Havoc (11 page)

I smiled awkwardly. I'd almost forgotten it had been only a little more than a week since Mai's best friend had been murdered. I should have left her alone. But I had to know.

My eyes darted once more to my table. Spencer
still
wasn't there. I had to find a way to keep Mai from leaving.

“I'm so sorry about Emily,” I said. “I didn't really know her, but I saw her art and stories after she…” I swallowed. “She seemed really talented. And like a really good person.”

Mai sat down, letting her backpack droop in front of her. Her lip trembled and her eyes glistened, became watery. But she didn't cry.

“She really was,” Mai finally said. Shaking her head, she looked up at the ceiling. “I don't even want to be here. I hate being here when she can't be, you know? I still expect to go to lunch and see her there, but she never is, and then I can't eat anything. Because she can't eat anything either, ever again.”

I didn't know what to say. The last thing I'd wanted to do when I came over here was to dredge up Mai's memories like this.

Brushing a tear from her cheek, roughly as though mad at herself for letting it fall, Mai stood and pulled her backpack on. “Sorry, I don't mean to whine to someone I barely know. I'll let you get back to your book.”

She started to walk off then. I jumped to my feet and said, as loudly as I thought I could get away with, “Mai, wait.”

Turning, she stared at me questioningly.

“Um,” I said. Straightening my shoulders back, I went for it. “Look, I'm here for you if you need to talk about anything. Any … changes you might be going through since last week.”

She blinked. “Changes?”

I nodded at her knowingly. “You know …
personal
changes. I've been going through it too.”

Her eyes darted down to the book I'd sat in front of. And to its brightly drawn diagram of the female reproductive system splayed on the page. Her lips twitched up into a smile.

“Thanks for the offer,” she said. “But I think I already know all about those changes.” Shaking her head, amused despite her grief only moments earlier, she headed out of the library.

I looked around, desperate for some way to get the answers I needed. And I spotted Spencer leaning against the librarian's desk, casually trying to chat with an annoyed-looking Ms. Levine. Catching his eye, I waved frantically for him to come over.

“What is it?” he whispered as he came over to me. “Did you find anything useful about the shadowmen?”

“No,” I whispered back. “Mai Sato was here. She just left.”

Spencer looked between me and the exit to the library. “You want me to run after her?”

“Uh, no. I don't want to freak her out any more than I already have. Just … smell the air here. What do you smell?”

Placing both hands on the table, Spencer leaned forward and inhaled. “It's that perfume again,” he said. “But I don't smell any wolf-girl, so—Hey, why are you reading about lady parts?”

I slammed the book shut. “You know me, always curious about the cycle of life,” I said. “So that's it, then? If you don't smell the other werewolf…”

Spencer grinned at me and put his arm around my shoulder. His personal scent floated around me, mingling with Mai's lingering perfume.

“Maybe it just faded,” he said. “Don't worry, Em Dub. If it's Mai or someone else, we'll find her.”

I looked into his kind brown eyes. “Promise?” I asked.

He squeezed me closer. “I promise.”

Spencer dropped me off at home. We hugged again, and I took in one last whiff of his scent to carry me through the evening. It wasn't even the musky smells so much anymore, really. I was starting to picture him idly in my thoughts, and even that was enough to give me a brief respite from the rest of my crazy-town thoughts.

I left the minivan just as Dawn pulled up in her car. She raised her eyebrows at me as we both reached the front door.

“New friend?” she asked as she pulled out a jangling bunch of keys and stuck one in the door.

Heat rushed to my cheeks. “Yeah. His name's Spencer.”

Dawn couldn't help but grin. “Go, you! I'm glad to see that you haven't let last week's escapades keep you from losing that shell.”

She pushed open the door, and I followed her in. “Well, what can I say, you're an inspiration.”

Laughing, she dropped her bag and wrap on the dining room table. “Oh, by the way, Em, I've been meaning to ask—you keep leaving your window open. It's letting in a draft and, I'm sorry, but I'm not a girl who does cold well.”

