The Change (Unbounded) (36 page)

No one was on the roof, and the calm blue sky denied the horrors we’d witnessed. The only visible sign of the explosion was a gaping hole where the roof was simply gone. A large cloud from the debris floated up on the light breeze, vanishing almost instantly, though farther above us, a larger, thicker cloud from the initial explosion remained partially intact.

The openness of the roof, the gaping hole, the buildings stretching in every direction—it all bore down on me. I felt exposed and fragile and dizzy.
Crap, not now,
I thought. Of all the escape plans, we had to choose someplace up high. But maybe the vertigo and nausea wouldn’t get any worse if I didn’t make any sudden movements.

“Where’s the signal?” Ritter asked.

I fumbled in my bra for the shiny disk.

“Need help?” Ritter asked with a smirk.

I gave him my best sneer and tossed it to him. “I have no idea how to use this.”

“There are instructions printed right on it, but basically, you slap it hard against your hand.” He demonstrated.

The next second, the disk emitted a powerful burst of light that nearly left me blind. Nausea flooded me.
Great.
I fought the urge to cringe and close my eyes. The disk throbbed again, and Ritter set it on the roof and backed away.

“Bright,” Tom said, squinting. “But I don’t see how anyone will see it in daylight.”

“They’ll see—” Ritter’s voice was cut off as a blur slammed into him, knocking him to the ground. The blur became Jonny. Both men jumped to their feet, Jonny bringing up a gun.

“Jonny, no!” I said. “Please leave us alone. Just walk away.”

Jonny shook his head, the wisps of blond hair moving in the breeze. “Stefan wouldn’t be happy.” He motioned to the door leading to the stairs. “Let’s go inside, or I’ll shoot both of you.” When we didn’t move, he shifted the gun to Tom. “Or should I shoot the mortal instead?”

I felt a fleeting disgust that Tom was so weak. A liability. No, it wasn’t his fault. That was Emporium thinking.

Ritter kicked at Jonny’s hand so fast, I barely saw him move. A bullet ricocheted off the rooftop. Smiling with grim satisfaction, Ritter sent a blow toward Jonny’s head. Jonny blocked the move, jabbing his own foot into Ritter’s middle. Ritter danced to the side, deflecting most of the strike. His muscular frame made Jonny seem fragile. His next blow sent Jonny halfway across the roof. Ritter dived toward him. They tangled together, rolled, and then Jonny was on his feet, streaking toward the stairs.

Ritter was right behind him. “Get on the chopper,” he shouted. “I’m going to make sure he doesn’t alert anyone.” He reached Jonny, and in a flurry of limbs, they disappeared down the stairs together.

I could already hear helicopter blades beating in the distance.
Hurry,
I thought to both Ava and Ritter, though I knew they couldn’t hear me. My nausea and vertigo had increased to the point that it was all I could do not to curl up in a ball and whimper.

Tom crossed the roof and picked up something. Jonny’s gun.

“Good idea,” I said. “We might need it.” I could see the helicopter now, though looking at it made me dizzy. I hoped there was enough room for it to land. “Can you help me over there?”

Tom shifted the gun toward me. “I’m sorry. You’re not going anywhere.”

I gazed at him blankly, my fear of heights impeding my understanding. At last the meaning sank through. “You never planned to come with me at all.”

“I may not live for thousands of years, but I can make something of myself here. These people have power, and I can be something. I can help them create another world. This is where I belong, where we both belong.”

“You sound like Justine.” I shook my head. “And that means I never really meant anything to you, except as something to use.”

“That’s not true. I love you. I wanted to make sure you were okay. That’s why I agreed to come looking for you when Delia asked.”

So that’s how he’d found me. There’d been no accidental meeting. Delia must have sensed my general whereabouts when I’d let down my shield to examine Cort, and then sent Tom to find me. She’d likely been tracking him the entire time. And me through him.

“So you were keeping an eye on me until she found us.” How strong the woman was if she’d made me believe Tom wanted to come with me.

