us more times than I wanted to admit. All because he was strong and handsome and a good liar.
On a main street once more, I did a slow turn, searching for that sensation inside my head that was the guys.
Pete’s shifter energy was the first I found, and he wasn’t far. I’d pull him aside as soon as I could and tell him we had to get away from Ethan. Orin and Gregory would back me up, too, I was sure. And so would Rory.
A tight smile on my face, I ran down the street, taking turns almost blindly until I found them.
Only they weren’t hiding and they weren’t alone.
I slid to a stop as I stared at the Shade with the bright red hair, Mr. Helix right next to her. Ethan was beside him, his chin to his chest. Rory was flat out on the ground at the Shade’s feet, her boot on the middle of his back.
Pete turned and saw me. “RUN, WALLY!”
He was too late, though. I spun and ran face first into the twin’s oversized muscled chest, bouncing off and hitting the ground hard. He reached down and dragged me to my feet, quickly tying my hands behind my back with something that felt like a zip tie.
“Zap straps, only pansies use zap straps,” Gregory growled, and Mr. Helix cuffed him in the back of the head, sending him to the ground, unconscious.
“Come on, little necro,” Dallin said. “Boss wants to talk to you.”
He dragged me forward. I tried to bring my magic to me, but fear clogged my mind and hampered my ability. Fear and the realization that I’d walked into a trap. No, worse than that: I’d run into it.
I managed to slow my breathing enough to check on Rory. He was still alive, but he was out cold, and I didn’t think he’d be waking up anytime soon; there was a lot of blood pooling around him. If he didn’t get help soon he’d be joining Colt.
Ruby laughed and wiped her knuckles clear of something. Blood maybe? “He’s quick. A few more years, and he’ll be faster than Rufus.”
“He’s not getting a few more years,” Mr. Helix said. “Leave him here to die.”
Ruby sighed. “Despite what you think, you are not in charge.”
His face tightened and she smiled as she reached over and dusted off his shirt as if we weren’t even there. “The boss wants them as bait, and what the boss wants, she gets.” Her smirk widened. “Think of it as a two-for-one deal, if you will. Because wherever Wild goes . . . well, let’s just say she brings all the boys to our yard.”
I swallowed hard and found my voice. “She won’t do it. She won’t follow.”
Ruby looked at me and licked her lips. “Oh, but she will. Especially if she feels one of you die. Don’t you think?”
She glanced down at Rory and pulled a knife. “One more death. To make sure.”
“He’s not connected to her,” Orin said quickly. “He’s not in her crew.”
Ruby turned to him. “No? Then why is he here?”
“He followed us,” Pete said. “Thought he’d get points with the Sandman for bringing us back.”
Ruby looked down at Rory’s still body. “So eager to die. Fine. Then I’ll just have to kill one of you.” She flipped her knife in her hand and shot a look at Pete.
Not Pete.
“NO!” I yelled the word, knowing what any one of our deaths would do to Wild. Knowing that my own feelings for Pete were . . . complicated. “No . . . I’ll . . . I’ll take you to her. Just don’t hurt him!”
Ruby stood up straight, turned, and looked at me. “What? My understanding is she has cut off all her connections, so you can’t know where she is.”
How in the seven hells did this Shade know that about Wild? Who’d been blabbing?
I shook my head. “I know where she is.”
Orin groaned. “Don’t do this, Wally.”
My throat tightened. “She wouldn’t forgive any of us for dying on her. Or for letting Ruby kill one of us.”
The other boys knew what I meant. Even Ethan, who stood there next to his dad, not tied up. Not bound.
“Don’t look at me like that, Wally,” he said.
“You mean like you looked at Colt before you killed him? Like you didn’t just draw me here with a spell so that we could all be captured?” I snapped. Ethan paled, and the others turned to him, anger etched in their faces. “How could you kill your best friend? We were right to cast you out the first time. Don’t think we’ll make that mistake again.”
Ethan closed his eyes. “It isn’t what you think.”
Mr. Helix dropped a hand onto his son’s shoulder. “We are winners in this world, and winners don’t play with street rats. He’s going to be part of the winning side. Finally. As he should have been all along.”
Ruby snapped her fingers at the twins. “Take the others, drop them into the prison. I’ll bring this one if she fails to find the young Chameleon.”
Orin, Pete, and Gregory fought against the zap straps, but they didn’t break and there was nothing I could do. I looked at Pete, silently asking him if he could shift and he shook his head. “The straps are spelled,” he said. “Ethan . . . he knocked us all out before they even showed up.”
That explained why they hadn’t moved in all that time. They’d been asleep.
“I’m trying to keep you alive!” Ethan yelled, and his father hit him, backhanding him hard across the face, dropping him to his knees.