The Keep: The Watchers (17 page)

Ronan cared, and at the moment, it just made me sad. I sighed. “Look, I’ve been getting stronger. But Carden—Master McCloud, I mean—he says that the difference between strength and power is—”

“Don’t,” Ronan interrupted. “Annelise, you will please refrain from quoting vampire politics to me.”

“It’s not politics,” I said, but my protest was weak. His jaw had tensed at the mention of Carden. For whatever reason, I was walking a fine line here. “It’s survival.”

“Survival.” He sneered. “I’ll see you in class, Annelise.” He stopped and turned to head back the way we came.

“Wait.” I stopped, too, staring dumbly. “I thought you were going to the dining hall.”

“I’ve lost my appetite,” Ronan said. And he left me standing there.

A
s it turned out, an early dinner wasn’t a good idea. In fact, it proved to be a very, very bad idea.

I’d shoveled down my food, pocketing a roll to snack on later, and was back out the door before too many other kids even had a chance to show up. Head down, hands jammed in my pockets, I walked as briskly as I could, teetering on the very outer edge of the path headed back to the dorm.

But it wasn’t inconspicuous enough. A chorus of guy voices greeted me.

I didn’t look up. I just upped my pace. The voices got louder. More specific. “What’s her problem?” one shouted, and another followed with, “Bitch is scared.”

Then I heard Yasuo. “She’s too good for us. Isn’t that right, D?”

Crap.
It wasn’t just any group of guys. It was Yas and his pals.

I walked faster, my eyes glued to the ground, and passed by them. Just as I began to release a pent-up breath, I felt them stop.
Like a herd, they turned as one, dutifully following me back up the path.

What the hell? These were growing boys—shouldn’t food be the most important thing on their minds? I laughed nervously, still not daring a glimpse at them. “I’d get my butt to the dining hall, if I were you. Food goes fast on casserole night.”

“You’re much tastier,” the Trainee named Colin said. He was one of those swaggering, quarterback types, which apparently translated in life as on the field. “What do you think, Dan? What would you rather eat? Cafeteria slop or Acari slut?”

Redheaded Danny laughed hard and shouted an answer, but between me huddling extra deep in the hood of my coat and his thick British accent, his words just sounded like
oi oi oi oi
.

I picked up my pace, but felt a hand swipe at the sleeve of my coat.
Dammit.
I could break into a run, but that’d probably only trigger some pack instinct. They’d simply chase me back to the dorm and eat me alive.

I was out of options. I stopped short and spun on them. “What?”

They were a huddle of about a half-dozen boys, staring at me. Some glared (Yasuo), some gaped (Toby-My-Trainee), and others goggled as though mine were the first breasts they’d ever seen (Colin, Dan).

I hardened my stance, not in the mood. “What are
you
looking at?”

“You.” Colin curled his lip, taunting.
“Trash.”

Nice. Here we go. I put my hands on my hips and stood as tall as my five-foot-two frame could stretch. “I knew you were a dumb jock, Colin, but do you think you could do us all a favor and maybe dream up a better comeback?”

I scanned the rest of them, doing the mental tally. Fangless Rob was notably absent. I was desperately curious to know where he was and what would come of a one-fanged Trainee, but this was definitely not the crowd to ask.

My gaze came to rest on Yasuo, standing front and center. This was obviously his party. “What’s the deal, Yas? You’ve got yourself a little gang now?”

“Gangster is in my blood.” He’d pronounced it
gangsta
.

I fought not to roll my eyes at the posturing. “Seriously? And I suppose these are your homeboys?”

“Dude’s from LA,” Colin cut in with a tough-boy nod.

“Dude’s from
the valley
,” I snapped, then turned my full attention to Yasuo. “You hated your father. But now you’re…what? Supposed to be all Yakuza like him?”

His response was a silent glower.

Now I did roll my eyes, taking in the lot of them. “Okay, gangsters. Riddle me this: I thought vampires were supposed to be solitary creatures.”

