Over My Head (Wildlings) (20 page)

"And then he just disappears and I'm left alone up on this freaking mountain and there's nothing for as far as I can see in every direction. I was there for hours. I tried climbing down, but I kept running into dead ends—cliffs where the rock just fell away for what looked like miles."

By the door, Julie's completely entranced by what he's saying, but I'm feeling a little sick to my stomach. Cory took him into the otherworld. What's to stop Erik from blabbing about it to everyone? That beautiful place is going to be ruined.

"So how'd you get here?" I ask.

"I—I don't know. I remember the dude finally came back—like, one moment I'm sitting on a rock by myself, cold and starving, and the next, he's standing in front of me and he's asking me what I've learned and I tell him I just want to go home. He looks at me for a long time, then he finally nods.

"'Think you can stop treating people like crap?' he asks me. He tells me to apologize to all these people I made so miserable.

"And I said, 'yeah, sure, anything,' and he pushes me off the rock I'm sitting on, but when I land, it's on the sidewalk outside school."

When he falls silent again, I say, "So then—what? You decide to come in and apologize to
me
?"

He nods quickly. "Just keep that dog-faced dude away from me."

"I don't know any dog-faced people," I tell him.

"But—"

"Seriously?" Julie says from the door. "Guy walking around with a dog's head on his shoulders? Face it, moron. Someone spiked whatever you were smoking or drinking last night and you've just been tripping ever since."

He looks to me and I nod.

"But not about being an asshole," I tell him. "And apologizing to the people you treat like dirt is still a pretty good idea."

I guess whatever he experienced has really had an impact on him because instead of bristling and then lashing out, he just looks at the floor.

"I said I was sorry," he says.

"Yeah, you did."

I look at my phone to get the time.

"You'd better hole up in the boys' restroom until the bell rings," I tell him. "Then I'd go home and maybe think twice about getting that high again."

He doesn't respond, so I pull him away from the sinks and give him a little push toward the door. Julie circles around him and joins me in the main part of the restroom. She heads to the counter holding the sinks and turns to face the stalls, then hoists her butt up on the counter.

"Okay," Julie says when the door closes behind Erik. "On a scale of zero to weird, that was right off the scale."

"No kidding."

"And you,
mi amiga
, are having a seriously messed-up day."

"Tell me about it."

She smiles and shakes her head. "No, you tell me."

So I hop up to sit beside her, and she lets me vent about Ampora's latest effort in her unending quest to make my life miserable.

"I can deal with her messing with me," I finish, "but putting my little sisters in danger—that's just unacceptable."

Julie nods. "What are you going to do?"

"I honestly don't know."

So far as I see, there's only one thing I
can
do to protect my family, and that means involving Theo, which makes for a whole new set of problems. It's also not fair. If I don't think I can be with him because of his gang affiliation, how can I just use him and his gang the first time I run into trouble?

It's so messed up. I can't stop thinking about him. But I don't want to have a lead role in some romantic tragedy. I've already had the starring role in an unrequited love story. I just want what other couples have.

"Earth to Marina," Julie says.

I sit up with a start.

"Where did you just go?" she asks.

"I …"

It's funny. Julie and I used to hang out all the time, but we kind of drifted apart last year. We never looked like we'd have much in common in the first place. She's a tall green-eyed blonde who has the best balance on a board of anyone I know that isn't a Wildling, while I'm always going to be the tomboy barrio girl.

She started hanging more with the stoner crowd, listening to jam bands like Phish and whatever the latest incarnation of the Dead happens to be, while I remained the surfer girl with my board and my Dick Dale tapes. We'd still surf together from time to time, but away from the swells, we just didn't have as much in common anymore.

And then I suddenly had a secret I couldn't share with her: I became a Wildling. Josh and Des never picked up on it, but Julie could tell something was different. She just didn't know what. That really made me pull back from our friendship.

Anyway, ever since that night a few weeks ago when I got Julie to cover for me while I was out looking for Josh, we've been seeing more of each other. It helps that she's given up smoking her big fatties—because she realized she wants to go to university, she told me, and weed and studying don't really go hand in hand. She's stopped hanging out in the stoner pit at the far end of the football field, and we're study partners again.

But I still feel guilty about keeping my Wildling aspect from her. So when she asks what I'm thinking about, I can't just blow her off. I've missed her and I don't want to push her away again, even if I still have to keep some secrets.

"I'm seeing somebody," I tell her. "Sort of. It's complicated."

Her eyebrows go way up. "What about Josh?"

"I've dated other guys before."

"Yeah. Except right at this moment, you're single, he's single. It's finally the perfect time."

"This new guy's pretty special," I tell her.

"So who is he?"

"I can't tell anyone—that's part of why it's complicated. It would really mess things up if people found out."

Julie pulls a face. "Tell me you're not talking about a teacher, because
ew
."

"God no! But there could be serious repercussions."

"You're
killing
me here."

"I'm really sorry. But it's not just my secret."

"He's an older guy, isn't he?" she says. "God, he isn't
married
is he?"

"Where do you come up with this stuff?" I ask her. Then, because I know I have to give her something, I add, "He's a great kisser."

"Better than Josh?"

"I never kissed Josh—not in that way."

"So how long have you been going out with this mystery man?" she asks.

"Not that long. I don't even know that we're exactly going out—actually, that's more of the complicated part. He's probably not good for me, and while I know he likes me, he's probably worried about how I'll fit in with his crowd."

She gives me a considering look, but then the bell finally goes and I hop down from the counter.

"I have to get outside," I say. "I know she doesn't seem to care, but I can't let Ampora face the Kings on her own."

"Yeah, well sister, you're sure not going to have to face them on
your
own," Julie says.

