Evanescent (35 page)

Fletch comes over, looking wrecked—like he’s
had some serious carnal affection in that bathroom with Grayson,
and now he’s worse for wear.

“We’re going to kill Flanders,” I say, not
giving a shit that Kres continues to linger within earshot.

“A felony in the making?” Her eyes sparkle.
“Oh,
Wes
”—she purrs with wicked undertones—“prison colors
won’t do a thing for your eyes. Why don’t you let that river rat
have him? If she cheated on you once, she’ll do it again. I bet
they’re doing it right now as we speak.”

An image of the two of them tangled up in
one another, laughing at me with their in sync costumes, grinds
through my mind.

Shit. I shake my head, unable to process
what’s happening.

We went to the tunnels tonight. We shared
something special. There’s no way she’s faking anything with me.
Laken is just confused.

A few girls scream near the entrance as an
entire group of people move into the party.

Fletch smacks me in the stomach. “Looks like
we’ve just been invaded.”

“It’s those douches from Rycroft.” Kres
folds her arms and rocks on her heels. “Rumors were flying all week
about some lame stunt they planned because they lost the homecoming
game.”

Grayson pops up beside Fletch. “Looks like
they took the zombie route.”

They grunt and push their stiffened limbs
well into the common room. The crowd goes ballistic with people
shoving and pushing as the furniture topples over.

A window bursts from behind, spraying the
vicinity with broken glass as an entire legion of idiots stream in
through the jagged shards.

“Shit!” Fletch jumps back, and his shirt
catches the light with flecks imbedded in it.

“Get security,” I snap. “I have to make a
phone call.”

I pluck my cell out just as I’m bumped from
behind, and it goes flying.

“Shit.”

One of the bastards from Rycroft grabs me by
the neck and pulls me in with bionic force. Then I smell it. That
distinct stench I’ve gagged on at least a thousand times before. My
knee flies up like a reflex, and I manage to topple him right out
the broken window.

“
Get Cooper
,” I bark to Fletch.
“These aren’t idiots from Rycroft—they’re Spectators.”

Flanders bursts in through the room and
turns on the lights.

“Everybody out!” He booms as if he were
about to launch a grenade. He holds up a fire extinguisher and lets
it rip over the crowd as bodies begin to stream outside.

“There’s some more in the back.” I pull
Fletch to the kitchen, and we pick up our own extinguishing
weaponry.

We spray down the room, covering the
cowering menaces until all of them have hightailed it back
outside.

I launch the metal canister across the room
and shove Coop against the large framed window so hard the glass
rattles around him.

“Where the hell is Laken?” I roar it in his
face.

“Out there.” He nods past the door.

From over his shoulder, I can make out the
crowd dispersing, and girls screaming, as a few stray Spectators
give chase. I toss Coop to the floor as I barrel my way
outside.

“Laken!” My voice pierces through the icy
night air as the fog blankets the area.

Edinger pops up wearing that sickly smile he
dons like a disguise.

“Have you seen her?” I pant wild into the
night. He knows damn well who
she
is. We’ve had enough
conversations about her. He knows what Laken means to me.

“We’ve a situation, Wesley.” He grins out at
the scene as if he were conducting a circus. “Round them up and
throw away the key.”

“And how am I supposed to do that?”

“Promise them everything, then pull the rug
from beneath them. Bait and switch, sort of like your sweetheart
has managed to do with you.”

I let out a growl and head into the
crowd.

“Flanders!” I call to the bastard just as he
speeds out of Henderson. “I want all of them gone, or I’m feeding
you to them for dinner.” I’m done shitting around the bush with
him. It’s about time he feels a little threatened. That’s the
underlying problem here. I made him feel too damn safe—coddled him
like some damn pet. And the biggest mistake of all—I trusted
him.

He squints into the forest in the
distance.

“They’re clearing.” He shakes his head.
“Flynn’s rounding them up.”

“Flynn?” I pan the crowd for him, but he’s
nowhere to be seen.

“He’s one of them now. It’s a long story.
I’ll see about getting him back. I’m dropping a couple of young
ones off at the Transfer.” He nods over at a little girl by the
edge of the woods. “The rest will have to wait. Why don’t you make
sure Henderson’s cleared out, and I’ll meet you back there in a
few.” He darts his gaze into the crowd as if he’s looking for
someone. “Find Laken. Make sure she’s safe.”

I give a little laugh. I’m sure he’s about
to do just that.

“I’ll kick your ass later, dude,” I say,
making my way back down to the dorm.

Why do I get the feeling I’ve just been
played?

Laken

Coop signals that the coast is clear. I peer out
from the evergreen I’ve been sitting behind and watch as Wesley
heads back down toward Henderson. It breaks my heart knowing Coop
and I are working against him. If only he weren’t so hardheaded, so
brainwashed into believing everything the Counts had programmed him
to—all of this could have been avoided—well, most of it anyway.

I take up little Kara’s bony
fingers—literally bony—skeletal in fact. Her skin has been eaten
away on two of them. It sickens me to see her this way, knowing she
was a sweet little girl and they killed her for the hell of it only
to bring her back as this partial being.

“Laken!” A female voice reverberates through
the woods. I signal for Coop to wait in the event he decides to
launch himself into the Transfer without me.