“Oh,” I said, setting my own backpack by the front door. “Sorry.”

She shrugged. “It's not a huge deal. I just remembered because I noticed it was open again when I pulled up.”

I scrunched my forehead. “It is?” I coughed. “I mean, yeah, it is.”

Thing was—I knew I hadn't left it open when I went to school.

Leaving Dawn behind, I swallowed and crept up the stairs. They creaked beneath me as I took them one at a time, slowly, eyes on my bedroom door. It was slightly ajar, and daylight seeped into the hallway.

Reaching the door, I held my breath. Poked at it so that it opened a little. Then, I kicked it all the way open and jumped into my room.

And nearly screamed at the sight of the dark figure at the edge of my bed.

“Whoa!” Dalton said, jumping to his feet, arms raised. “Don't yell. It's just me.”

I smacked his chest, and he fell back down onto the bed. “What are you
doing
? Why are you in my room?” I reeled back. “Okay, you're not stalking me, are you? I told you last night, it's just pheromones.”

He barked a laugh. “No. Not stalking. I just… I wanted to see you. Because I think you didn't get what you wanted done today.”

I peered out my doorway to make sure no one noticed, then shut my door. I sat on the bed opposite Dalton—and noticed my open window.

“Did you jump in my window?” I asked, incredulous. “But it's not even night yet! Someone could have seen you!”

He shrugged. “No, I snuck in your back door. Someone left it open. I just got hot while I was waiting.”

“Oh.”

He turned on the bed to face me. “We should go out again tonight, Emily,” he said, his voice hushed. “We were having so much fun. It was cut short. I don't want it cut short.”

I sighed. “No, Dalton, we can't. Something happened to me last night that I can't explain, and there are those shadowmen out there.”

“Aren't those shadows in here, too? It's not like hiding in your room is safe.” He scooted close to me, his eyes wide and focused on mine. He clutched my arm with two strong, large hands. “We don't have to drag race or anything. We can do what you wanted last night. We can go to BioZenith. We can find out what you wanted to know about shadowmen that wasn't in those dumb books.”

Biting my lip, I looked around my room. Saw the pile of books I hadn't yet returned still sitting on my desk. Useless tomes all about ghost folklore and sleep, nothing about what I truly wanted to know.

But I couldn't shake the unsettling feeling about being that weird hybrid … thing. It hadn't happened before, not that I knew of. Who knew when it would happen again? Maybe it was even caused by the shadowmen, meant to debilitate me. It was when they showed up that Nighttime disappeared.

Well, we won't let them make me disappear, will we?

“Come on, Emily,” Dalton begged. “Please. I need to go out again. I want you with me. Please.”

I squeezed my eyes closed. Spencer's scent had long since gone away. I couldn't deny it—I missed the strength, the confidence. And I
was
pretty annoyed by the lack of details about, well, everything
.

Before I could second-guess myself, I said, “Fine. Let's do it. But tonight, we're going to BioZenith.”

10

BUSTING INTO THE ENEMY FORTRESS

I made Dalton hide in my room while I went through the motions of family time downstairs. He occupied himself with my computer, browsing forums about bodybuilding and other boring stuff. Meanwhile I ate dinner with Dad and Katherine and Dawn, forcing myself to laugh at bad jokes, making up stories about my day, swallowing homemade lasagna that was super delicious, but that my knotted stomach made hard to keep down.

Then, finally, I was able to head back upstairs under the guise of doing homework. Dalton and I sat on my bed, watching each other as the clock clicked past eight. Waiting.

And then, we shifted. Nighttime was back.

Dalton and I left my room by way of the bedroom window, per usual. Not that I minded jumping outside, but it just wasn't nearly as thrilling as it had been at first. Front door would have been quicker.

Dalton was back to his jittery, verging-on-nuclear-explosion self, same as he'd been the night before. He hummed to himself constantly and randomly pounded his fist into his palm as we stalked down the street.

“I want to race,” he announced as we reached the end of the street.

I grinned. “What's with you and races?”

“I don't know.” He looked at me. “We could arm wrestle. Want to arm wrestle?”

