The Fallen (23 page)

“We've got to get out of here,” Alyec said, grabbing Chloe's arm and pulling her away.

The two of them ran.

Although she was exhausted from the fight and felt some of her strength bleeding out of the wound in her side, Chloe still found a joy in running. When she leapt onto the handrail at the end to jump down off the bridge, tightrope running along its slick metal surface, Alyec was right behind her.

She chose to go up to the Marin Headlands; she leapt in between passing cars, up and over fences like she was flying. Alyec was beside her. He kept up with her, scrambling up the hill, jumping over rocks with an extremely familiar feline grace.

When she looked over at him, he grinned.

The other cat person.

A friend.

They crested the hill and started down the other side. The sky in the west was still its cartoon pink and orange; couples and families dotted the headlands watching it, cuddled in blankets and sipping from thermoses.

They had long outpaced the National Guard on foot, but the helicopter swept down the bridge and over the water, looking for trouble. The whole thing had Amy and Paul written all over it—still trying to save her after she'd made them go.

Chloe leapt. It didn't matter. The helicopter wouldn't be able to track her and Alyec. They were too fast. She felt like screaming with joy.

Alyec screamed instead—in pain—and went down on one knee, tumbling into the dirt.

Chloe stopped immediately and ran over to see him. He held his leg; a throwing star stuck out of it.

“Shit,” he grunted, pulling it out and wincing.

“What the—?” Chloe turned around, looking for the attacker.

Brian stood twenty feet behind them, another star in his hand.

He began running toward them.

“That
bastardi”
Alyec growled, standing up with some difficulty.

Chloe put herself in front of him, between him and Brian. “Who is he? Why does he want to kill me?”

“He's a member of the Order of the Tenth Blade,” Alyec spat. “I should have guessed before, the first time I saw him.”

“Wait—Chloe—” Brian caught up to them. Chloe tensed, ready to spring.

“Coming to finish me off?” she demanded.

“I wasn't trying to
kill
you!” Brian protested. “I was trying to get
Alexander!”

“Uh-huh,” Chloe sneered. But… she really wanted to believe him. She wanted to believe that someone so close to her so quickly couldn't be capable of hunting her down and killing her. “And what about Alyec? Is he one of my ‘race' that your..
.friend
and you want to destroy?”

“I didn't mean to hurt you, but I had to stop you.”

“Didn't mean to…?” Alyec demanded, pointing at the blood running down his leg.

“I had to stop you,” Brian reiterated. His brown eyes were wide, begging her to believe him. “If you keep heading down to the water… there are others, at least a dozen or more of… us, waiting for you, in case you do escape. Some with more… conventional weapons.”

“Who the hell is the Tenth Blade?” Chloe demanded. “And what do you have to do with them?”

“Their only purpose is to kill people like us,” Alyec said.

“Not all of you; that's not true”

“Tell that to the Rogue.”

“Only the
dangerous
ones!”

“And what is Chloe? Dangerous?” Alyec growled and leapt at Brian, pushing past Chloe. His claws were fully extended; they were shorter and thicker than Chloe's. He was aiming for Brian's neck.

“STOP,” Chloe said, pushing him out of the way and planting a firm hand on Alyec's shoulder to stop him. But he was angry, raging, out of control.

Without thinking, she took her hand and cuffed him on the side of the head to snap him out of it.

Like a cat cuffs her kittens,
she realized after she did it.

Alyec shook his head, dazed, but stumbled back.

“Is that why you hung out with me?” Chloe demanded. “To keep tabs on me so they could kill me?” She looked Brian in the eye. So mudi made sense now—and it was a thousand times worse than she'd ever thought.

“No! I mean, I was supposed to keep track of you, learn about you, talk to you. Become … friends.” They held each other's eyes for a moment; it was obvious he meant something else entirely. He hung his head. “Then I found out the Rogue was after you, and I wanted to stay by you and protect you—when I couldn't convince them to call him off.”

“Don't believe him! Stupid monkey,” Alyec said.

“I'm here talking to you, aren't I?” Brian shouted at him. “Why would I lie
rumi”

“I can't believe it.” Chloe backed away from him. “I can't believe you're part of a group that wants me
dead”

“It's more complicated than that, +Chloe,” Brian said tiredly. “Even Alyec can tell you that.”

“Why did you warn me to stay away from him?” Chloe demanded. “Because you didn't want me learning the truth?”

“No. Alyec is a known … troublemaker. I didn't want you drawing attention to yourself, falling in with the wrong crowd.”

“Looks like I fell in with the
right
crowd,” Chloe said disgustedly. “Finally.” She ducked down and put Alyec's arm around her shoulders to help him walk. “A couple of years of working out in the ‘real world' so you could be a
zoology major?”

Brian flushed with shame. “Chloe, I really liked—I really like you.”

“Whatever,” Chloe said, leading Alyec away.

Alyec lay On
her couch, his injured leg raised. It wasn't that large a cut, but the shuriken had sliced through tendon, making it impossible for him to walk. Chloe's own wound on her side had stopped bleeding but continued to ache.

Dazed, exhausted from the fight, and unsure what else to do, Chloe took some taquitos from the freezer and put them in the microwave. She had maybe an hour before her mom came home and serious explanations began if Alyec wasn't gone.

“This sucks.” Alyec swore, looking at the cut.

Leaning against the stove, Chloe put her hands to her face and finally began to cry.

“Hey, don't do that,” Alyec said, pushing himself up and hobbling over to her. He put an arm around Chloe. “It's very confusing, I know…. But don't worry! Everything will be explained. There's so much you need to know—about who you are and where you
came from. And you will be safe, I promise. There are these people you should meet now; I think you'll like them….”

Chloe gave Alyec a small smile. Somehow she knew he didn't mean any of his friends from school. And that was fine by her.

LIZ BRASWELL was born in Birmingham, England, and now splits her time between Vermont and New York. Her major at Brown was Egyptology and yes, she can write your name in hieroglyphs. She then produced video games for the next decade, which was the coolest job ever. She likes skiing, sitting third row center at the movies, planting trees, her sister's excellent black boots, and Nutella.