It’s Hattie. She’s got a smile a mile wide,
and I’m assuming it has something to do with her Spectator
boyfriend, Flynn.

“I’ve exacted my revenge for you.” She takes
up my hand victoriously as if it’s the best news ever.

“What revenge?” Suddenly I’m fearing for
Wesley’s balls. Wait—why would I want revenge against Wes? This
makes no sense.

“Not Wesley—
Grayson
and
Kresley
.” She nods, not bothering to hide the fact she read
my mind. “I’ve hung them from the elm in front of Austen House.
They said they had a noose ready, for you and for me, so I beat
them to the punch.” Her dark eyes sparkle with genuine pleasure.
“You’re forever free of their wickedness, Laken.”

“Stay here,” I whisper to Kara and push her
toward her brother. “Cooper!” I wail his name as I run toward
Austen House.

“What the hell?” he asks, catching up to
me.

We speed down the hill to find a crowd
amassing around the regal tree planted just outside the dormitory
as two twitching bodies writhe from the branches above.

“It’s so tight!” Kresley sings it out like a
song written in dead minor.

Grayson makes a choking sound. Her legs kick
through the air causing her body to spin in a circle. It’s a
macabre dance, a horrible wreck of a show that you can’t take your
eyes from.

Coop bounds up the tree like a lion and
picks her up, slipping off the noose.

“What the hell happened?” Wes says out of
breath.

“I don’t know.” I’m more than a little
afraid to cop to the felony in the making.

Cooper lowers Grayson to safety before
traveling back up to get Kresley. A branch snaps and sends him
sailing to the ground, flat on his back. The rope holding Kresley
cinches. Her entire frame goes rigid as she spins like a top.

I push my way beneath her and jump up on
Wesley’s shoulders without thinking twice. My foot slips as I try
to balance myself. I lean up and catch her feet and lift her just
enough to take the weight off the noose.

Blaine claws his way up there. “I got her!”
he shouts as he reels her over to him like a fish.

I drop down into Wesley’s arms, and a look
of sadness sweeps over his face.

“Are you okay?” He lands a gentle kiss over
the top of my head.

“I’m fine,” I say, landing back on my feet.
“Crazy night,” I whisper, glancing away. It pains me to look him in
the eye. It’s as if we’ve crossed a line and now we could never go
back.

“
Wesley
.” Edinger snaps as he makes
his way over. “Did you witness the event?”

“I caught most of it,” he says as the fog
swirls around the two of us.

“Stick around, I’ll need you for the
report.”

Coop signals for my attention before dodging
behind Austen House and heading back up the hill.

“I left Jen up there.” I motion behind me.
“I’d better go make sure she’s all right. She’ll probably want to
know about this.” God, I pray Jen is somewhere getting busy with
just about anybody. The last thing I need is her blonde mop
springing up and ruining my lying streak. I hate lying to Wes. As
soon as I free my family, I never plan on keeping things from him
again.

“Hurry back.” He pulls me in and presses a
kiss over my cheek.

Blaine helps Kresley lie down on the
lawn.

“What the hell were you two thinking?” he
demands. “This stupid prank could have cost you your lives.”

She shakes her head, denying his accusation.
Kres clutches at her throat with one hand while pointing to me with
the other.

Shit.

An ambulance screams its way over, and I
push in one more kiss to Wes before taking off toward Sleepy
Hollow. I don’t turn around until I hit the hilltop and gasp at the
horror of what I find below—Wes and Jen.

My body surges with regret, deep as the
ocean. Wes knows I’m a liar. He knows just enough to hate me, and
it kills me.

I glance into the woods at Kara’s frightened
face, her body in rags just like her clothes.

Screw it. I need to get my family out of
hock and running back to Wes isn’t going to help.

Cooper picks up Richard over his shoulder,
and I do the same with Kara.

We race all the way to the granite boulders
and melt our way inside through a series of wild vibrations. Wes
wouldn’t understand.

Cooper is the only living soul on the planet
I can trust.

The Transfer appears around us, a little too
bright, a little too loud as if all our senses were heightened just
being here.

I plunk down Kara and straighten with a
groan.

“You okay?” Cooper gently glides his hand
over my shoulder before tracing my spine, causing my insides to
lacerate in a fit of pleasure.

“I’m better than okay.”

Coop leads us down a maze of white elongated
halls, and we find the haggard old witch hunched over yet another
one of her disastrous projects. Although, each experiment is Count
sponsored, so I’m not certain how much blame I can place on her
shoulders.

“More?” She looks surprised as she twists
her shriveled frame to take them in. Her flaming orange hair wafts
through the air like cotton candy as she inspects the two
siblings.

“Richard and Kara.” Coop conducts a brief
introduction that results in a series of grunts all around.
“Whatever you did to Pearl, don’t do it to them.” He looks dejected
at the thought of hauling the two of them down here only to let
them sit captive.

“New formula.” Ezrina’s eyes bulge wide and
round.

“No,” he says it stern.

“
Yes
.” The hag’s voice reverberates
through the walls—through my
body
like a sheet of metal
flexing in the wind.

“Maybe we can find some volunteers?” I
clutch onto Coop trying to back us the hell out of this hostile
environment. She’s totally off her rocker. Doesn’t Coop know he’s
supposed to humor the obviously insane? Never, ever argue with a
nutcase who runs an underground body resurrection lab as her
primary occupation.