Sacrifices (29 page)

“Just as long as I don’t have to save the world in high heels,” Spirit said shakily. She pushed her hair back out of her face with both hands. Everything was happening so fast: in just a few minutes she’d gone from knowing the five of them finally had somewhere to go, to knowing they were going to leave Oakhurst, to knowing they were going
tomorrow.
“But Muirin—every single dance, you know there’s—”

“—been something horrible happening,” Muirin finished. “And you think if we stuck around until it happens, we could maybe help. And that’s stupid. If we don’t get out of here and find your mysterious benefactor, something a lot worse than the Stephen King Memorial Prom is going to happen to millions of people. Besides,” Muirin added with an irrepressible grin. “Us bailing might distract them enough so they don’t do whatever it is.”

“Oh my god I hope,” Spirit said feelingly.

“Hey,” Muirin said. “We’re escaping from the Evil Overlord’s stronghold in prom dresses. What can possibly go wrong?”

*   *   *

“Is this the
Halloween
dance?” Burke said as he and Spirit stopped outside the door to the gym.

The doors were chocked open; it was the school-side entrance to the gym. The Townies were coming in through the side entrance nearest the parking, so they were coming through the main building as well, but Breakthrough Security staff—wearing dark suits tonight, instead of their black uniforms—were stationed along the route to act as valets and guides.
And make sure nobody goes wandering anywhere they shouldn’t,
Spirit thought sourly. Guests had been arriving for the past half hour, and the gym was already crowded—it looked as if most of the Radial kids had arrived, and Burke and Spirit weren’t the first of the Oakhurst students to get there—but somehow even with all the noise and people (because of course Breakthrough had provided a professional DJ) the gym still managed to look empty and menacing.

Even though Spirit had known Breakthrough was going to do whatever it wanted, the décor should still have been … spring-like. The Spring Fling theme was “Enchanted Forest,” and they had an Enchanted Forest, all right—but an Enchanted Forest right out of the Brothers Grimm. It was breathtaking—the forest was painted onto dozens of transparent scrim panels—and the whole backdrop looked almost alive. But there were shadowy figures lurking among the trees—only paintings, but anything could really be behind those panels, and the longer you stared at them, the more you started to think there might be.

“This isn’t even the
theme
we decided on,” Spirit said blankly. “It’s like they want to scare all of us to death.” Those shadowy not-figures painted on the gauze just made her want to keep turning in a circle, trying to keep her eye on all of them. And how could other people
not
be feeling the same way?

“Yeah, well, that’s nothing new,” Burke said in disgust. “C’mon.”

She took his arm and they walked into the gym. The future was terrifying and the present was horrible, but being able to walk into the Spring Fling with Burke was one bright spot in all this, like a window into what she wanted as her real life.

If she lived that long.

Burke led her in the direction of the refreshments table. The Dance Committee hadn’t even bothered to plan the refreshments, and of course Breakthrough had taken care of everything. There was a huge ice sculpture of the Breakthrough logo in the middle of the table (
so tacky,
Spirit sniped mentally) with blue lights frozen into the ice. The effect was particularly creepy. In addition to the buckets of soda, and what looked like every snack food in the known universe, there was a huge sheet cake decorated to look like the box for
Final Battle: Rise of the Black Dragon
, and Spirit spotted tables around the edges of the gym holding stacks of the game as well. Despite the fact she saw black armbands on the kids from Radial, everybody seemed to have forgotten about the deaths—or was willing to forget about them for tonight.

She pulled Burke to a halt before they reached the table, and leaned up so she could talk to him without shouting. Shouting right now would be a very bad idea.

“We’re leaving Oakhurst tonight. All five of us. I’ll explain once we’re out of here.”

This was the first chance she’d had to talk to any of them privately since the message from QUERCUS had arrived. She had the maps inside her dress—the tight bodice would hold them securely. The Ironkey was tucked into her bra, and tied to one of the straps, just to be safe.

“When?” Burke asked.

He didn’t ask anything else. It was almost as if he’d expected this. Maybe he had. Maybe Muirin had warned him. Spirit had wanted to leave telling everyone until the dance itself so they wouldn’t give anything away, even accidentally, but …

“As soon as we can. I need to tell Loch and Addie. Muirin knows.”

