Return (Awakened Fate Book 3) (12 page)

Zeke lunged at him, spikes on his arms.

With a snarl, Earl grabbed for him and Zeke ducked fast. His spikes slashed at the man’s side, tearing through his flannel shirt, but the blades deflected uselessly from Earl’s skin. Zeke spun, his arm arcing up, his spikes aimed at the man’s face, but Earl twisted and snagged the blow in midair. With an angry shout, he hurled Zeke away as well.

Earl didn’t stop.

I backpedaled, spikes rushing out of my forearms.

“You thought my friends wouldn’t tell me where to look for you?” He scoffed. “You thought after what you did to me, I wouldn’t hunt you down, you little scale-skinned
bitch
?”

The steps to the patio door bumped against my heels, and frantically, I fumbled behind me for the handle, my eyes locked on Earl.

Noah plowed into him. The television shattered as they crashed through it.

“Run, dammit!” Noah shouted, his greliaran form making the words a snarl.

Zeke rolled up from the ground and rushed at me. Grabbing my arm with one hand and yanking the door open with the other, he didn’t spare Earl or Noah a glance.

“Baylie!” I yelled, stumbling after Zeke as he pulled me from the house.

A crash came from the den. White-faced, Baylie raced outside.

“Go!” she cried. “He’s getting up!”

We ran for the back gate.

Glass shattered behind us. I couldn’t tell what was happening in there. The gate latch broke at Zeke’s tug at the flimsy padlock, and then we were out in the service way between the yards, barreling toward the street with Baylie fighting to keep up behind us.

I tried to slow. I’d forgotten how fast we were. Or, given what Zeke had just done, how strong.

“We need to get out of sight,” Zeke called as we bolted across the road.

I glanced to Baylie.

“Jefferson,” she suggested breathlessly.

I nodded. Without another word, we both turned, running for the gap between two yards that we knew led to our school. Casting a look over his shoulder for Earl, Zeke followed.

The grassy expanse of the football practice field waited on the other side of the houses, with the block of bricks that was Thomas Jefferson High School beyond it. Football players getting in an early workout looked up and stared at us in confusion when we sped by.

“Where’s the fire?” one yelled.

I ignored him and Baylie did too as we raced for the building’s side. Left unlocked for the summer school students, the metal door surrendered to my yank on the handle and then clanged loudly when it slammed back against the brick wall. Our footsteps echoed as we ran through the hallways.

“Here,” Baylie called.

We ducked into one of the empty classrooms. Tugging the door closed behind us, Zeke glanced around quickly and then strode past the desks to the strip of narrow windows along the opposite wall.

“Are you okay?” I asked him, casting a quick look to the hallway through the tiny square of glass in the door.

“Yeah,” he replied as he yanked the vinyl curtains down.

I hesitated, hoping the words were true, and then I glanced to Baylie. “You have your cell?”

Her head shook. “It’s on the coffee table at home.” She paused, trembling. “What’s left of the coffee table.”

I reached out, squeezing her hand. She tensed, her gaze flicking to my forearm.

Uncomfortably, I let her go.

“So I guess that’s part of the…” she tried in a whisper.

I gave a small nod.

She let out a breath. “C-can I…”

I paused, and then let the spikes emerge.

She tensed all over again, staring at them. Her hand moved toward me.

I pulled my arm away. “They’re sharp.”

Baylie managed a nod, lowering her hand. She swallowed hard as I drew the spikes back in.

“Guess that’s why Noah’s skin goes all…” Her fingers fluttered illustratively. “If he’s supposed to… you know.”

I looked away. I hadn’t really thought about it.

I wasn’t sure I wanted to.

“What happened there?” I asked, twitching my chin toward her arms.

She shrugged a bit. “Noah’s cousins.”

It was hard to know what to say. My brow furrowing, I glanced toward Zeke. Sitting on a desk by the windows, he studied the street around the edge of a curtain.

In the distance, police sirens began to howl.

I shifted my weight nervously. I wanted to be comforted by the noise. By the prospect of people with guns getting between us and Earl.

But I knew bullets didn’t stop greliarans.

I swallowed, trying not to worry about Noah or Sandra.

