The Eighth Day (14 page)

She cautioned Jax
not
to use his magic at school, but where else was he going to do it? He only saw Melinda on Grunsdays, the day she could meet him without her family present. And trying to force Melinda to tell him her
favorite television show was pointless.

The problem was using his magic on his classmates without getting caught. By Tuesday, he thought he'd figured out a way and was anxious to give it a try.

So when he passed Giana's seat in science class and she whispered her undertone-but-meant-to-be-heard “Freak,” he had no patience for it. He turned and shoved his face into hers.

“Back off. All I ever did was talk to you.” Jax dialed back his talent to what he imagined as a trickle and asked, “Do you think you're better than everybody else?”

“Yes,” Giana whispered, then recoiled in her seat. Kacey gasped, and other students who heard Giana gave her an offended glare.

“You're not,” Jax assured her.

“Dude!” Billy looked impressed as Jax sat down.

Jax crossed his arms. “I was tired of her crap.”

While his teacher was reviewing for finals that day, he wrote in his notebook and pushed it toward Billy.

Ask her to narrow down the formulas we need to memorize
.

Billy gave him a look that said
She's not going to tell us that
.

“Trust me,” Jax murmured.

Billy raised his hand. “Miss Cassidy? Can you narrow down the formulas we need to memorize?”

Miss Cassidy gave Billy the same look Billy had given
Jax, but then Jax called out, “Yeah, Miss Cassidy. Which formulas do we really need to know?”

The teacher rattled off three formulas, then frowned and blinked repeatedly. The other students started scribbling in their notebooks. Miss Cassidy glared at both Billy and Jax, uncertain which boy to be annoyed at, and tried to cover her mistake by naming a few more. Billy gaped at Jax, and Jax grinned.

He tried it again in English class and also in math. When he followed up on a question asked by someone else, he got the answer he wanted, and the teachers didn't seem to pinpoint Jax as the reason they were blurting out information. He congratulated himself on his brilliance.

After the last bell, Jax was at his locker when someone shoved him from behind. “Hey!” he yelped.

A hulk from the senior high loomed over him. “You know who I am?”

“No idea,” Jax said, but his heart sped up. The guy was accompanied by three others, just as big and just as mean looking, all wearing football jerseys.

“I'm Enzo Leone,” the boy snarled. “You been bothering my sister? How'd you like a bloody nose?”

Oh, crap
. His revenge on Giana this morning was going to get him beat up. Enzo snatched up a fistful of Jax's shirt, and Jax grabbed the boy's arm to hold him off. It was like trying to wrap his fingers around a log, but instantly Jax experienced the same buzz of magic he'd felt
when his talent led him to the encyclopedia at Melinda's house. “What're you afraid of, Enzo?” he asked, the idea popping into his head.

“What?” Enzo let go of Jax's shirt and tried to yank his arm away.

Jax hung on. According to Melinda, touching his victim was another thing that enhanced his magic. “What's your deepest, darkest secret?”

“I wet the bed till I was eleven.” Enzo's eyes goggled.

Jax almost gasped in surprise—not at Enzo's secret, but at the realization that he could use his talent for defense. “How often did you wet the bed, Enzo?”

“Almost every night.” Enzo gripped his own throat with his hand as if trying to throttle himself. He wrenched away from Jax, stumbling against his buddies, who all burst out laughing.

“Do you want me to keep asking questions?” Jax whispered.

A spasm of fear crossed Enzo's face. He broke and high-tailed it down the hall, shoving middle schoolers out of the way. Jax grinned triumphantly—and then he spotted the Donovan twins watching him from across the hall, their matching green eyes narrow with suspicion. Tegan whispered to her brother, who clenched his fists and stepped forward.

Jax braced himself.
You want some too? Bring it on, Thomas
.

Suddenly, Billy Ramirez stepped between them.
“What did you just do?” he asked Jax, oblivious to Thomas behind him. “
How
did you do it?”

“I don't know what you're talking about,” Jax said gruffly.

“Miss Cassidy and Giana's brother. What'd you
do
to them?”

“Nothing.” Jax elbowed past Billy and looked up and down the hall. The Donovans had vanished.