I start to shake my head—there's no way I'm letting her get mixed up in this—but she puts a finger to my lips.

"Don't even try," she says.

I'm torn between wanting to argue with her and getting outside. I settle on dealing with the Kings first and we head out into the crowded hallway. Before we reach the front door, Des has fallen into step beside us.

I turn to him. "You know you don't have to do this."

"Good one," he says.

My phone vibrates as we push through the front doors. I glance down to see a one-word text from Theo:
Cory
?

I thumb a quick response—
Later
—and stow my phone away because I can already see Ampora across the street, shouting at the half-dozen Kings who are waiting for us there.

I guess this is the point where the world finds out I'm a Wildling.

I pick up my pace, which leaves Julie and Des struggling to keep up. Juan looks up at my approach and laughs.

"Nice," he says, switching to English. "It's the bitch's sister."

"" I tell him in my mother tongue.

""

I take a step forward, fists clenched, but Ampora gives me a push.

"" she tells me. "" Then she looks over my shoulder and adds, ""

My heart skips a beat and I turn around, but it's only Josh jogging down the block toward us.

That stops me. How did I get to "it's only Josh" so fast? Just a few weeks ago, he was always on my mind.

But then Juan grabs me by my shirt and hauls me so close to him that we're only inches apart and I don't have time to think about anything except for how this has gotten way out of hand.

"" he says and I hear the
snickt
of his switchblade opening.

Chaingang

I frown at Marina's quick response. What the hell is "later" supposed to mean? We need to get moving
now
, while we've still got a chance. She's just getting out of school so …

I get a picture in my head of her in her surfer shorts and a T, the swing in her walk. I think about all the days I sat there on my picnic table and watched her come and go from school—glowing like she just caught a wave. Maybe
later
's exactly where we should be at because right now I'm tempted to drive up to Sunny Hill, swing her onto the back of my Harley and take off—screw what anybody's got to say about it. Just drive until we get someplace where nobody knows us, where we can just be the two of us without any of the crap in our lives.

Yeah, like that's ever going to happen.

I shove the phone in my pocket, but before I can start up my bike I hear a giggle coming from the branches of the Jacaranda tree high above me. Peering up through the foliage, I see a little kid sitting up there, brown skinned and dressed for the beach in a baggy T and raggedy jeans cut off at mid-calf. I can't tell if it's a boy or a girl. I just see big eyes in a long narrow face, which seems strange for a child. Her face is framed by long curls that are matting into dreads as thick as his—her?—skinny little arms.

"What's so funny?" I ask.

The kid laughs and points down at me. "You are. How'd you get so big with that little cousin skin of yours?"

"What? How would you know—"

"—What kind of cousin you are? How could I
not
know? It's like the difference between land and sea—you know what
that
is, right?"

This kid has a hell of a vocabulary, and he doesn't give me a chance to answer. "You just
know
, little mouse."

Now I realize I'm getting a Wildling
ping
from the kid. I'd been feeling it all along, but I assumed it was just some Vincenzo residue. But the kid's definitely sending out a vibe—and it's not one I've felt before. It's not fresh, like Josh or Marina's, but it doesn't have the gravitas of the older cousins like Vincenzo or Auntie Min.

"Name's Theo," I say. "Not 'little mouse.'"

"What's wrong with mice? They crunch so nicely between your teeth—though maybe that's a rude thing to say to a mouse."

The trouble with Wildlings is, you can't tell what kind they are just by looking at them—or at least I can't—yet. This kid apparently has no problem. But the point here is that maybe this is just a Wildling kid fooling around, or maybe it's something a lot more dangerous. I need to know which. Another complication, or a possible ally?

"Okay, little boy," I say, leaning on the little. "What exactly do you want from me?"

"Little
boy
? What makes you think I'm some stupid
boy
?"

I hold up my hands, palms toward her, and make a note to myself that she's got gender issues.

"My bad," I tell her. "I'm just a stupid boy—what do I know?"

"Nothing."

"Apparently. Do you have a name?"

"Everybody has a name."

"Uh-huh. And what's yours?"

"Well, it's not Big Stupid."

I sigh. "Is there a point to your sitting up there yanking my chain? Because hey, I can just go."

She drops from her perch, bouncing from branch to branch, until she lands on the front wheel of my Harley, where she balances like a monkey. Her size startles me. It wasn't so obvious when she was up in the tree, but right in my face like this, I see she's no bigger than a toddler. If she tops three feet in height, I'd be surprised.

"How'd you get mixed up in Condor business?" she asks.

"The tall dude I was just talking to being the condor?"

She nods.

"Wasn't my choice. He just showed up out of nowhere and started leaning on me."

"In the old days, we'd just snap his neck and throw his body down some big deep hole."

"Uh-huh."

"We would."

"I tried. But it turns out he's a lot stronger and faster than me."

She cocks her head and studies me for a long moment.

"My name's Donalita," she finally says.

"And I'm still Theo."

"I know
that
. What are we going to do now?"

"What do you mean 'we,'
kemo sabe
?"

That earns me a blank look. Guess she never watches reruns of
The Lone Ranger
.

"What I'm trying to say," I explain, "is that I've got things to do that don't include having a kid tag along—no offense."

"But I want to see how your story goes. I could be a big help. I know all kinds of things."

"I'm sure you do. But if people see me hanging around with you, robbing the cradle's the
nicest
thing they're going to say."

"You mean I look too young?" she asks.

"That's putting it mildly."

"Well, how's this?"

I'm looking right at her, but I still don't see it happen. One moment she's this toddler, perched on my tire, the next she's a teenage girl standing with her legs on either side of the wheel, head cocked, laughter in her eyes. She's still skinny, but now she's about as tall as me.

"How—how the hell did you do that?"