“Haven’t I always tried to take care of you?” His smile was gentle, his voice sincere.

To think that I’d once admired how careful he’d been of me. “People are going to die if I don’t warn them.” They’d cut them up into pieces like the woman in the blue dress.

“Not
our
people.”

He was just like them. All of them. Tears came and I blinked them away.

“Go ahead. Shoot me, if you want. I’m leaving.” I took a step toward where I thought the helicopter might land, a few small pebbles skidding away from my feet.

Tom laughed. “You can barely move, much less get to that chopper. Don’t worry—this gun isn’t for you. It’s only in case your friend returns.”

“Go to hell.”

“Are you sleeping with him?” Tom moved closer. “Tell me, is it better with an Unbounded?”

I didn’t answer. Would it be possible for me to distract him long enough to get his gun, maybe push him off the roof? My stomach revolted at the idea. Still I had to try something, even if we both went over the side together.

“He may be more experienced than I am with women, given how old he is,” Tom continued, “but don’t get your hopes up. He’s a monster, incapable of love. Justine told me all about him. She was there that day when his family died. She almost got him.”

Ritter didn’t know that or Justine wouldn’t still be alive.

“She’s the real monster.” I glared at him, my thoughts traversing the space between us. I might not be able to attack him physically, but what about distracting him with my sensing ability? I wasn’t touching Tom, but all I needed was enough of a surprise to allow me to grab the gun.

I pushed at him mentally and came up with . . . nothing.

What?

I tried again, pushing until my head threatened to burst apart. Still nothing.

He wouldn’t have had time to learn to use a mental shield, or at least not one that strong, but there
was
something covering his real thoughts—something that had Delia written all over it. She’d tricked me. They both had. I wanted to crush him, hurt him as he had me, but I was powerless against whatever Delia had set in his mind. There was no chance of pushing in a suggestion, no glimpse of wavering to exploit, no chance of reaching the part of him that might really care for me.

“Walk toward the stairs,” Tom said, his voice soft and reasonable, as though asking me if I wanted sugar with my tea.

Only seconds to decide what to do, and then I’d most likely end up with another bullet in some hurtful place in my body. I glanced toward the helicopter, now hovering above us. Where was Ritter?

Another wave of vertigo that sent a dozen frogs banging around inside my stomach. I was going to fall and keep falling forever. I sagged to my knees, gagging. Some Unbounded I was.

“Up. We don’t have time for this!” Frustration laced Tom’s voice.

I slumped into a miserable heap. If he wanted me, he’d have to carry me.

He hesitated a few seconds before placing the gun in his waistband. As he bent to pick me up, I tucked my head and rammed my shoulder into him. We tumbled and this time when we came up, I held the gun.

“Get out of here,” I gritted.

Tom laughed. “Darling, you aren’t going to shoot me. You love me. Remember all the time we’ve spent together? I know what you like. We’re so good, you and I.” His voice had become husky, promising. I focused on his face, knowing that if I saw the sky and buildings around us, I was going to puke.

“Stop.” My hand holding the gun wavered.

He took another step.

“Please.” I couldn’t let him take me. I couldn’t let Delia control my mind or permit the Emporium to use my body. It was him or me—and since I couldn’t remove myself from their hands by means of a simple gunshot, I had to remove or incapacitate him.

His hands reached out. Another spell of dizziness took me.

The gun kicked in my hand. I’d been aiming for his shoulder, but vertigo had the last say. A hole appeared on the right side of his forehead, bits of tissue and blood spurting out onto the roof behind him. He crumbled backward.

“No!” I cried.

It seemed to take forever to crawl to his side, as though the entire world had slowed down. My body shook so badly that my arms gave out twice, and I scraped my cheek against the rooftop. I pulled myself forward. Blood gushed from Tom’s wound, slashing across his forehead and streaming into his brown hair. More blood puddled on the cement under his head.