I laughed. Running forward, I spun around and walked backward, facing him. “No, I'm good with racing. You know where we're going, right?”

He nodded rapidly. “Yeah, I've been there.”

“Then try and catch up.”

Before he could protest, I turned on my heel and burst down the sidewalk. I was in sneakers again, but I was getting used to the advantage it gave me over a pair of Dawn's date-night Jimmy Choos. Even if I did love those shoes.

Behind me, Dalton grunted, and before I knew it he was next to me. Chest thrust forward, veins bulging on his neck, he pumped his arms in a blur as his powerful legs thrust him forward. Our feet slapped against concrete, the sound echoing through the neighborhood.

But no matter how fast he ran, I kept stride easily.

Neither of us said a word, just continued to force ourselves to move faster, faster, so fast that we were like a pair of fighter jets whooshing through the air. My feet barely touched the ground anymore. The night's cool, wet air carried my hair back in streamers. I hollered a laugh, loving the surge of blood through my veins, the freedom from being so averagely
human
during the day.

The streets rushed by; a car honked at us as we zoomed in front of its fading headlights. Past the wooded hiking trails, past the smaller houses into the richer neighborhoods, into the industrial streets. We pounded through the dark, abandoned road where a night before a bunch of teenagers had raced their souped-up automobiles.

And then, the fenced-in compound that was BioZenith was straight ahead: a pair of boxy, white, two-story buildings protected by barbed wire.

Dalton and I were still neck and neck. But I'd been reserving an extra boost for the final stretch.

Let him win
.

Daytime Emily.

I groaned. “What? Why?” I muttered between gulps of air. “Screw that, I'm faster.”

Let him win
, she said again.
Give him a little ego boost.

He'll be easier to handle.

I arched an eyebrow. How devious, Daytime! I liked it.

I let myself falter ever so slightly as we neared BioZenith. Dalton zoomed ahead and ran into the fence hands first, followed by his body. The clang echoed through the empty parking lot beyond.

“Hell yeah!” he shouted, pumping his fists. “First!”

I slowed to a jog, came up beside him, and slapped the panting boy on the back. “Bully for you!” I said. “But we have to keep it down. We're on a mission, remember?”

He glowered at me. “I thought you were supposed to be a party girl at night.”

I patted his cheek and smirked up at him. “Not tonight, sweet cheeks. The race is as much as I'm gonna give you. The shadowmen are pissing me off, and I need them gone.”

I strode past him, looking through the fence at the buildings beyond the large and currently empty parking lot. They were innocuous enough: plain, two-story square buildings made of white brick, with a glass walkway connecting the two. They blended in with all the other modern-style business buildings up and down the street, with the exception, of course, of the fifteen-foot-tall fence topped with barbed wire.

Headlights glared from down the street. I grabbed Dalton by his arm and yanked him to get him to follow me, and the two of us dove behind a stone sign in front of the fence that read 304. We crouched behind the sign, and the car passed, hopefully without noticing the two suspicious-looking teenagers skulking about.

I looked back to the BioZenith buildings. They were dark save for a low blue glow from some of the upper windows. Just like the morning Spencer had taken daytime me to scope out the place, there seemed to be no one around. Despite the heavy-duty fence, the front gate was unguarded. Though it did have a pesky surveillance camera watching.

“How are we getting in?” Dalton whispered to me. His fingers tapped out a drumbeat on his knee as he looked up at the razor-sharp barbed wire.

My eyes went from the gate to the fence. It was high enough that I couldn't jump over it without landing directly in the midst of those razors. And the last thing I needed was to scar up my face.

I turned to Dalton, grinning. “I think you were wrong about this being boring,” I said. “You up for some acrobatics?”

His brow furrowed. “How?”

I peeked over the sign. The coast was clear. I grabbed Dalton by the arm and led him around the fence—we'd need to take the next step out of view of the street.

“We aren't just strong at night,” I said as we walked.

“We're also pretty nimble.”

We rounded the corner of the fence and made our way into the shadows near the side of the building.