Atoning Read online

  "Is she still talking about Corey?" Derek cut in.

  "Sorry," Liz said, blushing. "But cute. And funny. And sweet. Not dead, too, though, which is a problem. Not that I wish he was..." She straightened and cleared her throat. "Okay, boy-gushing over. I'm back. And it's not Corey, which is weird, because he's definitely got cool powers and--" She made a face. "Back again. Ahem. It's not Corey."

  "Who then?" I said.

  "Victoria."

  "Tori? Seriously?"

  "Exactly what I said. I mean, there's nothing wrong with Tori..."

  "Of course there's nothing wrong with her," I said.

  "Nothing a frontal lobotomy couldn't fix," Derek said, and Rae snickered. I gave them both a look. Tori might have been the token "mean girl" at Lyle House, and I won't say she turned out to be a misunderstood nice girl, but, as with most people, there was more to it than that. We'd become friends on the run, and while we weren't quite as close these days--the Salmon Creek kids offered us both more suitable companions, in Maya for me and Hayley for her--we were still friends. Derek, as usual, was a different matter. He no more forgave Tori her trespasses against me than he did Rae.

  When I gave them a look, Liz said, "It's okay. I know Tori's not always easy to get along with. And she is powerful--that witch and sorcerer combo means she kicks serious spell-casting butt. But, well, it's not special, right? You're just as powerful as a necromancer. Derek's just as powerful as a werewolf. And the Salmon Creek kids are unique. So, why Tori?"

  "Could you have misunderstood?"

  "Maybe," she said. "Is there another Victoria in the group? Someone new?"

  I shook my head. "They keep telling us one of the other Salmon Creek kids showed powers and will be joining us, but nothing's happened. It's the exact same group it was from day one."

  "Huh. And they said Victoria not Tori, so I couldn't have mistaken it for Corey. Either it's really her or I need my ears cleaned out."

  "Let's not worry about that," I said. "If you can help me get free, Rae and I will sneak down and get her mom while Derek waits for Maya and Daniel to make their move."

  The next few steps went without a hitch. Liz helped me get free, and I untied Rae and Derek. Then Derek snapped the lock on the door. Next he Changed forms while Liz scouted the hall. She'd already checked for cameras. There weren't any--this was just a temporary holding spot, not a remodeled jail site.

  When all was clear, we slipped into the hall. Derek used his jaws to jam the doorknob, so our kidnappers wouldn't be able to get inside, and it would take them a while to realize we'd left. He was still waiting for Maya and Daniel's signal, but he'd do it from a better vantage point, using his nose and ears to make sure his own way was clear.

  With Liz leading, Rae and I snuck down to Jacinda's holding cell. Liz had confirmed the door locked from the outside, meaning we didn't need brute strength to open it. Five minutes after initiating our escape, we were freeing Rae's mom.

  I'd never met Jacinda. Rae had grown up thinking she was dead. Then, the Edison Group hinted she wasn't, and, I'll admit, I thought they were just saying that to keep Rae happy and content in captivity. They weren't. While we'd been out on our adventures, preparing to strike back against the St. Clouds, Jacinda had rescued her daughter and gone on the run.

  Jacinda looked...well, like Rae in twenty years. That wasn't unexpected. Half-demons might have a demonic father, but they don't inherit any of his appearance--whatever that is.

  I explained what happened, as quickly as I could, but there was little need. Jacinda had figured out they'd been tricked. Being tied up in a dark room tipped her off.

  "I'm sorry," she said to me. "I could say a lot more than that, but for now, I'm sorry. We really did think--" A sharp shake of her head. "No excuses. That's just to say that we thought we were doing the right thing. But one look at you, Chloe, and I can see we weren't." She managed a smile. "You remind me of your mom, and you obviously inherited more than just her looks, so I'm going to leave this escape plan to you. Just tell me what to do."

  I did.

  Twelve

  "It's past time, isn't it?" Rae whispered as we crouched behind a huge, rusted industrial saw in the main building.

  "It's fine, Rae," her mom whispered. "You can't time these things down to the second."

