Hollowed (36 page)

No, no no no. For a few minutes, we were getting back on the right track
.
I don
'
t want to hang up. Sure as hell don
'
t want to let go this feeling that somehow, I still have a chance to prove to him things can be okay.
"
If we could just
..."

"
I
'
ll see you tomorrow, Briar. Maybe we
'
ll run into each other looking for Ruby.
"

I don
'
t blink. A few stray tears escape from the corners of my eyes anyway.

Almost had him. Lost him again.

"
Yeah, sure. Tomorrow.
"

Silence. Unspoken words heavy on the static line between us. All the words I want to say, all the words I think he
'
s holding back
...
He hangs up, and I murmur to nothing,
"
Goodnight, Noah.
"

My phone stays beside me all night, but Ruby never calls. Confusion has tipped over into worrying territory. How do I find her if she doesn
'
t call? How do I even know she
'
s still alive? While we were sleeping, Joel could have found her first.

It
'
s the last thing I think about when I doze off, and it
'
s the first thing in my head when I wake up with Oliver pounding on my door. When I stumble over to answer it,
his
look is solemn and as tired as
I
feel.
"
Cole
i
s already heading out. We need to get moving.
"

Moving. Right. While we still have daylight. I hate that I
'
ve somehow slipped into sleeping all day and being active at night, though Cole had mentioned it
'
s natural. Humans weren
'
t really made to stay up nights and sleep when the sun is up, but something about being infected tweaks our internal clocks. Might have something to do with how sensitive we are to sunlight.
It doesn't kill us, but it's kind of
annoying and headache-inducing.

Thankfully, today is still pretty overcast. I
'
m grateful for the cloud cover.

Oliver is outside waiting when I
'
m ready to join him.
The gun Noah gave me is tucked into my jeans
, the spare bullets in my back pocket
.
I
'
ve tied my hair
back
to keep it out of the way and put on the most comfortable shoes, jeans
,
and shirt I can manage. Even if my attempt at practicality will likely be a miserable failure. I can
'
t count the number of times I
'
ve come back to this hotel looking like I
'
ve spent the night mud-wrestling.

"
Fred should be here to meet us any minute now,
"
Oliver says.

"
Where
'
s Daniel?
"
I ask.

He glances askance at me. Does the sun not drive his eyes nuts? I can
'
t stop squinting and it
'
s already giving me a headache. He doesn
'
t look like he
'
s bothered at all.
"
He had something to take care of.
"

Had something to take care of? When we
'
re in the middle of something so important? Doesn
'
t so
und like him. Except—
"
You had him follow Cole, didn
'
t you?
"

"
Shut up.
"
The guilty hunch of his shoulders is more than enough of an answer. I exhale through my mouth. Good. It
'
s better that Cole isn
'
t alone, and Daniel won
'
t be as noticeable to Maverick as another vampire. Just in case things go wrong.

I would ask more but Fred comes into view, crossing the parking lot and heading our direction. He spots us, lifting a hand in a wave. At least he
'
s smart enough to be sporting sun glasses. Why didn
'
t I think to pick up a pair?

Despite the wave, as Fred drawers near, I can better see the frown on his face, the slight downturn of his mouth
.

"
Ready to get this show on the road, kids?
"
he asks.

Nevermind Oliver
'
s easily twice our age.
As I fall in step alongside Fred, he nudges me with an elbow. Maybe he sees the look on my face and mistakes it for
concern
because he asks,
"
Are you worried about your friend
seeing Maverick
?
"

I shake my head.
"
Nah. He can take care of himself. I
'
m more worried about us.
"

"
You should
'
ve asked that witch to come
along
.
The one Joel said was with you at the cemetery.
He would
'
ve been useful.
"

"
Yeah
...
no.
"
I'm not
going to tell him that I tried.
"
Maybe we
'
ll run into him while we
'
re looking, but Noah likes working alone. Have you heard from Joel or Alex?
"

Fred sighs.
"
I
'
ve been trying to
reach
them.
It isn
'
t
like Alex to
not
call me back. I mean, she
'
s fallen into the wrong company, but she
'
s not a bad girl. Y
'
know?
"

"
Sure, she
'
s sugar and spice.
"
When he glares at me, my mouth stretches into a smile.
"
I
'
ll take your word for it.
"
That seems to placate him and he looks straight ahead again.