Yas took an aggressive step toward me. “You don’t know shit about me
or
vampires.”

I put my hands up. “Easy, cowboy.” I knew shit about both, in fact, but now wasn’t the time. Instead I asked, “What’s the plan here? You’re going to…what? Jump me? Do you really think you can do that here?” I glanced around to prove my point. “In the middle of the quad?”

Actually, I feared that was exactly what they wanted to do. And what would I do then? I’d felt so strong after my last feeding with Carden, but the effects were wearing off.

Where was he? I couldn’t get much more anxious than I was now. If he didn’t appear any second, I had a problem…actually,
several
problems, on many gut-wrenching levels, none of which I could spare a moment to contemplate just then.

Guidon Kenzie had helped me before, but there’d be no Proctor to save me now—she was in the dining hall, probably fork deep in beige slop. We’d given each other a nod in greeting as I walked out of the building and she’d walked in.

“Jump you. Right here.” Yasuo smiled a disturbingly vicious little smile. “Maybe that’s exactly what we’re going to do.”

I held my breath and waited, opening my senses to the universe, but I sensed only my complete solitude. Nope, no Carden. Despair wended its way a little deeper into my heart, and I blew out that breath. No knights in shining armor for me. No
deus ex machina
. It was just me. And I’d need to face this head-on. By myself.

But then a voice of reason spoke up, declaring a definitive “Chill out.”

I found the speaker easily enough—giant, blond, freckled farm boys tended to stand out from a crowd. It was Toby Engel.
My
Toby Engel.

“Take a chill,” Toby repeated. It wasn’t exactly sticking up for me, but it was close. This was his way of trying to get them to leave me alone. “Let’s just go, man. I want to eat.”

It appeared I wasn’t exactly
completely
by myself. I had Trainee Toby on my side. The Trainee Toby I’d been assigned to kill.

Alcántara really was an evil son of a bitch.

Common sense told me I needed to use this situation, to find my opening and finish my “assignment” for Alcántara.

Here was Toby, after all. His guard was down. Maybe I could come up with a way to take him. I could announce I’d go to the dining hall with him, and instead I’d find a way to hit him with
one of the stars tucked in my boot and then run like hell out of there, hoping the other guys didn’t catch me. I’d be done with my assassination. Forget poetic. I could make something up after the fact. Something about how the stars come out at night, maybe. I could come up with some fancy explanation that’d satisfy Alcántara.

But I couldn’t do it. I caught Toby’s eye. Dim as a post, this one. Why was he even here? Ronan had said the word
tractable
, and that must’ve been it—the kid was dumb, easily swayed, and yet unnaturally brawny. But despite all that, Trainee Toby lacked the gleeful taste for violence that Yas and the others had discovered. This could’ve been my moment to take him unawares, and I couldn’t.

Ultimately, it didn’t matter. The guys made the decision for me.

“Fuck dinner,” Danny said, and they closed in.

They leapt for me, and it was an explosion of chaos, of arms and legs. Of
my
arms and legs, kicking and flailing, trying to wrestle free, all the while trying not to topple. I didn’t want to consider what would happen if I fell to the ground.

Where was everyone else? But I knew—Yasuo’s gang had chosen their timing perfectly.
Everyone else
was in the dining hall eating cream-of-beige casserole.

I was fast and tough and good at flailing, but I was going to lose this battle. There were too many of them crowding all around me, too big while I was too small. Gradually, hands found purchase on my body and I was less able to wriggle free. Soon fingers clamped around both arms. I felt someone’s grip at my waist. I was in a vise of many hands.

So much for me having strength or power. Cunning, smarts,
grit…All those things I’d thought I had meant nothing when it was me versus a half-dozen guys. I thought my heart was going to explode out of my chest. Trapped—it was the worst feeling ever.

Danny leaned close, studying my face. “How should we do this, lads?” Then he hauled back and sucker punched me in the gut.