  Except we had. At exactly one o'clock, we were supposed to hear the signal that told us Maya and Daniel were in position. The signal? Maya's cat scream, guaranteed to echo unmistakably through the building. She'd yowl, Derek would get to her, and, between the two of them, they'd take down our captors while Daniel went through a bag of zip-strips tying them up.

  It was now 1:10.

  "It's a slight delay," I whispered. "But as long as everything's quiet, that's all it is: a delay. If something went wrong, we'd hear it. And we do have a backup plan."

  "Which is that if we see trouble or it goes past one-thirty, we get out. Any way we can." Jacinda squeezed her daughter's shoulder. "It's okay, baby. Chloe has this--"

  Footsteps pounded down the hall. We simultaneously dove under the old saw. That's why we'd been waiting there--the big hunk of machinery was conveniently raised just far enough off the floor to provide a good--if tight--hiding spot.

  "Sorry!" Liz whispered as she crouched beside the machine and peered under it at me. "I was checking the other direction and didn't see him coming. It's one guy heading straight this way, so don't move."

  I nodded and whispered something to Jacinda. She agreed and passed on the message to Rae, on her other side.

  "Murray's right," a voice said. "The kids are gone. Whatever he heard over in the west quadrant? It wasn't rats."

  A reply came across a radio. The footfalls stopped with a squeak.

  "Hold on," he said. "I think I've got something. I'll call you back."

  The radio clicked off. The footsteps continued. Then, a hand reached down and grabbed Jacinda's ankle, and the man yanked her from her hiding place as she squeaked in protest.

  "Are you girls under there, too?" He bent and peered beneath the saw. "Why, hello, Rachelle."

  "Hello, asshole," she said and held up her glowing fingers. "Want to try pulling me out? Don't worry--I only give second-degree burns."

  He snatched for her outstretched leg--and I slammed a sedative dart into his shoulder as Jacinda slapped her hand over his mouth. I'd crawled out the other way while he'd been focused on Jacinda and Rae. The darts came courtesy of Derek. He'd brought them in, hoping--correctly it seemed--that they wouldn't be so thorough checking for weapons on a werewolf, presuming he came with his own built-in. When I'd realized it was only one guy, I'd had Jacinda stick her leg out. Better to take this guy down while we could.

  We bound and gagged him. Then, we took his gun and radio. Rae wanted to stuff him back under the saw, but if we did that, a few kicks against the metal would bring everyone running. I didn't say that to Rae, or she'd feel like she'd overlooked the obvious. Eighteen months ago, I'd have suggested the same thing. Jacinda understood the issue, though, and suggested we haul him deeper onto the shop floor, hidden between pieces of machinery. We did, and Liz found an old oil-soaked tarp that we draped over him.

  We had to find a new hiding spot, in case he still managed to make enough noise to alert the others. After a whispered conference, I gave Jacinda the gun. I could handle it, but I had two more tranq darts and needed to keep my attention on Liz as she zipped back and forth. Jacinda also knew how to use a gun and didn't have any supernatural powers.

  Rae took the radio. We kept it on low, and she heard someone looking for the guy we'd disabled, but they didn't seem to know exactly where he'd been when he went offline, and they were too busy hunting for us. Liz was hunting too--for a good hiding place--when she raced back, calling, "They're coming! Two of them! Right around the--"

  Right around the corner is what I'm sure she'd been about to say, but by that time they were turning the corner. A man and a woman, both carrying guns. We scooted, doubled over, thro
ugh the machinery, but they'd spotted us, and footfalls pounded as they gave chase and radioed the others. That's when it finally came: Maya's catamount scream.

  "About time," Rae muttered.

  "That's certainly an attention-getter," Jacinda whispered. And it did grab our pursuers' attention as they skidded to a stop with exclamations of "What--?" and "Jesus!"

  We tore off as fast as we could in the direction of the scream. Not exactly the plan, but the others would accommodate when they heard us coming. Except we didn't get far before our pursuers resumed chase. One of them fired at Jacinda, and I don't know if they were shooting to kill or just to spook us, but the fact they aimed for her told me they'd decided she was the most expendable, so I wasn't taking a chance.

  "Left!" Liz shouted. "Into the offices! I'll back them off."