Burke looked around the gym, scanning the crowd. “Then I guess I’d better dance with Addie, and you’d better dance with Loch. C’mon. I see them,” Burke said.

Navigating across the gym was tricky—it was early, and the music was hot, and Spirit was jostled several times before Burke had her just follow him. Nobody wanted to get in the way of somebody Burke’s size. Finally, through a gap in the dancers, Spirit spotted Loch and Addie standing together in a corner.

Addie was wearing a dress in a dark amber velvet. It was studded with gold brilliants, and every time she moved, she looked like she was on fire. Loch was slouched beside her, leaning against the wall, his hands stuffed into his pockets. Like Burke, he was wearing the outfit Madison had chosen for him. Burke’s was a tuxedo, traditional in everything but the color, a very dark brown. The dress shirt with it was a dark cream color. Loch had been put into a dark blue formal suit with satin lapels and cuffs. He was wearing a collarless shirt in pale gray, without a tie.

“—honestly, Loch, all this place needs is some flying monkeys and a haunted castle,” Addie was saying when Spirit got close enough to hear.

“Haven’t you been paying attention? This place
is
a haunted—”

“Hi!” Burke said loudly, with utterly bogus cheerfulness. “Let’s dance!” He took Addie’s hand with firm decisiveness, and dragged her out onto the dance floor in the middle of the song.

“You too,” Spirit said. Her throat was dry with nervousness.

Loch bowed ironically and offered her his arm. He led her out into the middle of the dancers. This wasn’t a slow dance, but Spirit draped herself over Loch anyway.

“I swear, this doesn’t look like a dance, it looks like a rollout party,” Loch said with disgust. Then, in an undertone fraught with tension, he added, “You don’t suppose they’ve played a diversion on us, and whatever hell is coming is going down somewhere else tonight? Maybe … Maybe it’s about all the kids that have been getting tested and disappearing?”

“Doesn’t matter. I’ll explain everything later,” Spirit said. “We’re leaving tonight—from the dance—as soon as I find Muirin. Burke’s telling Addie.”

“Spirit—” Suddenly Loch looked more than worried. He looked
stricken.
“They bumped Muirin up in the testing order. Angelina Swanson came and pulled her out of Calculus this afternoon. She probably won’t be here at all.”

“Oh god,” Spirit choked out. Muirin hadn’t been at dinner, but that wasn’t unusual. If she’d thought about it at all, she’d assumed Muirin was making their last-minute preparations while everybody was safely out of the way. Could they go find her? Where was she? They couldn’t go without her.…

“Wait!” Loch said.

He was looking toward the school-side entrance. Spirit followed his gaze.

It was Muirin.

She was clinging to Doc Mac’s arm. They were both trying to make it look casual, but it was obvious he was the only thing holding her up. She looked greenish-pale, and the dark smudges under her eyes had nothing to do with makeup. Spirit didn’t think she was wearing any. The dress she was wearing couldn’t be one of Madison’s choices—it was black lamé and incredibly too old for her. Spirit saw her lurch and stagger, and only Doc Mac’s grip on her arm kept her from falling.

“Muirin!” Spirit cried.

She pushed through the crowd, shoving people out of her way as she headed for Muirin. She was about halfway there when Muirin saw her. She dragged Doc Mac to a stop, hauling on his arm to keep herself upright. Her other hand was clenched into a fist. She brought it up and made a throwing motion. The keys to the Xterra came flying through the air. Spirit snatched them without thought. Her eyes were fixed on Muirin’s face. Muirin mouthed one word:

Run.

Loch had seen what Spirit saw. He stuck two fingers into his mouth and whistled shrilly. It was loud enough to cut through the music and elicit a chorus of wolf-whistles and cat-calls from the other kids. Before Spirit could react—or look for Burke and Addie—Loch grabbed her wrist and dragged her toward the doors to the outside. By the time they approached them, Spirit was running ahead. She hit the crash bar and bounced off.

She thought for an instant they were stuck, but as she yanked at the crash bar, the doors rocked inward a little, and she could see they were chained from the outside.

Then Loch grabbed her around the waist and swung her around. Her shoes skidded on the wooden floor, and she flailed for balance. Burke was heading toward the doors at a dead run.