Billy dogged his heels. “Don't tell me
nothing
. I know what I saw.”

Jax turned back to Billy. If there was anyone who'd believe the real story, it was this guy. His friend would think Grunsday was the most awesome thing since
Doctor Who
.

“You can tell me,” Billy said.

“No,” Jax whispered. “I really can't.”

UNCORRECTED E-PROOF—NOT FOR SALE

HarperCollins Publishers

..................................................................

LUCKILY, BILLY STAYED
after school for robotics club, and Jax didn't have to fend off more of his questions on the ride home. The bus disgorged Jax at the end of his block, and he spotted A.J.'s truck and Deidre's T-bird parked in the street. He quickened his pace when he saw Deidre passing rifles from the back of her car to Mr. Crandall and A.J., who piled them into a foot locker in the bed of the truck.

“What's going on?” Jax demanded.

“Talk to Riley,” Mr. Crandall said curtly.

“Where'd the guns come from?” Jax stared at Deidre. Now she held a rifle that was almost as big as she was. Deidre might've been tiny, but she handled the gun like she knew what to do with it.

“My family's in the business,” she said with a smile.

Jax gulped. “What kind of business? Mercenary army?”

“Private security.” Then she winked.

What was that supposed to mean? That he was right the first time?

Jax ran into the house and upstairs, where he found Riley packing a duffle bag in his bedroom. “Are we under attack?” Jax asked breathlessly.

Riley looked up. “Nothing like that. I have to take a trip. I'll be gone through Thursday. Maybe Friday.”

Straight through Grunsday. “Where? And why are you taking guns?”

“Better you don't know,” said Riley. “Less for you to worry about.”

“But—” Just telling him that gave him plenty to worry about.

“I don't expect any trouble
here
, but Melinda is on security, and if you need help, call A.J.'s mom. I just need you to hold down the fort.”

“What—”

Riley zipped the duffle bag closed and tossed it at Jax. “Put that by the front door. I'll be down in a second.”

Jax carried the bag downstairs, frowning, and as he passed through the living room, he spied Riley's cell phone on the coffee table. A second later, he'd dumped Riley's luggage on the floor and was thumbing through phone menus. Riley had made calls to Mr. Crandall and Melinda that afternoon, but prior to that, he'd received a text from Miller—the vassal no one wanted to talk about. Hearing Riley's footsteps overhead, Jax quickly scanned the messages.

Miller: wylits vassals headed for taliesins.

arrival certain by grunsday night.

Riley: not good

Miller: i can get there 1st

Riley: dont blow yr cover. ill go

Miller: u sure? could get ugly

Miller: 1st kill is hardest

Miller: dont think u can do it. ill go

Riley: ill do what i have to

By the time Riley came downstairs, the phone was on the table, the duffle bag by the door, and Jax was casually clicking through channels on the TV. “Probably nothing will happen,” Riley said. He put the phone in his pocket and slung the duffle bag over his shoulder. “But keep your phone on you. And the radio on Grunsday.”

“Okay.”

Riley left, and Jax darted to a window to watch the truck and the T-Bird pull away. He tried to think of a way he might have misinterpreted those texts, but he couldn't.

Riley was off to kill somebody.

Melinda chatted with Jax that evening.

Melinda: You ok?

Jaxattax: yeah but where did they go?

Melinda: To check out a security problem. Don't worry

Jaxattax: they took guns

Melinda: Just a precaution

Jax didn't buy it. Melinda had told him herself that somebody had wiped out Riley's family and nearly killed him as well. Jax swallowed hard.
When did I start worrying about Riley?

Melinda: You don't have to stay there. Riley lived alone so many years he forgets it's not normal for a boy your age. You can stay with Mrs. Crandall. Jaxattax: no im ok—supposed to hold down the fort Melinda: LOL. See you for your lesson on the 8th day. Call if you need me.

Jax barely slept that night. He skipped school the next day because he regretted what he'd done to Giana's brother and wondered if the brute would pound him into dust today. He also knew Billy would hound him with questions he couldn't answer, and sure enough, texts started rolling in minutes after the school day ended.