  Something crashed behind us. I don't know what exactly it was, but it hit one of our pursuers. That's the advantage of having a Volo half-demon ghost. In life, Liz had the power of telekinesis; in death, she's a poltergeist.

  We raced into the back hall. My necklace got warm again, like it had in the tent when I'd blamed my sweaty hands. But I wasn't clutching it now. Why would it...? I thought of what had been in that tent, and I stopped. I opened one door. Closed it. Opened another.

  "Chloe?" Rae said.

  I threw open the second door and waved them inside. Rae ran through and then stopped.

  "There's a--" she began.

  "I know."

  I pushed her in and closed the door behind us. Rae stared at the old desk in the middle of the room. Stared at what lay on top of it.

  "Is that...?" she said.

  "Luke," I whispered. "They brought his body back. And I'm going to use it to get us out."

  I resurrected Luke to use against our pursuers. I'd done that once before, in our attack on the Edison Group, raising a guard who'd been killed in the fighting. I'd felt horrible about it--dragging his spirit back into his broken body and forcing him to do my bidding. I did not feel horrible now. Like the guard, Luke had chosen to join a group hell-bent on holding us captive and not above hurting us if we didn't care for that captivity. He'd made his choice. He'd paid for it. Now he'd pay again.

  Of course Luke didn't want to do what I told him. But the point of being able to raise the dead is that I have the power to command them. I'd been getting training from a Cabal necromancer. I commanded Luke, and I ignored the rage and outrage in his eyes.

  Outside, we could hear our pursuers checking doors. From the footfalls, it was still the two of them. When Liz popped back, she confirmed that. She'd been racing between us and the others, checking in on them. They were doing fine. Whatever obstacle had delayed their attack, they'd overcome it. It wasn't an easy fight, though. There were four other members of this group, all having converged on Derek, Maya and Daniel, all presumably armed, though Liz wisely didn't tell me that.

  That meant the others were holding their own, but they couldn't come to our rescue anytime soon. Which was fine. For perhaps the first time in my life, I didn't just tell myself I could handle this--I believed it.

  Liz stood in the hall and called a play-by-play. Whatever our pursuers' supernatural powers, neither was a necromancer, obviously, and they didn't hear her as she told us exactly where they were and what they were doing.

  "Your door is next!" she called. "Get ready!"

  I motioned Luke into position.

  "Did you hear that?" the man whispered, his voice clear through the door. "They're in here."

  He already had his hand on the knob, turning it, as the woman said, "Wait! Isn't that where Luke--?"

  He pulled the door open, and Luke charged. The man shot. The woman cursed. She didn't shoot--she knew better. A thump sounded as the man hit the floor, followed by a yelp as Luke grabbed the man's gun and whipped it into our room, on my command. Rae ran from our place behind the door, and Jacinda said, "Rae!" but her daughter was, finally, being careful, and she only snagged the gun with her foot, kicking-dragging it back our way without moving past the barrier of the door.

  As Luke fought, overcoming whatever supernatural powers the man had, the woman began murmuring in Greek or Latin.

  "Witch!" I said, as she swung through the doorway, spell still on her lips, only to find herself face-to-barrel with Jacinda's gun.

  "Finish that spell, and I shoot," Jacinda said. "Raise that gun at either of these two girls, and I shoot. Really, just give me an excuse, bitch, and I shoot."

  The witch stopped casting.

  Thirteen

  A few minutes later, Derek came running, still in wolf form, only to discover we'd secured our two. He Changed back, and before he was finished enough to explain, Maya and Daniel had returned to do it for him. There'd been some hiccups, but they'd taken down the other four. Everyone was bound, gagged and awaiting interrogation.

  Before we did that, I retrieved my cell phone and made a call to a number I'd never had occasion to use. On the third ring, someone picked up with, "Chloe? Is everything all right?"

  I hesitated. "Did you hear something happened?"

  "No," Sean said. "But if it's you calling, it's serious. Is everything okay?"

  "It is now," I said. "I was just wondering if you could get here a little sooner."

  "What happened?"

  I told him.

