Over My Head (Wildlings) (37 page)

Theo sighs. "Crap. So he really was one of the good guys."

Then he looks around.

"Where's Josh?" he asks.

For a long moment, nobody knows what to say.

"He went through the portal thingy," Des finally says. "After Vincenzo."

"And nobody stopped him?" Theo asks, echoing Cory's earlier reaction.

Des takes a step back at the glare in Theo's eyes. "Dude, he was through before anybody even knew it."

Theo's gaze tracks across us until it lands on me again.

"It's true," I tell him.

And then we had to look after you, I want to add, but I can tell from the look on his face that's not something he's going to want to hear about.

He picks up his tire iron.

"So what are we waiting for?" he asks. He points to Auntie Min. "Get us over there."

"I don't know if that's exactly what we should be—"

"I'm not asking," Theo tells her with a growl in his voice.

Cory gets up. He brushes dirt from his jeans.

"I can take you over," he says.

Auntie Min shoots Cory a warning look, which he just ignores. When Theo and I walk over to him, Auntie Min sighs and comes over as well.

"I'm not saying it's the smart thing we're doing," Theo tells Auntie Min. "But it's the right thing—you see the difference?"

She nods.

When Des starts to join us, I shake my head.

"You stay," I tell him.

"You're kidding me, right? Dude, I've known Josh longer than anybody here. There's no way I'm sitting this one out."

"But it's too dangerous."

"Why? Because I'm human? I hate to break it to you, but I didn't see the Wildling contingent doing all that great earlier."

"He's right," Theo says to me. "Let him come." Then he turns to Des and adds, "But once we're there, hang back a little, bro—just till we get the lay of the land."

Des nods.

"Any time," Theo tells Cory.

Cory doesn't seem to do anything special. No chants, no intricate movements of his hands. One moment, we're looking out over the ocean with the lights of the oil rigs and a freighter in the distance, the next, there's a hole in the world and we're stepping back into that amazing otherworld. I remember the air being so heady the last time we were here and take a deep breath only to gag on the stench of blood and gore.

It's the most horrific thing I've ever seen. There are body parts littered all over the ground.

"Ah, Jesus," Theo says.

It takes me a moment longer to process what Theo's already figured out.

Josh.

This … this horrible butchery … it's all that's left of him.

I turn away and press my face against Theo's shoulder. His arms around me can't even begin to comfort the awful grief that floods me.

"I was supposed to have his back," Theo says, his voice a bare murmur.

"Hold up," Des says. "If you're thinking this is Josh, you're so jumping the gun."

I swallow hard and pull away from Theo to look. Des is standing a few yards away from the worst of the gore, pointing with his shoe at a head that's lying on its side. I can't really focus on anything except that it's not Josh's.

"Vincenzo," Cory says.

Theo nods slowly. "So that means …"

"That this is Josh's handiwork," Auntie Min finishes for him.

"But if all of—this—is what's left of Vincenzo," I say, "where's Josh?"

Cory's walking around the edges of the awful mess of blood and body parts.

"Here," he says. "I've got a scent."

He shifts to his coyote shape and trots off down the slope toward the beach, nose to the ground. I can't get away from here fast enough.

"Dude, that is so cool," Des says as we follow Cory.

I shoot him a look.

"Well, it is," he says. "You need to embrace the awesomeness of what you guys can do."

"I don't know about the rest of us," Theo says, "but if Josh can take out Vincenzo like that, there's probably not much he can't do."

"Then why would he just take off?" I say.

"Perhaps," Auntie Min says, "he is troubled to learn just what he is capable of. Or perhaps he ran into Vincenzo's associates. Vincenzo said he wasn't working alone."

"Dudes," Des says. "Think about what else Vincenzo said. Josh has gone to look for Elzie."

Cory is waiting for us in human form at the edge of the water.

"He met someone here," he says when we reach him. "A man. They left together."

"Left to go where?" I ask.

"Deeper into the otherworld."

"Did he go by choice," Theo asks, "or was he forced?"

Cory points to the wet sand, where there are two sets of footprints. You can see where they were standing around, talking, then they just step away into nothing. What's stranger is that, while we can work out Josh's approach—the mountain lion's paw prints are pretty obvious even for me—the other man's prints show that he came out of the same nowhere into which they disappeared. He didn't walk onto the sand. He simply appeared.

"There's no sign of a struggle," Cory says.

"So what do we do now?" Des asks.

He looks to Theo rather than Auntie Min for the decision. Oddly, so does Cory.

"I don't know," Theo says. "This is messed up. If Vincenzo wasn't working alone, what are his pals up to? What's their next move?"

"Vincenzo spoke of assassinating Congressman Householder," Auntie Min says.

"Dude, who cares about that freakin' bigot."

I nod in agreement.

"You
should
," Cory says. He enumerates on his fingers. "He dies at that rally, and he becomes a martyr. That gives his cause more credence. Wildlings will be blamed and the hunt will really be on."

Des nods. "Yeah, that Danny dude who was friends with Elzie told Josh the Feds are already planning to up their game."

"Maybe we should have a word with Josh's pet agents," Theo says. "Get the real lowdown on where that's going."

"But Vincenzo wanted
Josh
to kill the congressman," I say. "If Vincenzo's dead and Josh is gone, that's over, isn't it?"