"
Who knows, maybe Maverick already found Joel anyway
,
"
Fred says.

Oliver steps up beside me and I squint. He isn
'
t looking at us, but I can tell he
'
s paying attention.
"
What makes you think that?
"

"
We
'
ve been staying in this temporary housing place
.
I got back last night and he said he was going to step out for awhile, but he didn
'
t come back.
"
He
shrugs.

"
Is that common? For him to leave and not contact you.
"

"
Mav
'
s a pretty private person. Sometimes he
'
ll leave
for
days at a time, just to be alone. I think he
'
s been searching for Joel by himself, and if there
'
s anyone who can track him, it
'
d be Mav.
"

Oliver slides away from my side to take the lead. The tension in his voice tells me this news doesn
'
t make him happy; he
'
s still worrying about Cole and Daniel.
"
Useless. Well, seeing as most of the attacks happened in or near Old Town,
that
'
s
where we would start. It
'
s prime feeding grounds.
"

"
Plenty of places to hide, too,
"
I offer.
"
Abandoned buildings, the train yard, all the tunnels under the city
..."

Both boys look at me.

"
Tunnels?
"
Oliver asks.

"
Yeah. Old Town was a huge place of trade way back when, but since it
'
s on the river, it used to flood all the time.
"
I shrug.
"
Instead of ditching the location, they built the new city on top of the old one. So there are still all these tunnels and buildings beneath the streets.
"

"
Sealed off from the public, I
'
ll bet,
"
Fred mutters
.
"
Good place for a vampire who doesn
'
t wanna be caught to hang out during the day.
"

I try to imagine Ruby hiding beneath the streets of Old Town, or shacked up in an abandoned warehouse somewhere. So much for glamour. She should have known she could come stay with me.

At any rate, Old Town seems a
s
good
a
starting point as any. People are still lingering as the light recedes. Stores are closing up for the night, but the pubs and restaurants will teem with customers until close
r
to midnight. Admittedly, the sleepy structures and old architecture look a little creepy in the dark
.
I am not looking forward to this.

We wander the streets and it feels a little aimless, until I realize that both Fred and Oliver are concentrating. Sensing for any trace of Ruby, Joel
,
or Alex. I guess I should be doing the same, but all I can feel are the feeble presences of humans here and there. Nothing remarkable, nothing out of the ordinary.

When we reach the end of one of the street
s and the boardwalk overlooking
the river, Fred leans over the railing, staring out at the water.
"
I feel like
..."

I cross my arms over my chest, watching him.
"
Like
...
?
"

"
Alex. I feel
...
she
'
s
nearby. Somewhere
.
"
He closes his eyes, frowning, focusing.
"
It
'
s like catching the smell of something but not quite being able to place what it is.
"

Oliver stays a few feet away, lifting his chin and scanning the river bank, the show boat docked there, the glimmer of lights from office buildings on the opposite side of the water. Then he turns back to face Old Town and studies the buildings.
"
You aren
'
t imagining it. I feel it, too.
"

Good for them, ‘cause I can
'
t feel a damned thing. Not Ruby, nothing.
"
Can
'
t she, like, hide her presence?
"

Fred sighs and pushes away from the railing.
"
Joel can, but Alex never cared to learn. And this isn
'
t
...
It doesn
'
t feel like she
'
s far away, it feels more—
"

"
It
'
s weak,
"
Oliver says. Fred
'
s mouth pulls into an unhappy line and he nods.

I remember the way I could barely feel Oliver when he was injured, the way the warm flare of his presence felt so distant. Just beyond my fingertips. But why would Alex be hurt?

I
punch Fred's
shoulder, hoping to chase
away
the troubled look on his face.
"
Come on, we still have ground to cover. Maybe you
'
ll feel something along the way.
"