“You think they’re alright?” Baylie asked quietly.

I glanced to her, seeing the same fear in her eyes as I knew was in mine. “Yeah,” I whispered back, doing my best to sound encouraging. “They–”

Zeke made a tense sound, cutting me off. I looked over at him. Barely breathing, he eased back from the window, his gaze locked on something outside.

I crossed the room to his side and peered past the edge of the curtain.

Earl was standing in front of the school.

I froze.

Breathing hard, Earl scanned the street and the school building, his head twitching back and forth in quick, savage movements. His skin was human again, and his eyes were as well, but a snarl curled his lip and I could see him shaking while his fingers spasmed into shapes like claws.

The sirens grew louder. At the end of the block, a police car whipped around the turn.

Earl’s gaze snapped toward it. Spinning fast, he took off running down the street.

I let out a breath, leaning closer to the window. They had to catch him. Somehow, they had to–

Another cop car flew around the corner ahead of him. In a screech of tires, it came to a stop and the two officers scrambled out, grabbing for their guns as they moved. The police shouted at him, their words muffled by distance and the thick glass of the windows.

Earl skidded to a halt. I saw him pause, as if evaluating what to do, and my heart climbed my throat.

Carefully, he put his hands behind his head and lowered himself to the ground.

The officers rushed toward him. Kicking Earl’s legs apart, they patted him down quickly for weapons and then set to cuffing his hands.

I shivered as they hauled him to his feet and started for the car.

“Come on,” Zeke said softly, taking my arm.

Earl’s gaze snapped toward us and his face contorted with rage. With a furious shout, he yanked the handcuffs apart and twisted in the officers’ grasps. The cops stumbled away, driven by his thrashing. He raced for the school while they fumbled at their belts.

Tasers caught him in the back.

Howling, he crashed to the ground. The cops surrounded him again, and struggled to drag him to his feet.

Zeke pulled me from the window while the police shoved Earl into the rear seat of the closest squad car.

“Is he gone?” Baylie whispered, still waiting by the classroom door.

“Cops have him,” I answered tightly.

Air left her. She tugged the door open and hurried into the hall.