"Don't kid yourself," Theo says. "All they wanted was a Wildling to do it. There's lots of kids who got changed, and I'll bet there's more than a few who don't have Josh's backbone. They'd be easy targets for Vincenzo's friends."

Auntie Min nods. "We need to find out exactly who we're up against."

"Plus we've got those guys from Black Key who were gunning for Josh," Des says. "They're still running around. What if
they
decide to go after his mom? Or one of us?"

Theo's nodding slowly. "It's obvious Josh can handle himself. That leaves it up to us to head back and take care of all this other crap."

"And we should do it soon," Cory says. "Someone's going to come looking for Vincenzo, and I don't think we want to be here when they find what's left of him."

"Yeah," Theo says. "I don't know what Josh's got running under his hood, but I don't have that kind of horsepower and I'm not ready to get my ass handed to me again. Next time I go up against any of these guys I want to be standing with a rocket launcher in my hands, pointed right at their heads."

Des looks dumbstruck. "Dude, you've
got
one of those?"

Theo looks at me and rolls his eyes.

"Yeah," he tells Des, "but it's in my other jacket."

"Ha ha," Des says.

"Seriously," Theo says to us. "We've got our work cut out for us and we need to get moving."

He nods at Cory, but it's Auntie Min who opens the way back for us. We just about give one of the surfers on Tiki Beach a heart attack when we appear right beside him. He takes a couple of steps back, and runs a hand through his blond hair. He's unsteady on his feet—a little drunk, or a little stoned. Maybe both.

"Whoa," he says. "Where the hell did you guys come from?"

Theo bristles at my side and I lay a hand on his arm.

"I'm cool," he mutters.

Des steps in between us and the surfer with his hands spread out in front of him.

"Dude," he says, "we were here all along. How did you not see us?"

The surfer gives Des a closer look.

"I know you," he says. "You're Cindy's skateboarder friend."

"That's me."

Des puts an arm around the surfer's shoulders and steers him back toward the fire.

"You should go," Cory says to Theo and me. "We'll deal with Tomás's body and get Des back to town."

Before we can respond, he and Auntie Min are walking toward the van, that I assume belongs to The Wild Surf. There's an older guy giving off a Wildling buzz leaning against the front of the van, arms folded across his chest. Since I know he's not a member of the band, I assume he's the driver. He straightens up at their approach.

I look over at the campfire and see that Josh and Des weren't exaggerating. Joanie Jones is all over Des. He mouths "Help me" when he sees me looking. I shake my head and give him a wave. The look he gives me back is the first thing to make me smile in hours.

"I really need to get to my papá's house," I tell Theo.

"You're actually going to leave Des hanging?" Theo says.

"Do you have room for three of us on your bike?"

"Well, no."

"So you see …"

He nods. "Yeah. I guess he's a big boy. He can handle it. Besides, as soon as the band finds out what happened to their manager, Joanie's going to have other things on her mind."

Cory nods at us as we pass the van. When we get to the Harley, Theo swings his leg over the seat. I get on behind him and a moment later we're on the highway heading back to Santa Feliz.

I lean my head against Theo's back, trying to remember what it was like before I got changed into a Wildling.

It seems like a lifetime ago.

Back then, drama was an argument with my sister, or Julie breaking up with yet another guy. I thought the world was ending if I got a bad mark in a test or took a spill at a meet with the surf club.

I had no idea.

Six months ago, I was trying to survive being a teenager.

Now I'm just trying to survive.

###

Acknowledgments

My deep appreciation and thanks go to those who helped carry the Wildlings story a little further: my wife and first editor, MaryAnn, who offers encouragement and assistance at every step along the way (and gives up some of her own creative life in the process); my editor, Lynne Missen and the team at Penguin Canada, for all of their excellent help and support; my agents, Heather Baror and Russ Galen, who offer sound advice whenever I need it; my webmaster, Rodger Turner, who is that, but also a treasured friend; MaryAnn's and my family members who put up with our busy lives and help us out; and last but not least, my readers, young and not so young, who buy my books and thereby let me continue to do what I love. I am grateful to each and every one of you.

About the Author

Charles de Lint is a full-time writer and musician who makes his home in Ottawa, Canada. His many awards include the
World Fantasy Award,
the Canadian SF/Fantasy
Aurora
Award, and the
White Pine Award
, among others. Modern Library's
Top 100 Books of the 20th Century
poll (voted on by readers) put eight of de Lint's books among the top 100. With 37 novels and 18 collections of short fiction published to date, de Lint writes for adults, teens and children.  His most recent adult novel,
The Mystery of Grace
(Tor, 2009), is a fantastical ghost story and a heart-wrenching tale of love, passion and faith. His newest middle grade novel is
The Cats of Tanglewood Forest
(Little Brown, 2013); his last collection of short fiction is
The Very Best of Charles de Lint
  (Tachyon Publications, 2010). For more information, visit his web site at http://
www.charlesdelint.com
.

You can also connect with him at:

Facebook:
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Charles-de-Lint/218001537221

Twitter:
https://twitter.com/#!/cdelint

Tumblr:
http://cdelint.tumblr.com/

Cover design by MaryAnn Harris.

eISBN
978-0-920623-18-3

For information:

Triskell Press

P.O. Box 9480

Ottawa ON K1G 3V2

Canada

http://
www.triskellpress.com

This edition published April 2013.

Also available, only in Canada, from Penguin Canada in paper and digital editions.

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