Across the dance floor, Spirit could see Security—at least a dozen people—run into the gym. She heard screams as the dancers saw the guns. She couldn’t see Muirin now.

Burke didn’t slow down as he reached the doors. He ducked his shoulder—as if he were on the football field—and hit them at full speed. The chain snapped with a ringing sound and the doors crashed open. Burke charged through, with Addie right behind him.

“Muirin!” Spirit screamed, but she ran after the others. She was the only one who knew where they were going. She slipped and skidded on a patch of ice, but the grueling combat courses had been some use after all: she kept her balance. Burke cut sharply left, heading along the side of the gym, then left again at the corner and back toward the front of the mansion, where the guest parking was. As soon as Spirit caught sight of the cars she slowed just enough to wave the chirp-tag on Muirin’s keys in front of her, pressing the button over and over until one of the cars lit up and unlocked.

Addie reached the car first; Burke had stopped to watch Spirit and Loch come on. Burke waited until they passed him to turn and follow.

“Where’s Muirin? I don’t know how to drive!” Spirit screamed as she reached the car. Both doors were open; Loch was climbing into the back seat.

Addie snatched the keys out of her hand. “I do! Get in! We’re going back for her!”

Spirit dove into the back seat beside Loch, and Burke flung himself into the front passenger seat. Before he even had the door closed Addie was backing up, swinging the car back around in the direction from which they’d come. In the glare of the headlights, they saw Muirin and Doc Mac running toward them. Muirin’s face was distorted with terror. Spirit couldn’t begin to imagine what it cost Muirin not just to stand up, but to run.

And behind them came Anastus Ovcharenko.

Then Ovcharenko stopped, and for an instant Spirit thought he was giving up. He was alone. There were no other security people in sight.
Oh it’s all right; he told the others to stay behind, and now he’s going to let us go, because he really does love Muirin after all—
she told herself giddily.

Then she heard gunshots—loud even inside the car—and Doc Mac pitched forward. He staggered against Muirin as he fell to the ground. She stumbled, staggering sideways for a few steps as she fought to keep from falling—she hadn’t been shot, but she could barely keep her feet. Addie cried out in horror and sent the car forward; Spirit saw Burke open his door a crack, preparing to fling it wide and pull Muirin into the car as soon as they reached her.

But Ovcharenko reached her first.

He grabbed Muirin by the back of her dress, yanking her backward and off her feet.

Muirin looked straight into Spirit’s eyes. “Go!” she screamed.

And suddenly the night was filled with patterns, colors, flashing light, as Muirin filled the air with dazzling—
blinding
—illusions.

“Floor it!” Burke shouted in Addie’s ear. She stomped down on the accelerator—heading straight for Ovcharenko—and Burke yanked the wheel sideways, making the car slew around. Addie was screaming, and Burke was shouting: Spirit couldn’t make out any words. She turned in her seat looked back.

No— No—!

There was another shot; it sounded like the crack of lightning, and Spirit’s heart seemed to freeze in her chest. Suddenly the illusions stopped. The night went dark again, but now there was a flare of headlights far behind them. Somebody from Security had reached one of the SUVs.

“We have to go back!” Addie cried. The car began to slow as it swept down the driveway. There wasn’t any place to turn around here, but she was obviously planning to turn back as soon as she could. They’d reach the road in a few seconds. “We can’t leave them!”

Spirit shook her head mutely, her throat tight with tears.

“They’re dead,” Loch said, his voice harsh and ugly. “They’re both dead.”

“No,” Addie sobbed. “No!”

Ovcharenko stepped over Muirin’s body and braced himself, taking aim at their car. In the wash of headlights, Spirit saw Doc Mac drag himself to his knees.

And suddenly, everything behind them that could possibly burn …

Burned.

The Xterra began to accelerate again. Spirit gulped back tears. There wasn’t time for them now. The trees and bushes in the path of Doc Mac’s last spell were burning—and she hoped Ovcharenko was too—but it wouldn’t keep the rest of Breakthrough from following them. And she was the only one who knew where they were going—she had to keep her head.

I shouldn’t be so calm,
she thought.
Muirin’s dead. I saw her die. Oh Murr-cat!

“Go through Radial,” she said, as they reached the road. “Stay off the highway. Take the farm road.”