“Tom?” I touched him, hoping to sense him, but there was nothing. His mind was gone. Bile rose in my throat. What had I done? Tears wet my cheeks. I shut my eyes and wrapped my arms around myself, face pressed to my knees.

After several long moments, I became aware of the whirring blades of the helicopter. I didn’t know how I could possibly move toward it, but somehow I had to. Stella and the Renegades depended on me.

Biting my lip, I forced myself to a crouch.
Just stare at the rooftop,
I told myself. One step at a time.
Don’t think about Tom.
A wave of nausea crashed down, and it was all I could do to keep my feet beneath me.

Ritter appeared at my side. He took in Tom’s lifeless body and the gun in my hand with one glance. Peeling my fingers from the weapon, he put his arm around me and pushed me forward, carrying more of my weight than I was. “That kid was too fast for me to catch. He’ll have the others here soon.”

“What about Cort?” I asked in a strangled voice I didn’t recognize. “We can’t leave without him.”

“The place is crawling with Unbounded. Cort will have to make it without us.”

“But Delia. She’ll see into his mind.”

“No. He’s strong enough to keep her out. Don’t worry about him now.”

A rope ladder with metal rungs fell from the helicopter overhead, the bottom rung clanging onto the rooftop. Panic swept through me. Wasn’t it going to land? No way could I climb that ladder. Ritter might as well throw me off the roof and hope I survived.

Ritter glanced over his shoulder. “We’re out of time,” he yelled in my ear. “Climb!”

A shot whizzed by so close, I felt the air against my cheek. That was enough to unfreeze my limbs. Grasping the rungs tightly, I began to climb.

I
WANTED TO WRAP MY
arms between the rungs, close my eyes, and scream until I was rescued or unconscious, but Ritter kept pushing me from below. Only the idea of leaving him exposed to Emporium bullets kept me climbing. My breath was coming in rapid bursts, like the irrational fear inside my brain. Each second was an eternity. I made the mistake of looking down and saw Emporium Unbounded disgorging from the roof door, like ants from a hole in the ground.

Swallowing bile, I forced myself to take the next step. As I finally pulled myself inside, the helicopter rose abruptly, sprawling me onto the hard floor of what appeared to be a cargo area. Ava sat in one of the two seats at the front, her face a mask of concentration. The other seat was empty.

I looked outside for Ritter and saw people shooting at us from the rooftop. My eyes swept past them all, riveting on Tom’s lifeless body. Fresh tears wet my cheeks before vertigo wiped the scene from my mind. I gagged and shut my eyes, gripping the metal bars under the empty front seat. Loud pings sounded as bullets battered the underside of the helicopter.

Help him!
Ava’s urgent voice said inside my head.

Digging my teeth into my bottom lip, I crawled back to the opening. Ritter had almost made it, but even as I watched, his body jerked once, twice. One hand came off the rungs.

“No!” Holding onto the edge of the opening with one hand, I leaned down and reached out to him. “Climb!” I screamed, both aloud and in my head. His eyes met mine as I tried to hold the dizziness at bay.
“Climb!”

Ritter managed to grab the next rung. Slowly, he continued the climb. Finally, he was within reach, and I dragged him inside with strength founded in desperation. We crumpled in a tangled heap. The bright, coppery smell of blood filled my nose.

The helicopter veered violently, followed by a huge explosion off to our right.
Missed,
I thought, fighting the urge to vomit.

I could feel Ritter’s heartbeat, his relief, echoes of the fear he’d experienced—mainly for me.

For me.

If I hadn’t been so utterly exhausted, I might have smiled or said something sarcastic. If I hadn’t been mourning Cort, Laurence, and even Tom.

“Thanks,” Ritter whispered.

I couldn’t hear him over the noise of the chopper, but I could see his mouth form the word, sense the feeling in his mind. For that brief instant nothing more was necessary.

I wanted to lie on the floor next to him forever, but he was already moving away, pulling himself into the passenger seat next to Ava. Four holes in his pants poured blood, darkening the black material. He put on headphones and began talking to Ava.