It was a shocker, and I hadn’t had a chance to flex my ab muscles to prepare. My body tried to double over in protest, but hands held me tight from behind. My stomach churned and spasmed, and I retched up and convulsively swallowed back down a bit of dinner. I vowed I’d never eat cream-of-mushroom anything again.

“That’s no fun.” Colin shouldered Danny out of the way. “The fun is in making marks.”

Oh shit.
I clenched, flexing every muscle, from cheeks to toes.

Toes
, I realized. I inched my leg forward along the path, and the feet that’d initially hooked around my ankles were gone.

The guys might’ve had me in a vise, but that meant they were holding me
up,
too, and I used it, bracing my elbows against them. I swung up my legs, curled my knees to my belly, and then kicked. Both feet shot out like a bucking donkey. Aimed straight for Colin’s groin.

He doubled over, arm curled over his boy parts, and then he just hung there, his body gone rigid, looking like a freeze-frame from a movie.

Meanwhile, the other guys exploded all around him, shouting, “Oh!” and, “Right in the nuts!”

Apparently, getting kicked in the testicles was a spectator sport with boys, because they’d let go of me and were springing
around like they were on pogo sticks, hopping, clapping their chests, smacking one another’s shoulders, shouting their sympathy or amusement, and words of advice, like, “Breathe, dude.” Or “Jump up and down!” But Colin ignored them, focused only on gasping for air. It looked like he was trying to speak, but when his mouth moved, nothing came out.

I began to back away, slowly sneaking my way out of the cluster, but a hand wrapped around me, feeling more like talons in my flesh than the other grips had. “We’re not nearly done with you,” Yasuo snarled. There was something dark in his expression, something that told me he wasn’t just toying with me. He was playing for keeps.

I scanned the guys, mentally assessing my options. As Colin was coming to, they gradually brought their attention back to me. I could’ve handled one Trainee, two even. But a whole gang? Even if I could’ve taken them down, I had no idea what the repercussions would be. All these cute, floppy-haired boys, and every one of them was a killer.

“Check out her bug eyes,” Danny shouted. “You scared, D?”

Yasuo whispered in my ear, “You should be.”

My eyes sought Trainee Toby. He was on the outskirts, a witness but not a participant. Not yet, anyway.
Great.
The one guy in this gang I needed to kill happened to be the last one I wanted dead.

Someone called, “Is the little girl scared?”

Well, yeah. I was frightened out of my wits. I thought of my dream, of breaking into the castle and spying on the vampires. This was just a handful of Trainees, and I couldn’t stop them. What would happen if I was caught
in the keep
? Who knew how
many dozens of vampires awaited me inside? But I knew not to show my fear. I wouldn’t be daunted. I wouldn’t fail before I even began. I could handle this.

I pinwheeled my arm, breaking Yasuo’s grip, then pivoted and jogged a quick few steps back. “Scared? You’re a bunch of lame-ass douche bags.”

“Language,” a voice called in half laughter, half warning.

I spun, momentarily startled and confused, then spotted Priti, jogging toward us on the path, a handful of older Guidons following dutifully behind. I never thought I’d be so thankful to see such a thing.

“Be more creative,” one of them said as she passed, and the girls’ laughs and the easy
thump-thump
of their pace began to neutralize the tension of my situation. “Yeah,” another added, “call them apes instead.”

The last girl in the caravan turned and jogged backward to address me. “Boors,” she said with a smirk. “Call the boys
boors
. Vampires dig the old language.” She spun around again, continuing on the path toward the dorms.

Was
she
scared of the Trainees? She sure didn’t seem it. With enough blood, could I be stronger than these guys? I knew I could never beat a vampire, but could I beat a Trainee? Watching Priti and the Guidons head down the path, something told me that, yes, I could.

I’d figure out how to spy on the guys. I wouldn’t be afraid—I just needed to get stronger. Be more wily.

I broke into a dash before the Guidons shrank too far in the distance. Who’d have guessed I’d ever race
toward
the older girls? But, I decided, I’d choose whatever evil hazing they could dish out over Yasuo’s gang any day.