I jogged after her, trying not to worry about what we’d find at her house.

~~~~~

The squad cars were the first thing I saw.

We ran around the corner to our street to find almost all of the handful of police vehicles that existed in Reidsburg parked in front of Baylie’s home. Two officers stood in the yard, watching the road, while others strode in and out of the front doorway. My parents huddled on their porch, not coming closer to the chaos and eyeing it all like they were afraid someone would think it was related to them. Along the length of the street, neighbors milled about, though a few intrepid ones were interrogating the cops for answers to what was going on.

At the sight of them all, Baylie gave a gasp and sped up, racing for her house.

Zeke and I followed.

“Where is she, then?” I heard Sandra shouting from inside. “You say you have him. Well, where the hell– what?”

Baylie’s stepmom rushed out the front door, shoving aside one of the officers who’d been slow to move out of her way. A white bandage was taped to one side of her forehead and her blonde hair was disheveled, but otherwise, she seemed okay. In a scramble, she descended the porch steps and then caught Baylie when she raced into the yard.

“Oh God, honey, are you okay?” Sandra asked desperately. “Where were you? Did he hurt you?”

I slowed, searching for Noah.

He came to the front door as well, and relief flashed across his face when he spotted us on the opposite side of the street.

I paused, fighting the urge to let my eyes change just to see more clearly if he’d been injured. He didn’t look hurt from what I could tell, which was shocking considering the noise that’d been coming from the house when we ran.

But then, he was greliaran. That obviously counted for something.

“
Chloe
?” Sandra cried.

I froze as every police officer and half the neighbors on the block suddenly turned toward me and stared.

Mom and Dad hurried for the steps, their intent to hustle me back into the house as fast as possible abundantly clear.

Sandra got to me first.

“Chloe, honey,” she said, grabbing me into a quick hug. Pushing me away again, she scanned me up and down in shock. “Where’ve you been? What happened?”

“I, um–”

Mom reached us. Her face tight, she inserted herself between us, almost physically pushing Sandra away as she took my arms and began pulling me with her. “Chloe, come back to the house. We–”

“Linda?”

Mom turned, her hands tightening painfully on my arms.

Police Chief Reynolds walked down the steps from Baylie’s porch. As he started across the yard, he scanned his officers and the bystanders and us with a pleasant expression.

Except his eyes, anyway. Those were all cop.

A shiver ran through me. This was madness. We no sooner avoided Earl than another threat appeared, this time in the form of a landwalker policeman who might just try to hurt or kill me if he found out what I was.

And who would insist on knowing everything about the past week of my life.

My heart raced as two more officers followed the chief from the house. Handcuffs and guns hung at their belts. They were nearly the size of Earl.

I wanted to turn and run.

“I see your girl’s home, Linda,” the chief commented mildly as he came up to us. “Can’t tell you how happy I am to learn that.”

Still hanging onto me, Mom didn’t move. An answering smile twitched across her face like a trapped animal. “Yes, well,” she managed. “We were just going to call–”

She cut off as Dad hurried to her side.

“Bill,” the chief said with a nod.

Dad gave a tight jerk of his head in response.

Chief Reynolds’ gaze swept me, Zeke, and the neighborhood in quick succession and I couldn’t read anything from his blue eyes. “If it’s alright with you, Sandra, I’m going to leave a few officers here and head back to the station now. Your problem is already down there being locked up as we speak, so you shouldn’t have any more trouble.”

She nodded.

“Love it if you all would join me,” he continued to my parents.

Dad made a hedging noise. “We need to–”

“Folks around here are going to have a fair number of questions, Bill,” the chief interrupted smoothly. “Might keep them from bothering you and your girl just this minute if they know you’re down talking to us.”

Mom swallowed hard, glancing to Dad. He hesitated a moment, and then gave another tense nod.

“We’ll follow in our car,” he said.

The chief smiled. “Sounds good.”

I stared as the chief walked away. “You guys–”

“Come on,” Dad interrupted.

He headed for the garage. Shifting her grip to clutch my wrist, Mom did the same, bringing me in tow.

Her fingers felt like a vice. Without any option but to follow, I stumbled after her toward the car.

~~~~~

Zeke’s hand held mine as Dad pulled the car into a parking space beside the squat brick building that housed the police station.

I couldn’t stop trembling. It wasn’t like in Nyciena. I knew that. It wasn’t even close. No one had shackles that’d shock me, and the cops couldn’t get away with beating me up like the Sylphaen had done.

But I still felt terrified. They might figure out that I’d stabbed that EMT. Or poke holes in the cover story my parents had made me memorize again on the way over here.

They might do anything.

And the chief was a landwalker. If he found out I was half dehaian…

A squad car stopped in a reserved space near the front of the narrow strip of parking lot beside the station. Sandra’s car, with Baylie and Noah inside, pulled past to take a spot next to us.

“Don’t forget what we said,” Dad repeated, turning around in the driver’s seat. “Blame it on that crazy man. Say he took you. We’ll be right there, and anything you don’t want to answer, just say you don’t remember.”

I didn’t respond, not taking my eyes from the squad car. The chief climbed from the passenger side while behind the wheel, an officer turned off the engine.

“Chloe.”

I blinked and looked at Dad.

“This’ll be over soon.”

I hesitated. I could see the nervousness on his face. Mom’s too. They looked as on edge as I’d ever seen them, and that wasn’t helping me in the least.

Tightly, I nodded. We got out of the car. Mom and Dad went ahead of me as I followed the chief around the corner of the building.

The chief’s nephew, Aaron, rushed out of the front door and nearly ran into us.

“Chief?” he stammered, a harried look on his face. “I just heard the– oh, hi folks.”

He swallowed, his gaze flicking back and forth across the others but continually coming to land back on me. “H-hey, Chloe. How are you? Or, I mean, um…”

Aaron floundered, and I had no idea how to respond.

“Excuse us, Officer Erlich,” the chief said placidly.

“Do you want me to call someone, sir?”

“Just get the paperwork ready.”

Aaron nodded. “Okay, yeah. I’ll…”

He trailed off as Chief Reynolds moved past him and one of the other officers pulled open the door. With Aaron still staring at us, we followed the chief inside.