Billy: where r u? cmon jax. tell me whats going on. i can help.

Jax didn't answer any of them, and when the door-bell rang around eight o'clock that evening, he groaned. It had to be Billy, come to ask his questions in person. Jax ground his teeth together. His guardian was off on some James Bond mission, he had to meet Evangeline on the lawn at midnight, and he didn't need one more thing to deal with!

But when Jax opened the door, he found a strange man on the stoop. “Jax? I'm Mrs. Unger's nephew.” The man stuck out his hand, and Jax shook it automatically. “I hear you run errands for her. Thanks for looking out for my aunt.”

Jax shrugged. “It's not a big deal.”

“It
is
a big deal. Not many kids take the time to look after an old lady.” The fellow looked about fifty years old with a shock of white hair and a solid build. “I'm dropping off a rug for my aunt's bedroom. She said maybe you'd help me carry it in.” He pointed his thumb at a conversion van parked outside Mrs. Unger's house. The back passenger door was open, and rock music pounded from the stereo.

When Jax hesitated, the man added, “My aunt said she's got cash.”

Jax groaned. “She doesn't have to pay me.”

The man grinned. “You know how she is.”

“Yeah, I do.” Jax closed the front door and followed him to the van, where a rolled-up carpet lay wedged between the front- and second-row seats.

Mrs. Unger's nephew climbed into the vehicle, saying, “I'll get in and push. You pull from the outside.”

Jax glanced back at Mrs. Unger's house, expecting to see her standing on the stoop waving her wallet, but the front door was closed, the curtains drawn, with no lights on in the front room. “Um, where is—?”

“I think the plastic's caught on the bottom of that seat,” the man shouted over the music. “Can you get it?”

“Sure.” Jax leaned into the van and felt around.

Pain shot through every nerve in his body.

He screamed, his limbs failing him. He went down face first, his nose slamming into the floor of the van. Every part of his body was on fire, twitching and flopping. He couldn't even lift his face to breathe.

As suddenly as it started, it stopped. The echo of pain racked his body, but he lifted his head and gasped for air. The bass in the music vibrated the vehicle in time with his pain, as if the whole world throbbed. There was a weight on his back, and when Jax struggled, a hand shoved his head down.

“Yeah, I know. Getting Tasered is no fun. Lie still if you don't want it again.”

His arms were pulled behind his back, and something cold closed around his wrists with a ratcheting sound. “Help!” he yelled.

“Shut your mouth, Jaxattax,” the voice spoke in his ear. “Or I'll Taser you again. Nobody can hear you anyway.”

The weight disappeared from his back, but before Jax could react, the door of the van slammed shut. Feet stepped over his head. Then he felt the van shiver with the closing of the driver's door, and the vehicle jerked into motion, rocking to the Killers' latest song.

UNCORRECTED E-PROOF—NOT FOR SALE

HarperCollins Publishers

..................................................................

SO STUPID
.

Jax's body convulsed in pain and fear. How could he have fallen for something every child had been warned against? He should have slammed the front door in the man's face. He should have grabbed his dagger.

His dagger.

Melinda had told him to wear it whenever he wasn't in school, and Riley had told him to keep his phone or his radio on him. But he hadn't. The sheath was uncomfortable to wear when he was sitting around the house. He'd left it on the coffee table with the radio, and the phone was charging. He kept them all
handy
, but not on him.

Jax moaned. He'd been asked to
hold the fort
, to watch over Evangeline, and within hours he'd gotten himself kidnapped.

Evangeline
. Would they come for her next?

Jax heaved his body upright. His hands were cuffed
behind his back. His nose throbbed, and his tongue stung as if he'd bitten it while convulsing.

The man in the driver's seat extended one arm in Jax's direction, his hands clasping a black, blunt-nosed weapon. “You can sit up,” he called out, “but stay
real still
. If I have to pull this van over, you're going to regret it.”

“You're Terrance from that stupid website,” Jax guessed.

“I'm Lexi too.” The driver laughed. “As for
stupid
—stupid is giving me the same username and password you use for your email account. Didn't they teach you any better at school?”