  Sean dispatched a Cabal team immediately. They were coming in from New York, which meant they'd be a couple of hours. We weren't waiting. We selected a likely subject and conducted an interrogation. It wasn't difficult--Jacinda knew a few members of the group well enough to pick which one would fold the fastest, and he did, without us needing to do more than threaten, which was good. Whatever our training, I don't think we could have done more. Not yet. Maybe not ever.

  He spilled his story, and then we left him there with the others, trussed up and awaiting transport to the Nast satellite office in NYC. I didn't know what Sean would do with them. As nice a guy as he was, whatever he'd do would not be nice. It couldn't be. It had to impart a lesson--one that told anyone else thinking of messing with us that it was a very, very bad idea.

  We collected Moreno after that. He was awake and waiting back at camp. He acted as if we'd just gone for pizza--and taken our sweet time getting back--but I didn't miss his look of relief when we walked into the campsite.

  "Of course you did," he said when Maya told him we'd succeeded. "I trained you, didn't I? Now let's get these tents taken down and go home. Oh, and get that beer gone on the way. If Sean sees I bought it for you, he'll give me proper shit."

  Jacinda cleared her throat.

  "Fine," he said. "You can have one, too."

  She gave him a look.

  "What?" he said. "They're not going to drink and drive. That would be wrong." He walked to me. "You okay with taking the wheel, kid?"

  I nodded. I don't drink. Not because I'm too young, but because, well, I just don't. A valid choice.

  "I'll drive," Jacinda said. "And as long as it's only beer..."

  "It is," Maya said. "Just beer and just one each. That's the rule."

  Moreno leaned over and whispered. "It's their rule. They're very responsible. It's kinda scary."

  We packed to go. Sean was already in his jet, heading our way from Los Angeles. His flight would take a few more hours, but we wanted to be back to Badger Lake and settled in before he arrived. I'd just finished helping Maya take down a tent when Derek walked over.

  "Don't forget this," he said, handing me my novel.

  I took it...and my study pages fell out.

  "So that's where I put those," I said and reached down to scoop them up before he did. "I must have put them in there before we left--"

  "Don't," he said, his voice low.

  I glanced up. Maya caught my eye and motioned that she was stepping away. She bundled the tent under her arm and gathered pegs. Derek handed her the last two. She murmured a "thanks" and walked to the picnic table to bag the tent.

  "It makes it worse wh
en you lie about it," Derek said.

  "I-I wasn't...I just..."

  "You're hiding the fact that you were studying on your vacation time, because you're hiding the fact that you're trying to get into college early. It's a surprise for me. Which means it's not really lying. Except it's like giving people a surprise party when they really don't want to celebrate. Part of the reason it's a surprise is because they don't want it. Which"--he met my gaze--"isn't right."

  I swallowed. "But--"

  "It's for me. I know. I don't want it, because I don't like you pushing yourself this hard. So you think that if you choose to do it for me, that's okay. Except I believe I should have a say in that."

  "I..."

  "This isn't the time. I know that." He took the book and shoved it in his pocket. "If Jacinda's driving I'd like you to rest on the ride home. Not study. Okay?"

  I looked up at him. "I'm sorry. I--"

  He cut me off with a kiss, reaching down to cup my face in his hands as he kissed me, sweet and gentle and long, not breaking off until Moreno cleared his throat across the campsite. Even then, he only pulled back a little, keeping my face in his hands.

  "I'm not mad," he said. "I get why you're doing it. I just want to talk about it later. Okay?"

  I nodded, and he took my hand, and we headed for the parking lot with the others.

  Sean arrived a couple of hours after we got back. He'd texted when he got in, telling me he was in and that we could get some sleep before we talked. When he arrived, we were waiting in the community center. Moreno showed him in, and I handed him a coffee.

  "There's more where that came from," I said. "But we'd like to do this tonight."

  He smiled and took the mug. "That makes sense." He waved at the collection of couches and chairs in the meeting room. We settled in and explained everything.

  "Does that make more sense to you than it does to us?" I asked when we finished. "That they wanted Tori because she fulfills some prophecy? Being both a sorcerer and a witch?"

  "I do know what so-called prophecy they're talking about. I say 'so-called' because our experts were never able to dig up definitive proof it existed, and we suspect it was at least in part concocted by a guy who was using it as proof that it was time for supernaturals to reveal themselves to the world."